Looking to belong

7

While Darry was speaking on the phone, the rest of us carried on with our conversation quietly.

A few moments after, Darry came back into the kitchen grabbing his keys quickly.

"Where ya going?"

"I don't have much time to explain yet Pony, I gotta go".

Darry ran out of the house and jumped in his car without opening the door.

"I wonder what that was about"..
I say curiously.

"Same.. I've never saw Darry leave so quick he rarely even goes out to the shop".
Soda chimes in.

"Should we be worried? I mean did you see the way he ran out?"

"Hm.. No Darry can handle whatever it is, He's tough like that".

"I guess he is actually".

We all went back to finishing our lunch and then we started to clean up. Steve and Two-Bit went back watching mickey on the tv and I decided to stay and talk to Soda and Johnny for a while.

All of a sudden we hear a car door slam outside, followed by someone cursing.

We could all hear muffled voices from outside.

"Jesus just don't get caught again or it's gonna end up being worse".

"Yeah yeah I won't".

Who was that?

The door opened and I saw Darry walk in with Dallas trailing behind him.

Ponyboy jumped up when he saw them both walk in and he ran over to Darry immediately.

"What happened Darry? where did you run off to like that?".

Darry sighs."Had to bail dal out of the cooler again".

Pony laughs."Hey whatcha do this time?"

Dallas smirks a little."I vandalised the school property with graffiti".

Pony shakes his head laughing and walks back over to the couch.

I was stood aside listening to this conversation looking at Dallas and Darry. Dallas was joking about what had happened and then i realised that he hadn't noticed me here yet.

"Man those cops are a real pain, always up my ass".

Darry rolls his eyes."I wonder why".

"Oh cmon darry you just don't know what fun is".

"Yeah I do, Can't have much fun lookin after my kid brothers ya know".

Dallas was about to say something else when he turned his attention towards me.

"What the hell did I miss?!"

"Your sanity".
Sodapop teased him jokingly.

"Aria what the hell happened when I was gone?".

He took a step closer to me, At first I was confused to why he was so worried looking but then I remembered how my face looked

"I got into a argument with someone, im fine now though really".

"Don't tell me it was with that hell of an ex boyfriend of your's".

"No it wasn't him".

"Who was it then? Tell me so I can handle them".

"It doesn't matter who it was, I have it under control".

"Well it doesn't look like you do, Look what happened to your face".

I sigh."Trust me, Im fine I don't need your help dally".

"It's not that fucking hard to tell me who did it to you".

He was getting angry now.

"Cut it off dal".
Johnny stepped in from the kitchen.

"What did you just say to me you little shit?"

"I said cut it off, Stop bugging her bout it if she doesn't wanna tell you".

Dallas walked outside to the porch and lit a cigarette.

Johnny walked over to me in the living room.

"Dally didn't mean to get mad at you like that.. I know he can be difficult but he's a nice guy".

"Sure.."

I wasn't convinced of course, He did mean to get mad at me like that. It was Dallas Winston for god sake .I could care less anyway. I was used to my dad shouting and cursing at me so I could handle Dallas.

I checked the time and it was around 5pm in the evening. I couldn't go home because of my dad and my other family member lived too far away for me to stay with them.

This was just great.

Soda approached me with a smile on his face.

"You okay?"

"Yeah i guess so".

"Good, You know you would usually be walking home by now, what changed?".

"Oh.. I just don't wanna go home yet, I don't wanna be alone just yet after all that happened to me ya know?".

I couldn't bring myself to tell Soda the actual reason why i wasnt going home.
He knew my father but he didn't know what he does to me.

"By yourself? What about your dad aint he home?".

"He still does those shitty business trips".

"Seriously?.. You know you can stay here if you want right?"

"Yeah I know"..

"I'll get you spare clothes to change in since you've been wearing those since yesterday".

"Thank you". I smile

I looked down at what i was wearing, I looked like a mess.

"You can sleep in Pony's old bedroom tonight".
Soda brings me clothes to change into.

"Yeah okay".

Darry walks over to me and gives me a towel .

"You can shower if ya want too, To get all the blood off".

"Thank you Darry, For letting me stay here too".

"No problem kid".

I smile and walk upstairs to the bathroom.

I brought my spare change of clothes, which were old pajama bottoms and a big t-shirt into the bathroom with me so I could get changed after my shower.

I looked in the mirror examining my cuts and bruises on my face. I looked horrible.

I couldnt bare to look at myself any longer so i got out of my dirty clothes and got into the shower.

I started to wash all of the blood off of me and that's when I heard the door open.

Oh shit, I forgot to lock the damn door.

(nexr chapter will be posted on Saturday!!)