Itâs rare that you are the one to open the store: Mr. Murphy was always the one to start the day. But he was down in Florida visiting a nephew, so you oversaw opening for the week. There was something so peaceful about the store before the sign was flipped over.
You always figured it was a bit of fate, you working here. The job was posted at the exact time you needed it the most, and you truly loved it. It was more than a place to make ends meet: until you moved into the Curtis house, the store was the only place that ever felt like home.
Thinking of home makes you think of Darry, specifically your conversation from the night before.
He had been hanging clothes when a shelf shifted and a few boxes came tumbling down, including the one holding your map to California and the small envelope of savings.
âItâs my California money.â You whisper when he asks you about it. âEvery time I find a couple of extra bills, I put it in there. Iâve been saving for years. I want to see the ocean one day.â He doesnât say anything at first, just pulls you into a hug and kisses your forehead. âI should be putting it towards a car anyway.â
âLet Steve and Soda know youâre looking. They talk to a lot of people at the DX, they might come across a good deal.â
âThatâs a good idea.â He holds you for another minute, then leans back to look down at you.
âButâŠâ He tucks a strand of hair behind your ear and tilts your head so you are looking right at him. âDonât put it all towards the car, alright? Youâre going to see the ocean one day. I promise.â
--
Itâs been a busy morning and you are just starting to slow down when the door jingles and Two-Bit walks in. You raise one eyebrow, just like he taught you to do.
âNo school today?â
âThere was some school today.â He raises one eyebrow right back at you, then breaks into a goofy grin. âSteve said heâll drive Pony home. Promises to be real nice too.â
âIâm sure.â You roll a few quarters and Two-Bit leans on the side of the counter.
âYou know, itâs real easy to steal stuff here. Like this candy? You should move it back a bit.â He rearranges the boxes on the shelf, so the smaller candy is more towards the register, therefore easier to see if someone is trying to take it. âAnd donât get me started on all the stuff you have in aisle five.â
âThe stockboy sort of has a system.â Youâd hate to throw the kid under the bus, but Two-Bit had a point. It wasnât a great system.
âYeah, well his system is shit.â He puts a nickel on the counter then pops a bubblegum into his mouth.
âYou think you can do better?â You continue to roll up the coins. âGo ahead, if youâre skipping school, you might as well be useful.â You motion down the aisle and he breaks into a grin.
Twenty minutes later and both aisle five and six are completely rearranged and you have to admit, it looked good.
âGolly Two-Bit, if we were hiring, I think Iâd tell Mr. Murphy to hire you. This looks really good.â
âAnd ruin my reputation as a bonafide bum? No deal.â He says but you can tell the compliment means something to him. âBesides, if Iâm workinâ then who is watching your manâs back in a rumble?â
âDonât remind me.â You groan. The rumble was two days away and every time you thought about it you had a pit in your stomach.
âAw, youâre not still worried are you? Itâs going to be a piece of cake. Darry probably wonât even break a sweat.â
âYâall are too confident.â
âNah, we just know what weâre up against. Shepardâs boys only need our help because half of them are in the cooler.â
âAnd how do I know you boys wonât end up in the cooler yourselves for fightinâ?
âCause weâre real fast runners.â He gives you the most obnoxious wink, that you start laughing despite yourself.
--
Saturday had come far too quickly for your liking, but you had accepted the rumble was happening whether you worried about it or not. And although you would never admit it, you did enjoy watching Darry get ready.
It wasnât too often he let himself be a twenty one year old kid, greasing his hair up to go knock around some knuckleheads a few neighborhoods over. He bore so much responsibility, if this was his way of letting off some steam, who were you to truly judge it?
And the tight tee shirt was definitely an added bonus.
The four of you had eaten an early dinner after you came home from your shift and the boys were hanging in the living room, hyping themselves up before they would pile in Steveâs car to drive over.
Well, almost all of the boys.
The youngest Curtis had been in many different moods that week. Angry that Darry wouldnât let him fight, happy that he would âstill have all his front teeth by the age of twentyâ, upset for being left out, and then just plain olâ annoyed at everybody.
