They Are There For Me (book 3 of Running Towards Home series)

CHAPTER 18

PONY'S POV:

It's the morning. Sam is up, and so am I. The rest of the house is still asleep. She's curled in my arms. She sits up, and I turn to face her. She had another nightmare last night, the same one about Bob. "Good morning, beautiful." I say to her, smiling. She gives me a kiss on the cheek. "I'll be right back." She whispers. She heads to the bathroom, and I hear her brush her teeth. She goes to the kitchen to start making breakfast. I head to the bathroom, brush my teeth, and grease back my hair. I meet Sam in the kitchen.

She's mixing some pancake batter. "Sam, we need to talk about last night." I tell her. She doesn't make eye contact. "What do you mean? It was just a nightmare." She says. "Sam, I had nightmares like that after my parents died. It's not just a nightmare." I respond. She looks at me now. "Have you had nightmares about that more than just this month?" I ask her gently. She nods. Bob almost killed her, had his way with her. Of course she has nightmares about him.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I say, grabbing her hand. "Because. I have to be tough. Like Dally says, 'you get tough like me, and you don't get hurt'." She tells me. I hug her. "You don't have to be tough around me." I whisper to her. She kisses me, and I kiss back. Our kiss is ended by a very tired Soda. He comes wandering into the kitchen, still half asleep. "Good morning." He mumbles. We say our good mornings and get back to making breakfast.

We make some pancakes and fry some bacon. The gang starts to arrive. Two-Bit shows up, and he immediately turns on Mickey Mouse. Steve collapses on the couch next to Soda, Darry comes out and gets ready for work, Arlene comes in with Johnny, and Kira comes in and sits on the other side of Soda. Dally must have opted to stay at Buck's. I help Sam put out breakfast and everyone flocks over. The food is gone within fifteen minutes.

Darry heads to work, and he warns us not to break anything. The rest of us are free to do whatever we want. School starts in a week, so we want to get all the fun we can before we have to go back. "Anyone up for making some trouble?" Two-Bit asks. "You know Soda and I can't get in trouble or Darry will be pissed." I remind him. We can't risk getting in trouble with the law, or they could take us away from Darry.

"Why don't we go for lunch at the Dingo?" Arlene suggests. Everyone seems to agree with that. We all clean up from breakfast and sit in the living room, watching Mickey Mouse. We watch for a few hours until we decide it's time for lunch. We all begin the walk to the Dingo, roughhousing along the way. Steve tries to put Sam in a headlock, but she ends up breaking free and knocking him to the ground. People shouldn't mess with her, that's for sure.

When we get to the Dingo, we go into two separate booths. I sit with Sam, Johnny, Arlene, and Two-Bit. The rest of the gang sits in the booth behind us. We order food, and hang out. Two-Bit flirts with the waitress, and she brushes it off. Our food arrives, and we begin to eat. Two-Bit reaches over and tries to steal fries from Steve, but Steve grabs Two-Bit's arms and almost drags him over the top of the booth.

The rest of the customers are clearly annoyed with us. We're a rowdy bunch. The waitress blatantly flirts with Soda, but Kira puts an end to that, saying "He's my boyfriend, now back off unless you want a punch from a Winston." Once the waitress realizes she's a Winston, she backs off. Everyone knows not to mess with a Winston. "So, you guys ready for school?" Johnny asks. We all groan. "I don't want to go back to school." Arlene says. "I agree. Let's just boycott school." I suggest, and everyone agrees. We all know we have to go to school, but it's a nice dream.