Young Blood ⏤ Ponyboy Curtis | ✓

24 | an unwanted visitor

"You're looking better," Laura says to Billie, peering at her closely, as though she's inspecting Billie from the inside out.

Billie nods her head, tucking a stray strand of black hair behind her ear. "Yeah, I am. It's still weird not having Curly around, but I have to get used to it. He has it worse than me right now, anyway."

Laura bites down on her bottom lip, as though she's pondering what to say, or if she should say what she wants to say. "Have you heard from him? Curly, I mean. Obviously." She laughs nervously, trailing off.

It's the first time Billie's seen Laura sound unsure about what to say. Billie's only known Laura for a few months, but she's quickly learnt that Laura speaks her mind, not afraid to say what she's thinking. She's blunt, direct and honest. But now, she seems hesitant, almost as though she's afraid of saying the wrong thing. Like she's careful to not upset her friend, knowing Billie has been going through a rough few weeks.

Billie's shoulders slump. "No, we haven't. We don't know if he can send letters to us, but since Thanksgiving is coming up, we're going to write a letter to Curly. Hopefully he can read it, even if he can't send one back."

Laura takes a deep breath before speaking. "I heard Curly keyed Bob Sheldon's car. His friend Dean told me he did it because Bob Sheldon was hassling me. Is that true?"

Billie nods her head. "Yeah, it was."

"What an idiot!" Laura cries out. "Imagine if he had gotten caught by Bob Sheldon! He would've been jumped!"

"Curly doesn't think things through, but he hates bullies," Billie responds. "He'd stick up for any Greaser against a Soc."

"I didn't ask him to do that!" Laura cries out, irritated as indicated by her furrowed brows and lips pursued into a thin line.

"He knows you didn't," Billie replies. "But he wanted to. I don't know why, but he wanted to."

Billie knows why Curly did it. For one, he despises Bob Sheldon; the most arrogant Soc in Tulsa who jumps Greasers like it's a sport.

The second reason, well — Billie's had her suspicions for a while. Ever since Curly first saw Laura when she came to the Shepard house the day after Ponyboy went on a date with Liz Cowan and that night Curly got arrested, he got extremely defensive over Lloyd's comments about Laura.

Billie's not saying her twin brother has feelings for Laura, but he's clearly interested. And if Billie's being completely honest, she wouldn't be opposed to idea of Laura and Curly as a couple. (Only if Curly treated her well and respected her. She wouldn't let her brother treat her friend horribly. She wouldn't let her brother treat any girl horribly. All girls deserved to be treated with respect, regardless of who they were, and whether Billie was friends with them or not.) 

"He's lucky he didn't get caught. Having Bob Sheldon as an enemy is not fun. Trust me, I know," Laura huffs, crossing her arms.

"Are you worried about Bob Sheldon thinking it was you?" Billie asks.

Laura shakes her head and scoffs. "God no, that's not it. I don't care whether he thinks it was me or not. I hate the idea of Curly getting caught because he was doing it in my honour or some shit like that. Like I needed him to do it for me."

"I don't think that's what Curly was intending when he did it."

"I know that. What I mean is that I wouldn't like it if he got caught keying Bob Sheldon's car and got into trouble by fuzz all because of me," Laura trails off, voice lowered as she finishes her sentence.

"You know it wouldn't be your fault, right? If Curly got caught, he chose to do it. That's on him."

"You know, you should take your own advice," Laura says, catching Billie by surprise.