As soon as I got home from work, I flopped facedown onto my sofa. I let out a loud groan as my fat cat jumped up and landed on my back.

"Jesus Christ, Whiskey, what have you been eating?"

Whiskey mewed in response. I pushed him off, then sat up. I remembered I had invited Sodapop over for dinner.

"Maybe we can just order pizza instead," I thought out loud. After the long day I'd had, I was in no mood to cook supper. I rolled off the couch and went into my room to change into a more comfortable outfit. I found my favorite pair of ripped jeans and a loose fitting t-shirt.

I heard my phone ring from the kitchen, so I hurried to go and get it.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Candy Cane," the voice said on the other end.

"Hey Soda," I replied, my face immediately breaking out into a huge smile. "How are you?"

"I'm fine now that I'm talking to you."

"You're such a flirt," I laughed.

"Well, I'd have more fun flirting with you in person. Anyway, I just called to ask you for directions to your place."

"Oh, yeah, of course," I replied. I gave him directions, which there weren't too many. He knew how to get to the record shop and then I told him which apartment I lived in. "I'll buzz you in when you get here."

"'Kay, doll. I'll see you then."

I hung up and had a quick look over at my apartment. For once, it wasn't that messy. I put away the clean dishes and took my basket of clean laundry into my room to fold later. Whisky sauntered down the hall, batting one of his many toys on the way.

"Whiskey--" I huffed at him. He sent a curt "mew" my way before flopping over in the middle of the hallway.

I heard the buzzer go off and I headed to the door to see who it was.

I pressed the button next to the door and said, "Yeah?"

"Hey, babe, it's Soda."

I smiled. "Soda? What kind?"

I heard him groan and laugh. "Pepsi Cola, but I can get some root beer if you prefer."

"Mmmm.... I'm sure Pepsi will be fine." I pressed the buzzer to let him in and I moved over to the fridge to see what I had to drink. A half bottle of wine and a carton of milk. "Nice," I muttered. "I bet you're the only one that drinks milk in this household," I told Whiskey as he came over to inspect the fridge with me. "There's no tuna. I gave you the last can yesterday."

There was a knock on the door then.

"It's open!" I callee and Sodapop let himself in. I closed the fridge door and walked over to greet him.

"Whoa," he said as I wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Sorry, I missed you."

"You just saw me this morning," he grinned.

"Yeah, the first time waking up to you in six years," I said, feigning disappointment.

He grinned at me, one of his million dollar smiles, then pulled me into him.

"I hope you don't mind pizza instead of spaghetti. I had a long day at work and I really don't feel like cooking."

"I'd eat dog shit if it meant I got to be with you," he said.

I scoffed, trying not to laugh at his comment.

I almost felt awkward for a minute. I knew it had been a long time since I'd seen him, but him saying something so blunt like that was so out of character.

"Well, I'm going to order from Tony's down the street. Anything you prefer on your pizza?"

"Pepperoni sounds good. Have them deliver. I'll pay."

"A-are you sure? I'm the one that asked you on the date."

"Of course I am. Who lets their lady pay for dinner?"

And just like that, it was sweet old Soda again. I ignored it. Maybe I was just tired.

I went ahead and called in the pizza.

"Music?" I asked after hanging up the telephone. I turned to see he was already going through my records.

"Oh man. You remember freshman year homecoming? Before I started dating Sandy... Neither of us wanted to go with anyone so you, me, Steve, and Two crashed the place. We danced to Elvis before Mr. Allman asked us to leave."

I grinned. "We were always doing crazy stuff."

"Let's start doing crazy stuff again."

"Like what?"

Sodapop stops to think for a minute. "Let's get married."

"What? You just got home. We haven't seen each other in six years..."

"This summer."

"Soda--"

Soda ignores me and puts a 45 on. It's Elvis' "Can't Help Falling In Love". Sodapop grabs my hand and starts to lead me in a half-assed waltz around my living room. I giggle loudly as he spins me. Whiskey scampers to get out of the way of our feet. I don't blame him; we're terrible dancers.

Soda dips me smoothly and grins down at me.

"You really know how to woo the girls," I say, shaking my head as he stands me back upright.

"So marry me."

"Sodapop. Let's just have pizza first. I feel like I need to get to know you all over again. Fall in love again. I'm still getting over what happened with my last relationship."

Soda goes serious. "What happened?" We sit down on the couch and I pull my feet up and under my butt.

"I... Something happened. It wasn't either of our faults. It's just... Sometimes God or whoever controls our lives had a different plan for us and... We were too heartbroken and we just decided to call it off. The only people that really know are my dad and my coworker Hannah. And then my dad died and it was a mess. I didn't leave my house for months."

"I'm sorry. Why didn't you go to Darry, Two-Bit, or Ponyboy?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. After you and Steve left for Vietnam, I kinda... I became super emotional about work. I was always working. I didn't want them to think I was mooching or anything."

