In Vietnam

Finding Out

Ponyboy's POV
I woke up in the morning still lying next to Soda. I was really groggy, and I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes while looking around the room. Then I raised an eyebrow; It was awfully quiet around this time. Two-Bit and Steve are usually super loud and wake up all of us. I shrugged and got out of bed. I went to the closet and picked up some clothes to put on. After I was dressed, I laid back down for a few moments, still wondering why it was so quiet.

Then Soda started stirring and woke up.

"Morning, Pony," he says. "Morning, Soda."

He looks at the door and then back at me. "Why the hell is it so quiet?"

"I don't know. That's what I was wondering." Then Soda got dressed, and we walked out the bedroom into the kitchen. I didn't know what to make of the scene in front of me. Two-Bit was pale, Dally had his hands balled up into fists, Johnny was close to bawling, a tear slid down Steve's face, and Darry looked like he was going to explode.

Soda and I looked at each other, and then back at them. "Guys, what the hell is going on?"

Nobody said anything, but Darry handed us each an envelope. My stomach dropped. Shit, please tell me this isn't what I think it is.....

I read it, and yup, it was my draft notice. I was close to tears. I looked up and noticed Soda bracing himself against a chair, and he was trying not to cry.

Then, Darry said, "We've already talked about what we're going to do about this."

"What does that mean?" Soda asked. Oh god, no.

"It means we're all signing up," Johnny said. No, no, no.

I let a few tears drop and I braced myself against one of the chairs like Soda had done.

Darry comes over and hugs me. Then, Soda joins. After a moment, Steve, Two-Bit, Johnny, and Dally joined in. After we let go, Johnny kisses me. I kiss back, and there's a moment of silence between all of us.

When we finish kissing, Darry says, "This afternoon we're going to enlist."

Everyone nods and gets themselves together.
~~~~
A few hours later, the rest of the gang leaves to go enlist.

When they get back, everyone is enlisted, and we're all going to fight in Vietnam.

Later on, Darry told us that we leave for basic training at 0500 on Monday morning.

Two days away.
~~~~
When everyone decides to go to sleep, Soda and I are the only ones awake.

I started to shiver and said, "Soda, I'm scared."

He put an arm around me and said, "Me too, Pony. I'm really scared. But as long as we have each other, we'll be okay. You dig?"

"Yeah, I dig."

After a moment passes, I say, "Goodnight, Soda. I love you."

"Goodnight, Pony. I love you too."
~~~~
The next morning, Soda and Darry call into work to tell them the news. They're both understanding and tell them that they'll send their last paychecks to them tomorrow.

We all decide to hang out around the house and play poker while reminiscing about the good old days. We talk about our childhood memories and about all the happy times. A few tears are shed, but laughs are shared, too.

For our last dinner out, we head to the Dingo and eat a bunch of food.

And when we get back, I decided to give something to Soda, just in case we get separated in 'Nam.

"Hey Soda, come here."

He came into our room and I gave him the box. He opened it and he almost started crying.

"Thank you, Ponyboy. I love it."

I helped him put the necklace on, and then he said he had something for me. It's another necklace.

"Thanks, Soda. I love it."

Then we hugged each other and went back to where the gang is. We continued talking until we decided to go to bed.
~~~~
The next day passed very quickly, and we did the same thing. Talked, ate, and then went to bed.

The next morning, it was time to leave.
~~~~
A/N: Heyyy, guess who's back? This gal. Basically, I'm rewriting the Vietnam story that I wrote last year, because I was stupid and deleted the other one, so fuck me on that part. I've had a very busy & long year, but I'm finally back. This is a continuation of my last book, which obviously I didn't mention anything about it in the story yet, but it will be mentioned.

Anyways, Stay Gold peeps✌️

~Liz