Hold your Hand || Johnny Cade x Reader

⚡ you seemed nice ⚡

The first time they'd ever come close to talking was at prom. 

[Y/N] was attending with her controlling Soc boyfriend, Billy, who was making the whole thing unenjoyable for her, as usual. She was, in fact, relieved when he got so drunk off of the ever-present flask he'd hidden inside his jacket that he left with his pack of friends in search of some sort of trouble - without even letting her know, but she wouldn't have wanted to talk to him anyway. 

It was only a few moments after he and his gang left that she noticed him, standing by the door, alone, a few feet from where they'd just trampled out. He was at the back of the gym; he looked nervous and out of place, sipping from a paper cup of punch. [Y/N] had seen him around - Johnny Cade was a small, quiet boy, but something about him had always seemed very nice to her, and with a start she realized this was the first opportunity she'd really had to talk to him. During class or in a crowd, something always warned her to stay away from him, but nobody cared to watch the gym's back door during the social event of the season...

She'd already determined that he wasn't someone to be scared of talking to; slowly but surely, she walked over to him, preparing to introduce herself, but he looked up and saw her coming and left swiftly out the back door. She realized suddenly why he'd been standing there - not just so he'd be less noticeable, but so he could make a quick escape if necessary. And apparently he'd deemed this necessary. 

She didn't want to bother him...but whatever attracted her to him was strong enough to draw her to follow him out the exit. [Y/N] scanned the darkened landscape and found him slouching over as he cut through the parking lot to leave the school. She bit her lip for a moment, debating; his allure won over again and she jogged to catch up with him. As she'd feared, he realized she was chasing him and didn't hesitate as he took off running. She slowed down a bit; he didn't, and took a sudden turn, cutting through the nearby woods. [Y/N] knew not to chase him any more. He wasn't just a shy kid - he was a scared kid. She'd been surprised to even see him at prom, and now she'd chased him away from the event, ruined her chances of meeting him, and made him scared of her all in one fell swoop. Defeated, she kicked off her uncomfortable shoes and carried them the whole way back to the gym.

***

When [Y/N] walked into geometry class the next week, she surveyed the room before taking the empty seat behind Johnny with more bravado and courage than she felt. He was only in two of her classes, and she fully intended to take advantage of the opportunity to apologize for the night's awkward chase. As the teacher began to talk, she took out a small piece of flowery stationery and wrote Hi on it. Then she tossed it on the ground and nudged it under Johnny's chair with her foot before throwing her pencil on the ground. As she'd hoped, it landed with a clatter right next to the paper, and as Johnny leaned over to pick up the pencil, he paused, noticed the latter, and picked it up as well. 

After looking it over, he turned around to see who'd left it. [Y/N] managed a tight smile and a small wave; Johnny's face fell and went a bit pale. He turned back around and asked the teacher to use the restroom. 

After what felt like twenty minutes but in reality was around two, Johnny came back with regained composure. [Y/N] had a feeling that if it weren't for the fact that he was a good enough student and obviously cared about passing the class, he wouldn't have come back. He sat up straight, trying to focus and ignore [Y/N]. She bit her lip and wrote another note. 

I'm not trying to scare you, I promise, you just seemed kinda lonely?

This time, she managed to pass it to Johnny by tapping him on the shoulder. He tensed up a little when she did so, and glanced behind him before reluctantly allowing her to slip the paper into his hand. It brushed hers as she did so; something warm and fluttery tingled throughout her body at the quick touch. Oh..