𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 ❥ 𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬

𝟢𝟢𝟤

   "i wanna dance on the roof, you and me alone."

𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞'𝐬 𝐩.𝐨.𝐯

"C'mon Val! Keep up!"

Pony ran off as soon as I agreed to ditch the others, so naturally, I ran after him.

Once I caught up to him I rested against him, trying my best to catch my breath. I noted that I need to quit smoking so much if I want to stay in shape for basketball season.

"Damn it," I wheezed.

"You alright there?" Pony asked.

"Yeah." I clutched my stomach as we continued walking. We continued walking towards the corner of Pickett and Sutton.

     "Should we head to The Dingo or Jay's?" I asked.

     "The Dingo," Pony replied, "I heard Curly Shepherd's back in town so I wanna say hi." He added.

     "Okay, but we have to hit the road after. I don't like hanging around too long." I said. Ponyboy nodded and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

     We talked about Johnny's upcoming birthday on the way there, but I could tell he was far away thinking of something else.

"Pony," I started, "We can go back to my house if you want. I bet the gang already left to do their own things."

"I'm fine." He said stiffly.

I didn't say anything and continued to walk beside him in silence.

When we entered The Dingo it was full as ever, even though it was barely 10 a.m. but I wasn't too surprised.

"I'll be right back. I just spotted Curly and Tim." Pony promised before slipping past the crowd.

"Valerie! Over here!"

I turned around to see Angie Duncan, who I played basketball with on the school team, and Kathy Gilbert, who was her #1 best friend.

Angie was pretty nice to me most of the time. Kathy on the other hand hated me because of how much time I spent with Angie freshman year.

She couldn't stand sharing Angie, but that was solved when Angie gained more popularity and stopped coming around my house.

     "Val, I feel like I haven't seen you in ages." Angie said as she gave me a quick hug. "Maybe because you haven't," I shrugged and lit a cigarette.

     Angie didn't seem fazed at my cold response and smiled. "Well, that's my fault." She grinned.

    "Hey Kathy." I said nodding in her direction.

    "Hey Val," she replied and took the cigarette from my hand. She took a puff then handed it back before walking away to talk to someone else.

     I glanced over her shoulder to see Ponyboy heading towards us.