We Couldn't Get Along Without Ya

8

"Hey, y'all." Darry greeted when he walked in the door.

"Hey, Darry, we gotta talk." Two-Bit told him, my big brother's eyebrows furrowing. "Actually, we need to talk to you, Soda, and Pony."

"What's going on?" Darry asked, concern etched on his face.

"I'm going to go for a walk." I said, quickly excusing myself.

"Not alone, I'm going with you." Dally said, getting up and walking out the door with me.

Once we were outside, I looked at him. "Why did you leave too? I thought you were gonna help tell them."

"I don't wanna let you out alone, I don't exactly trust you too much right this second. Besides, Steve is there for Soda, Johnny is there for Pony, and I guess Darry has Two-Bit. I don't need to be in there." He explained as we began walking down the street. 

"What's going to happen now?"

"Whaddya mean? Now we help ya and protect ya from your head." He said, playfully hitting me in the head.

"Yeah but how? How can you protect me from me? You can't separate us!" 

"Well, I'm sure your brothers will think up a way. In the meantime, let's do something fun. And illegal."

"No, please, just not today, Dally. Can't we just walk around for awhile?" I begged, not in the mood for shoplifting or getting chased out of anywhere.

"Alright, fine. Wanna go to the lot then? Toss the football around?" He asked, seeing it up ahead.

"Sure." I sighed, remembering the last time I was at the lot, hours ago with Two-Bit.

"Alright, here, go long." He said, picking up the football off the ground.

I tossed the ball back and forth with him for awhile, glad for the distraction from what was going on back home. But of course it couldn't last forever.

After about an hour, Dally caught the ball and dropped it to the ground. "You ready to head back?"

"I never will be." I sighed, walking toward him.

He put his arm around my shoulders as we began walking back to the house. "You got this, kid. This is gonna be easy!"

"Easy? Are you kidding me?" I almost laughed. Easy? This was far from easy!

"Yeah! Tonight is easy because all you have to do is go inside and listen to everyone blabber on and on about how much they love you."

"Easier said than done."

"Yeah maybe, but it has to happen so you might as well get it over with." 

I sighed again. "I guess you're right."

"Of course I'm right, I'm always right." He smirked as we got back to the house. "Let's go get this over with."

I took a deep breath as we entered the gate and walked up the steps. I walked slow, hoping Dally would go in ahead of me so I could turn around and run. I didn't know where, but I didn't want to do this.

But he knew what I was up to.

"Huh-Uh, I'm not letting you run." He said, grabbing my shoulder.

"How'd you know?"

"Ha! I've pulled that one a million times." He laughed, pushing me through the door ahead of him.

When I walked in, everyone's heads turned, looking at me. I saw tears on their faces, even Darry's! I hated this! Nobody said a word, it was awkward beyond belief.

"Okay, uh, I'm gonna go do some homework." I said, avoiding the group as I walked to my room and shut the door, taking a deep breath as I sat down on my bed.