Faith is Spelled R.I.S.K

Chapter 5

Bursting the Bubble

Disclaimer: I don't own any original characters...

Soda didn't have to work the next day, so we sat around playing cards in the living room. He beat me almost every single time. Must be all that practicing he's done with Steve.

I heard a knock on the door just before lunch. I was going to get up to get it, but I heard Darry say that he would instead. I heard him walk over to the door and open it.

A few minutes later, I could hear Darry walking towards the room that me and Soda were sitting in, and then I saw him stick his head in the door.

"Hey, Pony. There's someone here to see you." He said.

I put down my cards and walked out towards the front door. I was glad, in a way, to be getting away from the card game. I was being beaten, badly, and it was embarrassing.

I figured that it was probably Two Bit at the door, but as I approached it, I saw that the person standing outside, with their back turned to me, had long, red hair.

My heart skipped a beat. There was only one person I knew that had long, red hair. That was Cherry Valence.

As I got closer, she turned around, and I saw that it was Cherry. I could feel myself starting to smile for no apparent reason, other than being happy to see her. That's what she always did to me. Made me smile without any rhyme or reason. I was glad to see her nonetheless.

"Cherry?" I asked, wondering truthfully, why she was here.

She smiled that soft smile of hers, and reached out to hug me. "Hi Pony. How are you doing?"

I was almost at a loss for words. I had no idea what to say. "I'm fine, I guess. What are you doing here?" I asked, which was all I could manage to get out.

"I just thought it was high time I came to see you. Seeing in which I've practically ignored you all year at school. I am sorry about that by the way, but I've just been so busy, I'm sure you have too." She said, coming inside the door.

"Yeah, yeah, I've been real busy too. I've been doing all kinds of things. It uses up a lot of my time." I said. I wasn't quite sure if that was a lie or not. I had been busy, but I had still had time to think about Cherry. Why I never called her was beyond me. But now, I didn't have to, she was right here.

"Come on in." I said, leading her into the kitchen. I didn't want her to go to the living room, because Soda, and probably Darry were both in there.

We sat down on the couch, and we didn't say anything for a few minutes. The awkward silence really got to me, so finally, I thought of something to say.

"So, how are you?"

She smiled at me. "Oh, I'm fine Ponyboy." She said.

I couldn't think of anything else to say. Well, I knew something I wanted to say, but I definitely wasn't going to say it. I wasn't crazy, and I'm not about to tell her that I'm in love with her. I can just see it. 'Hi Cherry, it's a nice day, and by the way, I want to marry you.' I'm sure that would go real well.

I was lost in my thoughts when she spoke. "Pony, can I ask you something?" She said, turning to face me slightly.

I swallowed. Could she have read my thoughts? Was she going to ask me to marry her? Oh man, I'm way far-gone.

"Uh…sure…yea, go ahead." I said, trying not to sound nervous.

"How old is your brother?" She asked.

"Soda's 17." I answered, not knowing why she could possibly want to know that. Could it be that she liked him? Well, he has a girlfriend, she'd have no chance. I really have to stop talking to myself.

"No, I meant Darry." She replied.

This was even stranger. She couldn't like Darry. Not a chance. Oh, I'm doing it again! I keep talking to myself! Just answer her!

"Darry? He's 21, why?"

Cherry looked almost dreamy. "Really?" She said, sounding some what disappointed.

I was really confused by this time. "Yea…he is."

Cherry was silent for another minute. "Can I tell you something?"

"I guess so." I said, knowing I didn't have much choice in the matter anyway.

"When I first heard about Darry from you last year, he sounded really, really mean. I know you've worked things out since then, but I've always had the mental picture in my head of what he was like. Well, today, when I was standing at your door, and Darry was there, I…well…I thought that he was really handsome, and he seemed really nice. So, basically, what I'm trying to get at is…"

"Why I made him sound so mean?" I asked for her. Knowing that's probably what she wanted to know.

"Is he single?" She asked all of a sudden.

I couldn't move, I couldn't think. My heart dropped down to my knees and I was at a loss for words. Cherry…my Cherry, had a thing for my older brother? This can't be happening. This is just too much.

