Soda and Cherry continued to stare at each other out of shock and embarrassment. There was an obvious tension that now filled the air, but those in the room tried to ignore it. The young married couple in the room shared worried looks, trying to figure out something to say to try and help their two friends begin to talk; this may have been the only chance that the two would at least be forced to talk, and they had to grab that chance like it was the only thing that would keep them alive.

"Steve?" Evie said, gaining his attention, "Could you come upstairs with me for a sec?"

Steve nodded, taking note of her tone. "Yeah, sure," he obliged, then followed his wife up the stairs to the second floor, leaving their two friends alone in the living room.

Cherry and Soda both shuffled their feet nervously and uncomfortably. The tension grew where their awkward silence was filling gaps. What was there to say? Neither could figure that out- but they were a situation where they were now being forced to talk to each other. They'd have to say something to each other at this moment in time, and they had absolutely no choice at this point.

"How ya doin'?" Soda asked a bit awkwardly.

"I'm ok," Cherry answered while nodding a bit, "What about you?"

"I'm alright, I guess. I, uh… I heard you're stayin' with Two-Bit and Lily, now."

"Uh, yeah. Lily told me their mom would'a been real disappointed if I didn't." She let out a light chuckle.

He chuckled weakly. "Yeah, Mrs. Mathews really likes to help whenever she can. She's a real good person. She's always been like another mom to all of us."

"She's really motherly."

"Yeah, she's great."

Awkward silence filled the space again. The two kind of just stood there silently, their eyes scanning over the area of the room, shifting their bodies uncomfortably. Neither knew what to say, and were lucky they'd already said as much as they had. They both knew they had to talk about all that happened over the summer, but neither could figure out how to start off their conversation with such an out of the ordinary topic.

"Alright," Soda began, "I wanna apologize to you 'bout this summer. I shouldn't have done it, or gotten everyone else to along with it."

"It's ok," Cherry announced.

He gave a confused look. "It is?"

"Yeah. In fact, I should thank you for doin' what you did. It made me realize a lot 'bout myself, actually. But, there was something I didn't appreciate this summer."

I knew it, he thought. "Can I ask what?"

"The fact that you guys all had the guts to even go through with it. I mean, if it were me doin' that, I would've freaked out. I would never have been able to go through with makin' someone believe their life is somethin' it's not."

"Who said I didn't feel guilty at all?"

"Really? Cause it sure as hell didn't seem that was to me, considering I believed you! You're a pretty good liar, so that scares me, and it makes me wonder how much of what you've said about how you feel about me is true, to be honest."

Soda felt that familiar sense of guilt begin to rise and fill his body. For some reason, he could feel his blood begin to boil as well, but he wasn't quite sure why. He tried to take control over his growing anger, but he couldn't. He'd only been both angry and guilty a few other times in his life, and he didn't like how it made him feel. He'd been pretty much a loose cannon, saying things that he didn't think about before saying. He tried to control that part about it when he did get that way, but it never really worked. His mind wasn't fully functioning at that time, and he had no sense of judgement of what he was saying.

"You think I enjoyed doin' all I did?" Soda asked in an irritated tone, "Cause I sure as hell didn't."

"Then why did you do it?" Cherry snapped, "Cause honestly, it was a real shitty thing to do."

"I know, alright? I know! When I first did it, I was more than hesitant, but yeah, I was an asshole and went along with it. But the entire time, I felt guilty 'bout it the whole time. Cause a' that, I couldn't figure out how and when I was gonna tell you."

"Guilty? You felt guilty? How do you think I felt this past summer- relying on what everyone told me, and of the little bits and pieces I'd remember on my own? Let me tell you, Sodapop Curtis, it doesn't feel good. To not know who you are or anything 'bout your life, all cause of one thing, is one of the scariest things to feel in your entire life. And now, I wonder how much of what you ever said to me was the real me, or the me I believed was the real me?"

"If it's any consolation, the only difference was that one a; you was a Soc, and the other was a Greaser. I don't know if you noticed, but I didn't tell you nothin' that wasn't true about your personality."

"That's not the point. You still lied to me."

Soda looked down for a moment. "What would you say," he began, "If I told you that I wasn't lyin' about when I told you I loved you."

Cherry stood silently for a moment. "I don't know if I'd believe you," she admitted quietly, "Tell Evie I'll see her tomorrow." She then walked to the front door and out of the house.

-/-/-

Cherry did her best not to slam the door shut behind her as she walked out. She believed that she had succeeded as she walked away from the house and in the direction of where she was currently staying. When she got to the house, she rushed inside, and up to the room she was sleeping in. She shut the door quickly behind her, then threw herself across the surface of the bedsheets. She let her tears fall as she let the hurt flow and radiate from her body.

I can't trust him, she thought sadly, Not yet.

-/-/-

Soda stood motionless for who knew how long. His eyes had begun to fill with tears, which he had refused to let fall for the current moment. His face, which had already turned bright red, began to change back to his natural skin color as he stood, trying to calm down. His heart had been pounding the whole time, but he wasn't exactly quite sure which emotion had caused it to speed up.

"You alright?" Evie asked gently, gaining his attention.

When Soda turned, he saw his best friend standing with his wife on the staircase. "Uh, yeah," he answered with a weak and unconvincing forced smile, "I'm gonna head home."

Steve's shoulders slumped in worry. "You'll be alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'll be alright. I'll see you at the DX tomorrow."

"Yeah… see you tomorrow, Soda."

As Soda opened the front door to leave the house, he stepped and turned around a bit. "Oh yeah, Evie," he began, "Cherry said she'll see ya tomorrow." When she nodded and mumbled "ok" in response to his information, he then turned back around, walked out the door, and shut it gently behind him.

As Soda walked down the dark and quiet streets of the East Side, he felt his body finally begin to calm down. Whatever anger he had just felt five to ten minutes earlier had faded away and replaced by sadness, guilt, and heartbreak. He continued to walk the streets in silence, hands stuffed in his pockets and his head down. He pondered all that had been said between himself and the redhead.

"They all wanted us to talk," he mumbled to himself as he walked, "Well there. They got a whole damn argument."

First, I want to apologize for skipping the two week update this month, but updates should continue every two weeks like usual at this point. Let me explain in simple statements what has been going on in my life lately, both good and bad, that will hopefully give insight to certain things as reason for my absence (things may be out of order, but you'll get the gist of it):

Writers block. Apartment problems. Housing problems. Family issues. Thankful about job layoffs. Finding Dory. Independence Day (the first film). Independence Day: Resurgence. The Fourth of July. VBS church planning. Rewriting of my own story. Family visits. Birthdays. Wedding anniversaries. Barbecues. College searching. Job hunting. Wayward Pines. Short stories. Reading. Go Set a Watchman. The Godfather (book, not film). Gift searching. Personal issues. Skit practicing. Goodbye lunches. Apartment hunting. Future planning. Family visiting.

I think that's all, in simple statements without getting into details.

Anyway, like I said, updates should be every other week as usual, unless something happens.

Ok, that's it. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, happy late Fourth of July, and peace from all the hippies of the world.