Chapter Twelve
I took a nap and, when I opened my eyes again, I was almost in Tulsa.
"Oklahoma!" I shivered, wondering how everybody was doing, how were Darry and Pony, Steve, Johnnycake, and Two Bit, and Lisa dearest, Evie, Dally, and everybody else? Well, in that last time I spoke to Ponyboy on the phone, he told me anybody but the Curtis knew I was coming back. "Imagine Two Bit's face when he sees you", he had said. Yeah. Imagine.
As for Soda, I was scared to death to face him. I wasn't sure if I still had feelings for him, but I could tell I was scared. The closer the bus got from Tulsa, the bigger my fear grew. And when I got off the bus, I had so much fear that my cold sweat poured from my pores in spite of the heat.
And boy, that place was hot! I even thought about wearing a nice outfit to make a proper arrival, but it was too hot for that, so I had to be happy with my jeans and white tee. I felt a complete mess after all that bus hours and dressed like that.
Looking around, I noticed that the terminal was crowded, so I got my three bags and started to look for some known face. And I almost forgot it wasn't right to look for a 10 year-old, a 13 year-old and a 16 year-old. They had grown, just like me. I leaned against a wall, paralyzed with fear.
"Hey" someone said. "you could have told me you would be dressed like this!"
"Oh, Jesus, Pony!!!" I ran to him. He was obviously taller than me (well, almost every person in the world is).
"Man, you look so... short" he laughed. "And different, look at you!"
"Where is my..." I was just about to ask where Darry was but suddenly he appeared from the middle of the crowd, giving me a bear hug and saying stuff about how nice it was having me back.
Relieved. I guess that's how I felt. I closed my eyes and almost started to cry. Words were escaping me.
"Guys, I..."
Then I stopped in the middle of the sentence, because I had seen, leaning against a wall 35 feet from me, a known face from my past. I widened my eyes and saw the red shirt, the greased light brown hair, the cheeky and thoughtful expression. Everything around me suddenly disappeared, the noise from the engines disappeared and all I could hear was all the songs that reminded me of him playing in my head.
Slowly, I began to walk (in fact I had begun to shuffle) and when I was three steps of distance from my destiny, I stopped, looking right at that person's eyes.
"Sodapop..." and this was all I could manage to say.
We stood there for a moment, as if waiting for one of us to give in. I guess we both did at the same time though, because in a moment I've found myself in his arms.
"Susie" I've heard him saying next to my right ear "it's you, it's really you."
I took a nap and, when I opened my eyes again, I was almost in Tulsa.
"Oklahoma!" I shivered, wondering how everybody was doing, how were Darry and Pony, Steve, Johnnycake, and Two Bit, and Lisa dearest, Evie, Dally, and everybody else? Well, in that last time I spoke to Ponyboy on the phone, he told me anybody but the Curtis knew I was coming back. "Imagine Two Bit's face when he sees you", he had said. Yeah. Imagine.
As for Soda, I was scared to death to face him. I wasn't sure if I still had feelings for him, but I could tell I was scared. The closer the bus got from Tulsa, the bigger my fear grew. And when I got off the bus, I had so much fear that my cold sweat poured from my pores in spite of the heat.
And boy, that place was hot! I even thought about wearing a nice outfit to make a proper arrival, but it was too hot for that, so I had to be happy with my jeans and white tee. I felt a complete mess after all that bus hours and dressed like that.
Looking around, I noticed that the terminal was crowded, so I got my three bags and started to look for some known face. And I almost forgot it wasn't right to look for a 10 year-old, a 13 year-old and a 16 year-old. They had grown, just like me. I leaned against a wall, paralyzed with fear.
"Hey" someone said. "you could have told me you would be dressed like this!"
"Oh, Jesus, Pony!!!" I ran to him. He was obviously taller than me (well, almost every person in the world is).
"Man, you look so... short" he laughed. "And different, look at you!"
"Where is my..." I was just about to ask where Darry was but suddenly he appeared from the middle of the crowd, giving me a bear hug and saying stuff about how nice it was having me back.
Relieved. I guess that's how I felt. I closed my eyes and almost started to cry. Words were escaping me.
"Guys, I..."
Then I stopped in the middle of the sentence, because I had seen, leaning against a wall 35 feet from me, a known face from my past. I widened my eyes and saw the red shirt, the greased light brown hair, the cheeky and thoughtful expression. Everything around me suddenly disappeared, the noise from the engines disappeared and all I could hear was all the songs that reminded me of him playing in my head.
Slowly, I began to walk (in fact I had begun to shuffle) and when I was three steps of distance from my destiny, I stopped, looking right at that person's eyes.
"Sodapop..." and this was all I could manage to say.
We stood there for a moment, as if waiting for one of us to give in. I guess we both did at the same time though, because in a moment I've found myself in his arms.
"Susie" I've heard him saying next to my right ear "it's you, it's really you."
