Author's Note "Hey, Sorry for taking so long to update, i went on holiday for a week and since i got back I've been working loads, but I've finally finished chapter 8. Hope you enjoy it. Promise to update soon! Thanks for all your reviews. TheCruiser9, BlacklightningDX, Zigzag'squeen, icy-dropletz, and Banana4422, and anyone else who has read my story, thanks! Please keep reading and reviewing and I'll keep writing!" Anyway...on with the story!
"Steve, anything you want me to do before I go?" Soda said as he glanced up at the clock. Nearly five O'clock.
"Nope, I think I've just about got it covered. So I guess I'll see you in the morning Romeo." Steve laughed as he wiped his brow, smothering his forehead in oil.
"Ha! Steve, you got oil on your head again!" Soda laughed as he picked up his jacket. "Well, see you later."
Soda swung his jacket over his shoulder and began the short distance home.
As he approached the house, music could be heard. This distinct sound was common in this house and made Sodapop smile. As he opened the door the music was blasting into his ears. He walked over to the record player and turned it down.
"Hey little man. What you doing turning that down? I was listening to that." Darry asked as he walked into the sitting room. He was standing, wearing a pair of jeans. His hair was neatly greased and his muscles were definite.
"You were listening to it? But, you were the one who said we had to watch the volume." Soda's face was confused and he struggled to find words to express his feelings.
"I know, but Soda, a little music around the place will cheer things up a bit. I'm not going to be in tonight. I'm taking Lucy to The Dingo then to the nightly double. Should be fun." Darry said as he adjusted his hair in the mirror.
"The Dingo? But isn't that where Pony's going? Why would you want to go there?" Soda looked puzzled. "And since when did you ask Lucy out? You haven't told me."
"Just today. Oh, we talked for ages and it was great. We clicked. Sodapop, I want to thank you for helping me. You know if it wasn't for our talk, well I wouldn't be going out tonight." Darry smiled. He looked really happy. "I'm going to The Dingo first to get some food and talk. Not to keep an eye on Ponyboy if that's what you're thinking. But I'll check who he's hanging out with. Might even extend his curfew."
Soda looked at Darry in disbelief. "Extending his curfew? Geez, Darry you've lost it! You must be really sweet on this girl."
"I'm just looking forward to it. Like I said, this is the first date in ages. Just want to have a good time and for it to go well. See Pepsi, it's okay for you. Girls have always liked you. You've been on loads of dates. So having a girlfriend is no big deal to you. But for me it is. Most girls don't even give me a chance because I come with excess baggage. No offence. Not like I'm classing you and Pony as baggage. You know I wouldn't have it any other way. Its just most girls don't want to know you when you've already got a family to look after. Means they'd come second or third even. But I guess it's just nice to get out."
Soda looked at Darry. He was washed with realisation. Looking after him and Pony was even hard on Darry when it came to girls. He hadn't realised. He guessed it must be because Darry doesn't like to show his feelings much. It made him feel a bit sad because Darry had sacrificed so much to give Pony and he, opportunities.
"So what you up to tonight Sodapop?" Darry cut into Soda's trail of thoughts leaving him a bit dazed. "You seeing Tori?"
"Em. Yeah. I, I was gonna ask if it would be okay if I cooked her a meal and we stayed in tonight since you guys are out?" Soda stuttered.
"Yeah don't see why not. As long as you do the washing up! Ha. What's up with cooking Tori a meal? Do you love her?"
"What? No, I don't know. Stop it Darry. I just thought it would be nice." Soda's skin turned crimson.
"So, you don't love her, or sorry, you don't know if you love her. But you want to cook her a meal. Something's going on. You don't usually cook girls meals." Darry teased. "Hey look, your face is all red."
"Darry. Quit it. Tori's different. You know that. She's fun and even if we don't do nothing it's still good. I can have silences with her that are comfortable and when I'm going to see her I get excited. I don't know, it's kinda nice. Different." Soda looked at Darry, awaiting a snigger.
"That's real nice Sodapop, but I say, this broads got you falling for her. Lets just hope things work out."
