Two Months Later
Steve
"You're doing it so wrong." I hear Payton tell Pony, from the other side of the kitchen table. I glance up at the two of them, Pony has really stuck by the we're just friends' story, I think all of us suspect something is going on between them. They are basically inseparable; Payton comes over three or four nights a week and they usually go out and do something on the weekends. Pony swears to Darry they always go out in a group, but I have my doubts. Liz has been working on Darry to lighten up, Pony's grades are higher than they have been in a while, he's killing it in hockey, and is already creating quite a buzz with his first game coming up and he seems happy. Plus, he hasn't gotten into trouble except a few skirmishes here and there during hockey practice. The only thing he hasn't loosened his grip on is Pony dating, he is vehemently against it, and he has made it clear Payton is only allowed over when someone else is home. Which is why I'm playing chaperone on a Thursday night.
"No, I'm not." Pony insists.
"Yes, you are." Payton replies, "X is the variable."
"You know she's probably right." I pipe in. Pony looks at me,
"You're only agreeing with her because she's cute." He tells me.
"You think I'm cute?" Payton asks him, in mock surprise. I have to chuckle at the two of them as Pony rolls his eyes at both of us. I always thought Pony was the smartest person I knew, well book smart, sometimes I doubt the amount of common sense that kid has. But Payton definitely has him beat, that girl is smart as a whip. "I'm so flattered, you're cute too. But you're still doing it wrong." She adds. The three of us look up as the front door opens and we hear a high-pitched giggle.
"I bet it's Soda and his girl of the week." I comment. Pony and Darry had, had a bit of an argument the other day and both Liz and I had sided with Pony. He didn't understand why he wasn't allowed to date, and why Payton wasn't allowed over when no one else was home but Soda has girls over all the time and goes out as he pleases and basically does whatever he wants. Darry had basically made it clear that until Pony was eighteen it was his rules and his way and refused to budge. Personally, I think it has to do with the fact that Pony's future is wide open, he's smart enough to get into a great university and if hockey works out, he could end up with a shot to go pro. Soda is content where he is, and really doesn't have a lot of ambition to do more, and now that he no longer has to help Darry with bills, he doesn't have a lot of if any responsibilities. To top it off Darry is so busy with work that he doesn't really have the time and or energy to worry about Soda. I would never tell Darry this but Pony, Liz and I have an ongoing bet when the first girl Soda is with ends up pregnant.
"Hey anyone here?" Soda yells,
"In here." I reply, going back to the textbook I'm studying. I have zero interest in whoever Soda is bringing home, all the girls are the same, young, blonde, and stupid. He definitely has a type, and I would bet if he didn't think Pony would kill him, he would have made some sort of attempt to charm Payton. Except Payton is definitely too smart to fall for his ways.
"Liz and Darry out?" Soda asks from behind me, I look up as I hear Pony make a weird noise,
"Kate what are you doing here?" He asks, looking between Soda and the girl who is hanging all over him. Soda's eyes narrow slightly,
"You two know each other?" He questions.
"We all go to the same school." Payton answers, I imagine trying to smooth things over. Oh, this is going to get interesting I think to myself, whoever this Kate girl is, is eyeing Pony like he's the last cookie in the cookie jar.
"Didn't know you knew each other." Pony points out, "When did that happen?" He asks.
"We met when my daddy bought a car from him." Kate announces rather proudly. I groan internally, Soda had proudly told me this story the other day how he bagged some rich guy's daughter. Ask me and the whole thing is creepy. Her dad bought a car from Soda and he basically for lack of a better word stalked her to get her number. They two of them ended up sleeping together that night, he said she had been young, but I didn't realize she was still in high school, probably illegal young.
"That's cute." Payton replies, I think more likely as an attempt to be polite, because there is nothing cute about it. Creepy yes, cute no. Kate gives her a fake smile, it's obvious she doesn't like her and I can't see any of this ending well. Soda glances at the clock on the microwave,
"Liz and Darry out?" He asks again, since no one had answered his original question.
