He Was Mine, I Was His

Old Enemies

    The drive to the fair wasn’t long but the boys made it feel longer. It was most likely illegal the amount of people we stuffed into Soda’s car. There was one point where I thought Two-Bit would never stop talking. Their excitement only intensified as we found our parking spot at the fair. We met up with the rest of our friends who drove separately and made a game plan. 

    “The races start in 15 so I say we grab some beers and go find a good place to watch,” Two-Bit suggested.

    “Beers, Two-Bit,” Ponyboy laughed. “It’s only noon.”

    Two winked at him, “It’s five o’clock somewhere.”

    “Well, let’s get going then.”

    We found a drink stand before heading to the grandstands to watch the race. Two-Bit got his beer while the rest of us settled for a soda or a lemonade shake-up. The stands were crowded but we found a spot for our group to settle down. It wasn’t long before the family behind us got tired and moved. I didn’t blame them, the boys were very passionate about their races. One of Soda’s old friends was racing today so it was only right that they cheered louder for him. I held Soda’s hand and admired his love for his friends. 

    Someone from out of state won the races which made the boys lose interest in sticking around to congratulate him. Instead we met up with some more friends and started our lap around the fairgrounds. A competition started about who could win their girlfriend a prize first. Soda, Steve, Johnny, Ponyboy, and Tim began with a ball game where the goal was to knock down all the milk jugs. Seeing as Steve was on the baseball team before he lost his school spirit, Evie was the first to receive her carnival stuffed animal. I finally got my prize when Sodapop and Johnny tied at the water gun game. Donna got her pink horse while I picked out a small, brown dog.

    “What should we name it?” I asked Soda as he hugged me. 

    He grabbed the dog and studied it, “Willard.”

    “Willard?” I laughed. 

    “Yeah. Doesn’t he look like a Willard?”

    “Sure, hun. Sure he does,” I smiled as I took the dog back and we continued our journey around the fair. 

    As we were walking to get tickets for some rides, a group of guys approached us. One of them came behind Dallas and slapped him in the back of the head and called him a greaser. Instead of killing him like he normally would have, Dally laughed and shook the guy's hand. 

    "Matt, how are ya man?" Dally asked. 

    Soda audibly sighed and shared the same annoyed look a few of the guys held.

    "I'm doing good, man. It's crazy what that good behavior can do for a sentence. Glad yall are as happy to see me as Dal is," Matt nudged Steve who looked like he wanted to kill him. "Mind if I join you on this fine fair afternoon?"

    "Nah man, we don't mind," Dally said as the rest of the group disagreed. 

    There was an awkward silence before Matt disregarded the social cues and grabbed his two buddies to join our group. Soda looked very uncomfortable but Matt never strayed far away enough for me to ask why. I didn’t like the way Matt looked at me and I was quick to feel uncomfortable too. He would often grab his buddies together and whisper something to them before they all laughed together. Ever since they joined in, it was like a cloud had come over everyone besides Dally, Matt, and their friends.

    In an attempt to shake that feeling, I pointed out that the line for the ferris wheel was gone. I would be lying if I said I hadn’t daydreamed about sharing one of those cheesy romantic moments with Sodapop at the top of the ferris wheel. We all agreed to go on together and got in line. Our friend group took up nearly every seat. As Soda and I sat down and were about to move, Matt ran up the ramp and squeezed in between us. Soda tried to push him out but we were already moving to fill the next seat. I saw the rage in Soda’s eyes as he realized we were stuck there with him.