Ponyboy didn't leave right away. He tried to leave and find a hotel for the night with the intention of returning tomorrow. He just couldn't get himself to leave. The conversation between Steve and Pony continued on with phrases that sounded like 'goodbye' would be the appropriate response, but neither of them could get it through their lips. Steve was almost scared to be alone again. He didn't want to revisit the past, but he didn't want to let go of it either. Eventually, Pony wanted to take Steve up on his offer. They both sat in the living room in silence.
"It's late, I can't call him," Steve shook his head.
"Just do it," Pony begged, "Please. If he doesn't answer, then I'll go find a hotel."
"No," Steve immediately said.
"Wh-What?" Pony wasn't sure what Steve meant by that no. "Do you want me to go back to Tulsa?"
Steve shifted in his seat uncomfortably, "No, I just...I was just going to offer you to spend the night. You don't have to stay in some hotel."
"Oh, well thanks Steve. I'd like that," Pony let out a small smile.
There was more silence. Steve wasn't sure if he could handle another past friend over. It was a lot to handle. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to go to bed. He had worked so hard to stop dreaming about Soda and sleep alright again, but this could ruin that.
"Please Steve," Pony said softly.
A couple minutes passed before Steve stood up, and walked into the kitchen to grab the phone. He couldn't believe he was going to do this. His fingers shook as they dialed the number. The last time they shook that bad was against the trigger of a gun...
"I'm sorry Soda, I can't do this anymore," Steve cried as he looked down at the picture of his best friend. He had been home from Vietnam for six months. The flashbacks weren't in his dreams anymore. They were interrupting his day to day life. They'd appear at the DX, at the store, at the race track, at home, and even in bed. He couldn't tell what was real and what was just his imagination. He had the final straw that day when he was at the DX working.
He finished up working on a car when he walked into the DX store for a Pepsi. It always hurt to see who was behind the counter or stocking the shelves, because it would never be Sodapop Curtis again. Steve grabbed his Pepsi and headed out towards the garage again. When he got to the entrance, he dropped his bottle onto the ground. There was a figure standing next to the cars. His back was towards him, but he wore the light blue DX shirt and dark blue hat, the greased hair hanging down.
"So-So-Soda?" Steve asked.
The figure didn't turn to look at Steve, but he heard him laugh and say, "Hey buddy, did you miss me?"
"Oh my God..." Steve began crying as he hurried over to his best friend. He threw his arms around him. "I'm not letting go ever again Soda."
"Well...it's not all perfect," Soda said.
"I don't give a damn. You're home now!" Steve spun Soda around and almost threw up. There was a bullet hole in his face, blood seeping down the opening. Steve began screaming, falling down to the ground to scoot away. It was how Soda looked when Steve held him, dying on the battlegrounds. "No! No! No!"
As he screamed, a pair of arms grabbed him from behind, "Steve! Steve!"
Steve turned and saw Two-Bit grabbing onto him. He grabbed Two-Bit desperately for help. "Two-Bit! Help me! Soda...It's Soda! He's hurt again!"
"Steve, stop!" Two-Bit didn't mean to, but he slapped Steve across the face. He didn't know what else to do. Steve was quiet as he stared up at Two-Bit. "Steve...it's okay...it's okay. Look."
Steve shook his head, "No, I-I can't..."
"No, it's okay buddy. Just look."
Steve squeezed his eyes shut, slowly turned his head, and looked up where Soda's figure was. Soda was gone, and Ponyboy stood there. "Pony..." Steve said quietly, realizing it had been Ponyboy the whole time. That was the first time he had imagined an actual person was someone else from Vietnam, not just simply imagined someone who wasn't even there.
"It's okay Steve..." Pony said walking closer. He got down to the floor and grabbed Steve's hand. "It's okay Steve."
Steve shook his head, letting the tears fall as Two-Bit and Pony wrapped their arms around him. "I-I can't do this anymore...I can't..."
"We're here Steve," Two-Bit said, "We're here. You're safe."
Two-Bit and Pony stayed with Steve for the rest of his shift. They wanted to stay with him the rest of the evening, but Steve insisted to be alone. He sat in his room. He didn't cry, he didn't eat dinner, he just stared at the carpet on his floor. He didn't want to leave his house again. He couldn't bear the flashbacks or the imaginations anymore. He had flashes of Soda go through his vision before, but that was the first time it was as if he was really standing there, talking to him.
There was a knock at the front door. Steve's dad wasn't home, so he got himself up to go answer it. As he opened the door, Darry stood there.
"Oh, hi Darry," Steve said.
"Hey Steve."
"Pony must have told you...I'm sorry..."
"Don't be sorry. It's not your fault. I just wanted to come here and make sure you were okay."
Steve didn't respond as he stared on, clearly looking right through Darry.
"Look Steve, why don't you come over? I don't think you should be alone tonight."
Before Steve could respond, he glanced over Darry's shoulder. There he was again. Sodapop. He was standing by Darry's truck. There was no bullet hole this time. He looked just fine. He stood there, smiling big, and waving excitedly.
"No, no," Steve quickly looked down at his bare feet, "I-I need to stay here."
"Steve, please, let me help you."
"I appreciate it Darry, but I have to stay here," Steve said, looking back up. Soda was beginning to walk up towards the house. "I got to go Darry, I'll call you later." Quickly, Steve shut the door and locked it. He turned and hurried upstairs.
"Get out," Steve said through gritted teeth, "Get out of my head!"
"But...don't you want to remember me?"
Steve quickly looked around his room at the voice. He didn't see anyone.
"Stop! Stop! Stop!" Steve grabbed his hair and pulled.
