East West Sunset - A Darry Curtis Fanfiction

Chapter Seventeen

When I got back to the Curtis house, Ponyboy was passed out on the couch, a half-eaten apple dangling from his fingers. His mouth was wide open mid-snore, and he was being so loud that I had to close the door to Darry's room so I could concentrate on my homework. I rolled my eyes and smiled as I opened my satchel and pulled out my math homework. It was rough going, considering that math wasn't my best subject, but I managed to finish it by the time I heard the front door open and two pairs of boots tramped inside. Pony was still snoring away on the couch.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty, wake up!" I heard Soda's voice shout teasingly. "Where's Diana?"

"Mm wha-?" Ponyboy mumbled sleepily.

"You shouldn't sleep in the afternoon, you're never gonna fall asleep tonight." Darry's rumbling voice was simultaneously admonitory and exasperated.

"Yeah, okay, Darry." Pony gave a loud yawn. "She's in your room."

I stood and shoved my homework back into my backpack as the door swung open and Soda bounced in. "Hey, Diana, how's it going?" he asked brightly.

I gave him a smile. "What, didn't I see you just an hour or so ago?" I questioned good-naturedly. "Nothing much has changed since then!"

"Well, I'd say a lot. I mean, you're a working girl now, right?" he exclaimed.

"What?" came Darry's voice sternly from the living room. 

"Soodaa!" I hissed. "I was going to tell Darry, you know, later!"

"Oops," said Soda, but he didn't seem the least bit apologetic. I couldn't stay mad at him for long though, because one grin from him melted my displeasure away instantly.

"What did you say now, Sodapop?" Darry appeared in the doorway behind his brother. 

"Uh, nothing. We can talk about it... at dinner," I interceded quickly. "Don't worry, it's nothing bad, we should just, you know, talk about it." I slipped around him through the door and stepped into the living room. Pony had just turned on the television and was crouched by the dial, watching some cartoon. He looked up at me sheepishly.

"Speaking of dinner, what are we having?" Soda asked Darry behind me.

"I picked up some ground beef and an onion, so probably just some browned hamburger. Is that okay?" Darry said.

"Yeah, sounds great," I said quickly, because Pony had looked up with his mouth open indignantly like he was about to complain. I gave him an almost imperceptible shake of the head and raised my eyebrows slightly. Please don't tick him off. 

Soda nodded as well. "Well, I'm starving, so the sooner you get it cooked up the better," he said, giving Darry's head a push from behind.

"Hey now," he growled teasingly.

"I can make it," I offered. I wanted to be as helpful and sweet as possible, so Darry could possibly take the news better. "That is, if you trust me not to burn it."

Soda's eyes narrowed mischievously at me from behind Darry's back as Darry nodded slowly. "I mean, if it's not too much trouble, I would appreciate it a lot if you could," he said to me gruffly.

"Of course," I responded, ignoring the pointed looks Soda and Pony were giving me and each other. Darry handed me the bag of groceries, and I stepped into the kitchen, admittedly a little glad to get away from them.

As I took out the brown paper package slightly soggy with meat juice, I took a minute to think about what I was going to say. I unwrapped the meat and grabbed a meat tenderizer from the drawer to tenderize it slightly. Perhaps if I just brought it up gently, and maybe didn't even mention that it was downtown.... But no, Darry was the one I needed to "protect" me when I went down there for the interview. I started to pound on the meat gently with the tenderizer. It was slightly- actually extremely- annoying that all of the gang thought I was such a dainty maiden who needed protecting, but what could I do? I would have to stick my ground and decide to go. I was getting this job, no matter what Darry said. I looked down at the meat and saw that I had almost tenderized it to a pulp, which wouldn't brown as well. I huffed a little at my own failed attention and scooped the sad-looking, droopy meat into a frying pan. I would take out the rest of my annoyance on chopping the onion.