For a moment, I'm sure that no one is home. The house is unnaturally quiet when Ponyboy and I sneak in through the front door. If no one is home, then I can put off talking to my brother for another day or so and I exhale in some relief, hoping that I can just let this entire day go completely.
"Nellie? That you?" My mother's voice calls from the living room, and I jump, trying to hide behind the wall of the foyer.
"Yeah, mama." I say, flinching somewhat from the soreness of my face. I nod for Ponyboy to follow me up the stairs, pressing a finger to my lips in a signal to be quiet. He rolls his eyes at me and points to his own eye, hinting that I wouldn't be able to hide my black eye forever. I throw my hands up in quiet protest, pointing once again at the stairs. If anything, I wanted to go upstairs and go to sleep – not have to deal with my mother freaking out over my bruised eye while my brother tries to kill my boyfriend on the front porch.
"You okay, Nell?" My mother asks and I can hear the couch groan as she starts to sit up.
"Hi, Ms. Mathews." Ponyboy says, poking his head around the corner before I can lie to my mother. I kick at him, forcing his knee to give out as he takes the corner into the living room. He turns to shoot a look at me, before smiling weakly at my mother.
"Ponyboy," she says warmly, "I was wondering when I would be seeing you."
"I just wanted to make sure Nellie got home okay," Ponyboy says. I am still hiding behind the wall, studying my reflection in the mirror next to the coat rack. My mother was going to freak when she saw my face. At this point my eye has swollen so much that it is almost completely shut, and the scratches were red and irritated from the alcohol Pony used to clean them out. I looked like hell but was now beginning to feel like it too. I glance at the stairs, wondering if I can still sneak off into my bedroom, while my mother fauns over Ponyboy.
"What do you mean?" My mother asks and I can hear the slight tone of worry now in her voice. I sigh, knowing that all plans of escape have now been thwarted. Hanging my head in hopes that my hair will hide the black eye, I sheepishly peek around the corner and watch at her eyes widen in surprise, and then worry. "Nellie!" She squeals, jumping across the room to examine me closer.
"It's not as bad as it looks," I grumble, and my mother rolls her eyes. She grabs my face gently, brushing my hair from my face, and turns it side to side with a shake of her head.
"Who the hell did this?" She asks with a sharp glance in Ponyboy's direction.
"Aw, Mama!" I say, pulling away from her, "Ponyboy didn't do this!"
Both my mother and Ponyboy flush with embarrassment. I flop onto the couch, gently covering my face with my arm and closing my eyes. It felt late, despite only being close to nine and for a moment, I hope both will just leave me alone, but this doesn't last long when my mother finally says, "What's Two-Bit going to say?"
I peek at her from my good eye and shake my head, again just wanting them to leave me alone. After a few passing moments of silence, my mother finally sighs, and I listen to her quieted footsteps on the rug as she takes her place on the couch next to me. I feel her gentle fingers lift the blanket from my face to look at me a little more carefully. She has this mix of sympathy and worry spread across her face, but she smiles regardless and just from this warm, small gesture that only my mother could share I begin to feel slightly better.
"I got into a fight with Angela Shepard," I finally announce and my mother gasps in surprise.
"About what?" She asks and without helping it, my eyes land on Ponyboy. My mother turns to look at him and we watch as his blush settles across his face again. "Ponyboy Curtis," my mother says, half teasing and half scolding him.
Ponyboy puts his hands in the air in innocence and uncomfortably takes a seat on the armchair. "I didn't ask for it," he grumbles and my mother smiles in her warm, comforting way, once more.
"Well, I would hope not," she says before turning back to me. "Does she at least look as bad as you?"
"Mama!" I gasp, feeling the giggles beginning to form. I touch my eye gingerly, already sore from the sudden laughter.
"It's a fair question," she says with her own laughter, "I didn't raise my two to be babies." This is something I knew to be true. Mama always made sure that Two-Bit and I knew how to pick ourselves up off the ground, dust off the dirt, and to throw ourselves back into the mix without so much as batting an eye. There was no crying aloud in the Mathew's house. Especially after our father left. Mama always claimed it was because she never had time for crying babies, but I think it was because she was scared she would cry with us.
