Sodapop POV

I was drying off and singing to myself a little stupid tune when suddenly the door opened. I quickly covered myself up in fear of it being one of the gang since I heard Two-Bit scream at the top of his lungs like he does every morning.

"HEY I'M IN HERE! Oh, it's just you Ponyboy. Hey, what's wrong baby?!" I saw that fresh tear streams that were stained on his face. He had been sniffling ever since he walked in the door and his facial expression was just glowing "I'm sad and depressed, please hold me Sodapop."

"Nothing…" He whispered. He stood in front of the sink and stared at himself before he grabbed a washrag and soaked it in warm water.

"Ponyboy… you know you can talk to me about anything, right?" He nodded and wiped the rag on his cheeks, then under his nose, then soaked it again. I walked over towards him with my towel draping down my legs and pelvis. "Then why won't you tell me what's wrong?" He threw the washrag in the dirty laundry and whirled around to face me.

"Because it's already under control okay? Me and Darry have it under control!" He tried to open the door but I caught his wrist and pulled him towards me. He stood in front of me with an angry look plastered all over his face.

"Pony… please don't yell at me. I'm just trying to help." He broke eye contact and sat down on the toilet.

"I'm sorry Soda… I'm just really depressed because Darry told me we'd go visit Dal and Johnny on the fifth month of their deaths so I have time to recover…" His voice broke at the end of his sentence and by the way his face looked, I could tell he was trying to hold back the tears.

"It's okay baby. I know. So why don't you, let me get dressed, then Darry can get ready and we'll go okay?" Ponyboy sniffled for the last time and got up to leave, but before he got the chance to open the door, I pulled him into a tight hug. He didn't hesitate to hug me back.

"Thanks Sodapop." He muffled into my shoulder. I nodded.

"Anytime baby… anytime." We unlatched and he walked out the door while I was still smiling like an idiot. I closed the door and got dressed.

"Soda!" I heard Darry yell.

"What?" I was greasing back my hair and combing it to its nicest standards.

"Hurry it up willya?" I huffed and finished up. When I opened the door, I saw Ponyboy sitting in a chair in the dining room, Darry walked past me to the bathroom, Two-Bit sitting on the floor, drinking a beer while he was forcing everyone to watch Mickey Mouse, and Steve sleeping in the huge armchair of ours that Darry is usually occupying. I walked over and patted Steve on the shoulder.

"Hey Steve, wake up man," He snapped his head up and looked at me before letting out a hefty yawn. "You alright?"

"Yeah Soda, just dandy." He rubbed his eyes then adjusted himself to a more comfortable position.

Did ya get enough sleep last night or…" He stared at me dead in the eyes. Man, I thought, talk about awkward eye contact.

"I'm fine, just my old man ran me out last night so I crashed with Two-Bit, and let's just say he's not the soundest sleeper."

Two-Bit heard our conversation and seemed highly offended. He turned around and dramatically gasped. "I'm hurt Steve… hurt!" He started rolling around on the floor, fake crying.

"Man up Keith." Ponyboy said. We all looked at him as he walked into his room and shut the door. Then, the sound of things breaking…

"Sodapop, ya might wanna go see what the hell he's doing." Steve said. I ran over to my shared bedroom and when I opened the door, I was surprised with my discovery.