"Darry is at work." Pony replies, "And Liz's mom just flew in for the week, I think they are going out to dinner or something after she picks her up from the airport."
"Nice." Soda answers with a grin, "We have plenty of time. If you need us, we'll be in my bedroom." He says, as he takes Kate by the hand and pulls her down the hall.
"Of all the girls in Boston he had to bring her home?" Pony wonders out loud, closing his laptop.
"Maybe they are happy together." Payton comments, she glances at her watch, "It's getting late I should be getting home." She stands up, "It was nice seeing you again Steve."
"Yeah, you too Payton." I reply, Pony walks her out and a few minutes later comes back in the kitchen, taking his seat across from me. "What's the deal with you and Soda's newest girl?" I ask, it's obvious that there is something, and I'm curious to say the least.
"Nothing." Pony says leaning back running his fingers through his hair,
"Come on kid I saw how she was looking at you." I prod, "And it's pretty clear she hates Payton." Pony rolls his eyes,
"Kate's a pain the ass. Plain and simple." He starts, "She's been trying to get me to ask her out since day one. She's not happy I haven't taken the hint and asked her yet."
"I mean why would you when you have Payton." I reply with a smirk.
"We're friends Steve." He tells me, "That's it."
"You're really sticking with that huh?" I ask closing my textbook getting up to get a beer, "You can tell me, I'm not going to tell Darry."
"Appreciate that, but there's nothing to tell." Pony replies, "We're just friends sometimes there are some benefits but that's about it." He adds. "And even if I wanted to ask her out, Darry would kill me and ground me for life, and that would be getting off easy." He continues.
"If he catches you sneaking around, you're really going to get in trouble." I remind him. Even I have to admit Darry is not being fair about this, Pony being with someone like Payton would be good for him. She's definitely not like the girls he was messing with back home.
"I know." He replies, "Which is why there is no point in dwelling on something that isn't going to happen for more reasons than just Darry being worse than Two-Bit's parole officer." I study him for half a second,
"You are talking about what went on at home?" Pony nods, "She hasn't brought it up or asked any questions?" Pony shrugs,
"She has a few times, but as soon as I say I don't want to get into it she drops it." He looks at me, "Let's be real Steve she finds any of that out she's not going to want anything to do with me. You know it and I know it."
"I don't know Pony," I say slowly, "Payton doesn't really seem that type of girl." Pony gives me a look, that clearly screams he doesn't agree with me.
"You think a girl like her, who comes from the kind of family she has, and the money and everything that goes a long with it, is going to want anything to do with someone who was involved in the kind of things that went on in Tulsa?" He doesn't want for an answer as he continues, "She's not." I sigh,
"Maybe you should give Payton some credit, she may surprise you." I tell him, "She seems pretty into you." I add.
"So, say I tell her everything and she's fine with it, I still can't date her. Darry remember, it's a no-win situation. I can't ask her to wait around until we're eighteen and Darry can't tell me not to date. That's not fair to her." Pony replies, "And like you said if for whatever reason she agrees to start going out, if I sneak around and get caught, I'll be locked in my room until I graduate high school." He sighs rubbing his eyes, "So I'm not going to do anything." He adds.
"Does Payton want to be more than friends?" I question,
"I don't know, I think so maybe. When we started hanging out, we both agreed not to put a label on things, and not to rush things." He answers,
"My advice and you can take it or leave it, be honest with her. Maybe not about everything that happened at home but about Darry. Then let her make the decision if she wants to wait or not." I tell him. "And I would talk to Liz, she's going to be your best bet in getting Darry to loosen up." Pony nods,
"I'll think about it." He pauses standing up, "And thanks Steve, for listening." I nod,
"Sure, thing kid," I reply, Pony grabs his stuff from the table and starts towards his room, I hear him groan as he hits Soda's door as he walks by,
"You're not the only people in the house." He yells through the closed door, before going into this own room, slamming the door. I shake my head going back to my studying.
