♡ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ꜱᴀʏ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ♡

1 8

(Johnny's POV)

"I love you, Johnny."

My mouth dropped open slightly. Did she really just say that? No, my ears had to have been playing tricks on me.

"What?" I finally managed to say. But her steady breaths told me she was already asleep.

I just sat there, shocked. There's no way she just said that. Not now, not ever.

I love you, Johnny. The words echoed in my head, each time sounding more and more fake. I shook them out of my brain. Who was I kidding? Of course they were fake. She wouldn't say something like that.

But then again, I know for a fact I heard it. Whether or not it was a sick joke my ears were playing, I heard it.

I looked at her. She looked so peaceful asleep, as if she was an innocent little girl, untouched by the world. But that was far from the truth, and it broke my heart.

I could've bawled when she asked me to stay with her—her voice sounded so scared, so vulnerable, so broken. But when she fell asleep in my lap, she looked as if none of that existed.

I had been brushing my fingers through her hair lightly, trying to get her to go to sleep. I knew it was what she would do for me. I love you, Johnny. Again, the words filled my brain, refusing to let me ignore them.

I tried to go to sleep, but I always jolted awake. I love you, Johnny. Her silvery voice persisted in my mind despite my desperate attempts to get it out. Steve told me not to get involved with girls, and now look at me, obsessing over four little words Cary said. But they were little words with meaning. Big meaning.

The added fact that her head was in my lap gave me a tinge of hope that it was real. Maybe she did say it, and maybe she really did mean it.

I thought about it for the rest of the night.

I don't know when I fell asleep, but I remember being startled awake to the sound of the door slamming shut.

Disoriented, I heard Dally's voice. "Morning, hobos!" I looked around to find him stomping the dirt off of his boots by the door.

He looks towards me. "Hey—" he starts, before looking at Cary. He looks back to me, then to Cary, then me and smirks. He shakes his head before giving a short laugh.

"Oh, buzz off. It's not what it looks like." I protest, my mouth as dry as cotton.

He smirks again. "Oh, is it not?"

I sighed, trying not to blush. Golly, this sure was embarrassing. Besides Darry, Dally was the last person I wanted to see me with Cary's head in my lap. I love you, Johnny. I gently move Cary's head from out of my lap and stand up. "She got jumped last night, Dal."

He went silent and his smirk faded. "Say what now?"

"Jonathan attacked her." I swallowed, remembering how she could barely stand. I lowered my voice. "You should've seen her, man."

He scowled and angrily shoved his fists in his pockets. He looked at Cary for a few seconds before taking a deep, growling breath.

I went to the kitchen and poured myself a glass of water from the sink. I gulped it down in seconds before getting another and taking it back to the living room.

Loud footsteps and laughter on the front porch signaled that Two-Bit had arrived. He opened the door, Steve following right behind him. He was laughing about something Steve seemed to care less about, but his wide smile quickly faded when Dally shot him a death glare.