Another update for you all! This chapter is a little shorter than most of the others, but I hope you all enjoy it nonetheless!
(Ponyboy's POV)
The night that we found out Soda and Steve were alive, Darry and I couldn't contain our happiness. We remade dinner, and by the time we were washing the dishes, Two-Bit stopped by. He immediately noticed a difference in our attitudes.
"What's got you two so happy?" Two-Bit asked, still not quite himself.
I whipped around so fast that water dripped from my hands and flung across the whole floor. "Soda called!" I cheered.
Two-Bit froze and looked like he saw a ghost, and in a way, his reaction was ironically fitting. He gave Darry a strange look. "The kid's off his rocker, Darry," he whispered.
Darry chuckled. "No Two-Bit, Soda really called. He's alive. So is Steve."
"What?!" Two-Bit's eyes bulged out of his head. He carefully sat down in a chair before he spoke again. "Where have they been? What happened?"
Darry glanced at Two-Bit, then at me, and a weird look crossed his face. "Finish the dishes for me, Pone. I need to talk to Two-Bit outside."
"Darry-" I started, but he gave me a stern look. I was determined to get information out of him, but I let it slide. For now. "Fine."
After Darry and Two-Bit disappeared, I tried focusing on the dirty dishes, but I couldn't think about anything except the fact that my brother and Steve were both alive.
A few weeks passed and we still hadn't heard from Soda again. Darry didn't seem too worried, but he knew more than I did, so I figured he might've known why it was taking so long to hear from our brother.
It was midday on a Saturday when I approached Darry as he was making lunch. I walked up to him and leaned against the wall to look nonchalant, even though on the inside I felt anxious and impatient. "Darry, what did Soda tell you?"
He froze for a moment before he looked at me. "What do you mean?"
"He obviously told you something that you don't want me to know, but Two-Bit gets to know." I was doing my best not to look or sound irritated, but I wasn't sure I was succeeding. "I'm not a kid anymore, you can tell me these things."
Darry looked hard at me, and then sighed. "I'm sorry, Pone, but I can't tell you much. First of all, I don't know a lot, but Soda also doesn't want you worried about anything."
"We thought he was dead for weeks… I don't think there's anything that can worry me more," I said flatly. "I don't know where my brother is or how long it'll be until he comes home. I don't even know what happened to him or Steve in the first place!" I didn't mean to raise my voice at Darry, but I was upset and my emotions were getting harder and harder to keep under control.
Darry seemed to consider my statement, and then he sighed. "They're in the hospital. That's where Soda was calling from."
I had just told my older brother that nothing else could worry me about Soda, but he found a way to worry me. "What? What happened? Are they okay?"
"I only talked to Soda for like a minute or two, so I don't know," Darry explained. He was right, of course, but I had no way to know what they talked about in their phone conversation. "He's sounded better, but considering the circumstances, he seemed okay."
"What circumstances?" I asked, practically begging for more details.
Darry shook his head. "He said it's a long story, and I'm not going to say anymore. You can ask him when he comes home, but if he doesn't want to answer your questions, don't push him on it. You dig?"
I nodded. I understood Darry better than I did just a couple years earlier, so I knew he was hiding something from me, and it was probably something that would make me nervous or scared for Soda. He was hiding it for Soda's sake and mine. "Yeah, I dig."
Just then, the phone rang, and I ran to answer it.
I picked up the receiver so fast. "Hello?"
The voice I had been aching to hear again answered. "Hi Pony, it's me."
"Soda! How are you? How's Steve doing?" I had so many other questions I wanted to ask since the first phone call with Soda, and Darry's avoidance of the subject provided me with even more questions. "Darry told me you and Steve were in the hospital, but he ain't tellin' me anything else."
"I'm okay honey, and Steve's doing a lot better." What does he mean by 'better?' What was wrong with him in the first place? "The docs just said he's allowed to travel, so we'll be home soon."
My heart started pounding. They're gonna be home soon. "Why were you in the hospital? What happened?" I asked. That was just the tip of the iceberg of questions I had.
I heard Soda's breath hitch, and he waited a moment before replying. "I'm not sure how much you know already, but during a firefight, Steve and I were hurt and then taken prisoner. After a while, our guys found us and brought us here to the hospital."
That was a lot of information in a short amount of time. They got hurt, and then they were captured?! I was so worried and confused, but ultimately, all that mattered was they were alive. "But you're okay now?" I asked carefully. I tried to remember Darry's warning about pushing Soda to answer my questions.
"Yeah, I'm okay," he said. He seemed like he was holding something back, but I chose to believe him, at least for the time being. "And I'll be even better when I'm home again."
"They won't send you back to fight, right?" I asked. If he told me he'd have to go back, I was sure my heart would stop.
"Right. Steve and I will be home for good," he said confidently.
Finally, I got an answer that made me relax a little. "Good."
"Hey Pony, is Darry home? I need to talk to him," Soda said.
"Yeah, I'll get him." I set the phone down and he left to get Darry.
When I walked back in the kitchen, Darry immediately looked at me with a hopeful look on his face. "Soda's on the phone. He wants to talk to you." Darry smiled and quickly went to the living room to talk with our brother.
I stood in the kitchen with a smile on my face and tears falling down my cheeks.
They're coming home.
