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𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗻 - 𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 ❝ it's such a shame that we weren't the same at all ❞
soda kept bumping shoulders with steve on the train ride home, they were happy and relieved to know that they were returning home to their friends, little did he know his girlfriend was still in vietnam for another few months.
nicolette was expected to come home to come home a bit early but after seeing a bunch of soldiers come in with bloody wounds, she decided their life was more valued than hers so she stayed.
guilt pressured her to come home but if she came home, more people would die in that war zone of a country. at home for soda was nicolette's first letter sent to darry and ponyboy last month, the other two curtis brothers who worried about not seeing her in such a long time.
ponyboy was getting the mail on a saturday as per usual, he was shocked to see the letter with no return address, on it was nicolette's name in cursive. ponyboy ripped the flab open to see a dirt stained letter that was yellow all over the place.
to whom maybe reading this,
i know you're wondering where i've been, i volunteered to be a nurse for the vietnam war, knowing how hectic and crazy it's been here, if you see sodapop when he comes home then make sure to give him this letter. tell him i love him and that i'll be home soon, don't know when but soon can speak 4-5 months, miss the guys too, i don't got much to write on this letter but see you guys soon.
your dear friend, nicolette bornbay
pony's hands were shaking after reading the letter, soda hasn't wrote a letter to his brothers in months and now pony was getting one from nicolette, darry was cooking eggs but had his eyes glued to pony who wouldn't make a move or sound.
"pony, anything alright?" darry asked as he slid the eggs onto a plate.
"got a letter from nicolette," he waved the paper in his hand. "she said she was in vietnam to volunteer as a nurse."
darry furrowed his eyebrows before marching over to pony, yanking the letter out of his hand. "soda's coming back today, how the hell are we going to tell him?"
all pony did was shrug, he felt his stomach growl so he trailed off to the kitchen with a fork in his hand. two-bit, dally, and johnny later walked in with an excited smile, not dally but you can say he's excited for one of his best pals to come home from war.
"what's cookin' good lookin'?" two-bit joked while ruffling pony's greased hair.
"nothing good." pony muttered, sliding nicolette's letter across the table.
"great, another knocked up broad." dally rolled his eyes before grabbing the letter.
all gave themselves a shocked face as if they saw a ghost, two-bit was even shock even though he's not the best reader, johnny was speechless of course; nicolette was one of his best friends.
"what are we going to do? we gotta pick him up in thirty minutes." two-bit mentioned.
"if we only got thirty minutes then why the hell are you just sitting? go! now!" darry urged everyone into the truck.
pony had forgotten the letter at home, which would make soda's reaction even worse, steve had kept his mouth shut about nicolette leaving but it still hurt him. they all made it to the train station in silence with their shoulders against each other as a group full of uniformed men came tumbling in.
soda and steve were last ones off but already got their bags secured in their hands, the gang went in for a group hug and a playful chatter over the town being all boring without them, leaving out the part of nicolette being in vietnam.
as they headed towards the car, soda remembered the promise nicolette told him about her waiting at the train station for him when he gets back. "so umm... how's nicolette? did she not want to come see me?"
"soda, if i tell you this, promise you ain't gonna go full loco on us?" steve raised his eyebrow, soda slowly nodded in confusion. "nicolette left tulsa a few months after you got drafted, she volunteered as a nurse. this might hurt but i bumped into her after the screwdriver incident."
soda's eyes widened after hearing his girlfriend had already left for the war zone and no one told him, he jumped out of the car where he ran full speed from everybody. eventually finding himself by the golden sun and the breeze hitting the wheats, he dropped to his knees where he let out a painful scream.
"why?! why?!" he called out, tightly balling his fists. "come home, just please come home."
nicolette sat on her stool with her hands running through her hair, legs crossed as she waited to be assigned to the next patient, after getting the call; she went into action with a quick speed.
