Trade Mistakes

8

When I woke up, it was just me and Pony on the couch. I guessed that Darry had gotten Lizzie to eat.

I went to check on her and found that neither her or Darry were in the house. When I looked in the kitchen, she'd written a note that said, Went grocery shopping with Darry.

Sure enough, the car was gone, so it checked out. It was about ten, so I woke Pony up. "Wake up, kid, we fell asleep on the couch."

"C'mon, Soda, I'm tired," he groaned, stretching out. I jabbed him in the side and he fell off the couch. "Ow! Hey, c'mon."

"Sorry." I grinned at him as I took over the couch, stretching out like he had. "Turn on the TV while you're down there, will ya?"

"Morning, Curtis'," Steve said, coming in through the front door and letting it slam behind him. "Where's the youngest and the oldest?"

"Grocery shopping. We accidentally slept in."

"Sounds boring. You could at least make room on the couch."

I had sat up and let him sit down. Ponyboy stopped on the news channel out of habit.

"A young boy was fatally shot and killed last night in Glenpool-"

"Change it." I said automatically, and he obeyed.

"How's Lizzie been takin' the whole thing?" Steve asked.

"Bad." Me and Pony said in unison. "She was crying all night. Thinks it's her fault, dumb kid."

He nodded. I heard a car door slam outside, and I figured Lizzie and Darry were back with groceries.

But nope. Someone knocked on the door, and I had a sick feeling that I knew who it was. I opened the door and saw Bryon standing there awkwardly.

"Look, I came to apologize-"

"Get lost, dickhead." I snapped.

"Come on, Curtis."

"No way. You left a thirteen year old girl alone by herself after she watched her best friend get killed, and you just left her by herself. And to make it even worse, she got jumped." I ranted.

"Look-"

I decked him and he fell over. "Asshole! Get lost."

Bryon scowled at me before he stalked off. I kind of felt bad for hitting him, but then I remembered how hard Lizzie had been crying last night and I didn't feel bad anymore. I watched him drive off and I went back inside.

"Stupid dick." I muttered under my breath.

"He deserved it." Pony said.

"Yeah." Steve agreed.

"Yeah..."

Lizzie's POV

"Hey, Soda, how come we drove past Bryon and he cussed us out?" I asked when me and Darry got home.

"Not important." He said. "That's as specific as I'd like to be."

"That's concerning." Darry frowned as he set down a few of the grocery bags. "Anyways, you and Pony get to put everything away."

"Ughh." Both of them complained but they got up and started to put groceries away.

"Hi, Steve." I greeted as I sat down in an armchair. Gone With The Wind was playing on the TV, and I wrinkled my nose. "I can't stand this movie."

"This movie is a masterpiece, you fool." Steve gasped, pretending to be offended. I rolled my eyes. "Nah, I'm joking. It's boring as fu-"

"Language." Darry warned.

"English." He replied, and me and my brother rolled our eyes. "God, you two look creepily similar when you do that."

"Wow, it's almost as if- no, it couldn't be- it's like we're related or something." I said.

.

A few days later, I'd gone with Johnny and Pony to the arcade.

"Oh, hey, Lizzie." Curly Shepard greeted me. He was friends with Pony. He was a year older than me, and he was pretty good-looking. "I'm sorry 'bout your friend."

I shrugged. "What's done is done, I guess. He was sort of asking for it."

He nodded, and he looked kind of nervous. He was stuttering a little, too, which surprised me. Him and his whole family were known for being arrogant and over-confident. "Look, this ain't exactly the greatest timing and all, but d'you wanna go on a date with me?"

My eyes widened slightly and his face turned bright red.

"You don't have to say yes if you don't want," he rushed to say. "But I just wanted to ask."

"Oh! I mean... sure. Why not?"

Curly grinned slightly. "Really? Man, I wasn't expecting you to say yes."

I hadn't exactly been expecting to get asked out, but he'd always been nice enough to me.

"Yeah? Well, whenever's good for you..."

"Is Friday alright? I'll pick you up at seven, we can go see a movie?"

"Yeah! That's great. I'll see you then." I smiled at him and he blushed.

"Yeah, that sounds great! See you then," he smiled nervously before he walked off.

I watched him walk off and I laughed to myself.

"What was that about?" Johnny asked.

I jumped, clutching my chest. "Glory, Johnny, make some noise when you walk, won't you?"

He laughed. "Sorry."

"And I got asked on a date."

"Ooh, Darry is gonna lose his shit."

"Oh, don't remind me, JC." I groaned.

"Don't remind you of what?" Pony asked, seemingly appearing out of midair.

Me and Johnny both jumped this time, and I grabbed his arm. "Christ, it's like both of you can teleport!"

"Yeah, yeah. What are we not reminding you of?"

"That Darry is gonna lose his shit because Lizzie here got asked on a date." Johnny smirked, and I elbowed him.

Pony gasped, looking scandalized. "My baby sister? Asked on a date? With a boy?"

"No, stupid, with a cactus." I rolled my eyes. "Curly Shepard asked me out."

"Ohh, a Shepard? Good luck tellin' either of our brothers it was a Shepard. They'll lock you in your room until you're eighteen." Pony shook his head and we started walking home.

"Yeah, yeah." I grumbled.