Right now, Ponyboy was shut in his room, claiming he had homework.
âPonyboy? Weâre leaving soon.â Soda knocks at the door but all he got was âfineâ in response. Soda shrugs and Darry crosses his arms in front of his broad chest.
âGive him some space,â You uncross Darryâs arms and wrap them around yourself instead. âIâll make sure heâs not in there all night.â
âDonât get into any trouble,â Darry smiles down at you and you raise an eyebrow.
âShouldnât that be my line?â
âIâll be fine, baby.â
âYeah, Superman canât bruise up that pretty face now that heâs got a girl looking at it,â Two Bit makes kissy noises from the living room and Darry gives him the finger, but he pulls you in tighter. You smell his aftershave and you feel a little bold.
âThe shirt looks nice,â you murmur against his chest and you can feel him smile against where he rests his chin against your head.
âYeah? Maybe Iâll wear that next time I take you out.â He murmurs back and you pick your head up and whisper in his ear.
âYou wear that shirt and weâre alone, we wonât make it out of the house.â Darry lets out a groan and although your cheeks are pink from what you said, youâre smiling.
âAlright boys, letâs go!â Steve is a ball of energy about the impending fight and the four boys start hollering from excitement.
âYouâll be careful?â You ask Darry.
âI promise. I love you.â He leans down for a long kiss that is just shy of indecent, only breaking when the boys start complaining and yelling at him to get in the car.
When the front door shuts the house feels oddly quiet. You know you could pick up some of the empty beer bottles, or start a load of laundry, but one look at Ponyboyâs door and you have a different idea.
âPony?â You knock. âItâs just me.â He tells you to come in and you open the door, leaning against the frame.
Heâs lying in the middle of the bed, staring at the ceiling and looking fairly miserable.Â
âYou wanna talk?â You offer.
âNot really.â
âYou wanna go get Dairy Queen?â
âReally?â He sits up quickly and you nod.
âCome on, Darry left his keys to the truck and I could use some ice cream.â
--
âAnd itâs not that I want to fight, even though Iâm real good at it,â For all Pony said he didnât want to talk, he sure opened up after half of a chocolate milkshake.
You two had opted to eat your ice cream in the tailgate of the truck in the parking lot, watching people come and go. It was a cool night, but the chill of winter was finally gone for good.
âBut Darry tells me heâs going to stop treatinâ me like a kid and then he goes and bans me from a rumble. I mean donât you think that makes him a hypocrite?â
âA little. But it also makes him a good older brother. One who is responsible for making sure you stay safe.â You take another bite of your ice cream.
âSoda ainât eighteen yet and he lets him fight.â
âYeah. And I know itâs not fair to say itâs different with himâŠâ you trail off, not quite sure how to finish.
âBut it is. Sâalright.â Pony takes another large sip of his milkshake and sighs. âMom and Dad wouldnât have let me fight either, not in a million years.â
âOh yeah?â Of all of the Curtis brothers, Ponyboy talked about his parents the least and you were interested in what he had to say.
âYeah. Mom didnât like the idea of any of us fighting, but let dad teach Darry and Soda in the backyard. She knew the neighborhood and knew it was a matter of time before theyâd be in a scuffle.â He smiles, looking lost in the memory. âI remember watching them out the window, trying to copy every move they did. I was always so jealous of them for sharing a room, so I would practice in my own room. Beat up a few teddy bears.â
You both share a laugh, and he carries on. You and Pony had always gotten along, but it was the first night you felt like you truly got to know him. And you quickly learn he has a lot of words when he talks about something heâs interested in.
âI didnât know until I was older, but Mom had a difficult birth with me. I guess I came out foot first instead of head. It was pretty bad, and after they patched her up, the doctors said she wasnât having any more kids. So I was the baby forever. She worried about me a lot more than Darry and Soda, I think.â
It made a lot of sense, actually. Even though he had been through so much and wasnât really that young any more, Darry and Soda still always handle him with kid gloves and worry about him more than most.
