Babydoll snapped to attention as the door opened and Ponyboy walked in. Dally was asleep, arm slung around his shoulders.
The alter-ego melted away, and Estelle stood up from the couch.
"Hey, Pony," she said casually.
Ponyboy jumped, not expecting her to be right there in front of him, even though he had seen the foreign car in the driveway.
"You're actually here," he blurted out.
Estelle smiled. "Yup, I'm actually here, right here back in Tulsa. It's good to see you, your hair's looking better."
Ponyboy subconsciously ran his hand through his hair, still focused on Estelle.
"You said in your note you needed closure, what are you doing here?"
"Just that. I had stuff I needed to say to a few people, and that I needed to say in person. Or as close to that as I could get."
Ponyboy nodded. "Makes sense. Um, can I get you anything to eat or drink?"
She shook her head. "I'm good, I already helped myself, and I already grabbed some other shit from the DX."
"Did you see Soda and Steve?"
She laughed. "I saw them, but they didn't see me. I guess they weren't really looking to see me though, they were just doing their jobs."
"So they didn't even notice you?"
"Nope! I got in and out just like any other customer. But Dally ran in too, they couldn't have not noticed him."
Ponyboy turned his attention to the sleeping Greaser on the couch. He looked relaxed, a look so rare on Dallas Winston's face.
"How is he?" Ponyboy asked a bit quieter.
Estelle smiled. "We're both pretty good, don't worry about us. I mean, we'll never be fantastic, but nothing is worse than it was."
"That's good I guess."
"Yeah, I guess. It feels like nothing is certain these days."
Dally groaned and rolled off the couch, onto the floor. Estelle stifled a laugh as he slowly came to his senses, as did Ponyboy.
Dally turned and scowled at them, and they quickly smothered their grins.
_____
Sodapop and Steve were next to arrive at the Curtis house.
"It is them!" Sodapop said, bursting in the door, a smile on his face.
Estelle couldn't help but match his grin.
"How did you not notice it was me?" She asked, after they got their greetings out of the way.
"I dunno! I wasn't lookin' for you, there was no reason to think you'd be in town. When you came in I thought, "Gee, he looks like Babydoll, could he be back in town?" But then I thought there was no way, you didn't have any reason to be back, there at the DX. And then you paid too, I thought Babydoll would just take whatever he wanted."
"Eh, I don't really have a fantastic reason to be back, I just have a few things left to say here. And I'm rusty at being Babydoll, I've been Estelle for a couple months now."
"Do you want me to call you Estelle, then?"
She shook her head. "Call me whatever the hell you want, Soda. I don't care."
Dally looked uncomfortable being back, after all that had happened. He was talking to Steve, but they had skipped greetings and were immediately talking about serious topics.
She walked over to them, and silently tapped his hand with hers, giving him the chance to interrupt the conversation if he wanted. He looped his finger through hers, which made her smile even if it was just a small signal.
She plastered a smile on her face and tried her best to make it look genuine.
"Hey Steve, been a while since we've been around, how's shit round here for you?"
Steve changed his tone and body language, since he didn't know Estelle well enough to act friendly and familiar. "It's fine, nothing's really changed. What are y'all doing back here?"
"Nothing much, I just had some things left here I wanted to close, Dally here just tagged along cause he didn't want all the farm chores," she said, gently shoving her. Dally smirked and pushed her back, but with more force than she did.
"Oh, that's neat I guess. How long will y'all be in town?"
"No clue. Till I feel the need to leave. No clue what Dally feels like doing, can't speak for him."
Steve obviously didn't want to keep making small talk with her, so she excused herself from the conversation. "Nice to talk to you, Steve, don't think we've ever really talked before. You seem like a good kid. But my dog is scratching at the door, and I don't want him to leave a mark, Darry scares the shit outta me."
In that moment she realized exactly what she'd signed herself up for, and just how many people she had words to tell.