♡ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ꜱᴀʏ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ♡

0 7

"Yeah," I said.

"Say, you look awfully familiar. What's your name?"

"Cary," I said before nodding to Johnny, "this is my friend Johnny. You've probably seen us around at school."

"Ah, yeah," he nodded, "I'm Nathan, by the way."

"Nice to meet you."

He looked at me and opened his mouth as if he was going to say something before looking at Johnny and then back at me. He closed his mouth and began to walk off. "Well, I gotta go take care of my guy and his Marilyn situation. He'll probably be beside himself that he cheated on her," he laughed again.

"Wait, Nathan?" I said before he walked out. He looked back at me. "Thank you." I smiled at him as he gave me a nod and walked out.

I looked back at Johnny. He looked just as confused as I was. "He was a Soc, right?" He asked me.

"Did you see the way he was dressed? Yeah," I said matter-of-factly, "about the only decent Soc in this town."

"Seems like it," Johnny said.

When we got back to our seats, we told Ponyboy about it. He just laughed. "A decent Soc? Two-Bit's drunk and even he knows that ain't possible."

"If only you were there to see it," I said as I handed him a Coke.

On our way home that night, Two-Bit threw a piece of paper in his mouth, chewed on it, and then spit it out.

"What was that?" I asked.

"Some chick's number. Probably a fake one, actually. Way outta my league,"

"A Soc?"

"Nah, middle-class gal. She was real pretty but," he chuckled, gesturing to himself, "look at me."

I pushed him playfully. "Ah, c'mon Two-Bit, just because you're a Greaser doesn't mean she wouldn't like you."

He raised his eyebrows at me suspiciously.

"I'm serious," I said, "Cassie's been dating a Greaser for about a year now and she's middle class."

Cassie was the only girl I considered my best friend. Her parents owned a really nice and quaint bakery not far from the diner and I would often stop by after work to buy some bread or pastries and see how they were doing. Her dad was usually the one running it as her mom had a job as a teacher at the elementary school. She was fantastic, and her dad was too. He often asked how me and my brothers have been since our parents died and I remember he would do weekly surprise deliveries to our house the first couple of months after the accident before I told him not to because it was making him lose money. He was really close to my dad, so his death hit him just about as hard as us.

I've known him for basically my whole life because Cassie and I had been friends ever since I can remember. She had dark brown hair and sage-colored eyes, making her look a lot like me. This and the fact that we were so close made everyone think we were sisters or even twins, and the fact that our names were so similar didn't help any.

"Yeah, yeah," Two-Bit said, waving me off dismissively, "she's an exception to the rule."

I laughed, but I felt kind of bad for him. I knew plenty of girls that weren't Greasers that would have loved to be with him and his witty humor, but he just didn't see it.

"Where ya headed, Two?" Ponyboy asked when we were about a block away from home.

"Eh, I dunno. Maybe I'll make an appointment with Mr. Jack Daniels or go catch a game of pool at Buck's," he said as he walked away and waved, "see y'all around!"

It was another cold night and Johnny's parents were fighting again, so he decided to stay at our house, per my request earlier that day. And since it was my day off, I cooked dinner.

I was just pulling a pan of lasagna out of the oven when Darry and Soda came home. They were laughing their heads off about something.

"What's so funny?" I asked as Johnny and Ponyboy got up to help me set the table.

"You're gonna love this, Cary." Darry says, chuckling. I haven't heard him laugh in a while, so I cocked an eyebrow. "On our way home, we saw Jonathan getting his head pounded in by a group of guys."

"That's gotta be the best thing I've seen all day," Soda laughed as he threw his DX cap on the couch, "he had it comin' for him. I didn't tell you he came to the gas station today, Darry."

"Oh brother, what did he want?"

"'Just some gas'," he said in a mocking tone, "and he also wanted to interrogate me about Cary. I woulda beat him to a pulp if Steve hadn't stopped me."

I shook my head. "Y'all are crazy. Outta your minds."

Soda flopped down in a seat at the table. "Ah, c'mon Cary, like you don't enjoy the fact he got what he deserved."

I just laughed and shook my head. "Trust me, I am, but I'm also starving."

I placed the pan on the table and Soda's face lit up. "Lasagna, Cary?"

"Nah, it's hamburgers. What does it look like?" I messed up his hair as I walked back to the kitchen.

"She's been hangin' around Two-Bit more often, hasn't she?" Soda said.

"Well, he did come to the drive-in with us today. Scared the devil outta Johnny," Ponyboy laughed.

"Speaking of the drive-in, Cary and I ran into a good Soc today," Johnny said.

"Huh. A good Soc?"

"Yup," I said as I sat down.

"Imagine that."

Johnny continued and told them the story about Nathan. I'll admit that life had been pretty drab and depressing lately, but sitting around the table with the four of them and having a good time was refreshing.

I knew that feeling of relief wouldn't last long, though. They never do.

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There's a very interesting chapter coming up...wonder what it could be...