âSo she didnât let you fight?â
âNope. Dad wouldnât teach me either. Soda tried when he was ten and I was almost eight, but Mom caught him about to give me a right hook in the living room and she grounded him so bad that he never did it again.â
âSo howâd you learn?â You ask, though you were starting to think you knew the answer.
âDarry. I was ten and some kids were messing with me on the walk home from school. I tried to throw a punch and almost cracked my head open on the ground. Darry happened to be in some Soc car, getting a ride home from football practice. He leaped out of the car and knocked the kid right out.â
âThat doesnât surprise me one bit.â You laugh and Pony does too. âSo he taught you after that? Behind your parents back?â Pony nods and finishes his milkshake, and you take the last few bites of your ice cream.
You sit in comfortable silence for a few more minutes and you almost suggest heading back, when Pony speaks up in a quiet voice.
âWhen they died, Darry didnât smile for a real long time. Sometimes Soda could get it outta him, but mostly he was tired and serious and all sorts of worried. But when you guys got together he started smiling more again.â Your eyes fill with tears that you try to blink away before Pony sees them.
âHe makes me smile more too. All of you do. And I know Iâve said it, but I really do appreciate yâall letting me stay in your house.â
âSâyour house too now.â Pony says simply, like the sentence doesnât make your heart swell. âBesides, I kinda like havinâ an older sister.â
You put your arm around him and pull him close, knowing youâre going to remember this conversation for the rest of your life.
âWell I sure like having you for a little brother.â
--
Miraculously, no one is badly injured during the rumble, even though you check them all over twice to make sure. Steve has a bag of frozen peas on his left eye and Two Bit needs peroxide for a cut on his wrist, but Darry and Soda donât even get a scratch.
They go over the highlights, but donât go into too much detail and youâre sure itâs a combination of not wanting to scare you and not wanted to rub it in Ponyâs face.
âYou didnât miss us too bad, did you Ponyboy?â Soda asks, pulling his younger brother in close.
âNah, we had too much fun at Dairy Queen.â
There was an uproar at that, Two Bit and Soda outranged you would go without them and Pony just laughs and teases them with how good his chocolate shake was.
Darry comes back into the living room, fresh from a shower and wraps his strong arms around you. He rests his chin on your shoulder.
âDairy Queen, huh?â
âMhm. It was nice. Heâs a really good kid, Darry.â Though at the moment, this good kid was chasing the other boys out on to the front porch and probably waking up the neighbors. You turn around in Darryâs arms and look up into his magnetic eyes. âHe told me he likes having an older sister.â
Darryâs eyes go warm and he gives you that look that always makes you melt.
âGuess I better work on making that official, huh?â You feel yourself flushing, but you know Darry is being completely honest. It gives you the courage to answer:
The past couple months have been stressful in a way I have never really dealt with before, and with a background of terrifying political changes, I felt like I was swimming upstream. I had no time to breathe, let alone write.
But over the last few weeks I realized this is what I NEED. So I am back, I will be posting an update today and I am really excited to keep telling this story. Thank you to everyone still reading and remember to take care of yourselves in these crazy times.
sometimes iâm okay and then i think about the most recent time i saw the outsiders where trevor wayne was ponyboy and jason schmidt was sodapop and after johnny died, ponyboy just collapsed to the ground and soda hugged him and rocked him back and forth while whispering âitâs okay ponyâ over and over again while ponyboy just sat there blankly staring straight outâŠyeah i donât think iâm ever gonna get over that
This part is definitely the longest one so far! It was really fun to picture the entire scene going down and I hope it comes across in writing how I pictured it. I really enjoy this little world and am so happy you are all enjoying as well. Thank you for every like and comment <3
Your interactions with Tim Shepard have, up until today, been limited to him buying things at the store. He is older than you, so you never shared classes and truth be told, he sort of terrifies you.
You are pretty sure Darry isnât afraid of anything except losing his brothers, so he doesnât seem shaken at all when he walks out the front door, shutting it tight behind him.
You notice Pony moving into the living room and you peek your head around the corner.
âCan you hear him?â Pony mumbles and Soda nods. Pony carefully walks over to where Soda is standing next to the open window and they both quietly sit on the floor.
