𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 ❥ 𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬

𝟢𝟢𝟥

"i feel like my heart is stuck in bumper to bumper                                      traffic."

𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞'𝐬 𝐩.𝐨.𝐯

     "Remember to stay quiet during the sermon." My mom said for the hundredth time that morning.

     After I walked in on Pony I ran back home and didn't show up at the Curtis house until it was time to leave for Church.

We filed into the church and found 2 pews to seat us all. I sat down in the second pew in between Pony and Jessica. The order shouldn't matter, but it did.

In the first (and smaller) pew was: Darry, my mom, Annie, and Lonnie; basically the saints and mature ones.

     And in the second pew was: Johnny, Pony, me, Jessica, Dally, Delancy, Steve, Sodapop, and lastly Two-Bit.

     My mom should've known better than to let Jessica and Dally near each other or to let Sodapop and Two-Bit together when they're the biggest pranksters in our gang.

     We had a couple of minutes before the pastor was ready so I turned towards Pony and Johnny for conversation.

     "So are we still pretending that Val didn't walk in on you and watch for a couple of seconds before you screamed like a little girl?" Johnny asked with a grin.

     He was getting a little too much joy from my embarrassment.

"I think that would be best," I replied. "Don't you agree, Pony?"

"I completely agree Val." Pony responded with a posh accent. The three of us erupted in giggles before my mother and Darry turned around in unison to shush us. It was a little weird to be honest.

After that the service started. We sung some hymns without any problems and even got through a quarter of the Pastor's sermon.

     Everything went downhill when Two-Bit balled up a piece of paper and threw it at the back of Darry's head. Darry turned around and glared at us before looking back at the pastor.

     "The idiot didn't even know it was me." Two-Bit whispered. "Let me try." Soda whispered back.

     Two-Bit nodded his head and handed Soda a piece of balled up paper. Soda looked around excitedly before closing his eyes and chucking the paper towards the front.

     My eyes widened as soon as I saw where it was headed. The entire church gasped in horror as the balled up paper hit the pastor mid-sentence.

    "Soda, you got him square in the head!" Steve whispered and raised his hand for a high-five. I had no clue why they were whispering when we could all hear them.

     The church quickly settled down and allowed the pastor to continue. Apparently that whole incident wasn't enough because Dally now wielded a paper ball.

     "Dally," I warned.

     "What's wrong Val?" He asked with a sly grin. Jessica patted his shoulder and hyped him up as if she were coaching him at baseball. I opened my mouth to speak but Dally ignored me and threw the ball at a family in the very front.

     By now the whole church knew who was causing all the trouble. I sank lower into my seat in shame as the pastor walked towards us.

     "Valerie Sutton? Is that you?" The pastor asked. I had recognized him from years ago and I knew he recognized me.

     "Yeah, it's me." I whispered.

     "Yes, well, I'm afraid I'll have to ask you all to leave." He said. I nodded, afraid to meet his eyes, and stood up along with the others.

     "What would your father think?" The pastor mumbled. My face burned in shame even though I hadn't done a thing. I knew if my dad were here he'd laugh it off and maybe even join in Two-Bit and the others game.

My mom led the way out as the rest of us followed along. With both my mom and Darry mad I knew a lecture would be coming.

Since Two-Bit and Dally were in front of me I could see the two of them waving and bowing as we walked out.

It was surprisingly quiet during the car ride home, but that didn't stop Two-But from trying to defend himself.

     "It's not my fault Diane, I swear." Two-Bit protested. Nobody paid attention to him so I haven't a clue why he was addressing it.

"The paper just looked so throwable." Soda added.

"Shut up Soda. You're making it worse." Two-Bit deadpanned. Then he broke into a smile and continued talking about just how 'throwable' the paper really was.

"It's all right boys." My mom said.

"Thanks Diane. We promise this won't happen next time." Soda smiled.

"If there's a next time." I muttered.

                                           ❥     ❥     ❥

     It was 𝟤 in the afternoon and I was laying on my stomach trying my best to finish the reading for English. Ponyboy was laying right beside me reading it out loud for the both of us.

I watched as he concentrated on the words, it was a little admirable to see how interested he was with the book.

     He must've caught me staring because he stopped reading and looked at me.

     "What?" He asked. I looked back at my book and tried my best to look interested.

     "Oh nothing," I replied. "You can continue reading."

     Pony glanced at me once more before returning to the story. I couldn't help but stare at him again, not when he looked so cute while being invested in the book.

     That's when I forced myself to look away. I've had 3 crushes in my life. One didn't know I existed, the second friend zoned me, and the third played around with me, and if you think that doesn't hurt you're crazy.

"You're staring again." Pony said.

"I am not." I protested.

"Are too."

"Am not!"

"Whatever you say."

"I'm finishing this up at home." I huffed. I gathered my book at stuffed it into my bag before standing to my feet.

     "Wait, Val. I don't mind or anything..." Pony started.

     I was tempted to sit down and continue staring at Pony, but I refused to have a crush on him. Could you imagine? We'd hold hands, he'd kiss me good night before I left his house, he could read to me while holding me...

     It was all very tempting but the chances of Pony feeling the same way was slim. Very slim.

I'm an idiot sometimes, and having a crush on my best friend would be by far the most idiotic thing I've ever done.

Wouldn't it?

      __

A/N- This is a pretty short chapter but trust me, the next chapter will be earth shattering amazing (probably not earth shattering). Thank you for reading and I hope you have an amazing rest of your day!- S💕