East West Sunset - A Darry Curtis Fanfiction

Chapter Fifteen

I slipped into the passenger seat of Darry's rusty old car, and Ponyboy hopped into the back. Darry was lounging at the wheel, smoking a cigarette and blowing the smoke out of his open window. He barely glanced at us as we got in. He flicked his cigarette out of the window and revved the engine, which made a gargling, choking sort of noise, and the car stuttered out of the school parking lot. I went to buckle my seatbelt as we hurtled along but found only a frayed edge and no buckle, so I clung on for dear life and prayed that we wouldn't get into an accident. He wasn't going too fast, but the cruddy suspension and paper-thin tires meant that we were bouncing around in the cab like pieces of popcorn. Darry didn't seem to let it bother him, though; he sat through it as stoically as ever.

It took us barely five minutes to reach the house, and I felt a little sad we pulled up to the curb. We had hardly spoken two words to each other; had the midnight conversation really just been all in my head? "I'm heading back to work now, I'll be home in a couple hours for dinner," he said, with a little glance at me that I didn't miss. My heart twisted wonderfully from the tiny flash of blue. "You do your homework, Pony," he said to Ponyboy gruffly. "And you too, Diana," he added almost as an afterthought.

"Sure I will, Darry," I said teasingly as I slid out of the car. "Old man," I mumbled quietly.

"Hey now," Darry growled, giving me a crooked half-smile out the open passenger window.

I had the pleasant sensation of not quite being able to catch my breath as I grinned back at him and swung my bag over my shoulder. "What?" I asked coyly.

He revved the engine, which gurgled somewhat concerningly. "Watch who you're calling old," he called to me as he pulled away from the curb.

"You guys are sickening," Ponyboy muttered, covering his eyes with his hand and cringing.

I rolled my eyes, unable to wipe the smile off my face, and walked up the sidewalk and onto the front stoop. Maybe there was hope for Darry and me after all. I gave myself a moment to imagine the possibilities but quickly drew myself to a halt. There was nothing to be gained in just daydreaming about something, after all, especially when the odds were definitely not in my favor. Had Darry ever given me a reason to believe that he could be interested in me? I racked my memory, trying to think of an instance where he had flirted with me or something, but I came up empty. He had smiled at me a bit, sure, but that hardly counted as him throwing himself at me. I frowned to myself and tried to shake off the negative thoughts; just because nothing had happened yet didn't mean I should stop trying. There was always the hope that I had just missed a cue he had given.

And there it went again, my thoughts moving in an endless circle, around and around and around, and in the center of that circle was Darry. It was a sweet predicament.

Ponyboy's wry expression didn't escape my notice as he held the front door open for me. I was sure my eyes were dreamy, faraway, and probably betraying any thoughts I was having, and so when he sighed and rolled his eyes, I just ignored him.

"You could at least be subtle about it," he advised me wisely. "You don't have to throw yourself at him."

"I don't 'throw myself at him,'" I said, rolling my eyes. 

Ponyboy gave me a derisive look and cocked his left eyebrow. "Diana, that was flirting if I ever did see it. And trust me, I have."

"Look, is it a problem that I want Darry to like me?" I asked him, my voice dropping to a whisper even though there was nobody else in the house.

"Yes," Ponyboy responded immediately. "Do you even really like him, or are you just playing around?"

"Is that the problem?" I frowned and turned away from him. I slung my bag onto the couch and followed suit, sinking into the mushy cushions. "Are you just worried about him getting hurt?"

"Well, you see--" Pony cut himself off. He glanced around and visibly hesitated before continuing. "Darry don't know too much about girls, you know? No offense, but you guys are kind of... shall I say... vindictive?"

"Pony!" I exclaimed.

"Well, it's true! Soda knows that and so do I, 'cause we... well, we... you know!" He appeared flustered and plopped down onto the old carpet, apparently too embarrassed to keep talking. 

"You what?" I asked, my voice a tad chilly.

"Well, we... know how girls flirt, and they don't always mean it, you know?" Pony mumbled a little shamefacedly.

I shook  my head. "You're saying that Darry doesn't know about girls?" This dumbfounded me; I had always assumed that Darry was probably the least naive of the Curtis brothers. "That's kind of rich."

"Well, besides those Soc girls who give him lemonade he don't know about flirting and stuff. He wouldn't know about... well, what a girl like you means by it," Ponyboy said all in one breath. He couldn't meet my eyes.

"What do you mean, a girl like me?" There was no point in trying to hide the iciness in my voice. I was properly baited and Pony knew it. As I leaned back into the couch and crossed my arms, staring hard at Ponyboy, he dodged my poison darts carefully. 

Ponyboy shrugged and played with the zippers on his backpack. Eventually, he said nervously, "Well, Diana, it's a little hard for me to place you. You aren't like a Greaser, but you aren't like a Soc neither. I don't know anything about you really. And I don't want you to hurt Darry."

My heart softened at once. "Is that what this is about? You don't want me to hurt Darry?"

He shrugged again and hunched his shoulders. "I mean... yes," he acknowledged. "I'm worried about him." He looked surprised that he had admitted such a thing to me.

"I would never do that." I looked down at my hands, which were clenched tightly in my lap, and relaxed them so that my palms cupped my knees. I felt Pony's eyes burning into my bowed forehead, but I didn't look up. I heard him sigh quietly.

"I hope you wouldn't. Just... don't get his hopes up too far, okay? You're not going to be here forever and I don't want... Darry wouldn't... I'm just worried that you will... and then just leave him behind," he explained quickly and not very comprehensibly. 

I took a deep breath and finally looked up at him. "Okay, Pony, here's what I'm going to say, and I'm only going to say it this once, so you better not tell anyone. I really like Darry. And it's true I'm not gonna be here forever, but I won't hurt him, okay? And if I'm honest, I don't think I could. He's on a completely different level than I am. I'm just an 18-year-old girl, whereas he's..." I trailed off, leaving the rest unsaid. "Honestly, I don't think I even have a chance." I felt extremely strange saying these thoughts out loud, not a necessarily bad feeling, but it definitely was not good. It was something I didn't want to dwell on.

The truth was, I hadn't really considered what I would do after I found out everything I wanted to know about my mother. I had no idea where I would go- I sure couldn't go back to Stanley. After Tulsa, it would seem to small and dull. And as for my career I didn't know what I was going to do either. I had skipped senior year at my old high school to come to Tulsa, so unless I finished out the year here college was out of the question. The truth was, I had no idea what was in store for me, and I didn't know if Darry had a place in that future either.

"I-I guess you're right," Pony said softly, snapping me out of my reverie. He stood up slowly and looked at me closely. "Don't forget this conversation, though." On that mildly threatening note, he walked into the kitchen, probably off to eat everything in the kitchen.

I shook off the last traces of my doubt about Darry and opened my bag, grabbing my math notebook to start my homework. I told myself that from now on, I wasn't going to spend all my time worrying about Darry. I needed to find out more about my mother.

And I had a plan.

A/N Hey readers! I am SO sorry that this chapter took so long to get up! I've been extremely busy lately, but I promise I'll get better about posting. Thanks for reading! <3