You realize they plan on eavesdropping on their brother, and you walk over ready to blow their cover and have them move, when you hear Tim Shepard say:
âHer old man owes over three thousand dollars to Ray Desmond. That ainât a guy you want to owe.â
You feel like your knees are about to give out. Youâre frozen to the spot and unable to stop listening to the conversation. You feel Pony and Sodaâs eyes on you, knowing they figured it out as well, but you canât stop staring at the door.
âSheâs got no part in that. I donât want his goons coming after her.â Darry sounds tough, and angrier than youâve ever heard him before.
âI already spread it around that sheâs Darry Curtisâ girl and she doesnât have a damn clue where her daddy is. But that doesnât mean Rayâs boys wonât come asking.â
âIf she had the money, sheâd pay it just to bail out her dad and keep herself safe. But she doesnât.â You canât see Darry but you know heâs likely running his hand through his hair and looking up to the sky in frustration. âHell, we could rob everyoneâs wallets from here to the county line and we wonât get three thousand dollars.â
âI donât run with Rayâs boys but I know he keeps a tight leash on them and he has enough standards for a bookie that he wonât hurt her if she really doesnât know anything. But if her daddy comes back to town, heâs sealing his own coffin.â
Darry lets out a swear and itâs quiet for a minute until he clears his throat.
âGuess I owe you pretty big then.â
âItâs set for next Saturday. Clinton Park at 7.â
âIâll be there.â
Soda and Pony move quickly, both clamoring to stand up and away from the window, but they arenât quick enough. Darry walks in, sees the three of you in the living room and sighs.
âAre you kidding me.â
âThe window was open,â Pony tries.
âWhatâs set for next Saturday?â Soda narrows his eyes at his older brother.
âDid you tell Tim Shepard to find out who my dad owes money to?â You ask, knowing the answer but needing to hear it from Darry himself.
Darry looks between the three of you and shakes his head, walking towards the kitchen to the forgotten supper.
âCan we talk about this later?â Darryâs irritated, but heâs not off the hook with any of you. All three of you follow him.
âIs it the rumble with the Carter boys? Are you fighting with the Shepard gang?â
âHow do you know about that?â Darry asks Soda, who shrugs and raises his eyebrows, waiting for confirmation. It clicks for you exactly why Darry would be fighting in a rumble, and you see red.
âDid you make a deal with Tim that youâd be in a rumble for him?â You know your voice is getting louder, and somewhere in the back of your mind it registers that this is your and Darryâs first major argument.
âWeâll talk about it later.â Darry starts scooping mashed potatoes from the pot and slamming them on to a plate. âYâall start eating.â
âYou canât be in a rumble by yourself, what if you get hurt!â Pony looks worried.
âDonât worry Pony, Iâm going with him.â Soda is confident and you swear his chest puffs out a little. âSteve and Two will too.â
âWhat about me?â Pony asks.
âNo.â Darry shuts him down and he gets a piece of chicken fried steak. He turns to Soda. âAnd weâll talk about you and the others. Make a plate.â
âCome on Darry!â Pony whines.
âWhy didnât you tell me you were going to talk to Tim?â You ignore Darryâs request to talk about it later.
âDamnit, can we just eat before I get an interrogation from every person here?â Darryâs voice is loud again, but it doesnât scare you. It just adds the fuel to your fire.
âHow could you agree to a rumble just for information on my father? What in the world would make you think I would be okay with this?â
Darry slams his plate on the table and takes a deep breath.
âTim did something for me, Iâll do something for him. It was my choice and whoever choses to fight, itâs their choice too.â
âI choose-â Pony starts.
âNot you.â Darry cuts him off.
âWell Iâm so glad yâall have your choices.â You can see in Darryâs expression when he realizes your voice has gone from hot anger to ice cold. âSeems the only one without a choice is me.â
âThatâs not true-â
âAnd when someone gets hurt? Itâs my fault because this was all done for me. And I donât want it!â Your voice is back to anger and you can feel tears pricking in the corner of your eyes.
