"Sodapop, turn that crap off!" I shouted. All his new friends came over today. It seemed the Brumly boys had given Soda got the majority of the beating. Probably because greasers weren't hippies. Soda was actibg like a hippie. They had brought the Beatles new album over. My jaw nearly dropped when Soda agreed to put it on.
"Come on, it ain't that bad." Soda said.
"What's wrong with the Beatles?" Anna sat down on my bed. She was one of Soda's friends.
"They suck." I mumbled.
"You just aren't very open to new things."
I rolled my eyes. She wanted to say I wasn't open to trying new things, but I would bet my right arm she wouldn't be open to trying Soda's experimental cooking. I just ignored her. I threw my book aside, and went to attempt to turn down the record.
"Ponyboy, if you don't like it go in another room." Soda offered. He wasn't mad, I could tell this wasn't his first choice in music.
I ignored him and turned off the record player so you couldn't hear it. I couldn't even make it across the room before he threw his pillow at me. "Ponyboy, that's really rude."
The odd thing was that if this were Steve and Two-Bit. They would have sat on me before I could have even gotten to the record player. Or better yet, they wouldn't have been playing The Beatles at all.
"Turn it up, Jay." Soda said to his one friend wearing all black.
"Don't." I argued. "It's my room too, Soda." We agreed not to do things that the other doesn't like."
"Well then go in the living room. I'm supposed to rest all day."
I hated the way he was acting; it was like these people just brought out a Soda I didn't know existed. I began to argue with him. Squawking back and forth like we were four and six.
Someone smacked the door really hard causing us all to jump. It sure shut Soda and I up as well. I knew it was Sunny because Darry had to work. He was hung over from last night. "I think it's time for you guys to leave." He said gravely.
They all kind of just waved to Soda and ran out of the room. I guess Sunny intimated them. They were swooning over him when they first came over. They annoyed the crap out of him so he locked himself in his room.
"What the hell are you two arguing about?" Sunny rubbed his forehead. "You know what, I don't care. Just knock it off. My head feels like it is going to explode, and I am need to get work done. So stop arguing and turn your music down."
"Thanks a lot Ponyboy, you know their families are all welcoming. They were just trying to cheer me up. Between Sunny and you." He put more emphasis on the you part. "They probably think I have the rudest family in Tulsa."
"Yeah, well I think they are rude that they let people beat the crap out of you. I mean you have broken ribs."
"Ponyboy you don't get it. It wasn't like they threw me to the dogs. Jay had a black eye, buddy was all types of busted up. We did a protest."
"Do you get why you did that?" I asked.
"Do you think I'm stupid?" Soda sat up fast and winced.
"No! But I think you made a stupid choice in friends."
"Ponyboy! You can be a real brat at times!"
"ENOUGH!" Sunny smacked the door hard with a belt. He started screaming at us in a different language. It was like he was really wasn't there. His body was but his mind wasn't.
I wished for the life of me that Darry would come home. He wasn't going too. Neither Soda or I moved. We were both too scared.
"Sunny, you aren't in Vietnam." Soda choked out. His voice was shaky.
"Yeah, it's just us. You're sleep walking or something." I agreed. I kept repeating that greasers don't cry over and over in my head.
The belt dropped. Sunny came back into his mind again. He looked confused and everything in his eyes. "Guys, I'm sorry." He looked so scared. "I'm so sorry." He said again. "I have to go for a run."
Sunny turned and took off running. When the front door slammed hard. "Come here, Pony." Soda said.
He stuck his arm out. I ignored him and stared at the belt. I wondered if he would have beaten the heck out of us if he wouldn't of snapped out of it.
"Ponyboy." Soda called again.
I slid off my bed and sat next to him. Soda looped his arm around me. He couldn't squeeze because of his ribs. "Are you okay?" He was shaking.
"Yeah, do you think he would have done anything?"
"I don't know."
"I wonder where he is going." I said. "I'm sorry for being a brat."
"It's okay, I don't even like The Beatles anyways." Soda said.
"Hi, honey." Sunny looked up from what ever he was baking. The entire house was cleaned.
After Soda and I had sat there for while, we had went to main street. One of his friends gave him a ride back to school to practice for an up coming concert. I went to the bookstore.
He threw a bottle of vodka underneath the cabinet. He at least never let us see that he was drinking alone. "There are brownies if you want them. They are cookie brownies. Thought it would be a nice break from cake."
"Thank you." I sat down at the table and cut some of his brownie. Sunny was a really good cook. He took over making meals the majority of the time.
He swooped down and hugged me. "You're welcome."
"Sunny, can I ask you something kind of personal?" I picked a cookies piece out of my brownie.
"Yes, anything." He said. Sunny turned around to face me. Dad had always did that. He never went on with what he was doing. He always faced us when we spoke directly too him. It drove me nuts when Darry didn't face me when I spoke to him.
"Do you remember what you dream about? When you have nightmares, I mean."
He smiled, but it was only because he didn't know what else to do. Even with his half assed smile he still looked like he had been punched in the gut. "Yeah, I do."
I shivered. I heard him scream like crazy, I remembered how scared I was when I had my nightmares, but I knew it would be worse if I were haunted by the memory of my dreams too. It was probably why he drank. "Do you dream about the war?"
He looked at his hands. I could tell he was embarrassed. I wanted to take the last question back. "I'm sorry, Ponyboy. I never thought this war would have a hard impact on you guys. I didn't know I'd go so damn crazy."
I got up to hug him. "I didn't mean it like that."
He was squeezing me hard. "I'm sorry. I'm working on everything. Do you want me to move out until I can get my shit straightened out? Will it make you more comfortable?"
"No, I don't want you to leave again. I just wanted to know what made you so scared."
"I'm sorry, baby." Sunny repeated. He was apologizing for earlier.
I looked up in time to see him wipe his eyes. I wanted to say something to him but the doorbell rang. He caught my glance. It had to be the people from the state. It had been over a month since they came last.
"It's okay, like you said Soda is at school, Darry's at work. The house is clean. Go answer the door. I need to rinse my mouth out.
I ran to open the door, but when I opened the door, it wasn't people from the state. There stood three men in full army uniforms. "Is Sunshine Shayne Curtis here?"
A/N: Not sure what I am going to do from here in all honesty. I have a lot of ideas. I don't think I am going to add any more characters. I know I want it to focus on the Curtis brothers.