Chapter
Fourteen:
"Mornin'," Ponyboy said as I staggered into the kitchen the next
morning.
"Mornin'," I yawned in reply, my bare feet padding along the cool
floor as I moved to the refrigerator and pulled out the jug of chocolate milk.
"How'd ya sleep?"
"Felt weird to sleep on a real bed again," Ponyboy shrugged as he
handed me a cup. "I didn't realize how much I missed it while we were up
at the church."
I smiled at him as I poured my drink, then poured a glass for him, as well.
"What's for breakfast?" I asked. The first one up always cooks
breakfast at our house, and Ponyboy had been getting out of the shower when I
first woke up, so I had been able to enjoy my shower knowing that I wouldn't
have to cook this morning.
"Eggs and chocolate cake," Ponyboy replied as he opened the
refrigerator and hunted around for the egg carton. "What else would we be
having?"
I made a face at him, then dropped down into one of the chairs at the kitchen
table. It was true, eggs and chocolate cake was the standard breakfast at our
house, mainly because it was the one thing that we could all cook and we all
liked.
"You working today?" Ponyboy asked, grabbing a frying pan from one of
the cupboards.
"Yeah," I replied, gulping down my chocolate milk and rising to my feet.
"I gotta get dressed, or Darry'll skin me."
"Soda in the shower?" he asked.
"Yep," I nodded, leaving him to his cooking and hurrying back to my
room to get changed. I was slipping on my waitress dress when I heard the front
door open and a familiar voice call out, "Anybody home?"
"In here," Ponyboy hollered back. "Don't slam the door."
Naturally, they slammed the door.
Despite myself, I smiled, shaking my head as I ran my brush through my hair,
pulling it back into a ponytail. I sat down on my bed and tugged on my shoes,
tying the white laces tightly. Grabbing my apron off the back of my desk chair,
I glanced at the mirror, then headed out into the hallway, passing Darry's room
where he was putting on a white wife-beater and a pair of jeans. He looked up
as I passed, giving me a pointed look. "Fifteen minutes," he warned.
"Be ready to go or you're walkin'."
"Fine," I said, continuing on my way out to the kitchen, where
Two-Bit was helping himself to a beer and Steve was talking to Ponyboy. I
stopped in the doorway, my arrival going unnoticed, and took a moment to
observe Steve as he cut himself a piece of cake.
He was dressed in a pair of dusty jeans and his DX shirt, which hung
unbuttoned, showing off his chiseled stomach. Despite the grease stains on his
cheek, he'd obviously been out working on Two-Bit's car this morning, he looked
good. I wondered how I'd kept from noticing for so long.
"How do you like bein' a hero, kid?" he asked.
"A what?" Ponyboy echoed.
"Being a hero," Steve repeated in exasperation, shoving the newspaper
at him. "You know, like a big shot even." He glanced over at Two-Bit,
who was taking a swig of his beer. "Beer for breakfast there,
Two-Bit?"
Two-Bit shrugged, then nodded his head at the paper in Ponyboy's hands.
"What I like is the 'turn' bit," he drawled. "Ya'll didn't just
'turn' all of the sudden, ya'll were heroes from the beginnin'."
"They're charging Johnny with manslaughter?" Pony murmured in shock,
then lifted his head sharply. "What do they mean if he recovers?!"
I winced, suddenly wanting to smack Steve in the head with the newspaper. We
hadn't gotten a chance to sit down with Ponyboy yet and explain just how
serious Johnny's condition really was.
"It also says how you saved them kids, Ponyboy," Steve pointed out as
he took his cake into the living room. "That they'd have burned to death
if it wasn't for you."
"I'll tell you what, though," Two-Bit snickered, following him.
"Ol' Dallas will sure be pissed that they didn't even mention his
record."
"Ain't that the truth."
Snorting, I shook my head and stepped into the kitchen, offering Pony a smile
as I grabbed a plate and slid a piece of cake onto it. When I turned around,
Pony's face had gone a little pale as he gazed down at the newspaper in his
hands.
"There's an article all about us," he said softly. His brow furrowed,
and when he lifted his gaze to meet mine his eyes were troubled. "They're
thinkin' of puttin' us in a home?" he demanded angrily, throwing down the
paper. "No way," he snapped, stomping towards the bathroom.