Across the table Darry seems to be cooling off. Youâve always been good at reading him, even when he was just an acquaintance coming into the store. The angry glint in his eyes starts to fade, replaced by a warm look of concern.
But while he is calming down, you are heating up.
âDo you think I feel better because I know how much my dad owes? Who he owes?â
âHoney,â Darry steps around the table but you take two steps back.
âHow am I going to get that money? Three thousand fucking dollars. Jesus!â You know youâre breaking down, and your mind is yelling at you to stop but you just canât. Words keep coming out of you like a faucet you canât turn off. âThis is such a goddamn mess!â
âSweetheart,â Darry is within reaching distance of you know but you furiously shake your head.
âI need some fresh air.â His face crumbles and even though you are angry, you take a breath. âJust the porch, Darry. I promise.â
Darry had once confided in you that ever since Pony ran out the night he slapped him, Darry had been terrified of people leaving and never coming back. That the days Pony was gone were some of his worst, even worse than the days after his parents died.
You were upset, but you still loved him more than anything. And you would never try to hurt him on purpose.
You walk out the door, shutting it firmly behind you and throw yourself into the old lawn chair. The sun is hanging low in the Oklahoma sky, casting a brilliant mix of colors across the neighborhood.
A pack of cigarettes and an old lighter lay on the overturned cooler-turned-table. You recognize the brand as the one Pony favors, and you reach into the box, taking one and lighting it up before you can really think it through.
Smoking isnât something you do often â youâve tried it a few times and never liked the aftertaste, but you canât deny that it does take the edge off when you need it to.
The door opens and put your cigarette out in the ashtray. You are both surprised and somehow not surprised to see Soda and his kind smile.
âMind if I have a seat?â You nod and he hands you a blanket. âDarry didnât want you gettinâ cold.â
âThanks.â You recognize the old plaid blanket as your favorite one in the house and your heart warms a little that Darry must have caught on that you always gravitate towards that one.
âYou know, I love my brothers the same. And Iâd do just about anything for them. But glory, they are stubborn.â You let out a laugh and his smile grows.
âEspecially that older one.â You sigh. âSoda?â
âYeah?â
âWhat happens in a rumble? I mean, I know yâall fight butâŠhow bad does it get?â The longer you sit out here, the more it bothers you and you canât shake the feeling of dread.
âAw, it ainât so bad. Especially a skin rumble. Steveâs broken his nose twice, and Two Bit usually gets a black eye for running his mouth while punching. But Darry never gets hit too bad, he can knock a grown man out with one punch.â
âI donât know how much better I feel about that,â You admit, but the pit in your stomach does get a little lighter. âWhy wonât he let Pony fight?â Sodaâs expression falls.
âLast timeâŠwell, last time Pony really shouldnât have fought at all. He had just gotten back from beinâ on the run, and he was real tired and got pretty sick after. But Johnny and Dallas died that night too, so it was justâŠâ He trails off.
âJust a lot going on?â
âYeah. Darry was real scared about it though, so he doesnât want Pony anywhere near a fight. Even a clean one.â You mull it over for a minute.
âSoda, if any of you get hurtâŠI donât see how I can forgive myself.â
âYouâre not makinâ us do anythinâ. Darry agreed for Tim, and we got his back. Just how it goes.â He says it easily, and you guess he had a point.
âIâm sorry I yelled at Darry in front of you and Pony. And that I dropped the f word.â Soda gives you that movie-star smile and shakes his head.
âWe have heard that word before, you know.â You both share a laugh. âDarryâs just always trying to fix everything. We called him superman even before our parents died.â
âI do love that about him. Even whenâŠâ You trail off.
âEven when he drives you crazy?â Soda offers and you nod. âThatâs alright. My dad used to drive my mom crazy all the time. But they always worked it out. Thatâs what love is.â
--
Darry is attacking the laundry when you softly open the door. You see four piles â Darry, Soda, PonyboyâŠand you.
âHi,â He looks up at your quiet greeting. His eyes are guarded, but kind.
âHey.â Darry answers. He puts down the faded high school shirt into the Ponyboy pile and jams his hands into his jean pockets. You know thatâs a tell-tale sign that heâs nervous.
