Dinner with the Curtis gang was uncomfortable. Ponyboy's cheeks were puffed and stained with tears and his brothers seemed awful irked about it. The food was good though, so that's good. It was lasagna with Coke to drink and homemade chocolate cake for dessert.

"So, how do you two know each other?" Darrel had asked me and Ponyboy during the meal.

"We go to school together." Was Pony's quiet response. He had been picking at his food for the last seven minutes and I could tell it was starting to get on his brothers' nerves.

"We're not in the same grade," I elaborated, "but we kind of run in the same circle. Or used to, at least." Darrel raised an eyebrow at that last bit, but didn't ask for more clarification. I was grateful.

It was around 8:30 PM when we were all done eating and the dishes were finished.

I was pulling on my jacket when Soda's voice made its way to my ears. "You can spend the night if you'd like." I looked up at him and he smiled warmly at me. "I think it would make Ponyboy happy if you stayed. I know he kind of jumped you the other day, and he acts kind of cold toward you, but he does like you. He's just scared of admitting it. You can't really blame him though. He's lost a lot of people he was close to. Mom, Dad, Johnny and Dally. Hell, even that Mark kid. I didn't like him, but I know Pone did. He likes you, too. So does Darry. You're the best person Pony's brought home in a long time," he chuckled, "The last kid he brought how was Curly Shepard. Boy was Darry mad."

I smiled a little, and nodded. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, I can stay the night, if it's not any trouble."

Soda shook his head. "It's no trouble. Come on, you can sleep in my old room."

The blond Curtis brother showed me to a vacant bedroom, which as he said, used to belong to him. It was fairly empty, just a queen sized bed and a small dresser against the opposite wall. The room was nice though, and it seemed homey. So I happily and gratefully accepted the offer of the room. It was much more luxurious than my bedroom back home.

I laid down for about an hour, face pushed into the pillows. I was only interrupted when the door opened.

"Hey," Ponyboy's soft voice filled my ears, "you okay?" I nodded. He approached the bed and sat down beside me. "How do you like the room?" I could tell he was making small talk. I just couldn't tell why.

"It's nice."

Pony smiled at me and I forced a small smile back. He dropped himself backward into the mattress, falling by me. Our abdomens scraped against each other as Ponyboy struggled to roll over into his stomach. Apparently I weighed more than I thought I did, as my sinking in the mattress made it hard for him to get away from me. Eventually, he just conceded and gave up. He rolled into his side to face me, green-grey eyes full of interest as they scanned me over. It made me uncomfortable.

"What did you come in here for?" I asked, my voice sharper than I meant it to be.

The boy in front of me shrugged slightly. "Two-Bit is passed out on the couch so Steve wanted to sleep with Soda. Normally I'd just go sleep with Darry, but. . ." He trailed off, getting progressively more sheepish. A blush rested happily on his cheeks.

"So you wanna sleep in here with me?"

Blushing even more, Ponyboy just nodded. I couldn't contain a laugh. He smacked me in the chest, but it didn't hurt. "Well," I whispered, "I'm awful tired Curtis. So if we're gonna be sleepin' together, you better go shut off that light." I almost expected Ponyboy to put up a fight with me, but he didn't. Instead he got up, flipped the light switch off and jumped back onto the bed, bouncing me up in the process. He began to pull up the heavy quilt I was laying on so he could get underneath it. I realized then just how cold I was and followed suit.

The two of us sat in silence like that for a few minutes before I decided to speak.

"Pony?"

"Yeah?"

"What ever happened to you and Cathy? I heard y'all were going steady."

"I dumped her a long time ago, Bryon."

"What? Why?" I honestly was confused. The few times I'd seen them around town they had seemed totally infatuated with each other.

"I dunno. I just didn't like her that much. She didn't like my friends– not Two-Bit or Curly or Mark. Plus, I don't like her family. They kind of weird me out. Especially M&M. He's so creepy. She's kind of creepy too sometimes."

I snorted. I couldn't believe these words were coming out of sweet little Ponyboy Curtis' mouth. "I thought you were the nice brother?"

He laughed. "Naw. Soda is the nice one. Soda got the looks and the niceness, Darry got the muscles and the sense, and I got. . . Well, I dunno what I got. I for them, I guess."

"You got the crazy right hook," I spoke, laughing the whole time.

Ponyboy snorted once more, which made me burst out laughing. "Gee great. Maybe they can put that on my headstone huh? 'Here lies Ponyboy Michael Curtis. Brother, Son, Friend. He had a crazy right hook'."

I shoved Pony weakly, feeling the grasp of sleep finally starting to wrap around me. I think Ponyboy felt it too. He scooted closer to me mumbling about being cold.

"How come you cut off Angela Shepard's hair?" The small greaser asked with a yawn.

"It was Marks idea."

"But why did you do it?"

"I don't know. I guess to get back at her for breaking my heart. It's been a long time, Pone. It's hard to remember the reasons for the stuff Mark and I did when we were feeling stupid." My voice was low, not quite a whisper, but just about. I opened my mouth to continue speaking, but stopped when I heard the small breaths leaving Ponyboy. I listened for a few seconds longer and my suspicions were confirmed. He'd fallen asleep as I was talking. What a little twerp.

Rolling my eyes, I pulled the quilt up under my chin and got comfortable. As soon as I closed my eyes, I was out like a light.