"Well, if you must know," I say, "the Shepard's brothers taught their little sister how to throw a punch."
"I hope this taught you a valuable lesson," my mother says as she stands up, "learn to block better."
"Mama!" I say in surprise and Ponyboy and I burst into another fit of laughter.
"You going to stay a while, Ponyboy?" She asks as she moves towards the kitchen.
"Yes Ma'am," he says with a nod. "I promised Nell I'd stay and talk to Two-Bit."
My mother looks at him with a mix of emotions that, for once, I can't seem to read. She studies Ponyboy and then looks at me with a watery smile before saying, "Well Ponyboy, I sure hope your brothers taught you how to throw a punch."
It's about an hour later when my brother finally strolls through the door. He's humming quietly to himself as he discards his jacket, keys, and boots. I wonder briefly where he has been all night and if he caught wind of the fight. Something tells me, that the Shepard brothers would have sought him out to brag about their sister's victory, but due to his lack of urgency in his slow movements, it's safe to assume that once again, my brother is aloof to what is happening outside his own world.
"What movie we watchin'?" Two-Bit asks as he takes the corner into the living room. For a moment, he doesn't even seem to notice Ponyboy, but as he flops into the rocking chair, he does a double take in Pony's direction and then in mine.
"What in the hell?" He drawls out, looking back and forth between us. I am unsure if he is more surprised by my face or the presence of Ponyboy. I sit up carefully, knowing that any sudden movements on my part are going to cause him to react.
"Hey Two-Bit," Ponyboy says with a lazy, careless smile, "bout time you showed up."
"Shoot kid," Two-Bit says a bit uneasily, but drops his eyes from my face, "had I known you'd be here, I'd shown up hours ago."
Ponyboy smiles at me in a relaxed, told you so, sort of way and I shake my head at him, glancing at Two-Bit who is once again studying me carefully. "You gonna tell me what's goin' on, Nell?" He asks, leaning forward in his chair to look at me a bit more closely.
"Bout what?" I ask, playing dumb and Ponyboy chuckles to himself as Two-Bit rolls his eyes.
"Bout what?" Two-Bit repeats, he looks at Ponyboy with a shake of his head before meeting my eyes again. "Bout your face? Bout why my best friend's kid brother is sitting on my couch?"
"Oh," I say with a small sheepish grin, "bout that."
Surprisingly, my brother waits patiently as I search for the words. "You want the story about my face first or the story about Ponyboy?"
"Either one requiring me to beat someone into next week?" Two-Bit drawls and I feel a blush begin to sting my face as I once again try to find my words.
"Well, that depends," Ponyboy says.
"Depends on what?" Two-Bit asks, suddenly looking at Ponyboy like he doesn't recognize him. I hold my breath, suddenly wondering how my mother and I are going to be able to pull Two-Bit off Ponyboy.
"How you feel about your best friend's kid brother, dating your sister," Ponyboy has the same relaxed smile on his face. I feel my mouth drop open and glance at my mother who has been actively ignoring us but find that she has the same shocked face as well. For a moment its dead silent and I am praying that Ponyboy can run as fast as he says he can.
"Huh," my brother says, processing the information and then turning to look at me. I watch as he studies me closely and then like a flip of a switch he's standing, grabbing Ponyboy by the collar of his jacket and shoving him towards the front door, "What the fuck, did you do?"
"Two-Bit!" I squeal, standing up to follow them. I watch as my brother slams Ponyboy against the front door, fumbling to hold onto Ponyboy and twist the handle at the same time.
"Aw, come on Two-Bit," Ponyboy says, struggling to loosen Two-Bit's grip. Despite being held by the throat, Ponyboy has the same relaxed look on his face, almost like the whole situation was funny to him. "You think I'm going to beat up on your sister and then sit in your living room? I'd be halfway to Mexico by now."
