in love with home • johnny cade

7

Y/N

It was embarrassing of me to act so childish yesterday in front of the gang. I doubt they could care less, though.
My parents saw my scar and I had to explain what happened to them. After saying the stranger was worse than I was, they only gave me a warning.
2 more and I'd be grounded.

I approach the Curtis house, ascending the porch steps and going to knock on the door.
When I hit it once, the door swings open to reveal a very shirtless Ponyboy surrounded by his brothers, and the rest of them formerly laughing at him.

"I tried to knock. Your door was unlocked."
I say awkwardly, beginning to step away from the situation.

"Ponyboy, get your shirt on- hey, Y/N, sorry about-"

"It's fine."
I cut off Soda, sitting down on the couch.

"How's the scar doin'? The bruise?"
Darry looked over at me, inspecting my face.

"Better. You can clearly see."
The bruise on my face was still evident, but it began to fade. The scar looked like it'd be permanent, but I didn't care anyways. As long as it didn't hurt, I'd be fine.

Dally and Johnny were play fighting, pushing each other around and laughing. Johnny then got pushed onto the couch beside me, and he paused to look at me.

"Hey."
I say.

"Hi."
He replies, interrupted with his hair being ruffled by Dally.

"God, you stare at her with love hearts in your eyes."
Dally teases, and I kick his leg.

"I-I do not!"
Johnny protests, earning a laugh from his opponent.

"And you two got matchin' scars, got 'em from the same reason."
Dally adds.

"I don't think that's something we should be proud of."
I blurt out unintentionally.

"Yeah, now that I think about it, it's kinda messed up. Sorry."
I shrug my shoulders, nodding my head in response before he walks off.

"We do have the same scars. That's kinda cool. Not how we got them, but..."
Johnny says, looking at me.

"Mine is much bigger than yours."
I touch my face first, feeling the length of the cut with my fingers. My hand drifts over to his, touching the length of his tiny scar.

He freezes and continues to look at me, even after I pull my hand away.

"Sorry, was that too much?"
He shakes his head profusely before breaking eye contact.

"What'd they do to end you up like that?"
He asks.

"He managed to cut my face while my hold on him was weakening. I had him in one of those positions where it was like a tangle between arms."

"At least you can fight back. I can't fight for the life of me."

"Adrenaline hits everyone differently. When we got chased that night, you pulled me to run away."

"Also because there were too many of them!"

"Well, yes, also that, but still. I think I didn't have a choice the night I got this. If I ran, I'd have run into the blade and got my throat slit. Die."
I explain, the graphic depiction coming out my mouth naturally like it happens all the time.

"I told the gang about it. I thought they'd be mad, but they made sure I was okay. They would've asked you too, if you were there with me."
He says.

"I managed. I'm still alive, at least. I haven't told my parents about you guys yet... they're pretty overprotective. They're just glad I'm getting outside more."
I say.

"We should... we should do that again sometime."
Johnny says, not specifying anything.

"Do what?"

"Go to the park again."

"What if we get chased again?"

"We won't. Promise. If we do, we'll hide again."

"What if they find us?"

"They won't. Damn Socs are too stupid to try and find anyone or anything. And I've got you. You can kick their ass."

"You've got a knife too. Don't make me do all the work."
I joke. Johnny scoffs at me, soon followed by a laugh.

"No socs my ass."
I say, Johnny pushing my shoulder right after.

"Shut up."
He retorts.

"We are friends, aren't we?"
I ask him out of nowhere.

"What?"

"I introduced myself as an aquaintance when I met Dally for the first time. So are we-"

"Y/N, I think we considered you a friend the first time you met the whole gang. I mean, you saved me. And, and when we went to the park for the first time, when we saved each other."

"Oh, right. That's... that's great."
I smile to myself, attempting to hide the giddiness I felt.

"Why, did you not think so?"
He asked.

"I don't know... I never thought about it until now."

"I get it. Don't worry."
He gives me a look of understanding.

"That was probably the dumbest question I've ever asked."
I laugh at myself, Johnny following right after.

"That ain't dumb. Steve once asked why the toaster wasn't working when the power went out."
I fail to hold in my laugh at Johnny's remark, letting it all out.

"Sorry, I shouldn't-"
The more I tried to hold it in, the more I laughed.

"What are you two lovebirds talkin' about?"
I hadn't noticed Two-Bit came to check on us until he spoke.

"Nothin'... its nothin'."
Johnny looks at me quickly before looking down. I'm struggling to hide my smile from my laughing fit earlier.

"God, my humor is broken."
I say, hearing Johnny silently giggle.

"And when we found out Dally was scared of thunder... man, it was hard to believe. He ain't scared of the cooler, the fuzz, or dyin'. He's scared of a flash in the sky."
I laugh at the thought of Dally hiding under a blanket during a thunderstorm. Maybe he doesn't do that, but it'd be funny if he did.

"Quit gossipin', Johnny."
Two-Bit says, and we both laugh at each other.

"He is scared of thunder, though. There's a storm coming up this weekend, too."

"I'll come here just to see visual proof of this fear."

"Trust me. He'll do more than scream bloody murder."
Two-Bit disregards his statement earlier about gossiping and goes ahead and does it anyway. He walks off, leaving me and Johnny to ourselves.

"About going to the park..."
I see his head perk up the moment I spoke.

"We can go, whenever, sure. Just- I don't sign up for death."
He smiled at that.

"I know. Even if I can't fight, I'll make sure you won't die."