Bri's POV
July 26, 2017
10:45a.m

I don't really remember falling asleep last night. Lillian and I read the entirety of the book, but I might have to reread the ending again because I was so tired. Time travel is really exhausting.

Before I opened my eyes, I almost convinced myself that I dreamt everything about finding Lillian and going back to my time. I kept imagining that I was still in my old bedroom, where I had my record player on the rug, my magazines in a pile, and posters of Elvis and the Beatles taped to my walls. When I get to the living room, I'll see Darry cooking up a Saturday morning breakfast that'll probably consist of chocolate chip pancakes and toast. Maybe some bacon crackling on the stove and eggs frying in a greasy pan. I could almost smell it. Soda will grab the orange juice and drink it straight from the carton before letting anyone else have it, and Ponyboy will be at the table with his nose in a book.

With the warm sun kissing my face, my eyes fluttered open and my heart dropped to my stomach. Instead of music posters and the smell of pancakes, I was looking at plain light blue walls and the sound of Lillian brushing her teeth in the nearby bathroom. I rolled over to grab my phone from the nightstand to look at the time, but I collapsed back down on the bed.

It just boggled my mind that I was finally home. Well, not in my own bed, but in my own time. I didn't have to be too careful about what I said anymore, and I can finally be back to normal. I should feel relieved, but why wasn't I happy?

Lillian has been my best friend since we were ten years old when we met in the fifth grade. I was the new kid in class, I was shy and very nervous for my first day. Our teacher assigned Lillian to be my reading buddy, which turned into her inviting me to sit next to her at lunch. I gave her an extra chocolate pudding cup my mom packed, and she has remained my closest friend ever since.

With our parents out of town for another week or so, Lillian's house was going to be my home away from home. I couldn't wait to see my parents again. I never could have imagined that I would have to live without them with no contact for an entire year. It made me really empathize with the Curtis brothers, they will never even get a chance to talk to their parents again. I couldn't imagine that.

I even missed my little sister, Jenni. She is three years younger than me, which classifies her under the "little sister annoying" trope but I love her anyway. She's my sister, I will always love her even if I can't tolerate her.

I thought about the guys. What are they doing now? Who are they now? Are they still the fun-loving greasers that were my best friends, or did they grow up? Would we be friends now? Do they forgive me for leaving without saying a word? When I read Ponyboy's book, it seemed like he was the only one who had forgiven me. He understood. Everyone else was angry, or sad. Like Soda, he was really sad. Dally was angry.

Reading what Ponyboy thought of me, he never expressed any thought that I was a time traveler. I mean, how could he? That would be insane. He did think that I was a little weird, but he just thought it was because I was from California, and I guess he thought all Californians were strange. I guess there were some things that I said during my time here that confused him, but he'd just move on.

I missed Soda with my whole heart. I missed his hair. I missed the way his eyes lit up when he looked at me. I missed his smile, his soft touch, and his laugh. The way I got butterflies in my stomach when he was near. How he made me feel like I was the only girl in the world. I don't know how I'm going to get over him. I might not.

I can't mope in bed forever. I have to get back into the groove of my life here again. I sat up and rubbed my tired eyes and ran my fingers through my tangled hair to get it off my face. I let a raspberry escape my lips before I tossed the covers off and walked groggily into the bathroom.   I could probably sleep for another decade.

"Good morning!" Lillian said excitedly as she looked at me in the mirror's reflection, although she was muffled from the toothbrush. Her tone made it sound like she wasn't expecting me to be up so soon. She spit in the sink and continued to brush her molars.

"Morning." I rubbed my eye with a yawn.

"How'd you sleep?"

"Pretty good. I'm just exhausted."

"Yeah, I bet. You should probably eat something. We are an ingredient household at the moment though."

"Okay," I said with another yawn. "I'm gonna head downstairs."

She mumbled something, but I could not understand her. I headed over to the stairs and trudged down the steps. It was strange to hear nothing. The house felt quiet. Too quiet. I guess that's what happens when you live in a house with a minimum of three rowdy guys. I already miss the chaos. I need to wipe off that Angel Face and come back to reality.

