Darry's POV

Steve wasn't back that night. Shit. It was ten now, and the three of us sat in front of the TV. I suppose there was still time for him to walk through the door, but it didn't seem promising. And none of us knew how to reach him. None of us knew where the hell he was. Not even a general direction. Ever since being put in the position to take care of my brothers, I always hated one thing: feeling helpless. I couldn't do anything to help Steve, and I couldn't say or do anything to help Pony and Two-Bit feel better about it all.

"I can't fucking believe him."

"Language," I said to my little brother. Force of habit. It was out of place now to say anything about his language. He did take the words right out of my mouth, though.

"What are we going to do?" Two-Bit asked before chugging the rest of his fourth beer. I was on my second beer, which was crazy for me to say. Typically, if I had a beer, I'd be nursing the one beer and usually didn't finish it. I needed this, though. With a four-day weekend, I might as well drown my stresses and worries into alcohol.

I shrugged to Two-Bit's question. "What can we do?"

"Go find him," Two-Bit said.

"We have no idea where he went," I pointed out. What a memory, though. When Pony and Johnny ran off, Two-Bit wanted to go hunt for them.

"Too bad Soda wasn't here," Pony said. "He'd probably know exactly where Steve went."

I swirled around my beer bottle. "Yeah. He probably would."

"We are just losing more and more of us," Two-Bit said. "Steve's wanted here. He's got to know that."

"I'm sure he does," I said, although, I was unsure. Steve's mind had been a little messed up since returning from the war. "Deep down."

Steve's POV

I didn't stop driving until it was dark. I was still in Oklahoma, but that was fine. I wasn't necessarily trying to get out of the state. Honestly, this town I ended up in was pulling me in. I wasn't sure why yet, but I wanted to see what it had to offer. I stopped at a motel and got a room. That's when I realized how exhausted I was. When I slammed onto the bed, the phone came into view.

Nope. Don't call them.

It hit me then. Being alone wasn't going to be easy. At the same time, I couldn't call Soda anyway. He'd be the only one I'd want to talk to. But he's not there anymore. He's dead. I have to live as such.

Two-Bit's worried about you. Darry's worried about you.

I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my switch. I didn't expose the blade, but I pushed the metal end against my arm. I had to bring pain to forget.

Stop thinking about them. Stop feeling.

I pulled my switch away, seeing the red imprint on my skin. That should be enough. I unplugged the phone and slid it under the bed. No reason to look at it.

Looking out the window, this town looked like a dump. I could see a homeless person across the street. None of the shops had welcoming fronts. Several other people were walking around, and they didn't look like anyone from the wealthy side of life. This place made the east side of Tulsa look well off. I don't know. Being in a town this wrecked was kind of nice, actually. Don't a lot of people coming home from war end up in places like this anyway? They become too crazy to function? There probably weren't a lot of authorities to enforce any rules. It was street rules. Follow them or get out. Like it or leave it.

I think I was going to fit in. I didn't care about much anymore anyway. Let's just see how tomorrow went. I climbed into bed and went to sleep.

The next morning, I woke up and took a shower. My original plan was to keep driving, but I figured I could check this town out some more. I got into my car and drove around. The town wasn't all shit. Thankfully. There were some decent spots with decent-looking people, but still nothing that screamed high class.

Then a sign came along. Literally and metaphorically. There was a help wanted sign outside a garage. It was a big garage too. There was a gas station and gas pumps near it. It was like a larger, semi-fancier DX.

Maybe a bigger calling to stick around. I drove into the parking lot, parked, and walked inside.

Ponyboy's POV

I didn't sleep last night. I'm sure no one did. Well, except Two-Bit, who was passed out on my couch as I made my way into the kitchen. Maybe I should've had some beers. That would have helped me pass out real good. I looked out the window to check for Steve's car, but I didn't see it. After that, I couldn't get myself to get any food. I sat on the floor and switched the TV on.

"Morning," Darry greeted, coming out shortly after me.

"Morning. Sorry I didn't start cooking breakfast. I'm not feeling very hungry."

"That's fine. I'm good with chocolate cake." Darry went into the kitchen and pulled out the plate of chocolate cake. "It won't ever be made with too much sugar again."

I sighed. Darry's way of grieving was to make comments like that out loud, but I wish he didn't. Why put the reminder out there? Aren't we supposed to be moving on? I remember he would do that after Mom and Dad died too.

He won't throw me the football again. She won't yell at any of us for throwing pillows again. They would've kept Dallas from making the decision to get shot down by the police.

Just shut up. I bit my tongue, swallowed any backlash comment, and instead said, "Maybe the next one we can put a lot of sugar in it ourselves."

"Yeah." Darry walked into the living room with a large slice of cake and sat in his armchair. "So, listen. Yesterday, when I went on lunch, I called the school about you graduating."

"I don't even want to know how behind I am by now."

"Actually, the good news is there's only one class you need to finish, and pass, to have all the credits you need to graduate. Your chemistry class."

"Damn," I muttered.

"Here's what the school offered because of our circumstances. Your teacher is going to gather the important assignments that will show that you know the material. They said you can complete it all at home. They just want you to go in for the final next month."

"Okay."

"You were doing pretty well in that class."

"Yeah, yeah. I should be fine."

"Okay. Sometime next week, I'll go pick everything up."

"What about my other classes? Are they dropped or something?"

"Yeah. You were already ahead with the skipped grade, and you had honors classes. You've put more than enough work in."

It was so nice to hear that from Darry. Three years ago, before everything went to shit, Darry would have said I was going to finish every single class and every little piece of homework. "Thanks, Darry."

Two-Bit stirred and sat up. His hair was a mess, and I had to laugh at it. Good grief. If Two-Bit could have anything in his life put together, it should be his hair.

"Morning, sunshine," Darry said.

Two-Bit looked between us. "Steve still gone?"

"Yeah," I said sadly.

Two-Bit muttered something under his breath. "What do we do now? I know I sound like a record player, but shit, there's got to be something we can do."

"We can't do anything," Darry said. "Even if we knew where he went, we can't force him to come back."

"But we know here is best for him," I said.

Two-Bit sighed. "Lord knows what he's doing out there. He already wasn't himself when he got back."

Darry shook his head. "I know, guys. It's hard. We all know he needs to be here and face everything and get back on his feet with our help. Unfortunately, we can't help someone who doesn't want to help themselves."

Steve's POV

"It'll be the first time in a long time we have someone with your kind of experience," Roy said. He was the owner of the lot. He owned the gas station, the garage, and even the hotel right next to it. He said I could move my stuff over to his hotel while I worked for him. "Are you sure you want to work here? Your obvious knowledge of cars should be putting you in a high-class garage. One that isn't associated with a gas station."

"Thanks for the kind words, but I need to be here. It's what I need to do."

"Alright. Well, welcome aboard, Steve," Roy said with a smile. "Let me show you around and get some paperwork filled out."