Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I'm going to thank you individually later, I've been pretty busy these days!
Disclaimer: I obviously don't own The Outsiders. Amazing S.E. Hinton does.
6 – New places, old faces
"Coke or Dr. Pepper?"
"Dr. Pepper."
"Los Angeles or New York?"
"Maybe LA, 'cause of the climate."
"John Lennon or Mick Jagger?"
"Are you serious? Mick Jagger all the way!"
"Mick Jagger what?" Soda asked, entering the room. "Hi, Helene." He smiled at my friend.
"We were doing some kind of magazine quiz to see what your personality's like, Helene was firing the questions at me." I told him.
"And what about Mick Jagger?" Soda insisted, sitting next to me.
"I said I'd choose him over John Lennon…because he's got a great voice, he wrote some amazing songs and…I guess he's not bad to look at, either." I explained.
"What? You seriously think he's good-looking?" Soda asked me in disbelief.
"He is! If I were a teenager still, I'd probably have a poster of him on my bedroom wall."
"I can't believe your tastes!" Soda shook his head.
Helene piped up: "You're kind of insulting yourself by saying that."
"Not really, I'm the exception that proves the rule!"
We all started laughing. "What time is it?" I glanced at the clock. "Helene, maybe we should leave."
"Okay, let's go." Helene got up and started looking for her car keys in her bag.
"How long will you be there?" Soda asked me, while he walked us to the front door.
"I don't think I'll be away much…Mr. Scott can't have much to say to us."
Helene and I had both received a phone call from one of our college teachers, Mr. Scott, a couple of days after our graduation. He had told us he had some good news and had asked us to meet him in his office to discuss about it. "I still have no idea what he wants…oh, by the way, Soda, you should ask Steve to check the car because I think it's got problems with the friction…I've been wanting to tell you for a couple of days but I always forgot."
"Alright, see you later." Soda waved at us as we got into Helene's car and she drove off.
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"Going to California?"
"That's the general idea…"
A disbelieving Sodapop was staring at me like I was an alien, his mouth slightly open. "What's it mean? How longer would you have to stay there?"
"Well…" It was difficult to tell him. The way he was looking at me made me feel the most cruel person ever existed.
I took a deep breath. "About a month."
"I don't think I understand."
"My teacher says it's an opportunity for Helene and me to work as part of a newspapers staff since they're employing graduates… who've just finished college…to show them what it's like to work as journalists…or kinda, they're certainly not letting us write much, I expect."
"How come…it's in California?"
"Mr. Scott used to teach there…and he's friends with someone who runs that newspaper...the Daily Californian." I slowly answered.
"And you'd have to leave…when?"
"Next week."
Soda's eyes looked sadder every second that went by. "Where will you stay?"
"In some bed & breakfast with Helene. Look, Soda…if you don't want me to go…I won't go." I hesitantly said.
Sodapop was silent for a while. "You wanna go, don't you?"
"They're paying me and it'd be a great experience, it could even be useful for my future job here in Tulsa…" I raised my voice a little when I pronounced the last three words. "And I'd be with Helene, you wouldn't have to worry…"
"So…you wanna go?" he repeated.
"If you'd rather I stay…I will. Soda…" I took his hands and gently squeezed them. A strange mixture of emotions was on his face and I couldn't decipher it properly.
"I don't wanna get in your way."
"How can you say that? We're married!"
"Yeah, we are." He acknowledged that. "But…I shouldn't obstacle you…because you have potential, you can go far and I know it better than everyone else…"
"Soda, just be honest with me! If you think you can't handle my absence for a month…just tell me so! You know I'd do anything for you and if I have to renounce to this…trip…I'll do it willingly!"
"Let's talk about this tomorrow, okay? I'm too tired to think clearly right now." He got up and opened the fridge, looking for something to cook for that day's dinner.
It was obvious he didn't want me to indulge on the subject, so I didn't. Mr. Scott's idea had found me completely unprepared: I'd thought he wanted to congratulate Helene and I because we were two of the best students in his class or something like that, maybe give us suggestions for our future jobs…I wasn't expecting him to ask us if we wanted to spend one month in California as apprentices for the Daily Californian. Helene had been just as surprised as me, but having no boyfriend and having nothing that kept her tied to Tulsa except her family, she was very eager to go.
Me, on the other hand…I was confused. Soda and I couldn't afford to travel much and spending one month in California, in San Francisco to be exact, would be wonderful. I had asked Mr. Scott if we could go back for the weekends but he'd said we'd probably be very busy and have only one day of rest a week…and deep down inside, I wasn't sure I could stay a whole month, four long weeks, thirty endless days without seeing Sodapop.
But I remembered my brother's words very well. You're independent, you aren't like many girls I know who have to rely on someone else, especially a man, all the time…that's what's great about you. That may have been true…but I could only be independent as long as Soda was with me. It was weird, but that was the way things were. Lewis had left the day after my graduation, a week before, and I was missing him terribly already. If only he had been there, he would have given me some advice…
"Sybil?" Ponyboy called.
"Yeah?" I automatically answered.
"Joan's on the phone!"
"Thanks…" I absent-mindedly picked it up: "Hey, it's Sybil…"
Joan basically wanted to say how happy she was about me and Helene's chance to go to San Francisco and that she was very jealous of us. If I could have switched places with her, at that very moment, I would have. It would have been a liberation to know she was the one chosen to go to California and not me.
