Dealing—Part 7

Ponyboy's POV

Something was wrong with Soda. It didn't take a genius to figure that one out, since he'd come in, made Darry mad since everyone was gonna be late, and when asked about it, Soda didn't even argue with him! And I know how much Soda enjoys those daily squabbles over being on time, even if it does make Darry holler at him. He was real quiet today, and hardly even acknowledged that I was there. Not to mention that all I got for a goodbye was a forced smile, when usually it was at least a "see you later, Pony!" No, Sodapop was definitely not himself. However, they left and I had to go to school, so I didn't have a chance to ask him about it. So I asked Steve about it when I saw him in the parking lot at school. I had to walk today, since Darry was running too late to give me a ride and Two-Bit…well, you just can't count on Two-Bit to get you somewhere on time.

"Hey Steve?" I said as I approached him. He was standing with his girlfriend Evie talking about who knows what. Probably nothing I wanted to hear.

Steve shot me an annoyed look. He was most likely thinking it was bad enough he has to put up with me when Soda's around, now he has to hang around me at school too?! But he growled, "What, kid?"

I just shot him my best "I don't care how tough you think you are, I'm still gonna talk to you" look and asked, "Has Soda been acting differently at work lately?"

"How should I know?" he said carelessly. But I knew that his answer would be different if he weren't trying to impress Evie. I glared at him now.

"Well, since you're so proud of being his best friend, I just thought you might know something about him that I don't, but I guess not," I said, turning to walk away.

But he clamped his hand down on my shoulder and spun me around. "Kid, I know plenty about Soda that you'd never even guess!" he said dangerously.

Evie giggled. "Aw, Steve, lay off. He is Sodapop's little brother, after all."

Steve shot me a warning glance and let go of me. "No, he seems fine at work," he answered my question finally. "At least as normal as ever since…you know."

"Since Sandy ditched him to have some other guy's baby," Evie supplied brightly.

Now both Steve and I gave her looks—his annoyed, mine angry. "Yeah, we know," I said, my patience wearing thin with him and his girlfriend. "It's just he was real quiet today and I wondered if he'd said something about it to you."

"Well, he hasn't, so if you'll excuse us," Steve promptly steered Evie in the other direction and left me standing there. Glory, you'd think he could at least pretend to like me at school. I missed Johnny more than ever when I was at school, because here I had no close friends. Sure, I had my school friends, like the ones who were in my classes (although I was with mostly Socs) and Steve and Two-Bit were here, but you know how Steve feels about me. He'll watch out for me because Soda asks him to, but other than that I can expect nothing but coldness from him. And Two-Bit—well, yeah, I guess he's my closest friend at school. Johnny was my best friend, and no one could replace him. Well, I should say one of my best friends. Sodapop is closer than anyone to me, my brother and my best friend. But since he dropped out…

School just wasn't the same for me anymore.

The first chance I got to talk to Sodapop was when he came home from work. He pulled off his shoes and flopped onto the couch. Well, this at least was normal.

"Hey Pony," he said cheerfully, giving me a grin. But he didn't quite meet my eyes.

"Hi, Soda," I answered. "How was work? Nothing bad happened, did it?"

Soda's eyes darted to the ceiling for a moment before answering quickly, "It was fine. Just a normal day at the DX. Nah, nothing happened. Why would you ask?"

Because you're acting totally weird and I want my brother back! I was tempted to scream at him, but instead I shrugged. "Just wondered," I lied. I hated lying to Sodapop, but if he didn't want to talk, I wasn't going to force him to tell me anything. I mean, I was a bit hurt that he wouldn't confide in me if something had happened, but maybe I was wrong about the whole thing and there was nothing to tell. Maybe he was just having a bad day. But my brother didn't have many bad days.

Soda sighed. "Okay, Pony. I know what you're thinking. So I'm gonna tell ya what happened, 'cause I know you won't tell anyone else, especially Darry, right?"

"Sure," I said, pretty amazed at how well he could tell my thoughts.

Soda finally met my eyes for the first time. He looked very unhappy—which is one of the most unusual things for my happy-go-lucky brother. Or at least it had been before Sandy broke his heart—Sandy. It couldn't be…?

"I saw Sandy this morning in the park."

Steve's POV

Much as I hated to admit it, Ponyboy was right. Something was wrong with Sodapop, and he wasn't telling me anything. Gosh, I hate it when that kid is right!

