♡ ꜰᴏʀᴇᴠᴇʀ ɪꜱɴ'ᴛ ꜰᴏʀᴇᴠᴇʀ ♡

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 WE DIDN'T MAKE ANY PLANS for New Year's Eve. Usually, we would find a party or go somewhere cheap to eat, but funds were just too tight. We would just have to make do with cheap beer and TV. When it finally came, I was sitting on the couch reading the book I got from Johnny for Christmas when the stomping of boots awoke me from my focus. It was mid-afternoon, so I was surprised that nobody had come earlier. The door opened and in walked Two-Bit, grinning ear to ear.

"Y'all get dressed, we're going out." He said, waving a twenty dollar bill in the air. Though it was a little tattered, I eyed it with concern. I looked at him with a cocked eyebrow, and upon realizing my suspicions, he laughed. "Naw, I didn't steal it."

"Where we going?" Ponyboy piped up from the armchair next to me, scribbling something in his notebook.

"Bowling," Two-Bit stated matter-of-factly.

"Bowling?" I questioned.

"Yes'm," he adjusted the toothpick between his lips, "Mama asked me to give all Dad's stuff away, but saw this stuck in a book and thought, well, shoot." He pouted his bottom lip and examined the bill in exaggerated consideration. "Guess the old man left me some inheritance after all."

My heart sank a little at the mention of Two-Bit's mother. She was a sweet, hardworking woman who often picked up extra shifts as a bartender to help provide for him and his little sister. I'd only talked to either of them a handful of times, but I remember they were always kind. His dad left them when they were both little, along with some of his belongings, evidently. His mom was always too hurt to mention it, but I suppose she eventually got over it somewhat if she asked Two-Bit to give it all away. I doubt Two would've had any trouble doing so, but he wouldn't pass up a few bucks.

"Who all's goin'?" Johnny piped up, stepping out of the kitchen with a piece of chocolate cake leftover from Christmas. Honestly, it was a miracle it survived the weekend.

"Whoever wants to," he said, again waving the twenty dollar bill in the air, "I'm payin'."

Within the next hour, we were all piling into Darry's truck or Two-Bit's rust bucket and were off to the bowling alley. It was the first time in what seemed like months — probably before Mom and Dad died — when we were all together.

I didn't count the diner after Jonathan's trial. I had anything but fun there.

The bowling alley was surprisingly empty for New Year's Eve: only about five other lanes were taken up.

The eight of us easily took up two lanes: Darry, Two-Bit, Steve, and Soda on one; Dally, Johnny, Ponyboy, and I on the other. It was one of those rare days I wore jeans and sneakers — I imagine it would've been pretty hard to bowl in a skirt and Mary Jane's.

Although it had been ages since any of us had been bowling, it seemed that Darry and Dally were the best at it. No surprise there — Darry was good at basically any sport he did and Dally was, well, Dally. The two of them easily racked up points in the hundreds, while the rest of us were stuck in the double digits. Poor Steve did the worst: by the time the first game was done, he only had about sixty points.

Instead of competing against their own lanes, the two of them found themselves comparing each other's scores from across the lane.

"Dare, what's your score?"

"One-sixteen." Darry said matter-of-factly, failing miserably to hide his pride.

"Agh," Dally complained, "I'll get you next round."

After both groups had finished their games, we were all packing up to go until Two-Bit stopped us. "Where y'all in a hurry to? I still got 15 bucks!"

We happily obliged as he strutted up to the front desk to pay for another round of games.