Soda smiled. It was rare that he and Darry had conversations such as this, but when it did happen it was nice.
About an hour and a half later, Soda had begun cooking the meal. Spaghetti Bolognese. Except the pasta was actually blue in colour. Sodapop liked adding food colouring to his cooking. He believed that if food was coloured and looked good it would taste extra good. The pasta had cooked and the sauce was ready. Soda set the table, a candle in the middle. It wasn't anything fancy but it sure was nice. He went into his bedroom to get changed. Ponyboy was sitting on his bed combing his hair back.
"Hey Pony. Hope you're gonna be gone by seven." Soda suggested.
"Yeah. Don't worry. Darry's dropping me off at The Dingo before he picks Lucy up. I'll be gone. Won't be back till later either."
"Good." Soda said glancing at his watch it was ten to seven.
Suddenly Darry shouted from his room. "Ponyboy lets get goin. Don't wanna be late!"
Pony looked at Sodapop and stood up. "Well have a good night." He said as he walked out of the room.
A few minutes later Soda heard the front door close and walked into the sitting room after changing his shirt. The next ten minutes seemed to drag. Soda felt nervous. Seven pm passed by. Followed by five past. Tori must not be coming Soda thought to himself, just as the doorbell rang. His heart rate increased rapidly and his palms became hot and clammy.
"Thanks. Soda this is real nice. I've never had anyone cook me a meal before." Tori smiled at Sodapop as she scooped up some blue pasta onto her fork.
"You're welcome. Do you actually like it?"
"Yeah. It's nice. I like this. Just doing things together. It's nice hanging with your gang, but it is nice just being by ourselves." Tori hesitated she looked at Soda awaiting his reaction.
"I know. You look beautiful."
Tori blushed. "Thanks."
An hour or so later Tori and Soda had washed up and were lying on the settee.
Soda began stroking her hair. They began to kiss and quickly became carried away. Soda put his hand up Tori's top and things started to become heated. The two lovers were kissing passionately and decided to move things into Soda's room.
Tori unzipped Sodapop's fly, and slowly pulled his jeans down. Standing in her bra she looked up at Soda and said; "You okay?"
Soda looked at her reassuringly. "Yeah I'm okay. I'm ready." Tori smiled. Soda smiled back.
The next morning Soda awoke with a smile. He got up and went to work. Steve was already there.
"Hey buddy," Steve called. "Whoa, you look happy. What's happened?" Steve stood up.
"Nothin'" Soda replied unconvincingly. It was clear to Steve that he was lying after all the wacky grin told it all.
"Nothin'? Don't make me laugh. You aint smiling like that for no reason. You got laid didn't you?" a smile spread across Steve's face. He looked mischievous and handsome.
"Okay, so maybe something did happen but really Steve, why should I tell you?" Soda joked.
"How about because I'm your best friend?"
"Yeah okay. You got me. We did it." Soda replied, still grinning.
"You did what? Geez Soda, there's plenty of things you coulda done." Steve jested.
"I had sex with Tori. There. You happy?" Soda stated.
"Woohoo! This is a cause for celebration. How was it? Your first time I mean? Was it how you expected!" Steve mocked Soda and began to do a strange scoffing dance.
"Ha! Randle, you're crazy! Yeah it was good. Great in fact. Better than what I expected." Soda stood back and watched his crazy friend making a fool out of himself while he reflected the previous night.
"Sodapop Patrick Curtis. I am impressed. You've seen the light. You have become a man. Congrats and all that." Steve laughed as he went to shake Sodapop's hand.
"Shoot, Steve it's not that big of a deal."
"Soda it is. Anyway, did Darry go on that date?"
"Yeah he sure did. Don't really know how it went. He didn't get in till three am, and he stayed in bed this morning; his holidays at work have started." Soda paused. "Guess if he stayed out all night, it must have went well.
"Yeah, maybe. Unless it went bad and they spent the whole night arguing." Steve suggested thoughtfully.
"Guess we'll find out later." Soda said.