Yeah, I know he isn't really such a bad kid after all, but he is annoying. I don't see why nobody else understands where I'm coming from. I get it—he's Darry and Soda's kid brother, so we have to let him hang around. But does the kid have no other friends? I couldn't believe it when he tried to talk to me at school, especially when I was with Evie!

But like I said, he was right about one thing—Sodapop. Those two could read each other like books. I hate to say it, but sometimes it makes me a little jealous—I mean, how they care about each other so much, and know each other's thoughts and stuff. But I sure as anything wasn't about to tell that to Soda!

So I headed over to the gas pumps when I got to the DX after school. Soda was of course there pumping gas (well duh, what else would he be doing by the gas pumps?) and being his usual annoying self to the customers. Only with a bit less spark (or is it spring?) in his step. I listened in for a while.

"Good morning, sir! Welcome to the DX!" Soda said cheerfully.

The man in the mustang looked like a first-class Soc, probably the father of some super-Soc at our high school. I wondered vaguely why on earth he was on this side of town buying gas from a greaser high school dropout. He snorted. "It's the middle of the afternoon. Buy yourself a watch." Ouch. Yeah, a real classy guy.

It didn't bother Sodapop, but he didn't rebound as quickly as he normally did. Didn't give the guy his customary grin either. But grinning or not, my best friend was still a regular ol' ray of sunshine. This was the kind of customer he liked to exasperate.

"Afternoon? Ya don't say," Soda said, sounding for all the world like he was just realizing the time. "Well sir, I lost my watch in a game of poker the other night."

The man just gave him the most condescending look I've ever seen. Well, the most condescending look I'd seen that day anyway. "Poker…just pump the gas, boy!"

Even though the comment wasn't directed at me, I bristled. Soda noticed me in a sort of dazed, not-really-all-there kinda way and shook his head. "Yessir. Right away. Would ya like me to wash your car while I'm at it?" he shot me a wink.

"No, I would not," the man said between clenched teeth. "I would like to fill up my car and give me the receipt. Then I would like to drive away and never bring my business here again!"

"Aw, come on," Soda said soothingly. "The gas is going and you'll be outta here in no time. Meanwhile, what's a Soc—I mean man like you doing this side of town?"

I snickered. He sure knew how to push a guy's buttons. The man's face was now turning red, only now he was stuck. After all, he couldn't just drive away while the pump was connected to his beloved mustang, could he? "None of your business, hood!" he snapped, finally losing his cool Socy exterior.

Bing bing bing! I felt like shouting. Soda had gotten what he wanted. He pulled out the pump and accepted the man's fistful of bills. "Thank you, sir. You have a nice day now, and remember you're always welcome at the DX. Pleasure talking to ya, mister," he said cheerfully, waving him off as he sped away.

I sauntered over to my buddy and burst out laughing. "Nice going, Soda!"

Sodapop grinned, but it didn't quite reach those crazy eyes of his. "Thanks Steve."

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked suddenly. He looked surprised—well shoot, I don't exactly go around asking that to people every day after all. But just because everyone thought I was a total jackass didn't mean I actually was. I've just got a reputation to fill. And if a greaser ain't got a rep he ain't got nothing in this town.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Soda replied after getting over his initial shock. He's pretty much the only one who's seen me like this, and believe me, it comes out very rarely. Like when Ponyboy was in the hospital—for the second time. Glory hallelujah, now that I think about it, that kid needs to stay away from fires and rumbles and everything else like that before he either kills himself or makes his brothers go mental from anxiety attacks! Anyway.

"You sure? You're acting kinda different than usual," I persisted. "I mean, you're real quiet and you're hardly smiling today. Something happen at home?"

Soda chuckled half-heartedly. "Quiet? I wouldn't shut up to that guy!"

"Soda, for you that was practically inaudible!" I informed him. Yes, that was one of my vocabulary words for English. And I don't use those very often either.

He shrugged. "Nah, I'm doing okay, Steve. Say, if I can't even get past you how do you think Ponyboy will act when I get home tonight?"

Now why did he have to go and drag the kid in again? I forced my fake smile and said, "Yeah, he can read you like a book, all right." What can I say? He's my best friend, and I just wanted him to be himself again.

Please review. Should I do some more Steve, or somebody else? I think I'll go back to the others for now…