Midnight Cigarettes ; The Outsiders fanfic {UNEDITED}

38.

Elliot's P.O.V

{this chapter is short!}

Soda, Steve, and I took the next day off of work. Everyone was worried sick about Johnny and Ponyboy.

"So then they're headed for Texas?" Steve asked, furrowing his eyebrows as if he dint believe that. Which would have been the right assumption.

Dallas shrugged "I guess so ..." he trailed off and gave me a side glance.

"What the hell are we doin sittin here then? We needa go find them" Two-Bit hastily stood up.

Darry shook his head slightly "and how will we know where in Texas they went?" He sarcastically asked. He made a point. "They'll have to come back sooner or later". Darry tried to act like he was calm and collected about it, but I could tell that he had t gotten any sleep last night.

I felt bad for him and SodaPop especially. I understood what they were going through, this happened when Dallas left ... except he wasn't wanted for murder.

Soda leaned into me and laid his head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around his shoulders and gave his shoulder a light rub.

"I'm sure they'll show up soon" I said softly. Actually I wasn't sure at all. I know Dallas told the boys he would be down to see them after a week but that didn't mean they were coming home. And even if they did, Johnny would go to jail ... maybe get the electric chair.

I wish I was better at comforting people. I was never one to really comfort someone. I tried to though, I know Soda needed me most then.

"I love you" I whispered to him.

"I love you too" he whispered back.

"Hey, we'll all figure this out okay. They can't have gone too far from last night to this morning." I said, trying to be hopeful.

They all nodded. I knew they didn't have much more hope but I tried at least.

I carefully tilted Soda's head up to look at me and softly kissed him. I then ruffled his hair a little bit, causing an annoyed grunt from him. Surprisingly all the grease in his hair didn't bother me.

Two-Bit sighed and stood up. He didn't show it a lot cause he was always wise crackin, but he cared for the boys.

"Well sittin here ain't doin' any good." I said as I stood up, knocking Soda off my shoulder. "And as much as we might wish we could, we can't mope around here, waiting for them to come back."

Darry nodded "Elliot's right" he stood up "I outta get to work" he said, picking up the shirt next to him and putting it on.

I looked down at Soda and Steve next to him. "Wanna go grab Evie and go down to the Frosty Palace?" I offered.

They looked to each other, nodded, and stood up. Guys did that kinda stuff so quickly.

"You guys are welcome to join" I said to Two-Bit and Dallas.

Two-Bit shook his head "I'm going to see Kathy" he said, talking about the latest blonde he had picked up.

I looked to Dallas but he shook his head also, he hesitated for a moment before saying "I'm goin to see Lacey actually".

I smiled, that was what I was hoping.

"See you guys later" Steve said as we made our way to the door. We took Steve's car again but this time Soda drove.

Soda was a good driver, kinda reckless, but he was careful about being reckless. Maybe cause I was in the car. We stopped by Evie's house and she climbed over Steve and into the backseat with me.

We all talked for a while but soon made it up to the Frosty palace. Soda parked and we all piled out of the car and into the diner. There were a few Socs in there but the place was mostly a greaser hang out.

I told Evie what happened on the way there.

We found a booth pretty quickly, the place wasn't too crowded. Evie and I sat on the insides of the booth while Soda and Steve sat on the outside with their arms around us.

The waitress came up soon and we al ordered a coke. I think we were all a little too shook up to actually eat something.

"SodaPop ... are you sure you're okay with being here? We can leave if you need to" I whispered to him. He looked pretty bad. He had bags under his eyes from getting no sleep last night.

He rubbed his hands down his face "I don't know" he said as he looked to me. He looked pained.

I took my hand and softly intertwined it with his.

"Elliot, did you talk to Dallas about Lacey?" Steve casually asked.

I looked to Soda and then back to Steve "yeah I did, it was a few months back though. Before Sylvia."

Steve looked away "Lacey and Dallas were cool and all but he hurt her real bad Elliot".

I sighed "I know, but I wanna see Dallas happy and I know he hasn't been in a long time. And whenever we talk about her he gets so protective like he regrets it alright. I'm not talkin about it anymore alright" I finally said and nodded.

Nobody was in a good mood today.