A week passed by and school was over. Ponyboy had decided to take a writing class up over summer, funded by the school. His teacher had encouraged him to do so, as his writing skills had improved somewhat over the passed three-month. Plus Darry said he ought to go to improve his chances of going to college. Sodapop and Steve were both three days into their summer vacation and had done absolutely nothing constructive at all, much to Darry's dislike. Darry had been off work a week now, and in that time, he had done a bit of gardening, fixed a few things around the house, and generally kept busy. Other than that he had also seen Lucy a few times. Sodapop and Ponyboy had decided that this was the happiest and weirdest they had ever seen Darry. After all, he had started to sing and generally seemed more relaxed. They thought this was because he was out enjoying himself with someone other than the gang. Maybe he was actually loosening up. But Ponyboy highly doubted that.
It was the morning of Dally's third party while he was looking after Buck's house. He had invited only twenty people this time as the last party he had, started to get out of control.
Tori was sitting on a swing talking to Kirsten, Leigh and Shelly.
"Shelly you have got to come!" Tori pleaded.
"Yeah I know, there is no way you can miss another party!" Leigh exclaimed.
"But I don't want to go. Really it sounds real fun; you and Two-Bit eating each other's faces, Kirsten and Steve at it and you will be with Sodapop all night, Tori. It just doesn't sound fun. You guy's I'd just prefer to stop at home." Shelly explained.
"Shoot, Shelly, that's not what happens at all." Kirsten looked at Shelly. "And you know you could hook up with someone at the party. You've got nothing to worry about. Just come for an hour or so and if you don't like it you don't have to stop?"
"Okay. But I'm only stopping one hour. And I hope that Dallas Winston keeps his distance." Shelly stated.
"I don't get you Shell, you make no sense. When no one spoke to him, you were like 'oh that Dallas Winston is so HOT! Wouldn't mind taking him home'. And now you've got the chance to speak to him, all of a sudden you don't like him?" Leigh enquired.
"It's not that. I still think he's hot, it's just he's a bad boy. And I don't want to get involved with rotten apples. It's too risky." Shelly looked at her friends.
"Yeah, but wasn't that why you were attracted to him in the first place? His bad boy image?" Tori asked inquisitively.
"Yeah so. Just drop it okay. Nothing is going to happen between me and that hood." Shelly blushed.
Dally's party was packed. People were all over, drinking, making out, and having a good time. The party had been going for several hours now, and the amount of alcohol being consumed was slowly starting to decline as more and more greasers had become so drunk they had passed out or went home.
"You know, Shelly's looking hot tonight!" Two-Bit exclaimed as he took a long draw from his smoke stick. Dally looked at him and then to her, his vision blurred from the amount of alcohol he had drank. He lit a cigarette and slowly started to speak.
"Yeah I guess so. But you've got a chick. Speaking of her, where is she?" Dally asked squinting his eyes around the smoke filled room in attempt to see Leigh, however, this would have been impossible even if she was in the room as Dally was steadily loosing his sight as he poured more liquor down his throat.
"She's gone to the toilet. I'm going up there in a minute." Two-Bit winked to imply the deeds he was about to do.
"Yeah, shoot go on already. You're making me wanna puke!" Dally laughed, slapping his pal on the back.
He stood propped up against the frame of the kitchen door, staring into space. Suddenly a blurred vision of what he thought was Shelly, started walking towards him, and he could have sworn he heard her say something. If she had of said something, surely Dally wouldn't have heard it as her soft quiet voice would be drowned out by his intoxication and the beating music. However Dally was not phased by the fact he was pissed. She stood in front of him. He smiled and opened his mouth to speak but no words emerged. Just a big, smelly burp. Dally's eyes widened as he realised what had happened, if he had, had slightly less to drink perhaps he would have been embarrassed but he was too drunk to be. He tried again to speak, but Shelly put her finger to his lips and quietly whispered "Shhh" in his ear. Dally was intrigued. What was she doing?