"Yea, Darry's single. But I'll warn ya, he don't date much. He's kinda secluded that way." I said. That wasn't really a lie. I knew that Darry wasn't much for dating, mainly because he never had any time. But I also knew that if he found the right girl, then he would. But Cherry wasn't the right girl. Cherry was mine, and I was gonna see to it.

Cherry nodded. "Ok, thank Pony. I have to go know, I'm a bit late for something, but it's been really nice talking to you again. We'll have to do it again soon, alright?" She said, standing up from the couch and heading towards the front door.

"Yeah, of course." I replied, trying to sound happy, while my insides were screaming to make her stay.

"Say hi to Darry and Soda for me, ok?" She asked, once we had reached the door.

I nodded. She went out the door. Then she turned back.

"Hey Pony, you see any good sunsets lately?" She asked with a smile.

I smiled back, and this was a genuine smile. "A couple." I said.

She flashed me one more smile, and then left for good. She didn't turn back, although I was hoping she would. I closed the door with a sigh.

The girl of my dreams is in love with my oldest brother. How wrong is that? Maybe if I was a bit older, good looking like Soda, and strong like Darry, she'd look at me. Maybe.

I walked back into the room where Soda was sitting. He wasn't playing cards anymore, because he had no one to play with, and he had no patience when he was playing any of those one-player games. Instead he was propped up on the chair, with his feet on the coffee table, eating.

"Hey Pony. What was that all about?" He asked, taking his feet off the table.

Once he saw the expression on my face, the smile on his vanished into a look of concern.

"Hey, Pony, what's wrong? What happened?" He asked, standing up and coming over to me.

"It was Cherry. She dropped by to say hi." I said, trying not to make eye contact.

"Cherry Valence?" Soda asked.

"Yeah, that's her."

"Well, if she just dropped by to say hi, that can't be the reason you're upset. You look absolutely devastated." Soda replied.

"Ok Soda. You know that Cherry was the first girl I've ever really liked…like that…right?" I said, trying not to sound completely stupid.

"Yea, sure, you talked about her non stop. Steve said I was bad for talking about Alyssa all the time, but you never stopped talking about Cherry there for quite a while. Nearly drove Darry crazy." He said, with a smirk.

"Well…she asked me today…if Darry was single." I said, swallowing.

Soda sat back down on the couch and exhaled a long breath. He rubbed his hand over his forehead before he spoke again.

"Wow. I'm really sorry Pony. That must be rough. I had no idea you cared about her that much. I thought it was just a crush. Isn't Darry a little too old for her though?"

"Can we just not talk about this, please Soda? Can you think of something else to talk about? I don't care, anything really, as long as it has nothing to do with Cherry." I said, choking back tears.

"Like what?" Soda asked.

"I don't care, anything. Just nothing about Cherry. You can talk about Alyssa for all I care, just not Cherry!" I said, trying not to sound mad, although I know I did. I wasn't mad at Soda. I don't know who I was mad at, but I was mad, hurt, confused.

"You're sure you want me to talk about Alyssa? Cause you know I can go on forever." He said, with a smile.

"Yeah, whatever." I said, still not looking up. I had managed to fight back the tears, but I still felt like I wanted to cry.

"Ok, in that case, I have to ask you something. I need your advice." Soda said, leaning back on the couch.

"Yeah, whatever." I said again.

"Ok, I need a place to take her tonight. We're going on a date, and I don't really want to take her to a movie again, because we always do that. I need something unique and exciting. Something she'd never expect. Some place special enough for her. I know you're good with the dreamy romantic stuff, and I'm really not, so I thought you'd be the perfect person to ask." Soda said.

"You could take her to Windrixville. It's a bit of a drive, but it's really nice up there. Go during sunset, it's really romantic." I said, not even thinking about the words that were coming out of my mouth.

"That sounds great, except for one problem."

"What's that?" I asked.

"I don't have a car." Soda replied, looking somewhat let down.

"Ask Darry if you can borrow the truck. You're a relatively good driver, I'm sure Darry will trust you. After all, it's all in the name of romance, right?" I said, managing a small smile.

Soda grinned. " Yeah. It's all romance all right. I suck at being romantic. Well…I'm good at the whole talking romantic thing, but when it comes to dates, I'm completely clueless." He said.

"How in the world will you ever survive when you get married someday? If you can't even think of a simple date?"

