Dallas Winston Has A Sister? (Outsiders Fanfic)

Sworn-On-A-Grave Promise

        Ponyboy stared up at the sky, the stars winking in the black field.  He could easily spot the Big Dipper, when he was younger their whole family used to go camping and their dad would point out all the constellations.  This was the only one he could remember, but Soda could probably find almost all of them.

        Pony suddenly wished he had someone to talk to, it was almost lonely at eleven-thirty at night, and too quiet.  Usually he could hear Johnny's light breathing next to him, but he hadn't seen Johnny after they met up at the DX after school.

        All the sudden the stars seemed to move, forming an image of Tara's face.  Her ice blue eyes were the brightest two stars in the sky, and she was smiling at Ponyboy.  Her head turned away, and he saw the light shining off of her short brown hair, turning it almost gold like Soda's in the summertime.

        Pony sat up with a gasp, he had fallen asleep and was dreaming.  Again he had stayed out way too late, it was early Saturday morning rather than late Friday night.  Darry was going to kill him.  Last time he had stayed out this late, he had ended up getting involved in a murder rap, disappeared for a week, almost got killed a second time in a fire, and ended up in the hospital with a concussion and Johnny had gotten thrown in jail, and was still on probation.  He had promised, cross-your-heart-and-hope-to-die and sworn-on-a-grave promised Darry it wouldn't happen again.

        Pony got up and ran home, but he slowed as he made into the yard.  A small light, probably in the kitchen, was on, but otherwise all the windows were dark.  Maybe Darry had gone to bed or fallen asleep, and Pony could sneak in.

        He went around the back, slowly opening the screen door and pulling it closed behind him.  He took his shoes off, not wanting to wake Darry or Soda by walking through the house, or get yelled at by Darry if he did wake him up.  Pony crept through the house, but stopped abruptly when he noticed a wedge of light spilling into the hall from the partially open bathroom door.

        One of his brothers was up, and he heard water running.  It turned off and there was dripping water and sniffling, like someone had been crying and had splashed their face with cold water to hide it.

        Pony stayed frozen in the hallway, both Darry's and Soda's bedrooms were farther down the hallway and they wouldn't see  him.  The door opened completely, spilling light over Ponyboy.  Crap, he thought as Darry walked out, his face and hair damp.  Darry paused in the doorway, looking half asleep, before noticing Ponyboy standing there, still fully dressed.

        Keeping his voice low but stern, Darry said, "Get to bed, and don't wake up Soda.  We'll talk about this in the morning."  And then he went down the hallway and disappeared into his room.

        Pony stood frozen for a moment more, shocked.  Darry hadn't screamed at him right then and there, which was a first, and Ponyboy was pretty sure that he had been crying.  He'd seen Darry cry maybe once before, but it was still surprising.  As Pony went into his and Soda's room, and quietly got ready for bed, he couldn't help but wonder why Darry was crying.  It must have upset him a lot because he hadn't even bothered to yell at Pony for getting home at who-knew-what-time-in-the-morning.