Happy Birthday, Greaser.
Soda woke the next morning to find himself sprawled out on the floor, still fully clothed, with drool streaming from his lips to the carpet. Yawning, he sat up and pushed off the blanket that someone, most likely Pony, had thrown over him. Soda looked over at the bed. Pony was gone to school already, but he had definitely been in that night, by the way the covers looked. Suddenly Soda looked closer. Both pillows had head-shaped dents in them. He couldn't help but start laughing. Looks like Pony had a late night visitor. Glory, ol' Two-Bit isn't gonna want to hear about that. No wonder Pony didn't try to make me get in bed. Soda and Pony had been sharing a bed to try to ease Pony's frequent nightmares after their parents died in a car wreck. His nightmares were less common now, but they still shared the room out of habit.
Still laughing, Soda loped into the kitchen looking for breakfast. He wrinkled his nose when he remembered his hunt for chocolate cake the night before. An eggs-and-grape-jam sandwich would have to do.
Just as he was finishing his sandwich, the front door slammed and Two-Bit and steve came running in.
"Sodadpop Curtis!" Two-Bit yelled.
Steve dived for Soda's legs, knocking him down. "Happy birthday, Greaser!" he said playfully.
Soda sat up, laughing. "Glory, Steve, I'm getting too old for that." He was grinning like a kid that just got his first kiss. Steve punched him in the shoulder as a response.
"Hey Sodapop, me and Stevie here are gonna go to the Nightly Double later to hunt up some girls. You comin' man?"
Soda looked away, "Nah, man, I can't. I got work tonight." For once, he was grateful for work. He wasn't exactly in the mood for another dumb girl. The one he took out last night was the nicest he'd been with in a long time, and even then.. nothing.
Two-Bit nodded as if he understood. "Bum deal. Workin' on your birthday and all."
"I don't mind too bad," Soda shrugged. "Today is just like any other day.
Steve laughed. "Ain't that the truth, buddy."
The three over-grown boys sat down on the floor, leaning up against the couch, and watched some shows on the television. Periodically, they would wallop each other upside the head with pillows from the couch. When Pony got home from school, they headed out to the lot for a few games of football. Soda and Pony would have had a chance at winning a few times if Two-Bit and Steve hadn't continuously ganged up on Pony to hold him down and tickle him until he hollered "Uncle."
"Look at Mr. Super Track Star now!" Two-Bit whooped.
"Yeah, yeah. Lemme go. My legs are still worn out from practice today." Pony stuck his tongue out at Two-Bit and got tackled again.
Night fell quickly and Steve announced that he and Two-Bit were heading out to the Nighly Double. Pony said he was going to go pick up Kara, but Soda reminded him to pick up groceries first. Soda quickly scratched out a note to Darry to remind him that he would be at work that night. Pony was likely to forget to mention it to Darry.
It was getting near closing time at the DX, and business was finally slow. Dead slow. There hadn't been anyone by – not even to say hey – in the past hour, at least. Soda lay back on the hood of his car, looking up at the stars. Glory, but this feels nice. I haven't done this since I was a little kid. I don't blame Pony for coming home late all those times. I want to stay like this forever… Soda's eyes were closed and he had almost drifted off to sleep when an all-too-familiar voice pierced his thoughts, causing his heart to skip a beat.
"Hiya, Sodapop."
[a/n] I went ahead and put up the next chapter since they're both so short. Ch. 5 is longer, but I'm probably going to do some editing to make it longer.. try to anyways.