I woke up, sighing at the loud noise of the gang roughin' about in the kitchen. Usually, I would've joined 'em but I felt real exhausted from the night before. I'm sure I coulda' drank my heart out if I stayed in that run down bar any longer than I did. I don't remember how I ended up on the Curtis' couch yet again, but I got a feeling Darry dragged me back here. That's happened more than once.
I sat up slowly, listening to see what they were shoutin' about in the kitchen this time. Probably just Steve or Soda goofing off. I was about to put my head back down but Darry walked into the living room, a glass of water in his hand.
"Hey, Two." Darry said with a slight strain in his voice.
He sat down next to me on the tattered couch and handed me the glass of water. "This for me? Ya didn't have to, Dar." I smiled, punching his shoulder playfully with my free hand.
"Yeah, drink that up. You got bad alcohol breath."
I downed the water and placed it on the coffee table, hearing a little clink. "Thanks, man," I took a deep breath. "How much did I drink anyway?"
"Dunno, came to Buck's place to make sure Soda wasn't gettin' into trouble and you were there, sweet talkin' some broad. You were mighty drunk," Darry laughed. He didn't laugh like that much. I wish he would.
"I'm assumin' ya dragged me back here?" Darry nodded. Our little conversation was soon brought to an end by Steve and Soda arguing over some stupid thing that musta happened months ago.
"Hey, quit nagging off in there!" Darry yelled in a rough voice. "I'll be back in a sec, Two,"
"Aight," I mumbled as Darry got up to scold Steve and Soda. They were always up to somethin'.
A few minutes later, Steve stomped out into the living room, huffing some nonsense under his breath. "Superdope's always gotta get mad at me one way or another, doesn't he?"
I closed my eyes and crossed my arms. Steve kept muttering angrily. "Ya gonna answer me, Two-bit?"
Ah, Steve was in that mood again. "Aw, you wanna talk to me? I'm flattered!" I teased.
"Real funny, Two-bit." Steve sighed.
"What's got ya so mad for, anyway? Dar's always scoldin' you and Sodapop for somethin' anyway, ain't he?" I said as I opened one of my eyes.
"Yeah, just– it's nothin'. I'm gonna have a weed or somethin." Steve paced around before opening the front door and leaving.
"What went up his ass.." I whispered to myself.
I sat up a little straighter, yawning the tired outta me. I heard whispering from the kitchen that sounded like Darry and Soda. Somethin' musta happened between Steve and Soda, I thought. They'd be fine.
I saw Soda run out of the kitchen a couple minutes later, quickly waving at me before bolting down the hallway and into his room. Darry came out into the living room again and sat in his dad's old armchair, sighing.
"You good, Dar?" I asked.
"Yeah, Steve and Soda were just bickering about somethin'. They got real worked up over nothin'." Darry put his head in his hands.
I'll admit, I was getting a little worried. Usually, Darry kept his guard up, trying to act like "Superman" in front of everyone else. He musta been real stressed. Though, it was real interestin' to see this side of Darry, the real side.
"You wanna drink or somethin'?" I didn't know what else to say, other than to offer him a drink. I dunno if alcohol appeals as much to Darry, though.
He thought about my offer for a second before opening his mouth. "Naw, maybe later, Two."
I nodded and kept quiet. It felt like I coulda watched a whole entire episode of Mickey or somethin' before Darry said anything again. I made occasional jokes to try and lift the tension in the air but of course that didn't do shit.
"I just– I don't know what to do anymore," Darry said in almost a whisper. "This doesn't feel right, I feel like I should be doin' more, y'know?"
I didn't really know what he was gettin' at, so I just mumbled a small "Yep," and listened.
"Life, it just– it feels the same everyday. All I do is work and take care of the boys. And I'm probably doin' a real shit job of that, Ponyboy's probably real sick of me nagging 'em all the time. I just want the best for them. But, it's a struggle to even pay the bills."
