picket fence - sodapop curtis fanfic

chapter twenty four

Izzy's POV

Today was the day. I was going to meet my dad. The gang was going to walk in approximately five minutes after I did, keeping Two-bit hidden since my dad has seen him before.

I threw on some mascara and made my hair look presentable. I quickly put on some jeans and a baby pink t-shirt with some white sneakers.

I got to the Dingo at 6:04. I could see him in the window sitting at a booth.

I walked in and he immediately saw me and stood up. He came in for a hug but I backed away.

We both sat down and he started the conversation.

"You look nice." He said.

"Thanks."

"I always thought you had my eyes." He said, smiling. It was true. We had identical blue eyes.

I sat there in silence, mainly not knowing what to say. A few moments later the gang walked in and sat a booth on the other side of the diner.

"You want anything to drink?" He asked.

"Pepsi." I said.

He called over the waiter and asked for a Pepsi, which they soon brought out.

"Okay, Dad. Let's cut the bullshit. Why did you want to meet with me?" I asked.

"I've missed you."

"You haven't missed me the last sixteen years?"

"I have, very much so. I just couldn't get near you with your mother around."

"So it's my mom's fault?"

"Yes, partly. But it's also mine." He said.

"Yeah, it is. My brother is dead because of you." I said, rolling my eyes.

"It's not all because of me." He whispered.

"Really? Then, are you gonna give me a reason? Or are we just gonna sit here for the next hour while I listen to you apologize for something you can't make up for?" I spat.

"She did it to protect you."

"Killed my brother? To protect me? You've got to be shitting me." I scoffed.

"Your brother, Ian. He tried to hurt you."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"When you were fourteen and Ian was twelve, he almost killed you. Your mother thought it was an accident, but she later realized it wasn't."

"How.." I tried to figure out what in the hell was going on.

"You know how you sleep with your mouth open?"

"Yeah." I said. I did typically sleep with my mouth open and drool all over myself.

"One night, Ian snuck into your room and put a pill in your mouth. The kind of pill that dissolves. The next morning when you woke up, you were throwing up uncontrollably and had to go to the hospital. Remember that?" He said. I nodded.

"They couldn't trace any pills. Well, Ian kept doing this for the next two years, and you kept going to the hospital and getting sicker and sicker. But they could never trace the pills back. Well finally, your mom was cleaning Ian's room and found them. She took one, why I don't know, and threw up. He was going to kill you."

"Holy shit." I said. I didn't know what to think. I didn't know whether to cry or scream. I loved Ian, I really did. I never though he would try to kill me.

I made eye contact with Soda. Well, he was already staring at me, but I looked over at him.

"Are you okay?" He mouthed.

I nodded my head slightly so my dad didn't notice and he smiled.

"Why are you telling me this all now?" I said randomly.

"What?" My dad said.

"Why didn't you tell me this right after it happened? Why wait?" I asked.

"I didn't know how to tell you. I knew you didn't want to talk to me. When I saw you walk through that door, I was the most surprised I've ever been. I missed you."

"Well, thank you for telling me the story, but you still have no excuse for your past actions."

"I know."

We both ordered our food and ate in silence.

After we ate, he got up to pay.

"It's fine, I can pay for mine." I said.

"No, it's on me."

"Thanks, Dad." I said, and he smiled.

"Remember, I live in Claremore. It's a half hour drive from here. Two-bit probably knows how to get there." He said, and left the store.

I went over to the booth where the guys were sitting and they all started asking a million questions.

"How was it?"

"Is he insane?"

"Was he rude?"

"What did you talk about?"

"Calm down, guys." I finally said. I told them the whole story.

"Wow..." Two-bit said, his eyes wide.

"Never thought little Ian would try to pull a stunt like that, huh?" I said.

"Never." Two-bit said.

The gang gave me hugs and comforted me, which made me feel a lot better. I love these guys.

It was 8 o'clock by the time everyone left to go home. I decided to walk home, and Soda said he wanted to come with me.

"I'm real sorry all this happened to you." Soda said as we were walking down the road.

"It's not your fault." I said.

"I know. But you don't deserve this. Any of it. You're too kind and funny and lighthearted to be treated like that."

I looked up at Soda and smiled. "You're a real sweetheart, you know that Soda?"

Soda giggled. "Thank you."

I love when Soda laughs. It was like a little kid's giggle, when you had no cares in the world. And I wanted him to stay like that forever.

We walked all the way back to my house and talked about our week and how school was going for me. I told him he could spend the night, but it was Sunday so I had school the next day. He decided to walk back home. I kissed him goodbye and went inside.

"Hey Tutu. I'm home." I said. Two-bit was in the living room eating cake.

I went to bed pretty early that night. It had been a long day.

>>>>

I woke up to my alarm clock and slowly got dressed. I really wasn't in the mood for school. Five days down, 175 to go, I guess.

Little did I know that this would be the worst and best day of school I would ever have.