He Was Mine, I Was His

Love is in the Air

    I rushed around the house, grabbing my things as Evie honked her horn outside. She had arrived earlier than expected. I ran out to her car and hopped in the passenger seat.

    "Patience is a virtue, my friend," I huffed as she took off into town. 

    "Yeah, I don't have many virtues," she laughed. "I've been meaning to ask you, are you and Soda going to match?"

    "Well, we hadn't really talked about it. He just told me to pick out whatever I want," I replied. All I could hear Evie talk about to Steve this week was what color they were going to wear to the dance. You could tell she didn't get to dress up very often. 

    "Steve and I chose red. Sexy huh?"

    I laughed, "Yeah. Sexy."

    "I'm so excited you get to come with me. For the past three years, my dad has been the one to take me dress shopping. How embarrassing!"

    "Well, I'm here now. We're going to have one hell of a time," I cheered. 

    She laughed and turned up the radio. We went to a few different stores. Trying on dress after dress until we found the one. I had chose my dress at the second store. It was this beautiful baby pink, fit and flare dress with a halter neckline. I wondered if Soda would get upset that I chose pink as our color but hey, that's what you get when you put me in charge of choosing clothes. Pink, yellow, and blue were my go-to. 

    "I found it!" Evie squealed from inside the dressing room. She walked out in a red fitted dress with black lining. It looked absolutely stunning on her. Not many girls go with the fitted look but she could totally pull it off. 

    "You look amazing!"

    She squealed again, "Thank you! Do you think Steve will like it?"

    "He's going to love it!"

    She smiled, examining herself in the mirror. Evie was surrounded by boys most of the time. This was the first time I'd seen her girly side really come out. 

    We both bought our dresses that day and the next day, Two-Bit, Steve, and Sodapop all went shopping for their outfits. Soda and I decided to keep our outfits a secret until homecoming night. It would be a fun little surprise. 

    Throughout the week, homecoming excitement was ramping up all over the school. I was still helping with dance decorations, spending my lunch hours with Cherry and the rest of student council. Everything seemed to be coming together really nicely. With all the prepping, I hadn't been able to spend much time with Sodapop and the guys so I was excited when Friday night came around. 

    Sodapop had borrowed Darry's truck for the night. When he pulled up in front of my house, I was surprised to see Johnny, Ponyboy, Two-Bit, and Dally in the back of the truck.

    "There she is, guest of honor," Two hooted as I walked out of the house. I laughed at him and took a bow. Soda opened my door for me and I got into the truck with him. 

    "Sorry about them. I was meaning for it to just be us but Dally is a jockey tonight, Pony and Johnny didn't want to go to the game, and well Two can't get drunk at the football field anymore," Soda explained. 

    "Anymore?" I asked, chuckling.

    "Long story," he smiled.

    "Well that's okay. The more the merrier right?"

    He smiled at me as a thanks for understanding and we were off to the rodeo. I hadn't been to a rodeo in a long time. Even with the football game going on, there were a lot of people there. Mostly college kids.