THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOU // JOHNNYBOY

FIFTEEN | Anything At All

Ponyboy Curtis
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Pilgrimage , Verb
To take a trip, especially of some distance.

DAY ONE OF VEGAS

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- One Week Later -

I carry my luggage onto the plane, and Johnny follows shortly behind me. Darry and Soda are off doing their own thing, so it is just me and Johnny until further notice. Johnny is kind of on edge, which frightens me. As we sit down in our seats, I look to Johnny with loving eyes, and rest my hand on his thigh. "Hey, are you okay?" I ask honestly. Johnny squirms in my touch and looks down. "Is it a bad time to say I'm scared of heights?" Johnny asks, looking back up at me. "But we're not even up in the air, yet, my love?" "I know . . ." Johnny says. " . . It's just the knowing that I will be high up sooner or later that scares me." Johnny admits. "Oh," I say, moving my hand from his thigh, to his hand. I grab it and squeeze his hand tight. "Well, I wont let anything happen to you." I reassure. Johnny nods, and I rest my head on his shoulder to comfort him.
Johnny and I fall asleep almost instantly and sleep peacefully until the plane is about to take off — turbulence. Johnny starts to shake in my arms. "Hey, it's okay Johnnycake." I reassure, my arm around his shoulder. I rub his side gently as he squirms in discomfort. Darry and Soda sit in the seats across from us and they are sucked into their own world — headphones tucked into ears, blankets wrapped around their chests, movie blasted on their screens. Darry's eyes are shut sternly, and Soda has a concentration to his face.

Once Johnny starts to calm down, he stares out the airplane window.
"I always knew there would be somewhere else." Johnny says. I furrow my eyebrows, looking at him — he does not look back. "Somewhere without all those pricks. Bob, Toad?" I don't say anything. "I always hated Tulsa, never liked it once." He says softy. "Never felt safe. I always felt caged, like I was never good enough. I think Toad was apart of the problem." Johnny admits, pausing and smacking his lips. "I'm thankful for you, for Darry, Soda. Taking me in like that, you hadn't had to do that." He says, now making eye contact with me. "When I found you on the porch I knew it was meant to be. I knew we were meant to cross pathways. Fate." I say, admiring his eyes, they have a slight gloss to them, and I watch a tear fall. "Thank you." Johnny says, tightening his grip on my hand. "Thank you." I respond, smiling.

Darry has been snoring unbearably loud for a long while now, and it's really starting to bother me. I slip the cheap airplane provided headphones over my ears for noise cancellation. Johnny sleeps on my shoulder and when I do this, he grumbles. "Stopp . . ." He mutters no louder than a whisper, shaking his head slowly, and I chuckle.
"Care for a refreshment?" The flight attendant asks, pushing a cart my way with a pitcher of iced water, lemonade, and other juices. "Sure, Lemonade please?" I ask politely, the attendant nods and grabs the pitcher labeled "LEMON", pouring it into a glass with ice cubes in it. The Lemonade trickles into the glass and it is like music to my ears. "Enjoy your lemonade." She says, handing me the glass and continuing down the isle. I take a sip of the lemonade and make a disgusted face, gagging at the sourness of the drink, but I sip it again — never have I been good with sour things. The sourness is a drug in some way, so I finish the drink without a second thought behind it.

As I finish my drink, Johnny begins to stir. "Ponyboy." Johnny whispers sternly which scares me, I look down to my shoulder and his eyebrows are furrowed. "Are we almost there?" He asks in the same tone as when he had said my name — stern and deep. "Yes . . Soon. What's up with you?" "Tired." Johnny responds, closing his eyes and going back to sleep. I forget that Johnny does this sometimes — he'll wake up in the middle of his sleep or a nap and act real weird. I've questioned if it's just very vivid sleep talking. As Johnny drifts off, I begin to drift off too.

