I sat around the house all day and wondered why Darry hadn't yelled and bitched at me.
It seemed like he had finally had it with me. I couldn't even think straight. Maybe Lacy will know what to do. If I can find her damn number. I shuffled through a bunch of papers and drawers. And while I was searching I found I bag of rubbers that had a big "S" on the front. Obviously it belonged to Sodapop. Ever since he and Melissa got Married last summer, they've spent almost every waking hour together. And so have Darry and Jess, but who knows if he'll ever pick it up and propose. Anyway, I figured that I'd take a few. Soda won't notice.
Finally after tripping over a few things and stumbling across a "interesting" letter from Sandy to Soda, I finally found Lacy's number. 438-8649.
The phone rang three times and finally Lacy's dad answered.
"What?" he said. He sounded kind of sauced.
"Hi Jimmy," I said slowly "Is Lacy there?"
"Lacy?" he asked.
"Your daughter."
"Right, hang on." I could here him yelling her name. "Get over here!"
"Hello?" the familiar voice said.
"Hey Lace,"
"Hey Kimi!" she said sweetly. I loved how she called me that; She was the only one who actually did. "What's happenin?"
"Well--" and I told her the whole story.
"How could he do that to you?" she said abruptly, "you're not gonna stay with him are you?"
"Well, I," I started.
"Kim! You're not serious are you?"
"Well, he-he said we were drunk and, it's not like he meant to."
"You were drunk?" she said surprised.
"You act like I've never been wasted before"
"Not bad enough to let something like this to happen!" he said angrily
"Look Lacy, I didn't ask your opinion, I just-"
"If you didn't want my opinion why'd you call?"
"I just needed to tell someone," I said helplessly. "I thought I could tell you of all people," there was a long silence. "but I guess I was wrong." I slammed the phone down.
Great. That's just great. Now my brother and my best friend are pissed at me. I felt kinda sick so I lied down for awhile and before I knew it, it was the next morning.
----------------------------
As soon as I opened my eyes a throbbing pain in my stomach told me to run to the bathroom. After throwing up a few times I felt really weak so I layed down again.
Man my head hurt something bad.
I finally got up around an hour later. I still felt a little shaky.
I glanced over to the clock; it flashed 10:08 AM. What can I do? Lacy's pissed at me, Soda's at work, Darry's out roofing, and who knows where the hell Ponyboy is. Maybe Liss and Jess can do something with me…
Ring, ring…
" Hello?" Jess answered
"Hey Jess" I said casually.
"Kim. Hi, how ya' feelin?" she asked immediately.
I tried to play it cool. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"Well, uh--"
"Lacy told you didn't she?"
"Well, yeah." she admitted
"God damn it. Some friend she is huh?" I said I little angrily.
"Kim, we had to drag it outta her, she didn't want to tell us."
"Right"
"Kim, come on." she said.
"Alright well, what are ya'll up to?"
"We're just hangin out"
"Who's over?" I asked.
"Uh, you know, Lissa and Kit are here, Pony's here too."
"Oh, so that's where he's been?"
"Yeah, him and Kit have been making out in the bedroom this whole time" I couldn't help but laugh, and apparently neither could Jess, I could hear Lissa in the background too.
"How long have them two been together now?"
"Uh, I don't know, a few months I think. Four or five."
"Right. Ok, well, I'll talk to you later and then maybe we can all do something later okay?"
"Alrighty" she said cheerfully, and the line went dead. Now what?
I tried to do some stuff to take my mind off the whole situation.
I sat around the house for the whole day doing absolutely nothing. There's nothing on TV and no good books worth reading. I'm so bored. I finally figured I'd go for a walk down to the lot and back, why not? I walked down and sat against the fence for a while. A few hours actually. I just thought about everything, Adam, Lacy, that night two years ago… So much for not thinking about it. I sat there until it got pretty dark and realized I should get home before Darry so he didn't hate me anymore then he already did. It was freezin anyways.
When I got home Soda was there but thank god Darry wasn't.
"Hey Pop," I said as I strolled in.
"Hey Kim," He said sweetly, "How ya' feeling?"
I sighed heavily. "You have no idea how many people have asked me that today."
"I-I was just askin…sorry"
"It's alright, I was just saying is all"
"Oh, okay." he said.
"How was your day?" I asked him.
"It was ok, you know, just workin, how bout you?"
"It was good, I was just uh, here all day and I walked down to the lot."
He was quiet.
"Soda," I started, "Is Darry mad at me?"
He looked up from his newspaper. "Come here," he slid over to one side of the couch.
I sat down next to him and he put his arm around me.
"He just, doesn't want you to get out of control that's all."
"Well, I know I just, I can't stay a kid forever"
"and he knows that, he just doesn't want you to do something stupid," he told me.
"So, he expects me to?"
"That's not what I said." Soda protested.
"You didn't have to."
"Just, don't give him a reason to be mad at you, okay?"
"Thanks Sodapop. I'm lucky to have a brother like you." I hugged him tightly.
"I'll see ya in the morning"
At least I still got Sodapop.