"You'd never be mooching," Soda laughed. "We all love you, Candice, you know this. You're family. Darry would never turn you away. You know Curly comes over all the time apparently?"

"Shepard?" I asked, a small grin growing. "No shit?"

He laughed. I leaned my head to the side to rest on the back of the couch. I smiled at him for a second, then it fell. "I felt like maybe if I busied myself with life, I wouldn't miss everyone so much. You and Steve... Dally and Johnny. My mom and Dad and my brother and sister. Maybe I was afraid that Darry and Two and Pony would leave so I left..."

Our eyes met.

"I'm sorry I left," he said. "I'm glad I'm home even though... Even though I get spat on. I'm not a baby killer." His eyes glazed over. Without thinking, I reached out and pressed my hand to the side of his face.

"I know," I said. "I know you're not."

"But I have killed people. I don't know how many... I don't really wanna know. I don't wanna think about the lives I took. I just wanna forget about it."

"Do you have dreams?"

"Huh?" he asked.

"Like... Do you have nightmares?"

He thought for a minute before nodding. "The other night I did."

"You were screaming in your sleep."

"I was? Did I wake you up?"

I nodded.

"I'm sorry. Did I scare you?"

"A little."

"You were scared of me?"

"Not scared of you. Scared for you."

He looked at me thoughtfully. "I don't even know what I was dreaming. I just remember I was shooting and the look on my face... It was like I was watching myself. You know what I mean?"

"Yeah."

"I wished I didn't look like that."

I leaned in, about to give him a soft kiss when the doorbell rang.

"Pizza," I said. I stood up off the couch and walked to the door. Soda's hands fell onto my waist and he gently moved me to the side so he could open the door.

"Hi, sir. You guys called for a large pepperoni pizza?"

"Yeah, that's us." Sodapop handed him a wad of cash. "Keep the change. You have a nice day." The delivery guy gave him a smile.

"Thanks, sir. You guys as well."

Soda closed the door and we moved over to the kitchen. Soda opened up the pizza box and we immediately dug in.

"Mm this is good," I said as we stuffed our faces.

By the time we were good and full, there were only two slices left.

"Thanks for dinner," I grinned.

"Thanks for having me over," he replied.

We both plopped down onto the couch again.

We didn't talk much for a little while. I leaned into him and he rubbed circles on my arms.

"I missed holding you."

"I missed you holding me."

Soda pulled me closer to him. In a matter of seconds, we were making out. It didn't take long after for us to move to my bedroom.

'''

My chest heaved and for some reason, all I could do was giggle.

"What's so funny?" Soda chuckled.

"I don't know." Bits of Soda's hair flopped down in his face and he grinned at me. I attempted to push them back but to no avail.

"My hair's ridiculous."

I laughed. "Have you seen mine?"

Soda laid down next to me and pulled me into him.

"I missed you so much, Candice," he said.

"I missed you, too."

"I have something to tell you."

"What?" I asked him.

"You know... I was so in love... In love with Sandy. But I was so in love with you, too."

"You were?"

"Yeah, but just listen, okay? I carried your picture and Sandy's picture with me while I was in Vietnam. One day... My platoon is getting shot at. And I'm so scared. I'm so fucking scared, babe. But I survived. And we're camping out later that night. I reach into my pocket to pull out the pictures. But there's only one. And before I look at it, I'm hoping and praying it's yours. And I pulled it out. And it's that dumb picture my mom took of me and you when we were ten. And I knew. You stayed with me through that. You were like... You were like my angel. You're an angel, Candy."

By now, I was crying. "Sodapop."

"I meant what I said. I love you. I know I don't fall easily, but when I do, I fall too hard. And what happened between Sandy and I didn't work out. But I think me losing her picture, but holding onto yours... it was like a sign."

"A sign?"

"You always come back. Maybe..." He trailed off. "Maybe God or whoever controls our lives made all of this happen so we could be together again. Like soulmates or something dumb like that."

"I don't think it's dumb. I... I always had this sliver of hope that you would come back to me."

"I did."

I smiled up at him. His blue eyes were so pretty in the light.

"Please marry me."

"Soda--"

"Please. We could get a cute little house. A dog... I'm getting a job real soon."

"Soda, we don't even know what we're doing with our lives right now. We're only twenty-four. We're not even dating."

"But I love you."

"And I love you, stupid, but right now is not the right time."

"Let me know, doll. I'll wait."

I pressed my mouth to his. It was a feeling I never wanted to end. Did I want to marry Sodapop? Of course. But after what happened between Andy and I... It would take a long time for me to have the strength to want to be that close to someone again.

Hiya, sorry it's been like two months since i've updated! I was not in a writing mood at all for awhile but I'm back now. Hope you all had a great and safe holiday season, whatever it was you celebrated! Thanks for reading. love always, j