Suddenly she opened her mouth, Dally expected to hear something along the lines of "You're a disgusting pig." However what he did hear was somewhat different. Shelly belched too. Dally was shocked. Shelly started to laugh, as Dally joined in, the pair looked at each other and immediately started making out.
Soda, Tori, Steve and Kirsten were standing a small distance away and had watched the whole event.
"Ewww! That is so disgusting." Kirsten said looking at Steve, "If you ever did that to me I'd be appalled."
"Ha. Yeah it was pretty sick." Steve replied. "I mean, Geez, she is a girl. Girls don't burp."
"Shoot, Steve. You're so naïve." Tori laughed.
"Yeah, I know. But that's what makes me cute." Steve said looking at Kirsten.
The party ended, and what seemed like the beginning of a new romance to Shelly had simply been another kiss to Dally. She was saddened by the idea that he had kissed her without intentions to follow through with a relationship, but soon decided it was best that way, after all Dally was unreliable, and unpredictable. However much Shelly convinced herself she did not like him, she didn't believe it. But she guessed that's just the way life is. A bitch.
Days turned into weeks and the weeks passed into the month. Soda and Steve were back to work, accompanied by Steve's broken finger and a few black eyes, from countless rumbles. The summer was nearly over. Ponyboy had been inspired to write a book by his summer writing teacher. The book was entitled "My Life. By Ponyboy Michael Curtis", although he had barely wrote three chapters he insisted it would be finished by September, when he would return to school. Darry, was proud of the fact Ponyboy was taking time to document his life and attend summer school. Meanwhile Darry had been spending an awful lot of time with Lucy. While it wasn't official they were going out, everyone sort of guessed they were and Lucy became a frequent member of the gang. Steve had become closer to Kirsten although mainly in a sexual way. They both needed the reassurance and stability of sex, but didn't seem to bother with each other otherwise. Soda and Tori became frequent lovers and had begun to engulf themselves deeper into each other. Tori began to sleep at Soda's more and more. Dally still had Buck's house although he had word from his rodeo partner that he would be returning soon.
Kirsten and Tori were sitting in Kirsten's bedroom talking.
"I'm telling you I'm not into Steve the way you dig Soda. Steve, and me well, were different, think of us as sex partners. That's all we are. Except that I don't think we have anything to talk about!" Kirsten explained as she brushed her hair. "What about you do you love Sodapop?"
"I don't know. I've never been in love. I thought I loved Ethan Matthews but what I had with him is nothing compared to what I've got now. It's so intense. I love it!" Tori explained getting slightly excited.
"Ah, that's cute. What would you do if he said he loved you!" Kirsten questioned.
"I don't know. I wouldn't say it back unless it felt right. "
Morning arrived just as it had done many times before. Kirsten, Shelly and Leigh were sitting in The Dingo having breakfast. Soda, Steve, Two-Bit and Ponyboy arrived.
"Hey, fancy seeing you here." Two-Bit remarked walking over to the table.
"Yes, sir-ee. Never guessed you guys would be here." Kirsten laughed.
"Where's Tori?" Soda asked concerned.
"Oh, she didn't feel too good and decided to sleep it off." Kirsten stated.
"She okay?" Soda's voice became shrill and concerned.
"Geez, Pop, calm down. She felt a little unwell. Not like you're never gonna see her again." Steve teased.
Soda smiled, and attempted a halfhearted laugh.
Later that day, Soda went round to Kirsten's house to see Tori.
"What's up? Heard you aint feeling too good?" Soda asked as he drew closer to the bed in which Tori lay.
"I'm okay, just feeling a bit sick. And my backs all achy. Guess I must have ate something rotten." Tori replied sitting up. "Nothing to worry about though."
Soda smiled. "Was a bit worried about you."
Tori smiled. "Ah, I guess you really care huh? Well there's no need to worry really I'm feeling much better just felt a little rotten earlier on."
"Good. I'm glad."
Soda grinned. For a moment, he was really worried. He thought about it and decided it was because he was letting himself get really close to Tori, and maybe Darry was right, maybe he was falling for her. Whatever he felt for Tori, he was pretty sure that she felt it back.