With Two-Bit driving, beating Darry home wasn't much of a problem for Soda. When the bucket of rust came to a grating halt in front of the Curtis house, Soda began to work on getting the trick door unstuck.

"So, you're taking June out again tonight?" Two-Bit asked as his friend slammed his shoulder into the door. "Third time this week, huh?"

"Yep." Soda grunted, throwing his body into the door again. "Dammit, Two-Bit! Is there any part of this car that does work?"

Two-Bit laughed good-naturedly as Soda finally surrendered to the immovable door and climbed out through the window.

"What do you say?" Soda squinted in the setting sunlight, calling to Two-Bit as he walked backwards towards the front gate. "Meet me back here around nine and we'll go pick up Steve?"

Two-Bit nodded and revved his engine. "Tonight's gonna be unreal," he whooped, then shot Soda a roguish smirk. "We'll make Stevie forget that he got the royal shaft tonight."

"He offered to stay!" Soda cried over the menacing growl of Two-Bit's failing motor as he zipped off down the street.

A small spasm of guilt landed in the pit of Soda's stomach. He hastily dismissed it, though, reminding himself that he was going to make things right with his best friend soon enough. Besides, he couldn't disappoint June.

Remembering June and the date, he scampered up the walkway, took the porch steps two at a time and burst through the door.

"For crying out loud, Soda!" he heard Pony gripe as he dashed through the living room. "What's the big idea--coming in here like the devil was after you?"

Soda ignored him, searching for a clean towel. Lately Pony had been getting mighty irritated by things that he'd once loved about Soda.

"I gotta get in the shower," Soda called back as he rummaged through a basket of unfolded laundry. "I'm in a real hurry, too."

He suspended the search for the towel, returning to the living room so quickly that his feet got tangled with themselves, and wound up sprawled out on his stomach on the floor.

"Are you alright?" Pony was by his side in an instant to help him up.

Soda nodded slowly, surprised to find that he really wasn't hurt, and still confused as to what he'd tripped over.

"Now will you slow down?" Pony grumbled, and Soda flashed him a sheepish grin before tugging his shirt off over his head.

"Be a pal and find me a towel?" he asked, and Pony begrudgingly agreed.

As Soda got himself into the shower and set to the task of scrubbing all the grease out of his hair, Pony returned with the towel.

"What's the big rush anyways?" He leaned up against the sink. "You and Steve going out, or something?"

"Well, we are later tonight," Soda replied from the shower. "First, though, I got a date with June."

Pony rolled his eyes at this. He thought Soda would've learned his lesson the last time and not jump whole-heartedly into another relationship, but Soda just wasn't like other people. He experienced things on a different level than most and took them more to heart. He needed a girl who understood that, and Ponyboy did not think June was that girl.

"You've been spending a lot of time with her." Pony sounded slightly injured, and Soda laughed obliviously.

"Everyone's been saying that today."

"Maybe cause no one expected to see you get back on the horse so quick," Pony said. "I mean, after what happened-"

Soda abruptly stuck his head out of the curtain. "She's not like that, Pone. She's different."

Pony almost scoffed at his brother's blatant ignorance. He'd never really figured Soda for a hopeless romantic, but this peculiarity was becoming increasingly conspicuous.

Soda, who had paused to reflect on his starry-eyed romance, remembered the time and returned to his shower.

"Get out of here, would you?" he asked. "I gotta finish up and get dressed."

Pony didn't move for a moment. "Soda?"

"What?"

"Just be careful, ok?" Pony asked, and Soda chuckled again, as if Pony had no good reason to be worried.

Pony stalked out of the bathroom with a quick flame of rage, slamming the door. Soda would never understand why Pony was concerned. When he fell in love, he fell hard and that was precisely what was bothering Pony. After Sandy left, Soda had been a real mess. There were even a few times when Pony wasn't sure he'd ever get over losing Sandy.

Then, one afternoon, he came home from work whistling like he used to. Pony was only thrilled about this turnaround until he found out the source of Soda's sudden elation. He wondered how stupid someone had to be to rush back into the very thing that brought them so much misery in the first place.

People were always doing things that didn't make sense, though. They became dependent on having someone to love and someone to love him back--addicted to it, even. God help them if they tried to live without it. They'd have better luck trying to teach themselves Quantum Physics.

Pony guessed that made Soda even worse off because he'd dropped out of school. He probably didn't even know what physics were. Another spark of anger made Pony's face burn.

Flopping down in front of the television, Ponyboy hoped cynically this June girl taught Soda the lesson he never learned from Sandy. There were a lot of things Soda needed to figure out, and Ponyboy knew that sooner he did, the better everyone else would be for it.

It was a little something called tough love.