"They ain't puttin' me in no home."
Sighing, I bent down and picked up the paper, then moved into the living room,
dropping down onto the couch and tossing my apron onto the cushion beside me.
"Aww, hell, Ponyboy," Steve scoffed, giving me a warm smile before
turning to talk to my brother. "They don't do that to heroes."
Ponyboy didn't seem very reassured, combing his fingers through his bleached
locks anxiously in front of the mirror.
"Where is Soda and Superdope anyhow?" Steve asked, setting his cake
plate down on the coffee table.
I heard the shower curtain open inside the bathroom and Steve whistled, turning
his back in that direction, a smirk on his face. "Mornin', Mr.
Universe," he drawled. He opened his mouth to say something else, but was
cut off by Darry suddenly appearing behind him and hefting him off the ground.
"Super what?" Darry demanded, dropping him, and I laughed, shaking my
head.
Soda emerged from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist a moment
later, his hair dark and plastered to his face. "Darry, have you seen my
DX shirt?" he asked.
"No," Darry replied, shrugging a gray shirt over the wife-beater, and
rolling up the sleeves. "They're around here somewhere, though."
"Check in the dryer," I advised him.
"You've got to wear pants, too, buddy," Steve reminded him, holding
out a piece of his cake.
Soda waved him off, turning his attention towards me. "How about my
jeans?" he asked.
"Darry's closet," I answered immediately. "I ironed
yesterday."
"Thanks, sis," Soda said with a lopsided grin, pressing a kiss to my
cheek before bounding off into the bedroom.
I rolled my eyes, then looked over at Steve, who had chocolate all over his
upper lip. Smirking, I reached out and wiped it away with my thumb, but before
I could pull my hand away, his own hand came up to capture my wrist gently and
I found myself staring into his eyes. He had beautiful eyes, the kind that had
those dark, long lashes. I know girls who would have killed for lashes like
that.
The corners of his mouth twitched, and his head tilted forward as if he was
going to kiss me, but I pulled back, glancing pointedly at the others in the
room, though none of them were paying us any attention. Darry and Ponyboy were
talking quietly, from the snippets of conversation audible across the room it
sounded like they were discussing the juvenile court hearing we'd been told
about last night.
"Not here," I said softly, and though he looked disappointed, Steve
flashed me a rueful little smile before stepping away from me.
I opened my mouth to ask him when he was planning to talk to Soda about us, but
I forgot all about that when I heard what Ponyboy was saying. "I had one
of those dreams again last night. The one I can't ever remember."
I bolted into the kitchen just as Darry whirled around, white-faced and eyes
wide with fear. After Mom and Dad died, Ponyboy started to have these fitful
nightmares that would result in him waking up screaming bloody murder. The
worst thing was, he could never remember what the dream had been about. It
scared us all something fierce, but the doctors dismissed it as an overactive
imagination. The dreams had gotten less frequent over time, especially once
Soda began sharing a bed with him, but Ponyboy had never really gotten over it,
and neither had Darry.
"Was it real bad?" Two-Bit asked softly.
"No," Ponyboy answered, but the quiver of his lip said otherwise.
I took a step towards him and Darry started to speak, but Soda came romping
into the room with Steve at his heels, cutting the conversation short.
"You know what?" Soda said with a grin. "When we stomp the Socs
good, me and Stevie here are gonna throw a big party and everyone can get
ripped."
I smiled at his exuberance, Soda was always the happy-go-lucky kind of guy,
someone who could brighten up any room just by entering it.
"Where you gonna get the dough, little man?" Darry demanded.
"I dunno," Soda said as he dropped down onto the couch in his towel,
plopping his DX baseball cap on his head. "I'll think of somethin'."
"You gonna take Sandy to the party?" Ponyboy asked, and silence fell
over the room. "What's the deal?" he asked, confused.
I glanced at Soda's forlorn expression and my heart broke for him all over
again. Dammit, I thought. I should have told Ponyboy about Sandy.
"She went to live with her grandmother in Florida," Soda mumbled,
his gaze glued to the floor.
