Chapter 3;

Pony's POV;

"Hey, kid." Turning in surprise, I found Two-Bit behind me, a small yet sad grin on his face.

I grinned too. "Hey, Two-Bit. I thought you were gonna help your mom around the house today."

He sighed. "She kicked me out for the day, until six-thirty. Said my friends needed me more than she did." He looked at me carefully. "And I'm thinkin' she was right." I shook my head.

"Two-Bit, I'm fine."

He was looking at me with serious gray eyes. "No you're not," he answered softly. "You wouldn't have loved your brother if you were fine." A wave of anger washed over me, but it was quickly suppressed beacause I realized what Two-Bit said was correct. I wouldn't have have cared about Sodapop if I was okay-- and I wasn't. I was still hurting bad-- every night for a week after the funeral, I would wake up in the morning, expecting to find Sodapop stretched out beside me, his arm flung across my shoulders. The nightmares had started again...bu this time I could remember them clearly. It was about Sodapop-- always about Sodapop. In my mind's eye, I held images of Soda's death locked tight behind a large metal door during the day... But during the night, that door was opened and I was haunted by graphic deaths. I woke up screaming every time... and now, there was no Sodapop there to calm me down, no Sodapop to make me feel protected against those nightmares. He had always been there for me, and I wished I had been there for him. Life just wasn't the same without Soda there to make us laugh, or see what interesting food he made for dinner.

"Where you goin'?" I asked quietly as we headed down the street.

He shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe check out the ladies lingering around on the streets. Would you like to go to the Diner and get something to eat since Darry's not gonna be home for awhile?"

"I don't know. What time is it?"

"Uhhh... it's..." Two Bit checked his watch, "five forty-three."

"Yeah. I guess so."

"How's Darry?"

I looked at Two-Bit and shrugged. "The same as always." Indeed, Darry was the same as always. He made sure I went tobed on time and he went to work every day after he was sure I was up... as if he had erased Sodapop from his life. To a person who didn't know him--or even a close friend-- it may have seemed that that is what he did, but I knew better. Ever since Johnny and Dally died two years ago, we started to understand each other a little bit more and, though he was still pretty strict, he no longer yelled when I got in trouble and we started getting more of a brotherly relationship again, rather than the parent-child relationship like we had before. I guess that was just the way he got over the pain-- to pick up your shattered heart from the floor and continue with life, and never forget the loved ones you lost. "He's fine." We took a seat at the diner. We ordered our food and sat in silence.

"Steve's home now," Two-Bit said casually, not looking at me.

"What?!"