Elliot's P.O.V
"I love you" I smiled and kissed SodaPop softly.
"I Love you too" he kissed me back, letting go of me as I walked over to Masons car and go in the passenger side.
"Ready?" Mason asked.
"Yeah, let's go" I nodded.
Mason looked out the window and waved slightly to SodaPop as he pulled out of the DX and onto the street.
"Where are we going?" I wondered.
"You know that diner up the street? I uh can't remember what it's called uh..." he trailed off.
"The Frosty Palace" I chuckled.
"Yeah, that one" he grinned "you ever been there?" He wondered.
"Yeah of course, I went there on like my third day here with Steve, Ponyboy, and SodaPop" I nodded, looking out the window as the buildings pass.
"Wow, you've really come to know this place huh" he said, as we pulled into the diner.
"Well Yeah, I've been here for a few months now. Almost a year and I like it here" I said. We both got out of the car.
We walked up to the doors and he held it open for me as I walked in with him behind me.
We found an empty booth and sat down across from each other.
After a few seconds of sitting there a waitress came up to us.
"What can I get you two kids?" She asked.
"I'll take a hamburger and fries with a coke please" I answered.
She nodded and wrote it down and then looked to Mason.
"I'll have the same" he smiled softly.
The Waitress wrote another thing down and then nodded to us as she walked away.
"So, how are you doing? I feel like I haven't really talked to you" he asked, setting his arms on top of the table.
"I've been real good actually. I mean as best can be, one of the gang got beat up pretty bad" I sighed "but he's doin a lot better now of course, that was back in like February".
"Oh, that's rough" he winced "hope he's doin alright ... you and Soda doin okay too?".
"We're doin great, he's a real good person. He's funny and sweet and he doesn't care what anyone thinks" I smiled and looked down at my hands "I mean, I know he's kinda lousy towards girls. Most of those guys are, most greaser are. But not with me, none of those guys are. They respect me, maybe because I'm Dallas's kid sister I don't know ...".
"Boy have they turned you soft" Mason teased me.
I gasped playfully and looked up at him "leave me alone" I chuckled "I know they have, you don't gotta rub it in".
He chuckled " ... sorry".
Soon enough the food was set down on the table in front of us.
"Listen Elliot ... the real reason I wanted to see you was because I had to tell ya, I had to tell ya that I'm leaving Tulsa" he smiled softly.
"What, why?"
"Well, the reason I came down here in the first place is to make sure you settled in okay ... and now that I see you have I think it's time for me to go on home" he nodded, picking up a French fry and popping it into his mouth.
I tilted my head to the right "Well I guess I understand. I'm gon' miss you though"
"I'm gonna miss you too Ella".
~*~
Mason pulled up to the Curtis's house finally. I leaned over and hugged him softly. He wrapped his arm around me and kissed the top of my head.
"I'll see you sometime soon okay" he whispered.
"Okay, Bye" I said as I let go of him and climbed out of the car.
I walked up to the door and waved to him before I walked inside.
It was about 8:00 now since I got off work at about 6:30 today. I softly closed the door and turned to see no one was home.
"Hello?" I asked and shrugged it off. I walked down the hall and into my room, taking off the charm bracelet Mason had given me and settings it down on the dresser.
I always took off the bracelet but almost never took off the necklace Soda gave me.
I changed out of my DX shirt and into a soft blue t-shirt and clean jeans.
I picked up a pack of cigarettes and my lighter and then walked out of my room and then outside.
I opened the pack and picked out a cigarette and stuck it between my lips. I then rolled up my sleeves and stuck the pack on the inside of the rolled sleeve.
I then cupped my hand around the end and brought up the lighter, lighting up my cigarette and putting the lighter in with the pack.
I took a long drag of it, leaning against the side of the stairs.
A few minutes after Ponyboy and Johnny came walking up the steps.
"Hey Elliot" Ponyboy said, sitting down on the steps with Johnny besides him.
"Hey Ponyboy, Johnny" I said, sitting down besides him.
"Where'd you two go?" I wondered.
"Down to the movies" Johnny answered.