My stomach was growling, craving something sweet. I ransacked the kitchen, but couldn't find anything easy and appetizing. There is nothing I wouldn't give for a slice of Darry's chocolate cake right now.

The best I could find were Eggo waffles.

I popped a couple of them in the toaster and grabbed the canned whipped cream, milk, a plate, and some maple syrup. I felt a strong sense of belonging when I saw modern labels on the foods once again. Although, I did miss the appearance and aesthetics of the old labels. I poured myself a glass of the milk, and waited for the chocolate chip Eggos to be finished toasting.

I heard Lillian practically skip down the stairs and she met me in the kitchen. I forgot that she was a morning person. I, on the other hand, was not.

Lillian had gotten dressed already, while I was still in the pajamas I stole from her. She wore a thin green shirt that she tucked into a pair of jean shorts with a black belt separating the two garments. "How are you feeling?"

I shrugged. "I'm okay. I don't think I've really grasped the fact that I'll never see them again."

She knew I was talking about the gang. She smiled softly and said, "I know. But hey, wanna go into town today? Might be a good distraction?"

"Yeah, sure. What do you need to get?"

"Nothing, just thought you might want to go for a drive."

"That's exactly what I need," I said with a little smile.

Ever since we first got our licenses, Lillian and I would go on these long night drives together, blasting music and screaming out the words without a care in the world. Windows rolled down, cruising along the longest stretches of road. It was our stress reliever. I couldn't do it in 1965, not with the guys anyway. If I did it by myself, it doesn't hit the same. It also is hard when you have to listen to the radio with commercials and not the endless playlist on your phone. Besides, even if I could, the guys would never sing along to the song, even if it was their favorite. The most I'd get out of any of them would be tapping their fingers on their knee to the beat while maybe nodding their head along. Sometimes they'd mouth the words. It's not as much fun if they don't get into it. Two-Bit did though, he would either use a bottle or his fist as a microphone and sing off-key, just to make me laugh.

"I'm gonna take a shower first," I said.

"That's fine," she said.

The waffles popped up and Lillian kept pestering me with questions about the gang. I didn't mind, because they were such a big part of my life. I could talk about them forever. About the way they made me laugh, how we would go to the movies together, and how they really welcomed me into their lives. I truly felt like I was one of them. I had so many stories to tell, but I was just so drained that I could barely keep up with what I was saying. I felt like I had just finished running a marathon.

"By the way," Lillian began with her elbows resting on the kitchen counter. "Can we both agree that no more time travel should be done? Like ever?"

"Oh, yeah," I agreed with a mouthful of waffle and a nod. Another thing I already missed was Darry's homemade whipped cream which was so much better than the stuff that gets squirted out of a can. "No more."

"I'm going to destroy it."

"The Time Machine? Are you sure?" I asked, surprised. I took another bite of my waffle and said, "it's like, your greatest accomplishment."

"Yeah." She inhaled deeply. I could tell that she had been thinking about this difficult decision for a long time. "I'm sure. I'm going to shred the plans too, so I can't make another. Or anyone else."

"You don't just want to hide it in your room or something?" I asked.

"No, because that still poses the risk that someone could find it. I'm just going to get rid of it, and never have to stress about it again."

"I think that is a dandy plan," I said as seriously as I could.

Lillian started laughing which made me chuckle. She teased me about sounding old, so I stuck my tongue out at her and ripped a bite of waffle off with my teeth aggressively.

I polished off my breakfast, coming close to licking the sticky syrup off my plate just for a little bit more sugar to satisfy my craving of Darry's chocolate cake. Just one more thing I'm going to miss about the 60s. I was going to have to make some when we get back.

"Okay, now I'm going to take a shower," I said and placed my dishes in the sink.

"I can find you something to wear," Lillian offered.

"I think I can dress myself," I said sarcastically.

"You can borrow something of mine."

