Dallas and I went back to the house. I sat down on the couch and he sat next to me. He looked down. Something was wrong.

I put my arm around his shoulder. "Alright. What's wrong, bud?"

He didn't look up as he said, "Nothin'. I'm fine."

"I know somethings wrong." I said. "What is it?"

He still refused to look up. "They think I've gone soft." he said. "They think I'm weak just because..." He trailed off at the end.

I started fixing his hair and he looked up at me. He wasn't smiling. But I smiled at my glum faced little devil. I gave him a huge grin and he chuckled. "What?" I asked, confused.

He smiled back at me. "You are just like your brother, Sodapop. Ya know that?"

I gave him another killer smile. "How so?"

He took my hand. "Well, ya see, there was this one time. The guys had just bailed me out the cooler. Johnny was upset. I tried to calm him down. He usually would have listened to me, but this time, he didn't. And I felt bad. So, I let Sodapop take over." He grinned. "He gave the kid one grin, a hug, and said, 'Don't worry kid. Everything'll be alright.' And he was fine!" His Soda impression was spot on. He chuckled. "And you got those big brown eyes like 'im, too. Shoot! Sometimes I could almost mistaken you for him. If you didn't have Darry's hair color. And Ponyboy's personality."

I smiled. "Is it a good thing that I look like my brothers?" I asked with a grin.

He slowly nodded. "Yeah. Ya look beautiful, doll."

We both smiled and looked into each other's eyes. Then, Sodapop and Steve bursted through the door. "Aaaw." Soda said with that signature grin of his. "Thanks, guys."

I rolled my eyes. "Hey, Soda." I said. "How's work?"

He sat between Dally and I on the couch. "Boring. As always."

Dally smirked. "Hey, Pop. How much ya hear?"

Soda smirked. "Heard that ya like my smile." He pretended to twirl some of his hair around his finger like a teenage girl. He messed up Dallas's hair and said, "Oh, Dal." in a girl voice.

Dally punched him in the arm playfully. "Shut it, Peppy. I'd kill ya, but Ash seems to care about ya," He gave me a grin and muttered under his breath, "for some reason."

I chuckled and Dally stood up. "Well, I gotta head over to Buck's." I raised an eyebrow and he put his arms up, defensively. "Don't worry. It's not a party. He just wants some help with fixin' his car."

Steve looked at him funny. "Then, why didn't he just bring it over to the DX?"

Dally shrugged. "Don't know. I'll ask when I get there." He leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. "See ya later, doll."

I felt my cheeks get red. "Bye, Dal."

Then, he left. Soda and Steve started makin' fun of me for actin' so head over heels. I just watched 'em and laughed.