"Do y'all know when Soda and Steve get off? I don't remember Soda tellin me" I asked, taking another hit of my cigarette.
"I think they got off at eight, but Soda said Steve, Evie, and him were gonna go down to the Dingo tonight" Pony answered.
"He did? ... he didn't tell me that" I trailed off and looked straight ahead.
"Maybe he didn't want you to worry since you was goin with Mason" Pony said softly.
"Maybe ... I think imma go down there. You boys wanna come?" I asked as I stood up from my spot.
Johnny shook his head " I'm pretty tired, I might go on down to the lot".
"You sure Johnny?" I asked, holding my cigarette to my side.
"Yeah, I'll see you guys later" he said as he stood up.
"What about you Ponyboy?" I asked.
"Sure I'll go" he said and stood up "couldn't pass up a movie".
"Alright, hey Johnny you go on in the house if you need to" I said in a stern tone.
"Okay, okay" he nodded and began to walk down the street.
Ponyboy and I began our walk down to the Dingo. I picked out my cigarette box and handed that and the lighter to Pony. He took out a cigarette and lit it up, giving the pack and lighter back to me and I stuck it back into my sleeve.
"Hey Elliot, you think you gonna stay here for a while?" Pony asked.
"I'm hopin so, I ain't really got anywhere else to go. I'm fine with stayin here. What about you, you gon stay here?" I wondered.
He shrugged "I don't know, I figure some day I'll move ... maybe Darry'll stop yellin at me so much".
I looked to him and half-smiled "Ponyboy, Darry really cares about you that's why. He wants to see you go somewhere in life".
"Sure" he tried to say but I could hear the sarcasm in his voice. I didn't believe he thought so of course.
We walked the rest of the way in almost complete silence. Although I think we kinda understood each other without saying anything anyways.
Once we got to the Dingo we walked over to the seating area and quickly spotted the two boys and Evie. Soda looked as bored as ever.
I snickered to myself looking at him, he hated being bore it almost put him to sleep.
"Hey Ponyboy, why don't you go find Two-Bit I'm sure he's around here somewhere. If you can't find him just come on back this way" I said, biting my lip softly.
He nodded and ran off to find Two-Bit.
I walked over to the three people and sat right on Sodas lap.
He gasped for a moment before he realized who it was. I snickered and looked down to him, wrapping my arms around his neck. "Did I scare ya?".
He rolled his eyes and chuckled "yes you did".
I kissed him softly "how come you didn't tell me you guys were comin down to the Dingo?" I wondered.
"I knew you was goin with Mason so I didn't want you to wanna change plans or anythin" he said, wrapping his arms around my waist.
I nodded "okay ... also I brought Ponyboy with me. He out finding Two-Bit".
"You invited the kid?" Steve asked.
"Leave em alone Steve, Ponyboys a good kid. I like hangin around him" I nodded, looking up to see what movie was playing. It was a western.
"Yeah, okay" Steve crinkled his nose.
I rolled my eyes "wanna go somewhere? I can tell you're bored with this movie" I chuckled.
"Boy I thought you'd never ask" he sighed.
I slid off his lap and he stood up.
"See you guys later, bye Evie" I waved to them as I took Sodas hand and we walked out of the drive in.
"What did you have in mind?" Soda asked, walking down the road.
"I don't know, I just figured we could do something" I shrugged.
He grinned "want to see what kinda trouble we can get into?"
"Oh god, we're going to die today aren't we?" I laughed a bit as he pulled me in the direction of the street with the movie house Pony and I went to sometimes.
"It's a Tuesday, I know how to restrain myself" he teased me.
"You absolutely do not" I mocked him, being almost dragged down the street by him.
He pulled me over to a small, dimly lit bar. Above the doors in big letters read Charlie's Bar.
"We're never gonna be aloud in there" I rolled my eyes.
"Come on" he urged as he pushed open the door, pulling me in behind him.
A couple guys stood behind the bar, a few people sat at the bar, about 4 at the pool table, and maybe 8 at other tables.
The people at the pool table didn't seem old enough to be in there. But then again I don't think Soda and I did either.
