Dally's Baby Sister//Ponyboy Curtis

Chapter Twenty-Three//Hell to Pay

AMELIA

PONYBOY CAME OVER to my house while Dally was at work. Something seemed to be bothering him, but I figured it might just be me all worked up over nothing. 

We were sat on the couch, watching "Gilligan's Island", and Ponyboy holding me in his arms. His eyebrows were furrowed as we watched the television, and he didn't really look right at me. It was as if he couldn't. When he walked in through the door, he hugged me and pulled me to the couch without any further questions being asked. He pulled me into his arms as fast as the speed of light and we just sat in the comfortable silence for twenty minutes. Normally, I would have been tired. However, there was something about Ponyboy's mood that was keeping me up and alert. 

"Pony, are you okay?" I asked. He looked down at me. My head was in his lap, and he held my hand, which was rested on the sofa next to us. He smiled at me. 

"Yeah, everything's okay. Why? Are feeling sick or something?" he asked, becoming more alert and out of his sleepy mood. 

"No, I'm fine. You just look... mad," I said. He shook his head and kissed my forehead. 

"No, I'm fine," he said, "I just had a pretty off-putting conversation with Curly Shephard. Really, it's nothing." 

I sprang up and turned the TV off. Ever since the night at the Dingo and the incident with Angela's friends, anytime I hear about the Shephards, I internally freak out. I don't know what they're capable of anymore, especially Angela. A few years apart from them and they change drastically. 

"What did he say, Ponyboy?" I asked. Ponyboy sighed and ran a hand through his greasy hair. 

"Nothing, honey, don't sweat it," he said. 

"If it wasn't anything, then why aren't you telling me what it is? Did he hurt you?" I asked. 

"Why are you so concerned?" he asked, which kind of startled me. He's never talked to me that way, and I was kind of hoping he wouldn't. His tone was stern, and he started to look more awake now than he was just seconds before. 

"His sister's friends tried to fight me, Ponyboy," I said softly and calmly. "What did he say?" 

"Nothing," he said, and he started to put his shoes on. 

"What did he say, Ponyboy?" 

"I don't think it's any of your business. It was a dumb conversation, just let it go." 

"He flirted with me at The Dingo, Ponyboy! I want to know if what he said was really off-putting! I should at least know!" 

"Wait, he flirted with you? He wouldn't do that, he's a buddy of mine and your brother's." 

"We should all get our heads out of the clouds, Ponyboy—Tim and Curly Shephard only hold loyalty with Dallas. They don't hold any sort of loyalty with you, me, or anybody else for that matter. They don't care about what we feel, they just go ahead and do what they want," I told him. His face was all red by then. 

"You didn't flirt back, did you?" he asked. I shook my head. 

"No, I was just minding my own business," I said. He nodded, and his color returned to normal. He sat back down on the couch. His fingers made their way through his hair again as he looked up and sighed. I saw his cigarette pack on the coffee table. I picked it up and opened it. I handed one to him and he took it, along with his lighter. He lit it and started to smoke. The gray puffs he took went into the air, and I opened a window to at least try to air it out just a little. I went to the kitchen and got Ponyboy an ashtray. I set it on the couch beside him and he thanked me.