Cadaverous Love

Chapter Thirteen

"Come on Emily!" Ponyboy yells through the door, "I don't want to be late!" I pull on my converse, I know it doesn't match. But it's not that noticeable.

I finish putting on my make up and brushing my hair, feeling sick as I look in the mirror. I don't like what I see. Sighing, I step out into the hallway.

"Wow." Pony says with a smile.

"You look really nice too, Ponyboy." I nod. He's wearing a dark green button up and his hair his combed back.

He smiles and nods, "Thanks," he says. I move past, inhaling the scent of him his cologne. "Emily," He says, I turn to face him.

"Yes?"

"I'm nervous."

"What about?"

"I want to do something really special for Morgan, I want to kiss her when the time is right." He shrugs.

"Ponyboy, you've been kissing this girl for a while now."

"But not a kiss like this." Pony says, looking at his feet.

"You have nothing to be nervous about." I say as I rub a piece of chocolate cake off of his cheek with my thumb. "Trust me, Morgan will not want to leave your side tonight."

"Thanks," he says. I turn away once more. "Wait Emily," I face him again, "I don't think the converse really go with your dress." I let out a small breath.

"I don't know when you became an expert," I laugh lightly, "and I have my boots, but those are in even worse condition."

"Follow me," he says as he turns on his heel. Curiosity tickles my insides as I follow him into Darry's room. He moves over to the far wall, and opens the closet door.

"Please don't tell Darry I went in his room, but I feel like you would put these to better use then us just shoving them away in a closet." He kneels down and pulls out a small, dust covered cream box. Crouching down next to him, I put a hand on his shoulder as he removes the lid slowly. He pulls a few things out of the box, a small silver necklace, a piece of blue cloth, and a red tattered tie. He holds the necklace in his hand; it has a small bird on it. It glimmers softly in the dim light, observing it closer I see a bronze leaf covering part of the bird and a small white gem to serve as the eye. Ponyboy runs his thumb over it and blinks his eyes, trying to hold tears back.

"I don't understand," he says, his nose wrinkling, "I don't understand why it had to be our family. Why it had to be our parents who died. They were nice to everyone, they didn't deserve what happened to them. We don't deserve it." Holding the necklace up he blinks a tear from his eye. "I want you to have this." He says quietly.

"Pony, I could never take it. I mean, it's beautiful but I wouldn't feel right." I say, choking the tears back.

"You loved her just as much as we did." I nod lightly, I did and I still do.

She was a mother to me, she took me into their house whenever something wrong was happening at home. I remember her warm arms holding me close as I sobbed until the tears were gone. I remember laughing as Mr. Curtis tickled Sodapop and waiting patiently for a turn to sit on his lap. I wipe a tear off of my cheek.

"I want you to take this necklace, Emily. I want you to wear this as you leave this place and never come back. I'm afraid that the same thing will happen to you. That one day you'll kiss us goodbye as you leave... and then you will never come back. But if you go now, when you have the chance, you can still live somewhere happier; where Socs and greasers don't exist, just plain, ordinary people. When my parents died I felt like Darry did too, I didn't have the older brother that I used too. Then you disappeared and all I had was Soda, I know that this is selfish but I didn't feel like it was ever enough. When you came back I didn't know what to do, I was happy. Not because of why you came back, but that you finally just did. This past month I feel like my family is here again. Sure, Darry isn't the same, but I kind of feel like I have a big sister. A mom almost; this past month you've really taken care of us Emily. Thank you." He whispers the last word as another warm tear slips out of the corner of his eye. I wipe it away with my thumb and pull him into a hug.

"I could never leave you guys. You are the only thing keeping me from breaking in half."

He sits up and wipes his face and then he clips necklace behind my neck. He reaches back into the box and pulls out a pair of white flats. They are dusty, but I feel like they would break if I held them too tight. He hands me them. "Here, these might match a little better than the converse." I smile weakly as I take them from his shaky hands.

"Go clean yourself up before we leave Ponyboy. I'll be waiting in the living room for you." I say gently, brushing off the tears from my face. We both stand up and go our separate directions. Sitting down on the couch, I let out a long breath and take off my shoes. I look at the flats; it breaks my heart that Ponyboy would even think of me leaving again. It breaks my heart that he wants to leave. Slipping on the shoes, I feel how comfortable they are and that they aren't as weak or fragile as I thought. No wonder Mrs. Curtis wore these all of the time.

"They will be perfect for tonight," Ponyboy says walking into the living room. "Dad told me that those were the shoes she wore on their first dance night." I almost break as he says this.

"Pony, why are you trusting me with something so fragile?" I touch the bird on the necklace.

"The real question is why I wouldn't." He smiles faintly as he steps closer. "Well, since we are late, let us at least have a good entrance." He holds out his elbow, I wrap mine around it as I stand.

"Lead the way, good sir." I nod. He lets out a laugh as we step out through the front door into the cool night air.