You're part of the Curtis family, the third child - two years older than Ponyboy. You all get along quite nicely, they've taught you everything you need to know. Expect love, of course they love you but you don't know anything about being romantic...
two more chapters left! :( what an amazing journey it's been 💖
We leave the party after Ruby pulled my shirt and started whining about wanting to go home and feed Charlie, a stray dog Two-bit left on our porch after coming from a party years ago. He's slowly become apart of our family, just the five of us.
"Ma!" Ruby chews on her stuffie Cherri gave her near the end. I turn around in my seat, my seatbelt rubbing against my neck. "What is it baby?" I adjust her seat so she's safe, she holds onto my finger. "Pepsi has question-"
"Ruby!" Pepsi exclaims, Ruby shrugs her shoulders and smiles devislishy. "What is it hun?" I look at him, Dally parks the car in our driveway and unlocks the door. "Uhm.. Whys my name PepsiCola?" I look at Dally and he puts a hand on my thigh, he smiles lightly. "Mama!" Ruby says. I look at her and roll my eyes playfully, "You're wondering too huh?" She nods her head wildly and smiles with her baby teeth.
"You ready for a long bedtime story tonight?" The kids cheer and we all laugh in the packed car, "Let's get this going." Dally says, we get up and I unlock Ruby's door side. I unbuckle her and put her in my arms; Dally does the same with Pepsi. We walk inside our house and is greeted with our golden retriever Charlie. "You guys get cleaned up and we'll meet you upstairs." I tell our kids, they smile and race the the bathroom. Pepsi being the good older brother helps Ruby brush her teeth and do her hair.
Dally and I walk upstairs and into their bedroom, I sit on Pepsi's bed and fix some of his stuff animals that pile around his pillow. I sigh loudly, Dally turns and walks over to me coming from behind and giving me a hug. "How do I tell them this? Especially when I was sick with Ruby.." When I was pregnant with Ruby I had a terrible sickness that lasted for months, the doctor even said it'd take a miracle for her to be born. She was so small when I saw her being pulled away from me, I was so scare-
"Mama! Dada! Story time! Story time!" They chanted while walking into the room, they both jump onto Pepsi's bed and look at us gleefully. "Okay.. let's start with Pepsi." Ruby crosses her arms and Dally chuckles lightly, sitting next to me and pulling her into his lap. Pepsi rest his head on my leg and grabs his favorite stuff animal- one Ponyboy gave him.
"How to start? How to start... Got it!" I lick my lips and play with Pepsi's hair. "When you were born Pepsi you looked so much like your uncle Soda, I almost thought it was him for a second. But.. even now you still act like him, you're funny humor, being passionate about your family, being my handsome little boy!" I tickle his stomach, he giggles and squirms around. "Sodapops nickname was PepsiCola, and I think you have his soul in you. Somewhere, lil buddy.." Pepsi smile sadly as my voice shakes, Dally holds my hand.
"Mama.. does that mean I'm gonna die?" Pepsi says with fear in his voice, I pull him up and hug his tiny frame. "No baby, not at all. You're gonna live until your 100 years old!" I kiss him all around his face as he tries to sneak out of my grip. Charlie comes into the room and jumps onto the bed to start licking Pepsi non stop. We all laugh as the dog begins to bark with a large grin on his face.
"Okay.. Okay settle down." Dally calms us down, giving Charlie some belly rubs. Ruby crawls over his arm and next to Pepsi. "Mama! My turn! Me me" Ruby smiles and pulls my hair for attention; something she does out of habit. I hold her tiny hand in my own, the soft and small baby hands make me smile softly. "When we found out I was pregnant with you we were ecstatic, we were slowly completing the family I personally always dreamed of.. your Daddy he-"
Dally rolls his eyes at me and begins speaking, "I did have second thought.. I thought I was ready but I wasn't.. But, your mother changed me. She made me realize to stop being such a pain in the as-" I clear my throat, "butt.. and settle down. I-i couldn't be happier." Even while talking his New York accent still shines, I'm drawn to it. "Than something bad happened." Ruby and Pepsi both look at each other, being the lil dramatic kids they are Pepsi fans his face and than "passes out" in Ruby's arms.
"I got very sick, to the point where I couldn't even get up to change in the morning. It was like someone was stabbing me in the stomach, and i know this wasn't normal considering I already had one of you devils." I ruffle both of their hairs, they giggle and look up to me with what it seems like crystals in their eyes.
"So we went to the hospital and I was in immediately in labor. It felt like forever in that room, all the blood, sweat, and tears on trying to push you out. Than, you were out. You didn't cry. You didn't scream. You just stayed there, your small frail body and that's when the doctors started freaking out. At one point I heard the nurses talking and one said that you were dead. My heart shattered right there." I bite my lip as I try and hold in a sob, Dally rubs my back.
"But.. I'm still here." Ruby says shyly, I smile and kiss her forehead. "Yes, you are." I take a deep breath in and look at the clock, 8:00 pm. We can keep going. "It felt like an eternity as we waited for the news to see if you were actually dead or alive. Everyone was there, nobody talked in that small hospital room. We were all nervous and once that doctor came in with a huge frown on his face we expected the worse." The memories flood my mind, how quiet it was in that room and how my ears started ringing as those words came out of his mouth.
"We tried our hardest, but like I said we'd need a miracle for her to make it.. I'm sor-"
"She's breathing! She's alive!"
"Shes alive, they said. I thought it was all a dream, for all I knew it was. Almost a day later and were still there, I wasn't even able to hold you yet. It was so painful to know that so many tests were put on you. Than once the snow hit the ground you were brought into the room." I move the hair out of her face, her red brown eyes look at me with admiration.
"As I help you in my arms I cried and cired, in joy of course. We locked eyes and I noticed how red your eyes we're. Not like red from crying, just the color red. It was memorizing, and your Daddy over here came up with your name." I smile and look at her, pinching her cheek and kissing her forehead.
"Ruby." Dally says, he picks up one of Pepsi's stuff animals and playfully aims it at his neck. The fake dinosaur bites Pepsi as he dramatically falls on his bed and begins laughing from the ticklish feeling. Moments like these will always be the best, the times were everything stops and it's just you and you loved ones.
cherish them.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
