Chapter 11:
Scout followed me up the stairs and I pointed to the bathroom. "There's always a fresh washcloth on the sink, feel free to wash your face and pull any chunks out of your hair, I'll go grab something for you to change into." She nodded and looked in the mirror, getting to work as I walked into my room and rummaged through my closet to find outfits for both of us. Eventually I found a pair of jeans and a shirt, both having belonged to Ponyboy and were strictly in my closet as work clothes, for her. She didn't look like she would take too kindly to a skirt or dress. I then pulled out a dress mama and I had made from one of dad's button downs for me.
Scout was soon in my room, her clothes still dirty but her face clean, and I smiled gently at her. "If you'd like you can change in here, I put some clothing on the bed. I'll go wash my face off and change in the bathroom and then come grab you, sound good?" She nodded.
When I was dressed, I walked back in to see her glancing at the pictures on my wall. I smiled. "You ready for dinner?" I asked, making her slightly jump before she smiled at me. "Are these the two guys from the station?" She asked, pointing to Two Bit and Steve in a picture where they, Soda, and Dally were leaning against a car, laughing. I was sitting on the top of the car behind my two brothers, a hand on each of their shoulders, leaning towards the camera and grinning. I was thirteen. Though the guys all obviously looked younger, they still looked the same, and that made me smile.
"Sure are," I laughed. "What gave it away, their long hair or their stupid grins?" She laughed. "Both, I guess?"
She continued looking and found a series of pictures of Johnny, Izzy and I from the beginning of the summer.
It was one of the rare days I had talked Soda, Steve, Two Bit, Darry, and Dally into going to church with the rest of us. In the first picture, Johnny had his arms wrapped around my waist as I held Izzy. Both of us were smiling at the her and she was laughing, her tiny hands resting on my cheeks as she pulled my face towards hers. In the next one, I was on Johnny's back, my arms wrapped around his shoulders, as both of us grinned at Two Bit behind the camera. Izzy stood in front of Johnny, standing on his toes as he held her hands up. Her two front teeth were missing but the widest grin I had ever seen was plastered across her face. In the third one, he had picked her up while I was still hanging off of him. My eyes were shut as I kissed his cheek, and he was grinning. She watched both of us, awestruck. The fourth one, I was still on his back but Dally had swooped in, lifting Izzy onto his left shoulder and grinning at the camera, before flipping her upside down for the fifth and final photo, where Johnny and I were now laughing at the two of them.
"And that's my little sister?" Scout smiled. I laughed. "Yup, that's Izzy." She continued looking at the photo, before glancing back at me and asking in a small voice, "She looks so much like both of you, is she at her dad's?" My mouth dropped a little as I realized what she thought, and I shook my head, laughing a little. "No, I'm fifteen. He's just a friend of mine, and I just babysit Izzy, that's all." She instantly
widened her eyes. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have assumed-" I shook my head. "Don't worry about it," I smiled. "Come on, let's get downstairs. They'll start complaining that we took too long and now their dinner is cold." I rolled my eyes, making her laugh.
Did I look old enough to have a kid? I glanced in the hallway mirror on our way down the stairs, and noticed the bags under my eyes. My cheeks were a little more defined than they were six months ago. Between growing up and the trauma we've been through, I had aged. I guess I could understand why she thought I looked older.
When we got down there, dinner was set on the table, and the boys were (mostly) clean. Scout sat next to Pony, across from Hudson and I, and Soda and Darry were seated on both ends of the table. The boys already were dishing the food out. "Dig in," I said to Scout as we took our spots.
"Would you guys look at this art?" Soda grinned as he picked up a burned biscuit.
"Gosh soda, this is terrible!" Darry responded, plopping some potatoes on his plate and making Scout laugh. "Look, the potatoes clash with the peas!" Pony grinned. I rolled my eyes. "It's not too late to run Scout, dinner here isn't all it's cracked up to be!" I teased. She smiled, "You know, you didn't have to invite me over for dinner." "Yeah, and you didn't need to get potatoes thrown at you!" Darry responded, making all of us laugh.
...
We got through dinner, learning a little bit more about Pony's new friend. Hudson hung on every word she said, and I almost had to laugh. After all, it's rare for him to be around girls, besides Izzy and I. It was kinda cute.
"Hey Scout, were hanging out at the game Saturday afternoon, wanna go?" Pony asked, making me smirk.
"Sure!" She smiled, earning cheers from the rest of us. "Atta girl!" Darry grinned as the phone rang. "I'll get it!" Soda jumped up, answering with a swift, "Curtis Residence, Soda speaking." His eyes lit up with michseif as he glanced at me, making kissy faces before saying "sure, I'll put her right on".