âCan we talk?â He nods. âI apologized to Soda and Iâll talk to Pony tomorrow, but I never should have yelled at you in front of them. Or swore. Iâm sorry.â
âWhat? No baby, you donât have to be sorry.â Darry takes a tentative step closer to you and you realize you need to feel his arms around you more than anything. So, you close the gap between the two of you and sink into his embrace. He lets out a soft relieved sigh when you do. âI shouldnât have raised my voice. And I should have told you I went to Tim.â
âWhy did you go to him?â You ask and Darry pulls back a little, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear.
âBecause I was scared to death. When you showed up in the middle of the night, and I hear Steve screaminâ and youâre covered in cuts and can barely breathe?â His eyes are darker and even though you were there, hearing the events of the night from him sends a shiver down your spine. âThat night when I dropped you home and the house was darkâŠI didnât have a good feelinâ. And then everything happenedâŠâ
âIt wasnât your fault.â You reach up to touch his face and his eyes close for a minute as he leans into your touch. âThis is all my dad.â
âAnd I went to Tim to confirm that the men were after your dad, not you.â Darryâs expression is pleading, needing you to understand. You feel tears start to form again. âI will do whatever it takes to keep you safe, and if that means knocking a few guys from Louisville Heights, thatâs not a problem. Youâre worth it, you hear me?â You swear his captivating eyes are staring right into your soul. âYouâre always worth it.â
You nod and he pulls you closer, lifting you slightly from the floor as he moves towards the bed. He sits at the edge of the bed and pulls you on to his lap. You take a few deep breaths as he runs his hands up and down your back.
âMy dadâs not coming back, is he?â
âItâsâŠprobably better if he doesnât.â Darry is putting it delicately and you appreciate it. You know you can never go back to your house, that you would never be able to sleep and always be terrified about another break in, or worse. As if heâs reading your mind, Darry pulls you a little closer. âYou can stay here.â
âFor how long?â
âForever?â Darry asks and you can feel your eyes go wide and mouth drop slightly open.
âDarry Curtis, you canât just ask me to move in! We just had our first big fight!â
âAnd now weâre makinâ up.â Darry buries his head in the crook of your neck and you can feel him grinning against you.
âItâs one thing to stay a few days while things get sorted, but move in permanently?â
âPeople do it all the time.â Darry starts kissing up and down your collarbone.
âMarried people.â
âWell-â
âDarry, do not finish that sentence.â You hear his low chuckle and you feel like this whole evening has given you emotional whiplash. He leans his head back again and smiles up at you, one of those lazy smiles that you so rarely get to see.
âIâm not asking right now, but honey, you know I already planned on doing it one day.â You certainly did not know that. âAnd if youâre more comfortable moving in with a ring on your finger, weâll just speed up the timeline a bit.â
âItâs not about--oh my--I mean--Darry.â Heâs back to kissing your neck as you are having a near-crisis. âIf we get married, I then become another guardian for Pony and Soda. You need to talk to them about it, make sure they are okay with it, before we even think aboutâŠyou knowâŠtimelines.â You finish lamely and it doesnât help that you can feel him smiling against your jaw. He leans back and rests his forehead against yours.
âSo youâll stay?â
And you hear it in his voice: how much he wants this. How the need to protect you may have been the catalyst for you moving in, but staying for the long haul is something he desperately wants.
You understand the feeling because you want it just as bad. You want the good days and the hard days and the regular old days in between. You want to come home to Darry and you want Darry to come home to you. It seems simple when you really think about it.
âIâll stay. Always.â
NEXT: Settling into the Curtis house/life, thinking about Darry's talk of timelines and the outcome of the rumble with the Shepard boys.
Everything is forgotten in between fights and theyâre justâ so siblings at the end of the day. Even if Darry has to parent now and even if they fight more than the every had itâs in such a- sibling way thatâs hard to explain if you donât have any. That makes it all the more touching that while heâs parentified Darry is still a big brother
was looking at my pics from previews and totally forgot that they used to have brent & jason bow with emma đ i love emma's solo bow now, but justice for this trio!!