"Stop it Two-Bit!" I yell, grabbing one of his arms to pull him back. "It was Angela Shepard! Ponyboy just brought me home!"
Ignoring us, Two-Bit is finally able to jiggle open the handle of the front door, sending Ponyboy and himself flying out onto the porch. Luckily, for Ponyboy, he is able slip out of Two-Bit's grip and jump off the porch before my brother can grab him again. They stare at each other in a stand-off, Ponyboy with the same lighthearted grin on his face. If I didn't know any better, it looked like he was having the time of his life.
"Two-Bit! Stop it!" I yell again, moving to put myself in between them on the porch steps. "You really think Ponyboy would do this to me?"
My brother glances at me, his eyes meeting my own and for a moment I can see something in them that looked foreign on my brother's face. Hurt. My brother felt hurt by me and Ponyboy. "What the hell happened to your face, Penelope?" He asks finally stopping his rampage.
At this point, the words that have been so difficult for me to find, spill out of me. They tumble out so quickly that I am unsure if I am even making sense. I tell him about the party, the drive-ins, the dance and try to explain how Angela Shepard has had it our for me from the moment Ponyboy took my hand at the beginning of summer. The words keep spilling as I try to explain how afraid I was that he would be mad – that he would take it out on Ponyboy and surprisingly, for once, my brother just listens. He doesn't interrupt, he doesn't threaten – he just stares at me that same foreign look hiding behind his eyes.
"That it?" He asks once the words finally stop, and I am gasping for some air. I nod and he looks over my head at Ponyboy again, "And why didn't you come tell me?"
"She didn't want me to." Ponyboy says, clearing his throat. He also has seemed to catch onto Two-Bit's general hurt and is slowly inching his way back.
"Doesn't matter," Two-Bit spits, "you should've been a man and told me. Sneakin' around with my sister for months," he kicks at the porch railing and glares at us again.
We're quiet again, just the chorus of cicadas singing away into the night. I stay in between them, until my brother finally sighs and reaches out to ruffle my hair. "Kid," he says, "you look like shit."
"Oh thanks," I say reaching up to pinch his arm. "Will you promise not to kill my boyfriend?"
Two-Bit cringes slightly and looks back at Ponyboy with a frown. "Please," I whisper and Two-Bit sighs, looking down at me again. "You always said Ponyboy was the better man than any of you."
"Aw, shoot," Ponyboy says, feigning a blush, "I didn't know you thought so highly of me."
"You're pushin' my buttons kid," Two-Bit says with a shake of his head, but finally walks around me with his arm stretched out to shake Ponyboy's hand.
Ponyboy smiles and takes Two-Bit's hand to shake, but my brother is quicker and sneakier than either of us. Once he has Ponyboy's hand in his, he pulls him in and swings back his free hand to land a sickening punch against Pony's jaw. I gasp in shock, running over to them as Ponyboy crumbles from the punch. Two-Bit lets his hand go and chuckles, stretching out his hand as he looks down at us.
"We're even now," he tells Ponyboy as I try to catch a glimpse of Ponyboy's face in the dim porchlight.
Ponyboy licks his mouth and shakes his head, a small smile forming on his lips. "Alright Two-Bit," he chuckles, "we're even. I'll keep datin' your sister and you can tell everyone that you got the best of me."
"Fair enough," Two-Bit says as he leans down to help Ponyboy up. I stare at the two of them, in complete shock over how quickly they can forgive and forget.
"Think that will work with Angela?" I ask as Ponyboy snakes his arm over my shoulder to lead me back up the porch. Two-Bit shoots us a weird look but says nothing as he holds open the screen door for us.
"Kid," Two-Bit chuckles, "Shepard's hunt for blood and looks like Angela's already got a taste of yours. Better keep your head down 'till she finds someone else to target."
"Great," I mutter as we sit back in the living room, but this time I feel a little lighter – knowing that regardless, I would have both of them on my side.
A/N: So sorry for the lack of updates. I caught covid, then traveled for a wedding, and then started a new job for the summer. I am hopeful to go back to my regular weekend updates for all of you!
