Disclaimer: S.E. Hinton owns the Outsiders. Elvis owns the song. I own Sam.

Ch. 6 – Fools Rush In

Wise men say, only fools rush in

But I can't help, falling in love with you

Sam's POV

After I finished washing up and changing out of my jumpsuit and into my jeans, I took a long look in the mirror, suddenly cursing the fact that I hadn't brought any makeup or hair stuff. I guess it had to be good enough, because I heard Steve yell from down the hallway that they were leaving without me if I didn't get my butt into high gear.

I quick grabbed my bag and ran down the hallway to the exit, not wanting to be left behind, but more not wanting to make anyone wait on me either.

"See, I told you that'd work," Steve directed his snide remark at Soda.

"Sorry," I said, hopefully not looking as embarrassed as I felt.

"No problem, Sam. Steve here just has a growling stomach and can't seem to find the patience to let you be." Soda replied, obviously annoyed at Steve's comment. "Let's get going. It's only a few blocks, but we don't want to be going after dark. Have you learned about the Socs yet, Sam?"

I had no idea what a Soc was, so I shook my head and kept my mouth shut.

"Oh," Soda continued, "they're just the stupid rich kids from the west side. They drive fancy cars and go to social clubs and jump greasers for fun."

"Greasers?" I was really confused.

"Yeah, that's us and anyone else from the east side without a trust fund. Of course, when they're drunk, Socs come up with all kinds of other names for us too." Soda said, a little more amused than Steve, who was muttering something about Socs being "dirty, rotten, no-good…." and other colorful words.

"Well, I'm not one for fighting in general, but if any rich bastard thinks he can try his macho crap with me, he'll find another thing comin'." I smiled at Soda's surprise. "I grew up with brothers, you're forgetting."

A look of understanding passed over his eyes and he smiled once again. "Well, if I've got anything to do with it, they won't be touching you." His face blushed, just slightly, and then he ambled over and slung and arm around my shoulder. I patted his hand in a grateful gesture, and fought back the urge to fix my hair.

We walked up to a small-ish house, none too fancy but nicer than most in the neighborhood, with a nice front porch and an inviting feel. The boys opened the gate and walked through and Soda held it open for me to walk through too. We climbed the steps and I heard voices inside.

"Two-bit, lay off! You've got 50 pounds on him, of course you're gonna win if you sit on him!" A gruff voice, but one filled with caring for whoever was getting sat on, I noticed.

Soda ran in and took a flying leap at Two-bit, who was seated squarely on Ponyboy's back, awaiting a second chastisement, apparently. Steve jumped on the pile as Ponyboy stood up and jumped on top of Steve, and a moment later a mountain of a man walked in to break up the obvious hysterics. He stopped short when he saw me, though, and it became obvious that he didn't know I was coming.

The boys stopped wrestling and Soda stood up to introduce me. "Sam, this is my oldest brother, Darry. Darry, Sam just started today at work. She just moved here from Oklahoma City. Sorry I didn't call. I forgot."

Darry looked a little shell shocked, but not really at my presence. He seemed surprised that Soda jumped in on the games and also that he'd been the one to introduce me. It seemed a little funny to me, but I figured I just didn't know the family dynamics and decided to try and ease the strange silence. "Hi!" I stuck my smallish hand out to shake Darry's huge one. "Nice to meet you. Thanks so much for the dinner invite, not that you knew about it or anything. But yeah. You know. Thanks!" Oh my gosh, that was awkward. Come on, Sam! It's not as if you don't know any boys. Although, it might be true that you don't' know any better looking boys than these.

"Hi, Sam. I'm glad you could make it. I'm just making baked chicken. If I knew we were having company," he threw a dirty look Soda's way, "I'd have made something a little nicer."

"Chicken's good with me." I replied.

We all sat down in the living room, save Darry and Ponyboy, who had been elected, or rather voluntold, to set the table. The conversation came easily and I already felt at home in this place. Two-bit was cackling on about some blonde he had met at school and Steve was talking about his girlfriend, Evie, who I had met earlier that day.

"So, Sam, what about you?" Two-bit asked. "Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Nope. It's just me. It's hard to have a boyfriend with brothers as protective as mine. Plus, I don't know many people here."

"Oh, well, those brothers of yours are no excuse," Soda said. "The right guy wouldn't be afraid. Brothers aren't so scary, are they Darry?" he called into the kitchen.

"You'll find out how scary they are if you don't watch your mouth, little buddy."

I loved that Darry had a nickname for Soda. Glory, if I thought about it hard enough, I liked a lot of things about Soda and the rest of the guys. I really felt like I belonged.

"Dinner's ready, guys!" Darry called, interrupting me from my thoughts.

And dinner, it turned out, was fantastic. The food was great and the conversations flowed easily from one subject to the next. When we were done, we all took our dishes to the sink, and I volunteered to do them, wanting to help out.

"No, Sam, really it's fine," was Darry's reply to my offer.

"Really, I insist," I said. "It's the least I can do after a great dinner like that.

Soda volunteered to help, and off we went to the kitchen.

As we were washing our dishes, I felt the attraction even more to this happy-go-lucky guy that I was quickly getting to know. He told me that he recently lost two of his best friends and one hell of a story surrounding their deaths. He talked about his parents and how Darry looked like his dad but was like their mom in nature. He said that he looked like his mom but had more of his dad's personality. He said that Ponyboy was a perfect blend of both, and he couldn't wait to see how he turned out. Apparently, Pony was taking his best friend's death pretty badly and was having some issues in school.

We talked for the 45 minutes it took us to do the dishes and continued in the living room after Steve and Two-bit had left. Darry had gone to his bedroom to do something and Pony was in his doing homework.

Glancing at the clock, I noticed it was 9:45 and realized that my brothers would be home now. "Oh goodness, I had no idea it was so late! I've really gotta get going," I said, standing up.

Soda stood too and told me to wait, that he'd get Darry's keys and drive me home.

He returned a moment later and put his hand on the small of my back to usher me out the door. There was an electricity of attraction at his touch, and I couldn't help but shudder. He opened the door of an old, beat-up truck and got in his side and started the car.

The 10 blocks or so home were relatively silent, save my soft singing to Elvis on the radio. I pointed out my house and Soda stopped the truck.

"Thanks so much for coming over tonight. I think my family likes you. It's like you belong there. And I'm glad you like Elvis." Soda said with a bit of a pink tinge to his features.

"I really like your family, Soda. I'm so glad I could meet them. And Elvis is amazing," I replied. "I should be getting in, though. My brothers will wonder what happened to me. And they'll be hungry."

Then, on impulse, I stretched over the seat of the truck and pressed my lips to Soda's cheek, almost on his lips. I'm sure my face must have turned bright red, then, because his did, but a huge grin broke out and spread from ear to ear.

"I, uh, I've gotta go. Thanks again. I'll see you tomorrow."

With that, I hopped out of the truck, leaving a babbling Soda, and jogged to my front door. I gave him a little wave and stepped inside to find that neither of my brothers was home yet, so I went to the kitchen to start them a quick meal, humming that Elvis song all along.

Sodapop Curtis, I thought, what are you doing to me? I think I like it.