"Ponyboy." I hear someone whisper inbetween my snores. I jolt awake and Soda is gripping onto my shoulder. "Geez, sorry to scare you, man!" Soda apologizes, laughing at the panic I had in my eyes. "We're here, grab your stuff." Soda instructs, pointing his head at Johnny when he says 'grab your stuff'. I look to Johnny who is still passed out, his hair is messied and his mouth is slightly open. I chuckle at the sight, gently pressing feather like kisses on his face to wake him up. "Mmfh.." he groans, looking away from my kisses, his eyes squinting even more shut. "Johnny." I huft, moving the hair away from his ears, tucking it behind them. "The plane ride, it's over." Johnny's eyes shoot open and he turns to face me with squinting eyes and a sleepy smile.

Johnny stretches in his seat and clings onto my arm as he unbuckles and stands. I follow his steps and do the same, he still holds onto me tight. I don't think I'd ever want him to let go. We step out of the isle our seats sat at, and started walking towards the front of the plane where the entrance, now exit, was. I hiss at the sunlight that beamed against our skin, burning holes through our eyes as we exited the plane, I watch Johnny do the same. "It was so dark on the plane! This light is unbearable!" Soda groans, Darry grumbles a reply and gets dragged by Soda — he cleary just woke up, too, like Johnny. Except Johnny has a more pep to his step, like he's been up longer, when he hasn't.

As we enter the airport, the people in it look like a different variant of human. All stuck up, wearing bright colors, clean, ungreased hair, all clearly got a good nights sleep. And those who look different, like me, are completely left alone. I feel at ease — so does Johnny. Though, he hadn't had to worry in the first place. Being a Soc equals undying respect. But I'm starting to wonder, what are soc's and greasers to Vegas? Are they anything at all? Are we all just, one category here? Do these people look at me and say: "Oh, yeah, that's a grease!" Or do they just say: "That's just some guy with funky hair!" What are the differences between Tulsa and Vegas? Tulsa and everywhere? Are we safe here?

I may start taking that answer as yes.

Soda and Darry drags all of our luggage into the trunk of our newly picked up rental car. Me and Johnny are seated in the back, my head on his lap and his arms rested on my side. Music plays on the radio no louder than a hum. We sit in peaceful silence. Darry opens the car door and slides into the drivers seat, clearing his throat as he loads the keys into the ignition. Soda opens the passenger door and slides into the seat adjacent to Darry's. "Ponyboy you better be wearing your seatbelt." Darry scolds, looking at me through the rear view mirror. I groan and sit up, clicking my seatbelt into place and leaning on the window. "Good." Darry says, focusing back on the road as he starts up the car. "No kid brother of mine is going to get in no accident." Darry mutters, shaking his head. Darry starts to drive towards the hotel as the sun begins setting.

I sit up in me and Johnny's shared bed in our hotel, looking out the window with my book carefully placed in my lap. Johnny is wearing one of my hoodies and is curled up on the left side of the bed. I sit on the right with my hand grasped onto his side as if I was scared that if I were to let go, he'd disappear. But he wouldn't. He wont. He hasn't.
At night, the cities are lit up in colorful shades of purple, blue, red, and pink. The nighttime traffic glistens like stars, and from the floor our hotel room is on, the scene below us looks like a clip from a photograph. I admire this dreamy haze.
Johnny snores quietly and it makes me smile. How can a boy be so adorably peaceful? I place my book on the nightstand and curl up beside him. Kissing the back of his head as I close my eyes. I feel his sleep tainted mind squirm in my grasp, but I discard the thought and let it happen.

Tomorrow awaits many adventures for Johnny and I.

Words: 1591

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A/N) decided to split this chapter into two parts for your own justice. And mine. Thought that if I were to include Vegas days one and two in one chapter it would be too much to digest so its split. Youll get day two soon i swear but this took way longer to make than expected so we're shortening this down a bit 😭😭

Oh yea also sorry this chapter kind of jumped around a lot so im sorry if it got a bit confusing