"I'll figure that out when the time comes. Don't worry, I don't think I'll be getting married for a while." Soda said, still grinning.

"Anyways, if you want a romantic date, go to where I told you. I guarantee you that she'll love it."

"That's a good idea. Thanks Pony. I'll see if I can't snag the truck for tonight." Soda said.

"Hey, if you don't, you could just hitch a ride on the train. Unless you have a problem with going at three am." I said, smiling.

Soda laughed and left the room, and I say there on the couch.

I was thinking about Darry and Cherry. Then I thought about Soda and Alyssa. The way I saw it, Soda always got the girl, always. Why couldn't I just get the one girl that I loved before I even knew it? Why couldn't I have been strong like Darry, or handsome like Soda? There was nothing special about me. Nothing really made me stand out from any of the other Greasers.

I never got the girl like Soda. I never played hard to get like Darry. I couldn't get numerous blonds like Two Bit, and I wasn't good with cars like Steve. I was just Ponyboy. Plain, ordinary, boring Ponyboy. Darry and Soda's kid brother.

Johnny always understood where I was. He never got into girls either like Soda, Steve and Dally had. He was average like I was. Even though we were the smallest, and basically the youngest ones in the gang, we could've gotten girls if we really tried, because there were two of us. But now, that it's just me, I can't do squat. I was ok with being average when Johnny was around. We may have always been seen as young and innocent, but at that point, I was ok with that. Now that I'm alone, it sucks. I'm alone, I really am. Everyone else has some great quality that they have. But not me, I'm still young and innocent, and as far as I can see, I always will be.

That night, I was still in a bad mood, so I slumped out to the kitchen to eat supper.

I didn't see Soda anywhere, so I guess he had succeeded in borrowing the truck from Darry, and it was just me and him at supper, which was a bit awkward.

I ate supper in silence. It wasn't that I didn't want to talk to Darry, I just didn't really want to talk to anyone.

Darry noticed though. After I had taken a couple bites, he turned to me.

"You're quieter than usual, Pony. Is everything ok?" He asked.

He really did sound like he wanted to know. But I really didn't want to tell him what Cherry had said. I didn't want to encourage anything, and as long as Darry didn't know Cherry liked him, nothing could happen between them.

"Nothing, I'm just tired." I lied.

Darry didn't buy it, but he wisely said nothing. He knew by now, that if something was really bothering me, and he asked me about it, if I gave a stupid answer, that I clearly didn't want to talk about it.

I didn't like ignoring Darry though, so I decided that I needed to start some kind of a conversation.

"So, did you hear about Curly Shepard?" I asked. That was really the only thing that I could think of to talk about that Darry would be really interested in.

Darry looked at me strangely.

"No, I haven't been talking to Tim for ages. Why, what happened?" He asked.

I swallowed. As much as I wanted conversation, I really didn't want to be the one to tell him about that.

"Well…he's dead. Some Soc was pushing him around and he threw a punch. He fell backwards and hit his head on cement. He was killed instantly." I said.

Darry didn't say anything for a few minutes.

"How did you find this out?" He asked.

"Two Bit and me ran into Tim the other day. He told us the whole story. We were both pretty shocked too." I said

"I'm surprised in a way, I guess. But in another way, I'm not. Curly was always one for getting himself into situations like that. I'm also thinking about a rumor I heard the other day, while I was at work." Darry replied.

"What's that?" I asked, taking a bite out of my meat. Rumors weren't uncommon in our part of the town, but they weren't always true either.

"About a certain rumble rematch. Tim Shepard apparently wants to have it in the vacant lot again, and he wants our outfit to help. You up to it? He asked.

"Another rumble?" I asked.

"Kinda to avenge Curly I guess. At least, that's the only reason I can think of that he would want to have one. Two Bit, Steve and Soda are already in." Darry said.

Soda was going to fight. I wonder how Alyssa would react. I really didn't like to fight, but I didn't want to seem like a chicken.

"Yea, I'm in." I replied.

I got up from the table and went to my room. I wasn't tired, and besides I wanted to stay up to wait for Soda to come home. I wanted to talk to him about the rumble.

Another rumble. This could turn out to be very interesting.

Ok that wasn't the best chapter I guess. But, the story does get better, especially if you are a fan of Soda...kinda like me...lol.

Please R&R!

Jess