Pony
I'm still thinking about what Steve said two weeks later, and I am still no closer to making any sort of decision, in a way I know Steve is right, Payton deserves the truth. She should be aware of the situation that is going to make it practically impossible for us to have a relationship, the last thing I want to do is waste her time. I had gotten a text from Payton during Spanish class asking me to meet her after school before my hockey practice started "Hey." She greets,
"What's up?" I ask, Payton sighs smoothing out her uniform skirt,
"I wanted to let you know before you heard it from someone else." She starts and I swear to God my heart sinks into my shoes, "I am going on a date tomorrow night." I stare at her,
"Seriously?" I ask, Payton looks up at me,
"I don't know what you want from me." She says, "Sometimes it's like we're together, you know like really together, and then the past two weeks you've been totally distant. Not answering texts. Not wanting to hang out." She pauses, "You never tell me what's going on, so I figured it must be me."
"Who is it?" I ask, clenching my teeth.
"Does it matter?" Payton questions, I nod, "Chris Sullivan." She says softly, I almost instantly see red, he had been running his mouth a few days ago about how this hot Junior had been all over him during a study session. He's dumber than a bag of rocks and he's failing all his classes except gym. If he had been anyone else, he would have been kicked off the hockey team ages ago, but his dad bought a bunch of new equipment, so Coach keeps him on the roster for whatever reason.
"Hope you have a good time." I force myself to say, "I got to go."
"Pony, please I don't want you to be mad at me." Payton pleads, I want to tell her it's too late to ask me not to be mad. The thing is I'm not mad at her, at all. She has every right to date whoever she wants, I'm madder at myself for letting her think I didn't want to be with her. "You're really just going to walk away?"
"What do you want me to say to you Payton?" I ask turning around abruptly, "Do you want me to tell you not to go?"
"I want you to tell me how you feel, about me, about us." She replies, she's dangerously close to tears I can hear it in her voice. "I just want to know if there's a future between us, so if there's not, I can stop pretending there is." I stare at her a second,
"I want to be with you." I hear myself saying before I can stop myself,
"You do?" Payton asks, her eyes widening with shock, I nod,
"I do. Just things are complicated with my brother." I pause, "I promise tonight I'll explain everything to you, and you can decide then if you want to do this or not."
"I can come over tonight, or you can come to my house, or we can go grab dinner or something." Payton replies, I think for a minute,
"Why don't you come over?" Payton nods,
"Sounds good." She wraps both arms around my waist and looks up at me, before she stands on her tiptoes and leans up for a kiss, I lean down letting my lips find hers. "I'll see you around 8?" I nod,
"8." I repeat, moving in for another kiss, "I'll see you then." Payton nods, I wait until she's out the main doors of the school before I turn and head to the locker room.
Payton
I hit the buzzer at 8 on the dot and wait, less than thirty second later Pony pulls the apartment door open. It's clear he just got out of the shower, his hair is all messy and damp. "How was practice?" I ask as he steps aside letting me in,
"It was good. Edwards is a maniac with the first game coming next week." He replies, "There was a lot of being benched threats."
"That's pretty normal for him." I tell him, Coach Edwards and my dad and Uncle go way back, they all played together in college. I follow him into the living room, he sits on the couch and pats the seat next to him.
"Liz and Darry are both out tonight, I figured that would be a good time to talk." I look at him,
"Aren't you going to get in trouble with me being here without someone else?" I question,
"Steve's here, I told him to stay in his room, so we could have some time to talk." I nod, he takes a deep breath before he starts, "I want to be with you Payton." He says,
"I want to be with you too." I reply.
"So back in Tulsa, I got into some trouble, ok a lot of trouble." He says, I always had somewhat of a suspicion that something had happened in Tulsa, he basically shuts down if you mention or ask him anything about it. "Because of that Darry is really strict, and he's made it clear that he doesn't want me getting involved with anyone until I'm eighteen and out of high school." I stare at him, "Payton I want to be with you, more than anything, I just I can't ask you to wait for two years."