"It's okay, I did laundry a few days before I left so I can grab something from my bag," I told her, remembering that we stashed all my bags of clothes in her parents room for the time being.

"If I'm going to be honest, your fashion is about fifty years too old."

I scoffed at her. "It is not. I've got some cute stuff in there."

"Sure, Bri," she teased with critical side-eye.

"You are hilarious. Fine, whatever. Pick whatever you want, but at least look through my clothes, please."

"Deal."

I ran back upstairs and locked myself in the bathroom. The counter was cluttered with face products, makeup, and hair tools that made it difficult to put anything else on the counter's surface.

I was actually looking forward to see what Lillian was going to find for me to wear today. I was going to need as much help as I could get to rewire my brain. Again.

I took a very long, and hot shower. I was trying to rub all the greaser off of me, if that was even possible. I'm pretty sure I reeked of cigarettes from being around the gang for an entire year. I know Darry tried not to have the boys smoke in the house, especially when I started living there. I cannot count how many bottles of cologne I bought for them, and how many they broke or lost.

As the shower water poured over my head and slipped down my body, I couldn't stop thinking about Soda. Our love was once in a lifetime, but we were doomed right from the start. I spent months falling in love with his electric soul, I was so weak. We were never going to last, and I knew that. But he didn't. I shouldn't have kissed him. I shouldn't have told him I loved him, because that made it real. I shouldn't have let him fall in love with me, but I thought we had more time. In the end, the world is cruel and proves it every day.

After I dried myself off with a grey towel, I got dressed in what Lillian had picked out for me. To combat the humid Oklahoma heat, she ended up grabbing a dark blue swirly patterned halter style body suit that left my back and shoulders bare from my 60's clothes and a pair of blood-red short shorts from her closet. The less clothes in the Oklahoma summer, the better.

I brushed my conditioned hair out softly and it took me a minute to figure out the hair dryer, which I didn't know how to use a year ago anyways. I curled my hair, just because I was deprived of my curling iron for so long. I applied some brown mascara, a few dots of concealer that I blended out with my ring finger, a peach blush I brought from the 60s, and some lip balm tinted to be rosy brown. Being sent back to 1965 taught me that less is more.

I rummaged through my bags of clothes to try to find my white converse. Last time I wore them, I promised myself that I would wash them because I don't think I ever washed my shoes while I was in the 60s. I froze when I grabbed a handful of a soft, white fabric.

I lifted it up, feeling my heart drop to my stomach. It's Soda's sweater. The sweater is mom knit for him before she died. He loved this sweater, because it was one of the only things he had to remember her by. And I stole it. I didn't mean to, I packed so quickly I didn't even realize I had it in my room. I don't even want to think about how long he looked for this... my eyes immediately welled with tears.

I folded the sweater before placing it back on top of the rest of the clothes in the bag. If I ever get the chance to see Soda again, I'll give him this sweater back. I hope he still lives around here. I need to give this back to him.

I finally found my shoes. When I got downstairs, Lillian was waiting for me in the living room. She was just tying her sneakers when she looked up at me and said, "it's gone. All of it."

"Already?" I asked rather glumly. I was shocked on how fast she destroyed it all. I didn't even think she was going to do it today.

"Yeah, I shredded the blue prints and I used a sledge hammer on the Machine." Her voice was low, and full of sorrow. But it had to be done, neither of us ever wanted to deal with all of that again. It probably would have been better if I never went back at all.

At one point in time, there were two Time Machines. One was broken with little chance of repair, and the other was used by Lillian to bring me back, which has now been destroyed by a hammer. There might be one still floating around somewhere. I know that no one has looked under Soda's bed for years, proven by the thick layer of dust I inhaled getting that Machine under there. That was where I hid it; back in 1966. I didn't know where else to put it in fear of it being found.

I don't think we have to be worried about the gang finding the Time Machine any time soon. Even if they did, I was not close to fixing it so they will be struggling with it for a while if they even knew what it was. My best guess is that they threw it away decades ago just to get it out of the house, or if they moved and came across it while moving Soda's bed.