"Please Steve..." Steve spun around. Soda was sitting on his bed. He looked distraught. His eyes were glistening with tears. "Steve...How could you say all of this? You want me...gone? You don't want to remember me? We were best friends. You're throwing me away."
Steve dropped down to his knees. His tears flowed down at a rapid speed. "I...you're gone...I can't live like this the rest of my life. You're gone...you're gone...you're gone..."
"You want to forget about the gang, our childhood, me," Soda cried, "You want to erase me as if I never existed."
"It's easier that way...Please, just go away."
"I can't...it's all you. Your head is bringing me here."
Steve stopped crying then. He stood up. "You're right." Turning around, he walked over to his dresser. He opened the top drawer and took out his gun. That was it. He placed it right against his head.
"Hello?" a voice answered at the other end.
"Hey Two-Bit? It's...Steve."
"Oh hey Steve," Two-Bit said through the phone, "How have you been doing buddy?"
"I've been fine. I'm sorry if I woke you up, it's late and everything."
"Oh no, don't worry about it. I was up anyway."
"Just having a late night?"
"Yeah, I got a couple days off work, girls are in bed, so I'm having some time to myself."
"Cool...um, you will not believe...what I'm about to tell you," Steve ran a hand through his hair.
"Oh yeah? What's that?"
"Um..."
"Steve? Are you okay? What is it?" Two-Bit asked, sounding concerned.
Steve let out a small chuckle, "Um, Ponyboy is here."
There was silence. Steve didn't even hear Two-Bit breathe.
"Two...Two-Bit?"
"What did you just say?"
"Ponyboy is here," Steve repeated, "He's in my house, right now."
Steve heard Two-Bit let out a long breath he had been holding, "I'm on my way."
"Huh? What?" Steve didn't get an answer as he heard a click on the other end.
"What?" Pony asked as Steve hung up the phone.
"I...I think he's coming over..."
"Right now?" Pony asked, not able to hold back a smile.
"I guess so..."
Pony felt his excitement rise. He knew Two-Bit probably wasn't the exact same guy years ago, but he'd be able to bring some light into all of this.
The two boys sat and waited. They were both anxious. Steve was terrified. About twenty minutes passed before there was a knock at the door. Steve glanced up at the clock. It was nearing midnight. He couldn't move.
"I'll get it," Pony said as he stood up from his chair. He slowly walked to the front door. He couldn't believe he was going to be seeing another old friend again. He could only imagine putting himself in Steve's shoes just a couple hours ago walking to the door just to see Ponyboy standing there. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Pony placed his hand around the knob. Slowly and unsteadily, he opened it.
"Oh my...oh my God..." Two-Bit gasped, placing a hand over his mouth, "Ponyboy...it's you. It's really you."
Pony smiled as Two-Bit pulled him into a hug. "Hey Two-Bit. God, I missed you."
"I missed you too," Two-Bit broke the hug and looked at his old friend, "I'm...so sorry about Darry. I'm sorry I wasn't around or anything."
"It's okay," Pony nodded, "Get in here."
Two-Bit slowly walked inside, unsure what he was about to see. He didn't see Steve around yet as he followed Ponyboy inside. As they reached the living room, Two-Bit looked down at another old friend.
"Steve," Two-Bit smiled.
"Hey," Steve stood up, unable to help himself as he fell into Two-Bit's hug.
"I can't believe I finally get to see you," Two-Bit said.
"I know...I'm sorry I've always..."
"Don't apologize," Two-Bit held a hand up, "I get it. It was going to be hard for me too. This is...crazy though. Pony's here..."
"Yeah, he surprised me showing up," Steve smiled, "Want a beer?"
"Yes, absolutely," Two-Bit laughed.
The three friends each had a beer, sitting around the living room making small talk. Two-Bit told Pony how he had married a woman five years ago, Charlotte. They had a four year old daughter named Sophia. He explained how he worked between stables and a couple farm lands, taking care of animals that went to petting zoos or animal shows.
"So...Darry, huh?" Two-Bit suddenly brought up. It was the first comment anyone made about anything from the past.
Pony looked down, "Yeah."
"I just...I can't believe it," Two-Bit said, "He was...he was a big brother to all of us. He was our gang leader, gang mentor, whatever you want to call it."
"Yeah he was," Steve agreed.
"I remember the first time I met him," Two-Bit sighed, "We were in middle school. He was in eighth grade and I was in sixth. They did that program where the eighth graders had to show the sixth graders around the school, how to work lockers, how to switch classes, all that stuff."
"Oh yeah, I remember that," Steve said, "God, did Darry have to show you around?"
"Yes he did."
"Oh boy," Pony laughed, just imagining Darry having to go through that.
"Everything he tried to show me, I threw in my comments about how to skip class and how to steal out of lockers. I drove him insane. And then there was one night the eighth graders had their football game and your dad was there with Soda and Steve. I met Soda and Steve then and we began hanging out, which drove Darry crazy, because he realized he wasn't done with me yet," Two-Bit laughed.
"Oh yeah, yeah I remember that game," Steve nodded, "I do remember meeting you and we were running around, just throwing our own football around while Mr. Curtis watched Darry's game. After the football game, Soda asked if we could bring our new friend home for dinner, and Darry said you've got to be kidding me."
Two-Bit and Pony let out loud laughs.
"And he stuck around ever since," Pony smiled at Two-Bit.
"Yes I did. He always told me to wise up, get a job, help clean the house," Two-Bit shook his head, taking a chug of his beer, "I'm going to miss him."
Steve raised his beer up, "Here's to Darry."