SHE ALMOST FELT THE UNREQUITED LOVE
LILLY HAD THE DAY ALL TOO HERSELF AFTER HER FATHER WENT TO WORK, her mother, violet was busy cleaning up the household like any other ordinary housewife. chris stayed home from school because of the many questions he'd get asked about the night of bob's death, everyone in the whole town knew that chris was last seen with bob because they were always together along with randy anderson who hasn't been seen in public lately.
violet also let lilly stay home because someone from bob's group of friends told the police that violet was hanging out with ponyboy and johnny the night of bob's death, she knew her daughter would be crushed with the amount of rumors spreading around about her.
lilly spent the entire day alone, cleaning her room, reading a book, eating from time to time, and trying to nap. she wanted it to be a productive day while at home so she doesn't get bored.
violet comes barging in, "sweetie, some greaser is here to see you."
"who?" lilly asks while head first into her closet.
"i don't know, a boy with a filthy shirt and brunette hair." violet tries to make out, "just get him off of our yard fast before someone calls the cops on him."
lilly's face lit up when she expected it to be ponyboy. she jumped out of her closet and ran downstairs to her front door. lilly was about to jump into ponyboy's arms but was halted when she saw sodapop curtis standing on her front porch, dx shirt covered grease and oil.
"soda? hold on." lilly says before closing the door behind her.
sodapop hides his fingers in the back pockets of his jeans, "hey lilly."
"what are you doing here? you could get yourself killed for being here." lilly warns him.
"i just wanted to check up on you because i haven't seen you since you visited the dx." he shrugged.
"that was yesterday, it's not like you haven't seen me in a decade." lilly laughed, "so is that all?"
sodapop huffed when looking away from her, "well the thing is, umm..."
"what?"
"i wanted to know if you were also in on the plan that dally gave to pony and johnny?" sodapop questioned, "i won't be mad if you knew but if you do know, could you please tell me? darry's freaking out and i can't focus on work anymore because pony's missing and i-"
"i'm sorry, soda but i had no idea about the plan or what was going to happen that night. i left because of my brother." she disappointedly tells him.
"that's ok, really. i'm sorry for wasting your time, i'm gonna head out." soda nods.
"it was no problem, you're welcome any time though!" she shouts as he is leaving.
lilly watched sodapop walk away, she had never seen someone care so much about their brother that they have to go to everyone their brother knew and ask for answers, even if it meant he had to go on the wrong side of the turf.
she turned around and went back inside her house. she noticed her mother getting drunk already, holding a glass of wine in her hand as she vacuumed the carpet in the living room. lilly was practically used to it at this point, she never lived a day where her mother was sober in their own home.
it was a shame to her that it was an everyday thing.
JOHNNY WENT OUT TO GO FIND SOMETHING TO EAT WITH THE LITTLE MONEY DALLY GAVE US, he told me it'd be less of a risk if i just stayed in the old church while he went out to go find something. i wanted to go for him but he knew how to find food from the outside world more than i did.
it had been three days since i ran away. lilly never slipped my mind but i had no idea how she'd react if i came back home to tulsa, she probably already forgot about me.
i didn't have a clock or watch on me, i had to guess the time and not know the actual time. it was whatever but it really sucked. i guess johnny had been gone for an hour or two, haven't seen him in a while. however, the entrance for the church made a bunch of noise, like someone was trying to break in, i just thought to myself that it was johnny because he's always the one to show up unexpectedly.
my guess was right when i saw him walk in with a bag full of groceries, he dropped them onto the bench before sitting down.
"sorry it took so long, those god damn people won't stop talking about tulsa and it just made me freak." johnny explained.
"no worries, johnny, as long as they don't notice us then we should be fine." i shrugged, digging into the bag to find something other than bologna.
"have you heard from lil?" johnny asks as he grabs a cigarette from his box.
"dude, she doesn't even know if i'm alive or not." i scoffed, "i haven't even heard from dally but dally knows where we are."
"pony, i think lil likes you a lot, saw it in her eyes the night she kissed." he said.
"i took a long moment of silence, "ya think?"
"swear to god." he put his hand up, "we ain't gonna be here forever, so start thinking of things to say to lilly before it's too late."
"how too late?"
"too late as in she forgets your name, moves on and finds another boy, marries him, has his kids. that late." johnny pictured.
"alright, alright." i rolled my eyes.
there was nothing but bologna so i just got what i saw, i was starving to death, i didn't know if my bones were poking out from my skin. i was aware that johnny couldn't get anything else and i was fine with that.
however, i watched him pull a chocolate bar out from his pocket of his denim jacket. we met eyes when he started unwrapping the chocolate bar, he had a sly smile as he bit into it.
"you asshole." i chuckled.
SHE DIDN'T WANT TO FORGET HIM ALREADY