Also, I hadn't forgotten about Sophie. What if she showed up and needed me to get away from Jeff?
As I drifted off to sleep that night, I hoped the morning would bring me some comfort, because at the moment I wasn't feeling any good.
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"I feel like…such a traitor." I sighed, looking outside the train's window.
"Aw, Sybil, don't torment yourself this way. It's just a month…you'll see, it will go by very quickly. We'll get back to Tulsa so soon that you'll end up missing San Fran." Helene tried to cheer me up.
"We've been on this train for a couple of hours and I miss him already! How will I endure a month without Soda?" I retorically asked.
"We'll be so busy you won't even have the time to think about him! Trust me."
Helene was a great friend, but sometimes she just didn't get it. I knew I'd be in a foul mood for the rest of the day, I knew I'd grow tired of San Francisco very soon and I knew I wouldn't be the most pleasant person to have around for the following days (if not weeks).
Helene's and I's bedrooms in the bed & breakfast we were staying in were nice, not much different from what I was expecting.
We found out the newspapers headquarters were located near one of the many colleges of San Francisco and consequently many young people came and went all day, despite the fact it was June. Unlike me and Helene, those persons still had several years of study ahead of them.
On the sixth day of our first week in San Francisco, I was tired already, but determined not to give up. Working at the Daily Californian was hard, but I felt rewarded in some way. The only times I felt really bad, was whenever I'd talk to Sodapop on the phone: he was trying not to let me hear he was a bit sad, but I could tell anyway.
I was pondering whether it was the case or not to go to Tulsa on Sunday, even if it meant getting up very early in the morning and only spend a few hours there before catching the train to go back to San Francisco once again, when I heard someone call out my name. "Is that you, Sybil? Sybil Forrester?"
I looked up. I knew that voice from somewhere. "Seth?" I muttered. "Seth Tucker?"
"It's great to see you!" He smiled warmly. "What are you doing here in San Fran?"
"I could ask the same to you!" I grinned, surprised.
Seth hadn't changed much. He had always been quite good-looking and he still was. He still had short hair and sparkling green eyes, he still looked like the teenager who attended high school with me. He was more tanned than he'd ever been, though, and there was something sweeter in his looks, in his ways.
"I go to college here!" he told me, still smiling.
"I didn't know…"
"Yeah, I'm going to be a doctor. Someday."
"A doctor? You?" I laughed.
"What are you laughing about? Can't you picture me as the greatest doctor of the US?"
I shook my head. "Nope."
"What about the greatest doctor of Oklahoma?"
"No."
"The greatest doctor of Tulsa, then?"
"That I can do." We both laughed.
"Are you going somewhere? Cause if you're not, we could go and get a coffee together." He suggested.
I hesitated. "I don't know…aren't you busy?"
"I can find some time for you…I mean…" I knew what he meant, so I shushed him. "Okay, let's go! Show me the nicest bar of San Fran!"
Once we were comfortably sitting at a table and sipping on some coffee, I told him the reason of my presence in California and he seemed very pleased.
"How are you doing in school? Do you like it?" I asked him then.
"Yeah, but I can't deny it's pretty tiring. I'm so worn-out in the weekends…I don't have time to do anything anymore. I can't even remember the last party I went to, or the last girl I went out with." He paused. "Sorry, that's a sensitive subject."
"That's fine…"
"So…you and your boyfriend…what was his name…? Well, you're married now, aren't you?"
"Sodapop and I, yeah. Have been for a while now. I didn't really know if I should come here because I didn't want to leave him, but…it's just a month. Actually, a week has already gone by."
"I see. I'm happy for you…and I'm sorry I acted like a jerk in the past." He sounded truly sincere and I believed him, so I replied: "It's okay…it was years ago. We've both matured, hopefully."
Seth just stared at me, smiling, as I drank my coffee. "What?" I eventually asked.
"Nothing. Sorry. I just…I wish I could go out with you. I think I'm so grumpy because I haven't found anyone, so don't mind my ramblings too much."
"You'll find the right person for you someday." I assured him.
"You don't have a sister, do you?"
"No!" I laughed.
"That's ok…I know if you had one, she couldn't be better than you, anyway."
"Seth! Stop flattering me…or whatever you're doing! I'm not perfect at all!"
"It's not my fault you were my first serious crush." His gaze lingered on me for a little while, before he changed subject of conversation: "Hey, do you remember Louise Graham?"
"Sure, she was in most of my classes…"
"Well, she's the hippiest hippie I've ever seen 'round here! She's so different from the high school years, you wouldn't believe your own eyes if you saw her!"
I looked down. His comment had reminded me of Sophie.
"Sybil? What's wrong?"
"Nothing." I didn't feel like telling him about my friend, it was too personal.
Not much later, Seth walked me to the bed & breakfast where I was staying. "So…I'll see you around? Before you leave, I mean…"
"Sure…it was nice seeing you…I feel seventeen-year-old again!" As I said that, I realized how truthful that was.
"Cool." Seth smiled. "I'm glad I met you. See you soon, Sybil."
"See you…"
I stared at Seth walking away, then rushed inside. I still hadn't phoned Soda that day.