AN - The length (60 chapters) and pairing (Soda x Cherry) for this story were requested by Iconic Star Child. So I hope you all enjoy reading my take on these characters and the general plot. If you do, I'd really love it if you'd review, follow, and favorite the story. Thanks! :D Also, special thanks to ForeverMandi for reading over parts of this for me. I honestly don't know how I'd get any of my stories done without her.

It'd been a little while since the whole Windrixville situation and things were finally starting to calm down. Johnny had healed decently, minimal scarring but still irreparably paralyzed from the waist down. Dally was... Well, he was just the same except for a bruised ego. Didn't like being called an "asset to society" in the newspapers. Not one bit. Soda had laughed at him for that until the hood's eyes turned dangerous. The joke ended real quick after that cause even Two-Bit knew better than to push Dally too far.

The June of 1966 came rolling in like any other summer month. Hot and carrying the promise of thunderstorms. Sandy used to love the lightning, how crackles of pure energy could brighten a night-dark sky. When the clouds turned ashen and the heavens rumbled with a vengeance, Soda would stand in the backyard and wait for the first strikes. It made him feel close to her again. As if she could see the same storm from her new home.

He knew that was impossible, but he'd always been a dreamer. All too easily, he slipped into the same fantasies of his lost love - seemingly at random. The daytime adventures in parks, pretending they could go anywhere they pleased. And the nights, so heated. Intense. But that's what had gotten him in trouble in the first place.

Sometimes, he just couldn't help himself, though. He'd wander around the city, lost despite having lived there for all his years. It was on one of those nights that he was caught up in his weakness, taken advantage of.

East-Side Tulsa was never peaceful, but especially not after school let out. Something about summer air seemed to drive people insane. The worst crimes were committed beneath hazy moonlight - Soda had known that for some time. Call it personal experience. Well, Dally's personal experience, anyway. He once said that the season made him restless, more daring. And Soda never forgot that.

But he stll went out that night. Didn't tell Pony where he was headed and sure as hell didn't let Darry know. He'd needed to leave, needed fresh air, cause the thoughts of Sandy invaded his mind yet again. This time, though, he was sick of fighting them, didn't even think he had the strength to do so. He just walked out and kept going.

She closed the door behind her, pressing a finger to her lily-pink lips. His cheeks blushed furiously as she drew closer and he almost wanted to tell her to stop. Darry was home. If he heard, Soda would be in more trouble than he'd ever been in before, but he truly lacked self-control. He remained silent.

He let her push him down on to the bed, straddle his hips. Then their mouths met in a gentle kiss - a shock considering the position they were in. They stayed a while, sweetly passionate. But she shifted her body, brushing against him, igniting the flames. He wasn't sure if the movement was intentional. He didn't care. The kiss turned scorching, hotter than the bolts that streaked across a breathless sky.

Their lips separated reluctantly, but Soda quickly occupied his mouth with a new task. He started pressing kisses down the side of his girlfriend's neck, soft and loving. No need to rush through it. Just enjoy, forget Darry. Forget everything that didn't relate to Sandy.

"Soda, that tickles." She giggled lightly, curling her fingers into his auburn hair. "C'mon, cut it out."

But he kept on kissing her skin, eventually moved lower, progressing to delicate nips with his teeth. When he sucked on her collarbone, she exhaled appreciatively. He murmured against her and she gave a blissful sigh, her body pushing against him a little more. As if she thought she could simply melt and sink into his chest.

She leaned back on his legs, causing an inferno of friction between them. Soda moaned.

He hadn't expected the fall. Something caught his foot and, next thing he knew, he was on the ground. His hands slammed onto the sidewalk, skin splitting. He could almost visualize Darry's worried curiosity as his older brother demanded to know why he was bleeding. Biting back a curse, he glanced over his shoulder, seeking the thing that had tripped him.

A body.

It's just a hobo, Soda thought, crawling closer to the bundle of clothes and flesh. Just sleeping... A heavy sleeper. Not dead... Definitely not. That'd be crazy. He couldn't stop himself, though. He knelt beside the man - well, a boy, really. A boy with a small body and dirty hair. No more than twelve years old.

The kid lay on his stomach, face down in the dirt. Soda put his hand on the child's shoulder then pushed, rolling the boy onto his back. Later on, Soda would wonder why he noticed the stillness of the chest first. He supposed it meant more. To know that there was no breath, no life to be saved. It didn't matter how he'd died. But it was glaringly obvious - the how, the little script that would fill in the 'cause of death' blank. A gunshot wound. In the very center of his forehead.

Soda stared into the boy's wide eyes, recognizing the fear frozen there, unconsciously wiping the blood off of the child's face. The corpse was warm. The blood still trickled out. He imagined how scared the boy must've been, just laying alone at the side of the road as he faded and feeling the hot liquid-life flee from him.

He wondered why the boy was out so late. He wondered where the victim had been going or what he'd hoped to do with his future. He wondered why life was cruel to helpless children. Children like this dead boy and kids like Pony too.

In the distance, police sirens wailed. Soda's gaze snapped away from the corpse then briefly rested on the only lighted window of a building in front of him. A shadow of a man watched him from the comforts of a living room.

Soda ran.