Darling

Cherry Waves

It had been a few days since the murder. Dallas had come over, also saying he had no idea where the two boys had gone. Sodapop of course didn't believe any of that, and gave Dal a letter to give to Pony. Before he left, Darlene asked to talk to him outside.

"What?" He asked lighting a cancer stick and taking a drag.

"Can I go with you to see them?" She so badly wanted to see those two.

"I don't know if Darry would like you going anywhere alone with me." He smirked.

Darlene blushed. "Well I'll convince him. I'll tell him we're goin' to check on Mary. Please?" She begged. He took another drag.

"Okay, fine, but it really isn't up to me. Talk to your brother, okay? Be quick, or I'm leaving you here."

"Oh, you mean we're going, like, now-" She quickly went inside to find her brother. Dally chuckled at her. He almost thought she was cute. Almost.

About 5 minutes later she came back out pulling on her jacket.

"Darry believed me. Let's go." She laughed, excited to see Pony and Johnny.

---

They drove for about an hour and a half before arriving at the church. It was old and very much falling apart. As they walked up to it, it immediately smelled of dust and rotting wood. Dallas looked around for an opening, making more noise than necessary.

"You'll scare them, quiet down." Darlene whispered. 

The two finally found an openeing and went inside. The first thing they saw were the two young greasers asleep on the ground.

And Pony's...blonde hair?

Dallas reached down and ruffled his hair. "Hey, blondie, wake up." He said.

He opened his eyes and sat up excitedly, happy to see his friend and sister.

"How have you been?" Darlene asked, hugging her little brother.

She pulled away and turned to Johnny, gently nudging his shoulder. "Johnny, rise and shine, man." He slowly sat up, not completely sure what was going on.

"How's Soda doing?" Pony asked, "Is he upset?"

"Are the fuzz after us?" Johnny added to the piling up questions.

"Wait. One thing at a time." Dal said. "Are you guys hungry? I'm starving."

Pony smiled. "You are? Try baloney for 4 days. Got a cancer stick?" Darlene handed him a cigarette. She didn't love him smoking so young, but he'd had a terrible week. She didn't feel like arguing with him.

Dallas pulled out the letter Soda wrote for Pony and handed it to him. "I got a special delivery for Ponyboy Curtis."

"Who's it from?" The boy asked.

"The president of the United States." Dal joked.

Pony rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right."

"Seriously." Dally said.

Darlene smiled. "It's from Sodapop."

Ponyboys eyebrows furrowed. "How did he know I was here?"

"I said I didn't know where you were, but he didn't believe me. He really wanted you to get it." Dally nodded to the letter.

Darlene had read it already. She was there while Soda wrote it. It almost made her cry, the way he was so worried for his little brother. She couldn't wait for Soda and Pony to see each other again.

"I guess you got into some trouble. Darry's sorry he hit you. You know he didn't mean it. It scared us when Dallas was taken into the police station. I wish you'd come back and turn yourselves in. We miss you. Say hi to Johnny for us."