"What if I want to?" I ask slowly, Pony's eyes get wide,
"As good as that sounds, that's not fair to you." He says, reaching over tucking a piece of hair behind my ear, I sigh leaning into his hand. "Pay…" He says softly. "You deserve so much, so much more than I can give you." I shake my head,
"I don't want anything; I just want you." I reply. "I want to be with you, I want to see where this could go, and if that means waiting two years to find out, then I'm fine with that." Pony sighs before he moves in for a kiss,
"I'll talk to Liz and see what she can do about getting him to lighten up." He whispers against my lips, "If I asked you not to go out with Chris tomorrow, would you?" I pull back,
"I already canceled on him. I told him I ate bad seafood, and it was a hot mess." Pony grins shaking his head,
"Nice Payton." He stops and looks at the time on his cell phone, "You want to stay and hang out, Steve and I were going to watch that new horror movie on Netflix that everyone is talking about." I nod,
"Yeah. I'd like that." Pony gives me another kiss, letting his lips linger on my slightly. "Can I ask you something?" He nods,
"Sure shoot." He replies grabbing the remote from the coffee table,
"At some point will you tell me what happened in Tulsa?" He looks at me,
"Yeah. Just not right now, ok?" I nod, "We're starting this movie." He yells down the hallway, a few seconds later Steve strolls out of his room.
"You two good?" He asks looking between us, Pony nods, "Good." He flips off the light and gets comfortable in one of the recliners. Pony adjusts himself next to me, putting one arm around me my waist holding me against him.
"This, ok?" He whispers,
"Perfect." I reply, tucking my feet up under my legs, leaning against his side as the movie starts.
Pony
I wait until Darry is out of the house, before I roll out of bed and head to the kitchen to find Liz. She's sitting at the table, drinking a cup of coffee when I walk in, "Morning." She greets, "You're up early, on a Saturday." She says, "Do you have practice today or work?" I nod sitting in the seat across from her,
"Both." I reply, "I wanted to talk to you though." Liz sighs and I know the worst possible scenarios are running through her head. "It's nothing like that, I promise."
"Ok, then what's up?" She asks, tucking a piece of her dark brown hair behind her ear,
"I really like Payton." I start, Liz nods, "I really want to get in a relationship with her."
"And you want me to talk to Darry I suppose?" She questions,
"Yes?" I reply apprehensively, Liz has tried really hard to be a balance between mother, older sister, and friend, she has always allowed anything to do with rules, or punishments come from Darry. She voices her opinion but that's about it, but she makes sure she's always here for us, no matter what.
"Pony honey," She starts then stops, "Darry has made up his mind about you dating, and you know how stubborn he is once he makes up his mind."
"Yeah, I know. All too well." I reply,
"But…" She says, "I really like Payton, I think she'd be good for you." I nod, wondering when the but is coming, but I can't do this, or but I won't talk to Darry.
"I know this is putting you in a weird situation, Liz." I tell her, "I just don't want to sneak around I want to do this right. You, Darry and Payton all deserve that." Liz smiles, and leans over messing up my hair,
"I'll mention it to him, I am not going to make you any promises that he's going to all of a sudden be ok with you dating, but I will talk to him." She pauses, "You have to do me a favor though." I nod,
"Anything name it." I say immediately.
"If I get him to agree to this you can not let me down, you have to keep your grades up. No fights. No pregnancy scares. No sneaking out. None of that." She says firmly, "Do you understand?"
"I promise. None of that." I reply,
"Good. You go do what you need to do, and I'll talk to him. Make sure you're home for dinner and we'll further discuss this with Darry then." She tells me. I nod as I stand up,
"Thanks Liz, I owe you one." I say, she shakes her head,
"All any of us want is to see you happy, and if Payton makes you happy then I will do whatever I can to make sure you two can be together." She stands up giving me a hug, "Now go." I go down the hall to start getting ready for my day.