Till You Tell Me to Leave // CurlyBoy

Chapter Four

Ponyboy jittered around, chewing the side of his thumb as he watched out the window, what if Darry came home on his lunch break? What would he say about Pony being home after storming out from the house, what would he say about him having a girl over, let alone a Soc girl? Darry would probably twist it into 'She's just using you so other Socs could mock you,'. Ever since him and Paul's friendship went sour he's claimed Socs are all cold hearted – something even Marcia could agree with, mostly.

He suddenly felt a light touch on his forearm, he flinched hard from the touch, having not expected it due to being lost in worry. He turned to Marcia who was giving him a sympathetic smile, "Don't work yourself up, it's all okay." She gave him a light kiss on the cheek – not anything romantic, but how someone might comfort one another, a sign of reassurance. Ponyboy sighed, letting off some of the tension he was holding, "You're right, Marc. I'm just–"

"Worried?" Marcia finished as she led him to the kitchen, sitting them both down in chairs as Ponyboy nodded. The two sat in a comfortable silence, the only noise being the soft ticking of the clock – the hands pointing to show around '12:07'

"Marcia, you hungry?" Ponyboy asked after a moment, Marcia nodded with a smile as she pulled out a book from her satchel. "Anything specific?"

"Oh, no. I'm fine with anything besides carrots."

—

Curly shrugged on his trademark leather jacket – the jacket that used to belong to Tim – along with most of his clothes, anyways. He stood in the living room for a moment, attempting to remember if there was anything he needed – he decided there was nothing as he couldn't think of anything past what he usually carried on him: wallet, bobby pin (for picking locks), and his lighter, Curly patted his pockets to assure himself everything was there, then he shouted.

"I'm goin' out! Love you!" Before exiting the house into the cold air as he trudged along the streets, sliding over the frost covering them, he wished there was snow, he couldn't remember the last time he saw snow. A walk he could've made in fifteen minutes took him thirty, he wouldn't admit it was because he was taking back in the view of Tulsa after only seeing the barren concrete and depressing blue color for months.

The DX came into sight, Curly wanted cigarettes, he always hated how when he got locked up he had to go cold turkey, it calmed him down and made him look tough, that's why he liked smoking. He pushed open the door with its stupid little bell that let out a ding, effectively pissing him off while announcing his presence to the boys behind the counter. Steve Randall and Sodapop Curtis, who were chatting up a storm before they saw Curly, quickly muting their conversation as they registered Curly being back.

"Shepard." Steve said with an annoyed tone, he'd always hated the twins – they had used to play nasty pranks on him, crickets in his shoes, rocks covered in mud, normal jumping out from behind corners or walls to scare him – he never let it go.

"Randall, I'll have a pack of Kools and a pepsi-cola," Curly told him as he pulled a pepsi out of the small fridge, placing it on the counter.

"Didn't know you were out." Sodapop stated simply as he rang up Curly's items. Curly nodded. "Don't need that." He added quickly as Sodapop was putting his items in a plastic bag. Soda nodded back. "Alrighty, your total is-"

"Put it on Tim's tab, he won't mind." Curly told the boy with a smirk, knowing full well he would, Soda did so anyways, no matter how energetic he was he never seemed to have the energy for the Shepard twins – mostly Curly, he didn't see Angela much anymore.

Curly strolled back out into the cold march air, shoving the pepsi in an inside pocket of his jacket while he lit up a cigarette. Soon enough the Curtis household was in sight, there were no lights on though they never used lights during the day, whether it be to save money or because Ponyboy always complained about the lights making his head hurt – something Steve always mocked.