He covered the speaker and held the phone out, "Avery, Hood Charming is calling for you." I rolled my eyes and bounded over an the others laughed, taking the phone quickly. "Hello?"
"Hey!" I could almost hear Curly's smile, and that in itself made me grin. "Hey Curly, what's up?" Hudson and Pony's laughs made me turn to look at the table, where Soda was mimicking me. Scout gave a small grin and even Darry had to stifle a chuckle, as I waved them all off.
"Ave, you know how we have off tomorrow?" He questioned. "Yeah?" "Well I was wondering, we have that exam in science class coming up, plus we're gonna be canning in Home Ec. Im not doing so good studying the notes from science class, and I have no idea how to can. Would it possibly - could you -would it be alright if I came over and-" I grinned. "You want me to teach you?" I asked. "Yeah," I could picture him nodding. "I was wondering if you could teach me."
"Give me a second," I said, covering the phone.
"Darry?" I spoke quietly, embarrassed to even ask. I don't know if it was because Scout was here, or because I knew what my brothers would say, but I was cautious.
"Yeah Ave?" He questioned, taking his napkin and wiping his mouth. "It's Curly. Since we have off tomorrow, uh, I was wondering if he could come over. We have a science test coming up and-"
"What's it on, Anatomy?" Soda quipped, smirking, making Scout and Pony laugh. "No!" I snapped, getting annoyed. Darry had a amused smile on his face as he nodded. "Sure, but remember, you've got Hudson-" "I know I know, I'm watching Izzy too Dar. And I know we have to harvest from the garden and clean the kitchen. I know. So can he come?"
At my last statement, The laughter that Soda and Pony hadn't been trying too hard to keep in started and I threw my hands up in frustration. "Can't you two ever take anything seriously?"
"Avery it's okay" Darry defended, both hands up. "Tell him sure, but that he better be willing to work-" the laughter continued, but quickly cut short when met with a wicked look from Darry. "okay? As long as you guys get your chores done, it's alright." I nodded and took my hand off the speaker.
"He said it's fine. Be here at nine?" I could hear the hint of a laugh in his voice as he said "Okay, ready to work, right?" And my blush deepened. "You know what he meant Shepard. See you then" "see you then Ave" with a click I hung up the phone and tried to catch my composure before returning to the table.
As I sat down, Scout smiled at me. "Is Curly the guy in the pictures at the church?" I hesitated, before shaking my head no. "What pictures?" Pony asked. I gave a small smile, trying not to let her know anything was wrong. She was only being nice. She didn't know. I needed to be strong. I took a sip of water before saying, "the ones with Izzy and Johnny at Walker Ridge Bible." Forks stopped scraping against plates as the boys went silent, each contemplating what to say. We didn't really bring Johnny up, it was kinda easier that way.
Finally, Pony smiled. "I remember that day. Izzy was so excited because everybody actually went to church. She told her Sunday school teacher 'My best friends are here. There's Avery and Pony and Hudson and Johnny but God already knows them. However, Stevie and Soda and Darry and Two Bit and Dally are new to this whole church thing, so I think we should say an extra prayer for them!"' All of us laughed at his story.
It was true, she had told Miss Clemmons exactly that. Miss Clemmons was in her sixties, and nearly had a heart attack when Two Bit, Steve, and Soda got into a wrestling match during communion. It was so hard for me to be mad at them, I had to try not to laugh as Two Bit smacked the communion bread out of Steve's hand so hard it flew five pews in front of us.
After the laughter had died down, Hudson said quietly, "I miss them." I smiled softly at him and ruffled his hair. "Me too bud. Come on, let's clean these dishes up"
As we picked up, we said our goodbyes to Scout and Pony walked her out to the porch. Darry washed the dishes and Hudson dried them, putting them on the counter for Pony to put away.
Soda, having cooked for the night, sat down in the living room and started clipping coupons as he flipped the television on.
I wiped the table down and then headed to the stairs, intending to grab To Kill A Mockingbird to read on the couch. On my way up, I heard Hudson quietly speak, "Darry?"
"Yeah bud?" I heard him sigh, like he was nervous. "Do you, do you think that maybe, maybe Avery would've married Johnny?" I stopped, walking back down as quietly as possible and peering around the corner to watch. Hudson had grown quiet. Darry stopped drying and leaned down to his level. "Well do you think she would've?" Hudson sniffed and nodded, and Darry gave him a small smile before hugging him. "Me too" he admitted. As I turned to go back up the stairs, I locked eyes with Ponyboy, who had come back inside in time to hear what was said, and ran the rest of the way up, wiping my tears, determined not to let my brothers see me cry.