I am so sorry! I feel so ashamed; it has been over a month, maybe two months, since I last updated. Please forgive me, and I hope the next couple of chapters make up for it.

By the way, this does take place in present times as there are references to present day electronics and celebrities that didn't exist in the 1960s.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Outsiders.

Time skip to the following Saturday

"Hey, Aimee!" Sodapop cheered as he wrapped the rather suprised girl in a hug. It wasn't that Aimee didn't like him; she just wasn't used to hugs with a family like her's.

"Sodapop, it's so nice to see you again!" She greeted. "And you look rather spiffy as well; I feel underdressed."

She wore a simple purple skirt with a light pink shirt and white slip on shoes. Her hair was naturally wavy but she'd put it in a ponytail on that windy day to keep it out of her face. A simple lavender purse that she always carried hung from her shoulder.

Soda meanwhile was wearing a nice button up shirt with a pair of black jeans so fancy they could've passed for dress pants. He'd left the hair grease at home and his blonde hair was loose around his shoulders. On his feet were his only pair of tennis shoes that weren't dirty or bordering on ruined.

Soda's face went red. "That was Steve's idea. I was just gonna come here in a nice T-shirt and jeans, but he wouldn't let me leave the DX until I dressed up for our date."

Aimee's laughter tinkled like a bell and her and Sodapop turned to walk into the nearby café for lunch.

"So, how's life?" Soda asked, grinning cheekily.

Aimee giggled. "It's good. Anything specific?" She questioned in a mock professional voice.

"How is your education, Ms. Brown?" Soda said, copying her tone of voice.

"Rather splendid, Mr. Curtis," Aimee responded. "Straight A's, as usual of course. How is work, good sir?"

"Fantastic," Soda drawled. "Steve has been a great supporter of our relationship, ma reine."

"You speak French?" Aimee gasped, sounding genuinely suprised.

"My family is very diverse. My mom was the first Christian in her Jewish family since she decided on her own religion versus following one she didn't believe in. She actually met my dad at a church. Anyway, I grew up around different religions and even more languages. My mom took Italian in High school and my dad took Spanish. My brother, Darry, took French and each of them taught us everything they could about languages," Soda smiled at the memory of his parents and those times when Darry wasn't stressed out.

Aimee smiled slightly, but her face was still confused. "I can understand wanting to share your knowledge with children, but why go to so much trouble to do it?"

Soda shrugged. "My mom dropped out of a Jewish school when she was seventeen before graduation and Dad flunked out of school. He's like me, got all the character, not so much on the brains."

Aimee reached across the table to grab Sodapop's hand before she could rethink the action. "You are smart, Soda. You don't give yourself enough credit."

Soda snorted. "I dropped put of school to get a job at a gasoline station. It took me two months to learn 2+2 back in kindergarten. I remember because I had to take a test to check for disabilities. Apparently, I was just flat out stupid,"

"Sodapop Patrick Curtis!" Aimee snapped. Soda looked up from his Pepsi in suprise. "You are one of the smartest people I know! You may not be good at school or tests, but you're good at tons of stuff. You work with money and cars, which means you have to be good at math and science! You know all these different languages and you have street smarts that are so good, they're scary."

"Thanks," Soda whispered, but he didn't look as convinced as Aimee wanted him to be.

"Soda, I don't care if you have a diploma or make thousands a week. I don't care if you have a grand job or if you know all of your multiplication facts. I love you, Sodapop Curtis, for who you are and nothing you can do or say will change that. And wow, that sounded sappy and cheesy, didn't it?" Aimee blushed.

Soda laughed. "It did, but I'll tell you a secret, I like sappy and cheesy. Especially when you do it because you make the most cliché things sound unique."

Aimee rasped her eyebrows, recognizing the hidden challenge. "Did it hurt when you fell from heaven, my angel?"

"Are you from Tennessee cause you're the only ten I see?"

"I might as well call you Google because you have everything I need."

"You must be a banana because I find you a peeling!"

"If I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd put I and U next to each other."