I cleared my throat and nodded softly. I replied half-heartedly, "good."

"Ready to go?"

"Yeah," I said.

"I'll drive."

I tied my sneakers and met her out in her car, where she had the air conditioning on full blast. Her leather seats were hot against my bare back, but I settled into the seat and put on my seatbelt. She handed me a pair of sunglasses so I didn't have to squint from the bright afternoon sun, and she blasted music I haven't heard in a year.

This used to be farmland for as far as the eye could see. She drove through her neighborhood until we got the main road that led into town, and all I could think about was how I had walked these same Oklahoma back roads, searching for an answer. If only I knew at the time that I was about to stumble upon the greatest adventure of my entire life.

Watching the town transform before my eyes was absolutely astounding. I could almost see the ghosts of the old signs that used to be nailed to the hundred-year-old buildings that still stood. Main Street was busy, probably because it was around lunch hour. There were many more buildings that I remembered as soon as I saw them, complete with many new stores and establishments that weren't there in 1965 or 1966. It was almost overwhelming.

We drove all the way through to Sperry. It gets less city and more country the further from Tulsa you get. We had been driving for about twenty minutes, and we were planning on turning around. Lillian flipped down her left turn signal, intending to make a left-turn into a nearby parking lot for a restaurant called Juanita's Mexican Restaurant. It's a cute little building with bright lime-green paint that makes it stand out from the earthy tones of the other buildings.

"Can you drive up ahead? Just a little," I asked while turning the music down so she could hear me.

"What?" She asked, continuing on the road.

"I just wanna see something."

She obliged and continued to drive straight. I pointed to the next left turn and said, "here. Turn here."

She slammed on the breaks and made the sharp right turn. On the corner was a familiar gas station.

"What is it?" Lillian asked, slowing the car when she noticed my attention was now on this old building she probably didn't care about.

"This was where I worked," I sighed softly. I tried to picture where the DX sign used to be, and how it didn't look like it has been repainted since 1966. The garage was still there and the layout was the same. I could see the ghosts of me, Soda, and Steve messing around during a slow shift. We always had fun.

"Oh, the DX?" She asked.

"Yeah, how—"

"It was in the book," she answered.

"Oh, of course it was," I chuckled softly. Pony really put everything he knew into that book. He practically snitched on everyone about everything, low-key airing out everyone's dirty laundry but his own, and even including pointless facts about me that didn't seem to connect to the story. I know that he meant well. He probably never thought that I would ever read it. He didn't know anyone was going to read it, except his teacher.

"And this is where I get my gas anyway. Now, I mean," I stated. "It's how I met Soda."

"Yeah, how did you meet him?"

"One of the first things I did when I realized I was stuck here—I mean there, was get a car. I needed gas, and this was where I went since this is where I've always gone. It just happened to be the DX, and Soda just happened to be working."

"I don't think I've been here. I usually get my gas from QuikTrip in town," she said.

"It's just a little cheaper. And the owner is super nice, if he's outside then he'll pump my gas for me or fill up my tires. They've got that garage too so they can check your oil, check your breaks... stuff like that. I really like them."

We used the Grease Monkey station to turn around to get back into town, just to keep on driving. From where I live today, this gas station is about ten minutes from my house. It's not the closest but it has the cheapest prices, for some reason, so I get my gas there all the time.

I turned the music up again and turned off the air conditioning so we could roll the windows down instead. I feel like the Goose to her Maverick when I'm in the passenger seat.

Lunch time had passed and no amount of music was going to stop me from feeling hungry. People were back at work, leaving the roads relatively clear. There was a Dairy Queen up ahead with a full drive-thru but barely anyone was parked in the parking lot.

"You hungry?" Lillian asked.

"Starving," I said, longingly gazing at my favorite burger joint. "The Dairy Queen is just up the road."

"Is this the same one we saw Steve and Two-Bit yesterday?" Lillian asked giddily, getting ready to turn into the parking lot.

"Oh, yeah, you're right. It was," I chuckled gleefully. I really miss those guys.

