"You're finally gonna tell her, huh?" Two-Bit asked.
Soda nodded. "After last night, I just can't do this anymore," he sighed.
Steve gave a confused look. 'Wait, what happened last night then? You two didn't-" he started.
"No!" Soda's answer was quick. "We didn't do that, and that's what I told her. It's somethin' else I said. That we both said, actually.
"Well, what'd y'all say then?" A confused look made its way to Two-Bit's face.
Soda wasn't sure if he should answer, and if he did, what to say. What would he say? He couldn't just blurt out to these two that he said that he loved her, and that she said it back. Of course, when he said it to the redhead he meant it, but he couldn't tell the two in front of him. If he did, he wouldn't hear the end of it till the end of the century. If he was talking with Ponyboy and only Ponyboy, that'd be different. But he wasn't talking with his little brother, he was talking with his best friend and the jokester of the gang- and sometimes, there was no difference between the two.
Soda shook his head. "Memories," he decided on saying.
-/-/-
"You both said I love you?" Kathy asked in slight shock.
Cherry had told Evie, Kathy and Lily- after a lot of haggling- the events of her date with Soda from the night before. The three had been making "oooh" sounds to the cute and romantic gestures, but when she told them what both him and herself had said at the end of the night, all their eyes went wide. She couldn't figure out exactly why they were the way they were about it. She thought they would be happy for her- at least a little bit.
"Yeah," Cherry nodded, "He said it first then I did."
"You didn't say it just cause he did, right?" Lily asked.
A confused look formed the redhead's facial features. "How do you mean?"
"Some people do that," Evie said in a quiet tone as she shrugged, "This one ex-boyfriend I had said it to me. I almost said it back too so I didn't seem like a complete jerk."
"But sayin' it without meanin' it is as good as breaking up with someone," Kathy pointed out.
A small smirk formed Evie's lips. "I know… that's why I didn't say it, and broke up with him a week later."
"Better than sayin' something you didn't mean," Lily said with a shrug.
"Either way, when I said it last night, I meant it." The redhead finished and sat back in her seat on the couch. "And he did too."
-/-/-
Later in the day, Soda called Cherry to ask her if they could meet at the park that evening. She had agreed, but not without asking what they would be doing. He said that he wasn't quite sure and that it was Steve and Evie's idea, so they'd be there too.
Before the two girls were supposed to meet up with their boyfriends, Evie said she had to go to the store. Cherry had decided to go with her, since Esther was with a few friends for the week, so it wasn't like they were leaving her home alone again. But either way, someone had to get food in the house, and their parents sure weren't there to do it- they were still off wherever the hell they ran off to months previous to the present time.
The two girls got into the car they had- which was Evie's first car that she'd had since 1965- and started to the store. The store was near the other end of the town, but not near Soc territory, so that was a good thing. Evie took the driver's seat while Cherry took the passenger's seat.
"So you and Steve thought of goin' to the park tonight?" Cherry asked her friend.
"Evie shrugged slightly, keeping her eyes on the road. "More Steve and Soda, mostly Steve," she answered, "I just know we're all goin' to the park tonight."
That was a lie. Evie did know why they were all going to the park, and it was all Soda's idea to go. The reason he was taking Cherry to the park was cause he was going to tell her the truth and the whole truth. The reason Steve and Evie were going to be there as well was in case anything happened when he told her everything. And by anything- they meant something bad.
As the continued to the grocery store, they drove past the DX. They turned the corner of the block the DX was located on and drove a few feet. The next thing they knew, screams were heard as they met head on with an out of control car coming their way.
-/-/-
As Soda and Steve worked in the garage of the DX, they heard a loud crash sound and the shattering of glass. A confused look found ways onto the faces of both boys as they set down their tools. "What the hell was that?" Soda mumbled. One of their fellow co-workers came rushing into the garage.
"There was a car accident right around the corner, call nine- one- one," the co-worker said in an urgent tone of voice.
Steve nodded and rushed over to the phone as Soda ran out of the garage and to the back lot of the DX, where you could see the accident clearly. He ran to the sidewalk where people had already started to gather. One car was tilted the wrong way in the street and, based off the damage that he could see, it was obviously the car that caused the accident.
The second car was smaller and was completely totaled. The front end was dented and bent beyond repair. The front window was shattered into a million tiny pieces of glass spread out all over the road and what was left of the hood, along with the few pieces that were hanging on like threads to the window frame. The same went for the headlights. And on the inside, the new airbags were slightly deflated after opening due to the impact from the opposite car.
Steve came running up next to Soda just as the sound of sirens were heard. His eyes widened in shock at the sight in front of them in the middle of the road. As he continued to look at the cars involved in the accident, he felt his eyes widen even more and heart began to pound in his chest.
"Holy shit," Steve muttered.
Soda looked at his best friend with a confused expression. "What's wrong?" he asked.
He swallowed hard. "Uh… doesn't the car that's nearly completely destroyed look kinda familiar to you?" His voice was shaking.
"It's kinda hard to tell right now since-"
"Look at the license plate."
Soda cautiously did as his best friend said and when he did, his reaction was exactly the same.
The two watched nervously as the firemen began to use a special saw to break away pieces of the car. As soon as that was done, a couple of paramedics began to take the passengers- who were both unconscious- out of the car and place them urgently but gently onto stretchers and into the ambulances. When Soda and Steve were able to see who the passengers were, they ran as quickly as they could toward the scene of the accident.
A cop stopped them before either of them could reach either of the two ambulances. "Whoa, boys," he said, "You can't get any closer than this."
"You don't understand," Soda said urgently, "The girl with red hair over there is my girlfriend."
Steve nodded. "Yeah, and the girl with black hair is my girlfriend," he said.
The cop gave a skeptical look. "How do I know neither a' you are lying?"
The two boys thought for a moment before Soda jumped slightly, took out his wallet and dug around it before taking out a picture. The picture was of himself, Cherry, Steve and Evie with Two-Bit coming in to ruin the photo. The four were laughing at their jokester friend. The redhead was leaning back against Soda, his arm wrapped around her shoulders as they laughed at their friend. The girl with hair as dark as a raven had her arms wrapped around her boyfriend's torso and he had one arm around her shoulders. When you turned the photo over, it had the date written on it as Summer 1968, proving that it was at least from a few months previous.
As the cop looked at the picture, a small smile formed his lips. "Ok," he said, handing back the photo, "The redhead's in that one, raven hair's in that one."
The two boys said a quick "thank you" before running to each of the ambulances that the officer had pointed to.
They both were questioned how they got through, but the cop followed each of them to tell everyone that he had given them special clearance due to personal reason. Since the police officer they were confronted by was the police chief, no one could argue with him or question his reason for clearance.
"I hope they're both ok,' the cop said to himself as the ambulances started off as quickly as possible, their sirens blaring and their lights on.
Heavy feels, whoa. This story is so full of angst- that just proves I've been watching too much "Days of our Lives".
I won't be updating before Valentine's Day and Galentine's Day (if you watch "Parks and Recreation", you know what that is) so- HAPPY GALENTINE'S DAY AND HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!
Anyway, I have nothing to say- so hope you enjoyed the chapter and peace from all the hippies of the world! =^-^=