"I don't know, Pone'," Soda said hesitantly, "It seems pretty risky, when ya think about all that happened."

Ponyboy had agreed with Lily's idea, also saying that it was a good idea. Since she had persuaded Cherry, it was agreed that' he'd try to persuade Soda to get on board with the idea. Since he was so close with his older brother, he would be the best option to try and talk to him. He knew how to get his older brother to talk about certain things that their other friends both wouldn't and couldn't be able to. For these reasons, he was the best option for the job.

"But you two won't be alone," Ponyboy reminded, "So if things start to get too heated up, someone'll be there with you guys."

"Still," Soda hesitantly tried to reason, "It can still go sour."

"Why don't you just give it a shot? It could work out. Cherry already agreed to it."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. She thinks it's a good idea."

"Can I think 'bout it and tell ya a bit later on?"

"Sure," Ponyboy agreed, "That'll work."

-/-/-

"So if he agrees to the idea," Evie began, "You two're gonna try to talk to each other again?"

Cherry had done as she said she would and went to the Randle household. It had been confirmed that Soda was not in the house with his best friend, but rather that the two were still at work for the day at the DX and would be till the sun had begun to set. When that had been confirmed, the redhead's nerves were eased and she then was not one bit hesitant to visit her friend at her house again.

"That's right," Cherry answered unenthusiastically.

"You don't seem too excited about it," Evie commented, "Why's that?"

"Cause I'm not."

"Not looking forward to it, huh?"

Cherry scoffed a bit. "If you were in my shoes, would you be?"

Evie could understand where her friend was coming from. She knew that all that had happened during the summer wasn't the best thing for the two. While it wasn't a good thing or a good way to start a relationship- one that was literally based on lies, pretty much- they still were technically in a relationship. Sure, it wasn't under the best circumstances, but even with all that had happened, there was obviously still something there romantically between the two. At this point, things may have not been the best, but they still had to work everything out.

Even though Cherry had agreed to the meeting, that didn't mean that she was looking forward to it at all. If she was being honest with herself, she wasn't looking forward to it. She felt awkward around him at this point, and was hesitant to his every word and movement. She felt she couldn't trust him anymore. She felt that she would never be able to trust him again. To be fair, she was still unsure at times how much she could trust the rest of them- but more so Soda, since it was all his idea.

Her trust had been betrayed and it had been broken into a hundred million little pieces.

"I'm just curious how much I can really trust him," Cherry admitted, "Is that weird?"

Evie shook her head. "No, I don't think it's weird," she answered, "But realize, how much can ya trust the rest a' us? Cause we all went along with it. Even Darry."

"Yeah, but you guys didn't toy with my emotions."

"But didn't we? I mean, not to turn you against us, we did all kinda tell you stuff that could've toyed with your emotions."

"Well, yeah. Maybe, I guess. But not with my heart. I mean, Soda told me that he loved me, and I said that I loved him."

"Well, do you?"

Cherry shrugged a bit. "I did," she admitted with a sigh, "But now… now, I don't know how I feel. About anything."

Evie felt sympathetic toward her friend. She knew that Soda really meant what he was saying to the redhead when he told her that he loved her. She knew that her friend really did have feelings for him, based off of past history from the past couple of years. She knew also that, during the summer, she had definitely been romanced by him the entire summer. She had been romanced by him and charmed by him the whole time, and she'd fallen in love with him. Love was a scary thing in general, but for them and their situation, it was even scarier and more confusing.

Cherry chuckled sadly. "I'm such a sucker, aren't I, Evie?" she asked in a low and sad voice.

Evie's heart broke at her friend's questions. As she saw tears started to fall gently down the redhead's cheeks, she quickly went and hugged her in attempt at comfort. "No," she said as her friend hugged her back, "You're not a sucker. Look, you've had a hard couple a' months, so it's normal to be so upset and confused about this all."

"I've never been so confused in my whole life… and I've had amnesia so I think I have a pretty good idea how it feels to be confused."

The two laughed at her attempt at humor. "That was a real sick joke," Evie chuckle, "You do know that, right?"

Cherry nodded. "Yeah," she answered honestly, "But it got us to laugh, didn't it?" She let out a light chuckle, and Evie nodded in agreement.

-/-/-

"I think you should do it," Steve said in response to the question.

While Soda was at work at the DX that day, he told his best friend about his younger brother's proposition. He figured that Cherry had probably talked to Evie about the proposition, when taking into consideration how close the two had gotten over the summer- which made sense, since the two lived together the entire summer. He figured he'd ask his best friend for his opinion about the whole matter, considering- next to his two brothers- Steve's opinion was an opinion that he had a great deal of trust in.

Soda gave a questioning look. "You really think so?" he asked.

"yeah, I do," Steve answered, "I mean, you two really need to talk 'bout everythin' that happened."

"We did… kinda…"

Steve rolled his eyes. "That was not talkin', what you two did. Trust me, y'all nearly made Layla start to cry."

Soda gave an embarrassed look. "Sorry 'bout that…"

"Don't worry 'bout it, we calmed her down. But look, Soda: you're my best friend, and have been since we were kids. At this point, I can tell what does and doesn't maybe you happy, so believe me when I tell you this: Cherry made you happy. Ever since that first time that Marcia brought here over here to cheer her up. And let me tell you somethin' else she always seemed to get happier when they'd come by, too."

Soda pondered all that his friend had just told him. He tried to remember all the times in which Cherry had been brought to the DX during her depression, just for a temporary pickup. He knew there'd been a lot of times when that had happened, but he'd lost count after the first two months. He'd spend a half hour or so talking with her, trying to do anything that he thought would make her smile. Eight out of ten times he'd succeeded and got her to at least give a weak smile. Usually when he'd get her to smile, he'd end up smiling as well, happy that he had managed to get her to smile.

"Fine," Soda caved in with a sigh, "Fine. I'll tell Ponyboy tonight that I'll go along with the damn thing."

Steve smiled in victory. "Good," he said, "It'll be good for the two a'' ya."

"Yeah, sure…" What am I getting myself into? he thought nervously.

I started my senior year (last year) of high school this past Monday. I'm graduating in May 2017 (I do online school, and the University I do it through graduates in May, and they have one whole bit ceremony for all the graduates of that year. It's pretty cool. My mom watched the graduation online when she graduated a few years back through the online academy. For the high school students who did school online, they sit altogether in a different color than the college graduates, so they're clearly seen in the huge crowd. All the college graduates have black gowns and hats on, then you just see a little sea of blue- that's the high school graduating class. It's seriously cool. We already got hotel rooms for graduation since it's not in New Jersey, but it Virginia- that hotel is now all booked up, but me and my mom are good, we got our rooms. My distant cousin (who we're oddly close with) from my dad's side and her husband are planning on coming to see me graduate. I'm excited.

Anyway, I'm rambling, I'm sorry.

Just so you know, since I'm now in school, I might make updates for this story and my others all once a month rather than twice a month. I have a creative writing class, so I'll have those writings, plus a paper for earth science, I believe. It'll be less rushed on me. I know it seems a bit selfish but in a way it's not, cause when my writing is rushed, my writing sucks and I don't want you guys all have to suffer just cause I'm stressed out. So in two weeks, there will be no update. In four weeks from now, there will be. Another four weeks, another update. Again, I apologize for this change, but I just don't want to rush things if I don't have to cause I'll already be stressed enough with this being my senior year, and applying for colleges and retaking the SAT and studying to get my drivers permit and license. Plus I'm looking for a job, so yeah.

Anyway. Hope you enjoyed the chapter- see you in four weeks. Peace from all the hippies of the world.