Love Among the Stars

0.1

"Guys! Nina's coming home today!" Soda exclaimed. It was June 17th, 1967, and my family and I had just gotten to Tulsa after a 6 hour drive from Texas.

"Nina's home!" I announced, walking in without knocking. I always did that. I always made an entrance. I ran up to Soda, and he engulfed me in a huge hug.

"I missed you so much!" He exclaimed. I couldn't help but smile. I hadn't seen them since last summer, since Johnny and Dally died and everything changed. It was different without Ponyboy there too, who had gone to summer camp for the first time. And strange, quiet, without Johnny and Dally. That was the summer Soda's longtime girlfriend Sandy broke up with him, too. Everything had just been wrong.

"You too! How are you?" I asked, squeezing him tightly. I inhaled, and realized how much I had missed the musky smell of his cologne. I closed my eyes, not minding that he hadn't let go yet.

"I'm great... Now that you're back." And then he let go. His statement reminded me of how hard the past few years had been for him, all that he had been through. He would probably never be able to get over his parents death, so why not put two of his best friends on top of that for him to deal with? Why not have his ex-girlfriend move to Florida? Why not have me being sent off to college sooner than either of us are ready for?

My family and I drove down to his parents funeral. I got to miss a week of school for it, almost more. Back in the day when my father and Mr. Curtis went to high school together, they were best friends. My mother and Soda's mom were pregnant with us at the same time, and my family lived here until I was three. Then, my dad got a job and moved to Texas, but every summer we rented house next door to the Curtis's, and it felt like home.

I ran over to Darry next, who was really a big teddy bear if you'd known him long enough. His hugs were warm and tight, and I felt safe in his muscles. When I was a baby, he was the only one other than his parents and mine to hold me.

"It's good to see you again, Nina. Keeping your grades up?" He asked. I blushed. Last summer, my parents only brought us down for a few weeks. I had to go to two sessions of summer school, I may not have gotten some essays done for English...

"Yeah!" I exclaimed. "Straight C's!" It wasn't a lie, I was smart, but like Soda, school just wasn't my thing. I would never have thought of dropping out, though, especially since I'd made it this far. He laughed.

"You better keep working on it." I went over to Ponyboy next, who I hadn't seen in two years. We had gone to their parents funeral, and then that summer, but hadn't made it to Johnny and Dally's, and he was already at camp when we were here last year. I ran to Two-Bit next. He ruffled my hair as I gave him a quick hug. I was like a little sister to him and he always reminded me of it. I didn't say hi to Steve after that, just went back over to Soda.

Steve had always been very protective of Soda, being his best friend for so long, and he had never really trusted me around him. It wasn't that Steve didn't like me, it was that Soda and I both fell into things easily. Steve had heard all of the stories, and didn't want either of us getting hurt when I have to go home at the end of the summer.

"So what's the plan for tonight? Fair?" I asked. In the 17 summers we'd spend together, even the ones when we were babies that we couldn't remember, we had always gone to the fair the day it opened. He nodded, his eyes lighting up happily, excitedly. I hadn't seen that light shining so bright in a long time.

"Of course. What else would we do?" He asked. I shrugged, because there really was nothing else. Last summer, I had to beg my parents to take me for the few weeks that we did, so we could keep our tradition going. That's how I ended up in both sessions of Summer School, the tail end of the first one and then the second at the end of the summer.

"Can I come?" Ponyboy asked. My younger sister, Bonnie, suddenly appeared next to him.

"Me too?" Soda and I looked to each other, shrugging. Then we looked to Darry.

"As long as you promise to stay together," he said. I almost laughed. Ponyboy was 15 years old, about to be a Junior in High School, and he still had to stay with the big kids. Bonnie was still 14, almost a Sophomore. If Ponyboy hadn't been put up a year in grade school, they'd be graduating in the same class.

"What time is it?" I asked Soda. I was always eager to get there, but we liked going later on, hitting all of the roller coasters first, and going on the Ferris wheel last, right before it closed at midnight. Bonnie was smiling huge, squeezing Ponyboy half to death. She's had a not-so-secret crush on him as long as I could remember, and the two of them were just as close as Soda and I.

"Let's go now!" Bonnie cried. We never took them with, so I saw why she was so eager to get going. I looked at Soda, then Darry. They both nodded, and Darry handed us a $20, telling him to "pay for everyone, and don't forget sunscreen." We all laughed, and Bonnie took my hand and Ponyboy's, dragging us both out like a little kid would, a little overeager for the fair.