Chapter 2

The next morning Emily woke up to the sound of Two Bit throwing up again and groaned as she buried her face in the pillow, not wanting to deal with any of this right now. "Em?" he called groaning slightly as he leaned back against the wall. "Could you get me a glass of water?"

Sighing, she pushed back the covers and got up, walking over to the kitchen rubbing her eyes, not surprised to find someone already sitting in there, "what do you want?" She asked somewhat sleepily as she passed by Sodapop to get to the sink.

He smiled and gave her a brotherly kiss on the cheek, "aren't you just wonderful in the morning."

Emily rubbed her eyes and said in a slightly agitated tone, "you would be annoyed too if you got home late last night from work to find your brother passed out on the floor and then woke up to the sound of him hurling." She grabbed a glass and filled it with water.

"How's he doin'?" Soda asked, "Darry said I should check on him…said he didn't look so good yesterday."

"Go see for yourself," she said and handed him the glass "I got to change…I have to work today, he's in the bathroom."

Soda took the glass and knocked on the door to the bathroom "Two Bit?"

"Heya Soda," he grinned as he pushed the door open with his foot, "come on in."

"Man you look like you've been through hell," he said sitting down next to him and handing him the water.

"Well, in a way, yeah," he rubbed his eyes drinking some of the water, "what are you doing here?"

"Came to see how you were doing, superman was worried about you," he replied as he watched Two Bit. "You look like you had enough to drink for all of us, sorta wish I could have gotten drunk, better than sitting up all night and having to think about it."

"Let me tell you it didn't help as much as I thought it would," Two Bit as he finished the water, "I haven't had a hang over this bad in ages."

"Maybe it'll teach ya to lay off the beers for a little while," Soda said, and then when heard the snort of disgust from Two Bit, he smirked, "Didn't think so." He looked down at his hands and then said, "the funeral is at two tomorrow, you comin'?"

"'Course I'm coming," Two Bit said, surprised that he would even ask, "Emily is comin' with me."

"You going to be sober when ya come?"

"Now that, I can't promise," he said with a shrug, "although I don't think Emily will stand for me to be drunk at a funeral." he rubbed his eyes again.

Soda smirked "Well at least there's a chance you'll be sober. Want me to drive Emily to work for you? You don't look like you're in a position to drive."

"Yeah, that'd be great," he said and stood up slowly. "I'm gonna go lie down, see you later Soda."

Soda stood and went to wait in the living room until Emily came out, and when she did he looked up, "I'm supposed to take you to work today, Two Bit's got too big of a hangover."

"I figured as much I can walk though, not a big deal," she replied as she grabbed her bag, and her nametag. She worked at a drug store only a few blocks from their house for past three years, part time of course, while she was in school. At sixteen, she was a junior and even though she wouldn't ever admit it to Two Bit, it was embarrassing that she was now in the same grade as her own brother, who was two years older.

"It's okay, I got to pick up some aspirin for Darry anyway, he went a little over board yesterday carrying shingles."

"Back rub didn't help?" she asked surprised. Soda was famous for his backrubs, and while she never had one, they'd always seemed to work for Darry.

"It helped some, just not enough and my hands got too tired." Soda shrugged and led her out the car, "So how are you holdin' up?"

"Well I'm alive," she shrugged with a sigh, "I just…I miss Dally and Johnny. I keep expecting to see them, you know, hanging out on the corner or bursting into our house at all hours of the night looking for a place to sleep or to watch Mickey Mouse on TV…" she sighed and stared out the window.

Soda pushed some hair out of her eyes gently, "Don't worry about it Em, we're all expecting the same thing, only it's not gonna happen." He pulled his hand away and started the car. "Things just won't be the same around here I guess."

"No they won't," she agreed softly as she looked out the window, she changed the topic and asked, "Have you heard from Sandy?"

Soda paused, and an awkward silence hung in the air as he took a deep breath and shook his head, "No," he said sadly, "I haven't…she… doesn't want anything to do with me."

"Well she was a jerk anyway," she shrugged, "you can do much better than that Sodapop Curtis."

"I don't know Em," he said softly shaking his head. "There isn't ever gonna be someone like Sandy." He pulled out the driveway and started driving her towards work.

"You're right," Emily replied, "there's going to be someone better." She smiled as Soda looked back over at her and his reckless smile came back.

"Maybe your right," he said as he pulled up in front of the drugstore a few minutes later. "Anyway, here you are."

She nodded and got out, "Oh I almost forgot…I have something for Pony coulda give it to him for me?" she asked, and when he nodded she fished a small black book out of her bag.

Soda raised an eyebrow, "he doesn't have enough numbers to fill even one page in that thing!"

Emily rolled her eyes, "It's not that kind of book; it's a journal/sketchbook thing. I thought maybe he would like to write, someplace to jot down those dreams of his."

Soda smiled and took the book from her, "I'm sure he'll like it, I'll pass it on."

"Say hi to everyone for me," she replied, "and if Pony and Steve don't want to do our usual Friday night poker game…they don't have to."

Soda nodded, "sure… I'll let 'em know, see you later kid."

Emily rolled her eyes at the name and slid out of the car, shutting the door and headed into work.