What Can I Do // Dalpop

Not Your Burden

Steve's POV

Me and Two-bit looked at each other, confused about what just happened.

"The hell was that about?" He asked right before taking a huge bite of cake.

"I don't know, but he looked real upset. Should I go see what's wrong?" I ask him.

"Ponyboy's sleeping in there right now, remember?" He reminded me.

"Oh yeah. So what do we do?" I ask.

"Maybe we should call Dally and ask him?" Two-bit suggested. I figure he might know what the hell is wrong with Soda if no one else does.

"Good idea." I said as I went to call Buck's house using the Curtis home phone.

I waited for someone to answer, and when someone finally did, I asked to talk to Dally.

I waited a few more seconds before Dally was on the phone saying, "Hello? Soda?"

"It's Steve, Dally."

"Oh." He said, sounding disappointed.

"Do you know what's wrong with Soda? He ran in the house upset, and now he locked himself in his room."

I heard him sigh before saying, "Yeah, I know what's wrong with him."

"Well, what is it?"

"I got really drunk and cheated on him."

I paused and processed what he said before saying, "You what?"

"I got so fucked up at Buck's party I blacked out and hooked up with some girl I met that day." He explained, sounding a little dead inside.

"The hell, Dally? Did you know what you were doing?"

"What? Fuck no, you think I would ruin what I have with Soda just to get laid unless I was blackout drunk? one second we were talking, the next I was giving her head."

I sighed and said, "This is really bad. If Soda is still going through this tomorrow, he might not even show up to work, and I don't want him to get fired."

"If I could help, I would, but I'll only make things worse. Just tell Soda that if he's ready to talk, I'm ready to listen." Dally said before hanging up the phone.

I put the phone down and looked at Two-bit, "Dally said he cheated, and that's why Soda's upset."

"Oooh, that makes sense." Two-bit said while nodding.

"Well what're we going to do? We're the only two that know about their relationship, so we've gotta help them fix this shit."

Two-bit looked at me unamused and said, "What do you expect me to do?"

I thought for a second about what Two-bit could possibly do to be useful.

"I know, you can make sure Darry doesn't find out about what's going on between them."

He looked at me confused, so I explained, "Just make sure that if he asks you anything about Soda or Dally, you act like everything's fine. Okay?"

He nodded and said, "Shouldn't be too hard."

Ponyboy's POV

I woke up to the bed moving and the sound of sniffling. It was dark in the room, so I couldn't see anything, but I figured Soda was just going to sleep like me.

After a few seconds, I started falling back asleep, but then I heard Soda start sobbing, and I woke up again.

"What's wrong, Soda?" I asked, half-asleep. He sniffled and said quietly, "Nothing, Buddy, I'm sorry I woke you up. Just go back to sleep."