"Can I walk you home? My mom always said to follow my dreams."

Aimee's giggles made several people in the café grin.

"Young love," a middle aged man with thinning blonde hair said. "Remember when you and me were like that, honey?"

"Yeah, sweetie. Maybe they'll be just as lucky, baby," his wife whispered and kissed him softly.

"This makes me believe in love again. For the first time since your mother passed," the man blinked away the tears in his eyes.

His twenty three year old daughter reached across the table and grabbed her father's hand. "Then do you say yes?"

Her father took a deep breath. "Yes because I love you and you love him. I just pray he's good enough for you, and I will be watching."

"Thank you, daddy," the woman screamed before looping her arms around her fiance's neck and kissing him passionately. Then she practically leapt across the table to embrace her father and after she released him, the fiance shook his soon to be father in law's hand.

"Thank you, sir. Maybe those kids'll be as lucky as us someday," the fiance grinned over at the pair in the corner and the man nodded.

"Maybe love isn't a trap," one man grumbled, begrudgingly, as he slid his wedding ring off his finger and the recently divorced man payed before leaving. Who knows? Maybe Aimee and Soda inspired him to search for love again and maybe he'll find it. We'll never know.

A heart broken teenage girl with black hair sat in the corner. "Maybe I can be like that someday."

With a small smile, she fiddled with a coin in her fingers before rushing out the door to call someone.

"Okay, okay, you win, Aimee!" Sodapop relented. "You are by far the cheesiest person I have ever met."

"Thank you, thank you very much," she joked in a very bad impression of Elvis Presley.

Soda's eyes widened. "Aimee, I love you, but please, don't do that again. There is only one Elvis Presley and one Two Matthews that can imitate him perfectly."

Aimee laughed and Soda took a deep breath. She looked at him, curiously.

"Aimee, I am about to ask you a very important question, and I understand if you say no, but I just... I just want to out the idea out there and I don't want this to ruin our relationship," Soda stammered.

Aimee nodded, cautiously and anxious.

"I was wondering if you would want to come to my house next Saturday maybe and... meetmybrothersandfriends?!" Sodapop's words came out in a rush and Aimee's eyes widened.

"Soda, I can't understand you."

"Would you like to come over next Saturday and meet my brothers and friends?" Soda said in a voice in a little over a whisper.

Aimee stayed silent for a moment and Soda immediately assumed the worst.

"Oh, I understand if you don't want to. It's kind of soon and-"

"Yes."

"... What?"

"I've been waiting for this, Sodapop Curtis!" She practically tackled him with the hug she gave him. "I can't wait to meet Darry, Pony, and the others. They sound amazing, Soda."

"They really are and if you don't mind, I'd like to follow through on my last cheesy comment."

"A true gentleman," Aimee giggled.

"Well, like I said, Mama always did tell me to follow my dreams, " he said in an almost perfect Texan accent.

"Come on, jokester," she laughed, taking his hand and tugging him out the door after they paid.

Soda and Aimee walked along towards her house, which was very close much to Soda's disappointment.

"Goodbye, Soda, I'll see you next weekend," she said and kissed the blushing boy on the cheek before entering her house.

Smiling, Soda took out his flip phone and hit the first number on speed dial.

"'Ello, Darry, would you do me a favor and call the gang, telling them to pick out a decent outfit for next Saturday? Aimee's coming."

He heard Darry chuckle and he quickly hung up.

Looking at the sky, he whispered, "God, I don't know if you're real after everything that's happened since Mom and Dad died, but... thanks for Aimee. She's my salvation and I will do everything to make sure I'm worthy of someone like her. I'm not lying or being cheesy when I'm say I'm positive that she was sent straight from heaven. Thank you."

I really wasn't sure how to end this chapter, so sorry first I didn't end it okay. Review, review, review! Thanks!

Feel free to recommend ideas because this is going to be a one hundred chapter story, so I'll need some ideas for more chapters. Thanks, and I will make sure to recognize those that give me ideas. The update will be sooner this time, I promise!

-Myra109