I tried to say something but nothing came out. It almost scared me because I'm Two-bit and I always got somethin' to say. I gotta get my two-bits in, but I couldn't at that moment. It scared me how real Darry was being. He seemed so stressed over just Steve and Soda arguing, but it coulda been a real breaking point for him.
"Man, I'm sorry. You're not doin' a shit job, I can assure ya that. Your brothers are probably the luckiest kids, y'know? They got someone good to look after 'em." I tried to muster a smile.
I got up from the couch and knelt down on the floor next to Darry's armchair. Looking up at him, I put my hand on top of his. I know I'm real bad at trying to comfort people and not crack a joke for once, but I really did try.
Darry looked down at me and tried to crack a small grin. He didn't move his hand. "Thanks, Two. I think I kinda needed to hear that,"
"Yeah," I said while nodding.
Darry took a deep breath and glanced up at the old yellowed ceiling before his eyes met with mine again. "To be frank, I dunno why I told ya that. It feels like you would be the last person I would talk feelings with but at the same time, it feels right, y'know?"
Darry had a point there. Even I was a bit shocked he would tell me 'bout this stuff. I dunno, I'm not really a feelings person. I just drink away my feelings half the time. But, it kinda made me happy to know he trusted me.
"Yeah, same here," I said in the softest tone I could.
I finally took my hand off his and smiled one more time before lookin' down at the floor. I stood back up and skipped over to the couch, flopping down onto it, my face meeting the cushion.
I heard the armchair creak and Darry's voice sort of exclaiming, "Shit, I gotta pick up Pony from school. I don't really want him walkin' home with them Socs roaming 'round."
I chucked. That really was a "Dad" thing for him to say. "Hey, what's so funny, Keith?" Darry said teasingly, swatting my head with some newspaper lyin' around while putting emphasis on my name.
"Nothin's funny, Dad." I shot back, sitting back up on the couch.
"Quit the smart talk," Darry said, shooting me a smirk. "Anyway, wanna come with me to pick up Pony?"
"Yeah, I mean, what's the point in sayin' no?" I smiled as I walked over to the front door, puttin' my old brown boots on.
Darry put his work boots on as I held open the door for him. "Ladies first," I smirked, jokingly bowing down. Darry rolled his eyes and unlocked the truck.
We both hopped in and I sighed. "You tired?" Darry asked.
"Yeah, a little,"
"Aight, you can rest a bit in here then," I felt a hand in my hair ruffling it. Darry usually only does that with his kid brothers.I felt pretty warm, it was nice. Hadn't felt that for a while.
We buckled up and drove off, heading in the direction of Pony's school 10 minutes down the road. We sat in a weird silence for a while before stopping at a light, Darry's arm going around my shoulder.
He didn't do that often either.
"And what's that for, lil' lady?" I smirked.
"Quit bein' such a tease," Darry mumbled.
"Never."
I laughed and looked out the window. I was happy that I'd connected with Darry more and got to see a different side of him. A real side that maybe his brothers didn't even see. It felt weird that he'd trust me with those feelings but I'd take my chances. Helpin' a friend can't hurt, right?
The light went green and we sped down the street. I rolled down the window letting some breeze run through my hair. It felt nice. Me and Dar were laughin' for no reason the rest of the way to the school.
We arrived at the school and Darry stopped the truck, hearing a small screech as we slowed down. He pulled into a parking spot all messy and way too fast, it was pretty damn funny. I figured I could make a tease.
"And I thought you were s'posed to be the safest driver outta all of us, Darrel." I snickered.
"Guess not,"
We waited for a few minutes for Pony to get outta school, and I don't know if it was just me but I really wanted to just go back to the Curtis place, drink some beer and watch some TV.
Soon enough, the kid came runnin' out of the building with a notebook in his hand. He opened the back door and hopped into the truck, giving us weird looks as he did so.
A weird smile twisted on his face as he laughed a bit. "And what are you two lovebirds up to?"
"Huh?" Me and Darry both froze.
"You'll know what I mean in a week," Pony muttered.
"Alright kid, sure." Darry rolled his eyes and we began driving back.
I mean, kid's smart. He wasn't wrong.
