Change of Heart

"Johnnycakes!" I exclaimed loudly when I spotted him standing on the porch. As I ran forward to hug him, Darry took my suitcase and backpack out of the truck. "Oh, my God! It's been forever."

"I know," Johnny agreed. "Golly, you look different."

"So do you," I told him.

He looked older, but there was still the same boy-ish face with which I was familiar, though he had grown to an okay height for a guy. His hair was still too long and greasy, falling in bangs across his small, tan forehead. The black eyes that were the opposite of my light blue ones reflected more nerves than I recalled. There was a scar on his face that I wasn't familiar with at all. I ran my finger along it, questioning, "What happened here?"

"Socs," he explained shortly. When I was about to ask him to refresh my memory on what a Soc was, he grabbed my hand to pull me inside the house. "C'mon, everyone wants to see ya."

Johnny pulled forward and happened to pull me right in front of Darry. He stumbled and almost fell on his face. Though he managed to regain his balance, he still dropped my stuff. "Shit! Guys, be more careful. You're gonna get someone hurt."

"Sorry," Johnny and I mumbled simultaneously before running into the Curtis house. As I entered the living room, I grinned when I noticed that Ponyboy, Sodapop, Two-Bit, Steve, and some other guy I didn't know were all huddled around the television.

"Guys..." I started when none of them moved.

"SHUT UP!" Two-Bit yelled, turning to face me. "Mickey's on." Then, he processed who had interrupted him, and he let out a loud hoot. "Sophie!"

He ran over and hugged me, lifting me up off the ground. "Damn...look at you."

Two-Bit's gray eyes were excited, and I noticed that he let his red-brown hair grow in sideburns down the side of his face. He wasn't all that much taller than my five-four, and he was pretty stocky.

I grinned as Soda came over and hugged me. He was always a good-looking boy, but he was absolutely gorgeous now. He had dark blonde hair that was a little long, but not much, and his dark brown eyes were just as happy-go-lucky as always. Just like a movie star.

Ponyboy hugged me next. God, he'd grown up. His hair had darkened, so it was more brown than the dirty blonde it had been when he was a kid. It seemed like his eyes darkened too, since I remembered them being more gray than the green they were today, but that could have been my imagination.

"And who is that hot broad?" the guy I didn't know asked, looking me up and down. I felt my face heat up and moved a step closer to Johnnycakes. "What? No hug for ol' Dally?"

"That's Dally," Johnny whispered to me quietly. Yeah, thanks for the info. I kinda got that myself, shockingly enough. "Don't worry, he won't do nothing. He ain't such a bad guy."

"Hi," I introduced. "I'm Sophia."

"Dallas Winston," he smiled. He had dark brown hair and eyes to match. He was pretty tall too, maybe an inch or so less than Darry, and had a build. "Mind if I show you around?" He winked.

"She knows her way around just fine, Dal'," Darry interrupted, giving him a death glare. Dally backed off a little, since Darry is intimidating, but he still kept his eyes on me.

Steve hugged me quickly before stepping to the side. He and I had our differences when we were younger, but I didn't hate him. Didn't like him, but I didn't hate him either.

His gap was still prominent, as I had guessed, and his nose seemed even larger than it had when he was a kid. He had brown hair that he combed back in swirls and light green eyes that I knew changed between green, blue, brown, and gray depending on the lighting and what he was wearing. He was probably about two inches or so taller than Two-Bit, leaving him still pretty short for a guy.

"So what do you want to do for dinner, Sophie?" Soda asked, grinning. "We can do anything, since we're celebrating you bein' here and all."

After thinking for a second, I questioned, "Where do you want to go? I don't know the stuff around here much."

"We could go to the Dingo," Dally offered, shrugging.

"No, the Dingo's rough," Johnny declined. "You never know what's gonna break out there."

"Aww, little Johnny's trying to protect his little cousin," Steve cooed. "Ain't that just freaking adorable?"

"Actually, I'm older," I reminded him. "Johnny's seventeen, I'm eighteen."

"Oh, well 'scuse me," Steve rolled his eyes. Ugh...he made me want to punt him so badly. Okay, so the childish grudges and clashing of our personalities hadn't been outgrown.

"We could go to Rena's," Pony offered. "It's not rough or nothing, but it's still on our side of town, so we won't get ignored or kicked out."

"Sounds good," Soda seconded. "Whataya say, Soph?"

"Fine with me," I smiled.

"Hey, Pony! Why don't you invite Sammy and ask her to meet us there?" Two-Bit suggested. Then, he turned to address me. "Sammy's his girlfriend. She's a crack up. Don't know why she went for such a loser like Pony over here."

"I can hear you," Pony told Two-Bit, narrowing his eyes. "But that's a good idea."

"I know you can hear me, kid, but that don't change what I said." They stared down for a second before Pony went over to the phone to call Sammy.

"Okay, she can come," Pony announced a few minutes later. "Wanna start walking over now?"

"Shouldn't Sophia get settled in and everything?" Darry asked, looking at me.

"There's time for that later," I dismissed. "If the guys are hungry, we can go eat now."

"FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!" Two-Bit screamed loudly as he ran out the door.

"Two-Bit's kind of a drunk," Pony told me as we walked out of the house. "And he's had a couple of beers today, so...he's gonna act a little weird."

"It's cool," I laughed. "It'll be entertaining, at least."

We walked to the restaurant, all catching up on old times. I couldn't help but notice that Dally kept his eyes on me, and it was a little uncomfortable.

"I gotta talk to you later," Johnny whispered to me softly. My only response was a nod. Then, we walked into the restaurant, where a girl was waiting for us.

She was short, about five feet, two inches, and had blonde hair that fell to her shoulder blades in soft waves. Her eyes were dark blue, speckled with gray and brown flecks, and she was thin. Thankfully, she was not thin in an anorexic, bones-popping-out of her skin way; she was muscular.

"God, about time! I've been waiting for you guys for fifteen friggin' minutes."

"Not our fault that you live across the street," Pony defended, going up to her and kissing her on the forehead.

Darry gave the hostess the number of people we had in our party, and we were lead to a table. Good thing it wasn't a really fancy restaurant or anything, or else what happened next would have been all the more embarrassing...