Lillian was quick to swing into the parking lot and find a spot. The lines that separated the spots were fading from time, and were in desperate need to be repainted. Lillian's smile was instant.

"I can't believe that this is where the Steve Randle and the Two-Bit Mathews was. And I got to meet them!" She squealed.

"Lillian," I chuckled. "You're nuts."

"I don't think you know how much I envy you," she laughed.

I envy myself. I wish I could have the best of both worlds, keeping my life here while being able to have a life in the 60's with the guy I fell in love with, and the boys that made me feel welcomed in a world so opposite of my own.

When Lillian opened her car door, it signaled to me that we were going inside to avoid the long drive-thru line. I followed behind her, and we began our walk into the Dairy Queen building. Lillian searched her pockets for her debit card as we walked in. My attention was immediately drawn to the few families staring at the counter as a customer was taking his rage out on an unfortunate minimum wage employee.

I looked at the staff behind the counter, who were calmly trying to talk some sense into the seven bozo's who were yelling at them from the other side of the counter. Well, it was just one guy who was yelling at them. The other six really were not doing much to stop him.

What kind of jackasses do that in this day and age?

I was still tired, similar to the feeling of jet-lag. I just wanted to get our food and go, I didn't have the energy to deal with craziness like this today. I have had enough craziness to last me a lifetime.

I leaned to Lillian to ask if we should go somewhere else so we didn't get in the middle of whatever was happening at the counter. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a robbery so I tried not to even look at them. Before I said anything, she whispered, "oh, shit."

Lillian's eyes were wide as she shot her gaze at me and nodded her head toward the group of customers. They definitely looked like greasers. The jackets of leather and denim, the dirty cuffed jeans, the slumped shoulders and fists in pockets. Even their hair was shiny, but I knew that they were probably just a gang of bikers because greasers don't really exist in 2017. My mind was definitely influenced by my time in the 60s. Genuine culture shock.

"Look, man, an ice cream cone should not be fucking $2.44!" The costumer hollered and slammed his fist on the counter. His voice rumbled the restaurant. He had a harsh tone that made me feel sorry for the teenage cashier who was forced to endure it. "This is so fucked!"

"I'm sorry, sir," the shaky teenager that wore a Dairy Queen hat gulped. Poor kid does not get paid enough for this. "But I'm not in charge of the prices. It's company policy."

"Bull-fucking-shit!" The guy snapped.

"Come on, Dal, we will just find something else," the voice of someone who sounded like a soft-spoken child said to try to keep the angry one calm. He tugged on the leather jacket of the blonde guy practically spitting at the cashier.

"What did he just say?" I whispered to Lillian, but she shrugged her shoulders. I must be brain-washed, because I couldn't help but think that it was my gang. That would be impossible, but I could have sworn I heard him say Dally's nickname.

"Just ignore him, he's probably a Scorpio," Lillian sneered.

"Man, this is your lucky fucking day, prick." He pointed to the cashier and it made him tremble like a Chihuahua. I couldn't help but chortle. He reminded me so much of Dally, it made me really miss him. I wonder how he's doing now.

"Why are you laughing?" Lillian whispered to me.

"He kinda reminds me of Dally," I whispered back.

As if on cue, all seven of them turned around. First they stared at the door, and I stared at their faces. Seven familiar faces. My eyes bugged out of my head and my smile dropped so fast. I inhaled sharply through my nose as I took a step toward the door to block them from leaving. It took me a second to process that I was right. I knew exactly who they were.

How was this possible?

"Outta my way," Steve had muttered. They all looked up to see what was stopping them from leaving, and gasps escaped all their lips.

Soda pushed through the boys and looked at me with shock, confusion, and finally comfort. His big brown eyes locked to mine. "Bri?"

My smile slowly spread across my features. I missed them all so much, and it hasn't even been a full day yet. I really wanted to ask, 'what on earth are you guys doing here?!' but I decided to go with a more witty approach.

"I wanted to be the first to tell you, welcome to Tulsa."