BACK AND FORTH (𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘣𝘰𝘺)

four

"Soda, you think that Steve's been acting weird lately?" Ponyboy asked as his brother got ready for work.

"Not really weird, just different." Soda said. "Well, only different to you." He corrected. "He's been acting pretty much the same towards me."

"Well why do you suppose that is? I haven't done anything for him to start being nice."

"Give the poor guy some credit," Soda laughed lightly. "he's a good guy. I wouldn't be best friends with just anyone."

Ponyboy paused for a second and wondered why he hadn't considered that before. Maybe he was finally getting to meet the Steve Randle that Soda had known all these years. "I guess you're right."

  "Plus," Soda added. "You're not a baby no more. You're fifteen. Sixteen soon. Steve doesn't really like kids all that much, so maybe he's just happier now that you're older."

-

  "Two-bit?" Ponyboy asked once the tv finally went to commercials. "What do you think of Steve?"

  "Stevie's great. He's real funny." Two-bit turned to look at him. "Why do you ask?"

  It was still hard for him to believe that Steve could be anything other than a complete jerk. He was still sort of convinced that Sodapop had paid Steve to be nice to him the other day. "I was..just wondering. You think he's a nice guy?"

  "Oh sure. He's got a temper, and is real cocky, but he's got a good little personality under it all."

  Everyone acknowledged Steve's temper, and the fact that he thought he was the best at everything, but they still said he was nice enough. Pony sighed and fell back against the couch. Maybe he did need to give him more of a chance. Steve was at least attempting to fix their relationship, maybe he should return the effort.

-

  "Hey Steve," Soda stood up as his best friend entered their house. "you need a place to stay tonight?"

  "Yeah. Dad kicked me out again." He sighed and sat down on the couch next to Ponyboy."

  "We already ate dinner, but there may be some left overs—"

  "I'm okay Soda, thanks though." There was a small awkward silence. Steve glanced around uncomfortably. "Uh, how 'bout a game of poker?"

  Soda brightened up. "You're gonna lose, Randle. Let me go get the cards." He said and quickly disappeared into his bedroom.

  Ponyboy studied Steve, and noticed that he look exhausted, both emotionally and physically. The older boy noticed that Pony was looking at him. "Hey." He said lightly.

  This took Pony by surprise, but he relaxed and said hello back. "We still going to the book store this weekend?"

  "Yeah," Steve glanced at the ground. "I guess so."

"Well we don't gotta. I was just asking." He looked away, feeling stupid.

  "Kid I wanna go. I'll go even if you decide that you don't want to. I just had a rough night, I'm not intentionally taking it out on you." Steve gave a half smile and ruffled Pony's hair. Pony smiled back, and swatted away his hand. Soda returned shortly after, going on about how he wasn't going to cheat this time (both Pony and Steve knew that wasn't true), and how he's just too good for Steve to even think about winning. Steve stood up and sat down at the table with him. "I can actually win without an extra ace in my pocket. I ain't dumb Soda, I know it doesn't take that long to get a deck of cards from your room."

Pony laughed at the twos antics. "I'm gonna go on to bed. Night Soda," he gave his brother a hug. "Night Steve.." he waved and then went to his room.

-

When school ended on Friday, Pony met Steve at his car. They drove or walked home together almost every day after school, but only recently had Pony begun to enjoy it. Sometimes he found himself looking forward to the end of the day, just so he could see Steve. He especially liked when they had to walk, since that meant they he could spend a longer amount of time with them. The two boys had started having nice conversations that didn't feel awkward or forced. Most of the time they talked about their days, and told a funny story or two about something that happened at school.

  "Driving today?" Pony asked as he reached his friend, and tried as hard as he could to keep the disappointment out of his voice. He wasn't sure why he sounded so upset. There would be plenty of other days where the two would get to walk.

  "Don't go crying about it or nothing," Steve teased and rolled his eyes. "we're going to the Barnes and Noble."

  Immediately, Pony brightened up. "That's my favorite one."

  "Really? I was hoping it would be. I asked Soda, and even Darry, but neither of them knew. I wanted today to be perfect and I was afraid that-"

  "It's my favorite, Steve." Pony laughed. "You don't gotta go freaking out or nothing." In all honesty, he was shocked by what Steve had said. He had no idea he had put a lot of thought into it. Pony wondered why it was so important to him that everything went smoothly.

  Steve looked mildly upset that he had just said all of that, but he tried to shake it off as fast as he could. "Uh, lets just go." They both got in the car, and Pony worried that he had accidentally made Steve mad somehow. His temper could be very unsteady at times.

  They were driving in silence for a few minutes before Pony realized something and spoke. "Shoot, Steve, I didn't bring any money. I didn't know we were going right after school."

  Steve looked over and smiled at him. "I did that on purpose. I knew you'd insist on paying for yourself, so I just didn't give you that option."

"You don't gotta pay for me."

"Let me. I wanna spoil you.." Steve's cheeks turned a light shade of pink, and Pony noticed, but didn't say anything about it. That wasn't the first time he had caught Steve blushing, but it was the first time he had ever said that he wanted to do something for Pony. He was extremely confused on why Steve Randle would want to spend his hard earned money on books, much less books for a fifteen year old kid.

"Thank you.." was all he said. Steve nodded and gripped the steering wheel. The rest of the drive was silent, but Ponyboy found himself glancing over at the older boy too many times to count.

Yay another chapter!!! Also I looked it up, and the first Barnes and Noble opened in 1886 which I thought was crazy. How was this chapter?