Not—Part 8

Steve's POV

Soda was gone. Missing. Nobody could find him. That about summed it up for me as I ran down to the DX. Man, did I need a car then. But since Two-Bit's was missing and Darry peeled away from the house about two seconds after hearing about the missing car, I was stuck with just my own pair of legs. Now who had the unfair advantage here?

Oh sure, the kid, Ponyboy, was missing too. But really, my hurry was to find Soda, not him. I'll admit it: I never liked him much. But what seventeen-year-old would want a kid three years younger tagging along after him everywhere? Well, besides Sodapop, that is. But it's different for him, he just never got why I didn't like having him around. Because they were brothers, I had to live with it. And I couldn't exactly let Soda know how I felt about his kid brother, could I?

Until tonight, the answer had been no. But now everything had changed. They weren't really brothers anymore. I didn't have to put up with the kid anymore. I didn't have to be nice to him for the sake of his being "the Curtis' kid brother". I didn't have to look out for him anymore at school like Soda asked me to when he dropped out. I should've been crazy happy to find out the kid was adopted.

Problem was, I wasn't. As I ran to the gas station, I had the weirdest thought about Ponyboy. I felt sorry for him. No, that couldn't be it. Me, Steve Randle, pitying the little tagalong? I argued with myself that the reason I was hurrying so much was purely to find my best buddy, but I knew it wasn't entirely true. Soda would never agree with me saying Ponyboy wasn't his kid brother anymore, even I knew that for sure. Shit. I was pretty much still stuck with the kid. Although…lately he really hadn't been hanging around that much. In fact, the only time I'd seen him recently (before he disappeared like this) was when I went over to his house. And even I had to admit the kid had a right to be there.

The DX, like I'd known it would be, was empty. Of course. What kind of person would run away to the place where they work? Worst friggin' hideout ever.

So, basically, we were stuck. Where in the world were the Curtis brothers? Or at least one Curtis brother, one adopted tagalong kid? And why was I starting to like the kid at least a little bit more?

Two-Bit's POV

Running to the train station was no easy task. Especially on foot. Oh wait, how else would I be running to the station? Running didn't help me to think clearly. No, seriously. I was glad to help find my friends, but really, I didn't think running all over town was going to do anything. Wherever they were, Soda and Pony were obviously far away by now. Too far to catch up to them on foot, anyhow. By the time I'd gone a coupla blocks, I was pretty jealous of Darry in his truck. But then I remembered when Pony and Johnny went missing in that church, and how I wanted to go to Texas to look for them. Well, if I had to, I would run all the way—on foot—to Texas to find them now. But glory, I was gonna need a better pair of shoes.

Darry's POV

We have to find them. We have to find them. I have to find them!

These words played over and over in my mind as I drove aimlessly around town, frantically looking for any sign of my two brothers. The longer they were missing, the further away they could be. Especially with Two-Bit's car. And I was almost positive it had been Soda who'd taken that, since Ponyboy didn't have a clue how to drive. At least, I didn't think he did. We were still working on our communication with each other. At least we had been until he disappeared.

"Come on Darry, think," I commanded myself, and talking to myself only convinced me further that I was truly losing it. Stress was mounting, and I was about up to my neck in a lake of worries for my missing brothers. The only hope I had was that they had somehow ended up together, wherever they were. And I somehow ended up lost in another flashback. This one from a conversation I had with my dad when Ponyboy was eight and Soda was almost eleven.

"Hey Dad," I said suddenly. I was fourteen, and we were on a hunting trip. Pony and Soda were fooling around somewhere. I doubted they would be bringing home anything this trip.

"Yeah, Dar?" Dad replied, loading his gun. "What's on your mind?"

"Are you ever gonna tell Ponyboy about the, uh, you know?" I asked. The "uh, you know" was the adoption, of course. A subject I hadn't broached in years. Our family's darkest secret.

Dad sighed, setting down his rifle. "Darry, look over there," he told me. I followed his finger where he pointed to Ponyboy and Sodapop. Soda was goofing off as usual, teasing him about something or other, and Pony was laughing hysterically. They were obviously close, anyone who came along could see that. They looked perfectly happy out in the woods.

"I don't see anything different about them," I admitted, feeling like I'd missed Dad's point.

"Exactly. He's a normal kid. He's always been part of the family, Darry," Dad concluded. "We don't want to take that away from him…"

We don't want to take that away from him…

And now I had.

So basically it goes like this: Soda/Pony chapter, then Two-Bit/Steve/Darry chapter. Sound good? Reviews, please! Again, sorry for the slow update.