I walked in the house and it smelt rancid. I looked around the living room and Ponyboy was asleep hugging the bear with his head on Sodapops lap. Johnny was on the other couch looking worriedly and trying to make himself as small as possible. Soda was glaring me down like he was going to kill me. On the floor by the couch was a haphazardly cleaned up mess on the carpet that with only one guess I knew Pony had gotten sick there.
Soda very carefully moved Ponyboys head off his lap and gently laid it on a pillow. He then walked over to me and shoved me into the kitchen. Deciding he wasn't far enough away from the living room, he opened the backdoor and headed outside. He was pissed. I decided to just follow him out and shut the door.
It was still chilly outside being January and the sun was setting so I didn't want to be out here too long. I should have made Soda grab a coat before we walked out. I was still wearing mine since I was home all of two seconds, but he seemed really heated at the moment so maybe it didn't really matter. I was still in my head when Soda whipped around and slugged me hard on the arm. "What the HELL Darry?" he shouted at me.
There is no one in the world more kind and loving as my brother Sodapop. He can get anyone to smile. He loves the misfits and would take anyone under his wing. He has more love to give than anyone in the world. But the thing about Soda is he can also flip in a second. There is no one more protective than that boy and he would make sure no one got in his way or hurt those he loved. He is a sight to see when he is angry and actually scares me a little if I'm being honest. Rarely is that anger directed at me though so I didn't understand what he was so mad about.
"OW! What's your problem Sodapop?" I yelled as I rubbed my arm.
"My PROBLEM? You're asking me what MY problem is? Oh I don't know! Maybe SOMEONE had PROMISED to call home after his first meeting! After SOMEONE'S kid brother had a freak out about him getting in a car after his parents had just DIED in a car crash two days ago." He yelled.
My heart dropped. How did I forget that? "I'm so sorry Soda! I was running late. I forgot. Talking to Mrs. Wilson took longer than I thought it would." I started explaining. I might have messed up here, but then thinking about it I wasn't fully in the wrong. I forgot because of him. Seeing Soda's angry face staring back at me made me start to get worked up as well. I continued on "I had to fight to keep you two together! I'm still fighting to keep you two with me!" Didn't he know I just sacrificed my life for him? So what if I forgot to call home.
"Yeah well while you were doing that Pony completely lost it when you didn't call. He got so worked up and unlike you I couldn't rush him to the bathroom when he got sick. He kept saying that you died and nothing I could do would calm him down. I had to send Steve and Two-Bit out to go try and track you down because it's been hours Darry! Hours and not a word! I was worried too, but I couldn't let that show, not with Pony freaking out. When you make a promise you have to follow through!"
And just like that I felt awful once again. Soda was right. He put me in my place real quick once again. I messed up. How couldn't I even remember to call home when I said I would? How was I supposed to care for these boys? I couldn't be an adult. I took a shaky breath and ran my hand through my hair. Then as calmly as I could I said "Look Soda. I'm really sorry. I messed up. The meeting with the social worker had me stressed. I don't know what's going to happen. We have a week to get things under control and then have to talk to a judge about me getting custody of you two."
Soda calmed down in an instant. "You're going to get custody of us? What about school?" He asked in almost a whisper.
I shrugged my shoulders "eh who needs school. If I don't take you then you'll both be put in a boys home and they separate those by age. You won't be together." Soda gave a sharp intake of breath and swore.
I gave him a grin "language little buddy" he let out a laugh. "I'm sorry Dar. Didn't mean to go crazy. It was just a hard afternoon." I shook my head "no I'm sorry. I shouldn't have forgotten. I'm supposed to be a responsible adult now" I smiled at him and he laughed hard. "Well responsible adult. We should go in there and figure out how to clean the carpet because pouring water on it didn't help" I started laughing hard at that and wrapped Soda in a hug.
We walked back into the house and Pony came out of nowhere and ran up to us. "Darry where have you been?" He yelled at me. Great, now I was getting this from both sides.
"I'm really sorry, Pone. My meeting went long and I had to rush to the other one. I didn't mean to forget to call. I won't let it happen again. I promise." I told him.
He just crossed his arms. "Yeah well you promised that you would call too so lot of trust I have in your promises." he shot back at me. How on earth had this kid made himself sick from crying so bad about me being gone just an hour ago to now giving me this attitude. Just like Soda can flip from happy to angry, Pony flips from worried to a brat in an instant.
I just rolled my eyes. "Well you might have to get used to it. There's a good chance I'm going to be in charge full time here soon." Ponyboys mouth dropped open at this. I could see the gears turning in his head as he tried to piece together what I was saying. I wanted to see if he worked it out himself, but Soda jumped in.
"Darry is going to get custody of us so they don't split us up!" he shouted with a grin. At least one brother seemed happy about this new development. Pony just looked from me to Soda and back to me. He was taking all this in and I could tell right away that he wasn't sure how he felt about all of it.
"What does that mean?" He finally settled on asking. I just gave a shrug. "Honestly I don't really know. We have a lot to do before it happens, but they were going to split you two up. I couldn't let that happen so I said I would take over. Not sure what it means to be a legal guardian, but I'm sure we will figure it out" I tried to say nonchalantly. In reality I was really nervous about this whole guardian thing. I didn't know what all that would entail. What would I have to do to be in charge of my brothers? Sure I've babysat them my whole life really, but this seemed like it would be different.
"Anyways first things first we should probably figure out how to clean the carpet." I said pushing past them. Pony went bright red at that and mumbled a sorry as he followed me out the room. I found the cleaning supplies in the closet and there was a spray bottle labeled 'carpet cleaner' in Moms cursive. She really was still helping out even gone. I had to smile and then turned around to show my brothers.
Soda grabbed the bottle and then looked up and shouted "thanks Mama!" and took off to the living room and started spraying it down. Pony stayed by me and very quietly said "I'm really sorry Darry. I didn't mean to make a mess. I was just real worried is all." I gave his shoulder a squeeze. "I ain't mad Pone. I know you didn't mean too. I should have remembered to call."
We both stared at each other, not sure what to do next. I dropped my arm and said "welp lets go help clean up" and we headed to help out Soda.
A little while later Two-Bit and Steve came back in. Steve looked ticked off, but Two-Bit was laughing and lit up even more when he saw me. "Darry there you are! We've been looking all over!" he shouted since his voice only had one volume to it.
"Sorry about that boys. I was just caught up in the meetings." I was feeling guilty that I had caused so many problems just from not calling.
"Eh don't sweat it. We were only half looking for you. We also went searching on any info about Dal and we finally figured out why we haven't seen him" Two-Bit replied while flopping on the couch.
"What's up with Dally?" Johnny asked from his seat on the ground next to Ponyboy.
"In the slammer. Got caught robbing the grocery store down on Main." Steve finished.