Soda pulled my up to the bar and ordered us burg cokes. Setting down twenty cents for the both of us.
The guy took it and gave us two cokes. And Soda took one, handing me the other, which I gladly took.
We walked over to a small table where we set down our cokes and sat down across from each other.
"Why'd you wanna come in here?" I asked, sipping the coke.
"I like the place and you didn't know what you wanted to do" he answered, taking a gulp of his coke.
I grinned "you are so weird ...I love it".
Then we heard a low grumble "beginners luck kid" as I looked over to see an older guy handing the younger kid a few bucks as he walked away.
Soda noticed too. "Hhmmm I'm pretty good at pool. Wanna play a round of pool with them?" I wondered. I knew the kids were hustlers, looking for money as best they could.
Soda chuckled "wanna mess with them?".
I pulled the scrunchie out of my hair and around my wrist, flipping it to the side. I then pushed myself up off the seat and made my way over to the pool table, with Soda close behind me.
"Hey boys" I smiled as I walked up to the opposite side of the table.
The boys looked to each other and back to Soda and me "hey" one plainly said.
"What's ya name's?" I asked calmly.
"I'm Bryon and this is Mark" a tall, kinda buff kid with dark brown hair pointed to another tall, lanky kid with wheat blonde hair. "What about you guys?".
"I'm Elliot, and this is SodaPop" I said, pointing back to Soda. "Wanna play a game?" I offered.
The two guys grinned to each other. They had to be around Ponyboy's age. "Sure, wanna bet?".
"Hey Soda, how much should we bet?" I smiled and turned towards Soda.
He smiled back "how about twenty" he stated.
I turned towards the two guys and they both nodded.
"Me and Bryon? Since I've seen he's the one to play" I said, grabbing a pool stick.
"Alright, I'm not too good but I can try" he bluffed. Seeing him play before, him and the other guy knew what they were doin. Soda and I knew better than them though.
Bryon and I played out the whole game until the end.
"End, left" I said, holding the pool stick to the white ball for the second time and taking a shot at the eight ball, hitting it into the end, left hole.
I grinned and set down the pool stick "you guys are good, too bad we're better" I said and turned to Soda who I high fived.
"A deals a deal" Mark grumbled and handed me a twenty dollar bill.
"Say, how'd you guys learn to lie and play like that?" I wondered, stuffing the money into my pocket.
"Who says we're lyin?" Mark grinned.
"Hey no need to play dumb around us, we ain't gonna tell no one" I shrugged.
"We needed some extra money and I'm good at pool. It's really that simple" Bryon shrugged.
"Hey, aren't you that kid that's datin Angela Shepherd?" Soda asked.
"Yeah that's me" Bryon grinned.
"Hm I didn't know Angela had a boyfriend. I don't know much about them at all, I met Curly a few times but that's it" I shrugged.
"Oh Dally's old friends with Tim" Soda stated.
"Do you know my kid brother to tell me that kinda stuff?" I pointed out.
"You're Dally's sister?" Mark asked.
I nodded "in the flesh" I grinned.
"Eh we shoulda known" Mark gave Bryon a little shove "you two look a like and act alike".
"Yeah, were rough and tough" I snickered. I don't know how or why, but my old self was suddenly starting to come back while talking to these two.
Sometimes I miss acting like this. I looked up at the clock on the wall and then back to Soda "the movies are gonna be over soon, we should get back. Don't wanna leave Ponyboy with just Two-Bit when he's boozed up".
"What a mom" SodaPop teased me.
I slapped him on the shoulder "oh bag it" I rolled my eyes.
"See you boys later" Soda and I waved to Bryon and Mark.
"You know where to find us if you need us" Bryon added as we made our way out of the bar.
"Hey we made an extra twenty" Soda grinned.
I laughed a bit "that I did".
"Hate to tell ya, but we're a team" Soda nodded.
"Then you and I will do something together with it, how about that?" I asked, walking down the road to the Dingo.
"That sounds good to me" he chuckled.
"What do you wanna do with it?"
"I'm sure we'll think of something soon"