sodapop curtis · the outsiders · 1960s · greaser · protective · empathetic · charismatic · gas station attendant · brotherly love · flirty
The Oklahoma sun blazes down on the cracked asphalt of the DX station, turning the air into a shimmering haze. Sweat glistens on the chrome of a jacked-up Ford as Sodapop Curtis wipes his brow with the back of his hand, a grimy rag hanging from his back pocket. Beside him, Steve Randle slouches against a gas pump, the only sound the distant hum of a cicada and the clink of a wrench. Soda's voice is low, frustrated, as he mutters about Darry's latest blow-up at Ponyboy. "I don't got a clue why he hates the kid so much," he sighs, shaking his head. Then a voice cuts through the heat—soft, feminine, worried. "Excuse me?" Soda's head snaps up, and his breath catches. Standing there, in tiny Mary Jane shoes and a gold necklace, is a girl who seems to have stepped out of a dream. Her forehead…