"How come?" Ponyboy frowned.
"Look," Steve snapped angrily, and I knew his anger was more at Sandy
than at Ponyboy. "It was either that or get married, and her parents
almost hit the roof at the idea of her marryin' a seventeen-year-old kid."
"Oh," Pony murmured.
There was a heavy silence, and then Darry clapped Soda on the shoulder.
"Better go get dressed, Pepsi-Cola," he said gently, using Dad's old
nickname for him. "We're gonna be late for work if you don't."
"Yeah," Soda said quietly, and slipped off to the bedroom to change.
I sighed, shaking my head, and leaned against the wall in exhaustion. Steve
propped himself up next to me, giving me a small, weary smile.
"I hate to leave you here by yourself, Ponyboy," Darry said slowly,
eyeing him worriedly. "Maybe I ought to take the day off."
"I've stayed by my lonesome plenty of times," Ponyboy argued.
"Besides, we can't afford for you to take a day off."
"Yeah, but you just got home and I really ought to stay..."
I bit my lip, seeing the turmoil evident in Darry's expression. Maybe I ought
to call in to the diner and switch out my shift, I'd been working so many extra
hours lately that I knew Ray would agree to give me the day off without
hesitation.
"Hell, I'll babysit him," Two-Bit offered with a grin, ducking as
Pony took a swing at him. He pushed his shoulder into Pony's stomach, knocking
them both to the floor. "I don't have anything better to do."
Steve made a noise of disgust. "Ever think about gettin' a job?" he
demanded, stepping over the wrestling boys. "Ever consider workin' for a
livin', Two-Bit?"
"Work?" Two-Bit gasped, wrapping his legs around Pony's ankles.
"And ruin my rep?" He rolled over, pining Ponyboy with an arm around
Pony's throat. "Holler uncle," he demanded.
"Nope," Pony said, struggling, but the past week had taken a lot out
of him and he didn't have the strength to fight Two-Bit off.
"Hey, Two-Bit, lay off," Darry ordered, picking up his construction
belt and draping it over his shoulder. "He ain't lookin' so good."
"Yeah," Pony rasped as Two-Bit rolled off of him and Darry gave him a
hand to his feet. "Lay off, Two-Bit."
"You two do up the dishes, you hear?" Darry asked. Ponyboy, you take
a couple of aspirins and go easy, will ya? If you smoke more than a pack today,
I'll skin ya. Understood?"
"Yeah," Pony muttered as Soda came back into the room, dressed in
jeans and his DX shirt over a white t-shirt, sleeves rolled up and barefoot.
"Soda," Steve moaned in exasperation, gesturing to his feet.
"Shoes..."
"Oh, right," Soda disappeared out of the room again.
"You carry more than one bundle of roofin' at a time today," Ponyboy
warned Darry. "And me, Soda and Lizzie here will skin you.
Understood?"
Darry actually grinned. "I hear ya," he promised with a nod as he
started for the door.
Grabbing my apron off the couch, I held it out to Steve. "Tie me?" I
asked, and he grinned slyly, reaching his arms around me to drape it across the
front of my dress, his fingers tracing along my hips longer than necessary, and
he stood close as he slowly tied the strings at the small of my back, his
breath hot on my neck.
"Lizzie," Darry called from the front porch. "Ready to go?"
"Yeah," I called back, my voice quivering slightly. "Be right
there."
Steve smirked down at me, not missing the reaction his close proximity had on
me. "Come on," he said, tugging on my ponytail, then darting out the
door after Darry. Soda came hurrying up alongside me, pulling on his shoes as
he ran, and I shook my head in amusement.
"Bye, ya'll," I called over my shoulder to Two-Bit and Ponyboy as I
bounded down the steps. Soda and Steve were already getting into Steve's car,
and Darry was reaching over to open the passenger side door of the truck, so I
climbed up into the seat next to him, buckling my seat belt.
"What took you?" Darry grunted as we pulled out.
"Huh?" I blinked. "Oh, nothing."
Glancing over at the other car, I caught Steve's eye and he winked at me before
he peeled out in the other direction.
"Nothing at all," I said with a smile.