Summer Nights // Sodapop Curtis

Fourteen

After thinking about what Charlie said, I ran up the stairs to Amy's room. She was still asleep, snoring loud as ever. I picked up the phone and dialed Sodapop's phone number. It only rang once before someone picked up the phone.

"Hello?" I recognized Ponyboy's voice.

"Hey Pony, it's Callie," I told him.

"Oh, hi Callie, or should I say Sodapop's girlfriend," Ponyboy joked.

"We aren't dating."

"Yet," Ponyboy laughed. "What's up?"

"Can I talk to Soda?" I asked.

"Hold on," Ponyboy said, and then I heard him yell for Sodapop.

"Hello?" Sodapop said into the phone a few seconds later.

"Can you come pick me up? I want to see you," I said.

"Sounding desperate, may I ask who's speaking?" Sodapop asked.

"Shut up Soda, you know it's me," I laughed.

"I'll be there in ten, should I wait down the street or something?" He asked.

"Just park in front of the house, if they see you we'll deal with it later," I said. "See you in ten."

"Wait," Sodapop said before I could hang up. "I love you, Callie."

"I love you too," I said, and then I set down the phone.

"Who do you love?" Amy asked, walking over to me. I hadn't realized she had woken up.

"Adam, who else?" I answered.

"The Greaser who carried you out of the party last night," Amy said, picking up a magazine and flipping through the pages.

"He was helping me out," I said quietly.

"Helping you? It looked like he got you drunk and then took you home," she laughed, but I didn't understand what was funny.

"Adam hit me! I passed out and Sodapop carried me home!" I yelled.

"You need to get over those Greasers! They're using you!" Amy yelled.

"Using me? You don't know anything," I yelled back, before walking into the bathroom and slamming the door behind me. I changed out of my pajamas and into an old pair of jeans with a nice shirt. I came back out of the bathroom and Amy was gone. When I went downstairs, everyone was sitting around the kitchen table eating breakfast.

"Good morning Cal, what are you planning to do today?" Dad asked me.

"I'm going out with some friends," I mumbled.

"And I wasn't invited?" Amy asked, thankfully she wasn't catching on to my lie.

"Adam and his buddies are going to play football and I'm going to watch, we figured you wouldn't want to come along," I shrugged.

"Well I'm coming with you," Amy said.

"You better hurry up, he's going to be here in a couple minutes," I said, trying not to show the fear. Amy was going to find out that I was seeing Sodapop, and she wasn't going to like it.

I looked out the front window just as Sodapop pulled up in his truck. I thought about leaving without Amy, but that would just cause more problems.

"Amy! I'm leaving!" I yelled.

"Wait for me!" Amy yelled back as she ran down the stairs.

We went outside and walked up to the truck, and I kept looking over at Amy to see her reaction once she realized that I had lied.

I opened the car door to see Sodapop's smiling face. I sat in between Soda and Amy, and Amy never said a word.

"You're not mad?" I whispered to her.

"As long as I get to see Dallas, I'm fine," she said loud enough for Sodapop to hear.

"I guess we could just go to my house then," Sodapop said, turning away from all the big houses and driving toward the other side of town.

The drive to Sodapop's house was silent, and every so often, Soda would look over at me and smile. When we arrived at the Curtis house, Sodapop parked the car out front, and we all got out and walked inside.

"Callie!" Two-Bit yelled when I walked in.

"What are you doing here?" Dally asked, looking at Amy.

"Came to see you," she shrugged.

"Let's get out of here," Dally said, grabbing his coat, then he and Amy left.

"You're never going to see her again," Ponyboy laughed.

"That's not a bad thing," I joked.

"Want to go somewhere cool?" Sodapop asked me.

"Sure," I nodded.

Sodapop grabbed my hand and led me outside. We walked a couple blocks down the street until we arrived and at an open space, with one tree in the center. There was a treehouse built into the tree, and a broken ladder leading up to it.

"Come on," Sodapop said, walking up to the tree. "Ladies first," he said, gesturing for me to climb up the broken ladder.

I laughed and climbed up the ladder nervously. I was almost to the top when I stepped down, but part of the ladder broke. I screamed as I started to fall back, but a pair of strong arms grabbed my hips and held me steady. I turned around and looked at Soda, who had a reassuring smile on his face. I pushed open a small door and climbed into the treehouse with Sodapop close behind me.

"This is amazing," I said, looking around the treehouse. There were posters and pictures covering the walls, and in the middle there was a table set up with flowers in the middle.

"You hungry?" Sodapop asked, and I noticed he was holding a paper bag. I nodded with a smile.

"I picked up some waffles on my way to pick you up," he said, pulling our breakfast out of the bag.

"You're incredible, Soda." I was amazed at everything he had done for me in such little time.

"I figured this could be our first date," he smiled, adjusting the flowers in the center of the table.

"When did you put all these pictures up on the walls?" I asked, looking around at all of the pictures covering the wall, stopping at a picture of Sodapop and what seemed to be his parents.

"Ponyboy and I used to come up here when we were kids," Sodapop explained. "We used to pretend it was our own house, so we tried to decorate it with pictures."

"I love the pictures," I said.

"I guess we'll have to put a picture of you up here," he said, pulling a camera out of the bag and taking a picture of me before I knew what was happening. Soda stuck the picture on the wall as it started to come to life.

"You're pretty good at taking pictures," I smiled. I usually hated seeing myself in pictures, but in the picture Sodapop took of me, I looked like I was glowing with happiness. "You should be a photographer."

"No," he laughed, I snapped a picture of him while he was laughing. "I get to keep this one," I said, putting the picture in my pocket.

"Let's eat," Sodapop said, and we began to eat the waffles he had brought, and although they were cold, they were the best waffles I had ever eaten.

"What are you going to tell your parents?" Soda asked.

"I'll just tell them the truth, that I'm in love with you," I answered.

A/N

I know it's been forever since I updated...but I'm back! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, more to come soon!
xoxo
Maddie