The Happy Ending (The Outsiders Johnnyboy)

4

I had been reading Gone With The Wind for quite a while, and Johnny had gone completely silent. "Johnny Cake?" I say looking down at the boy leaning on my shoulder. Fast asleep, I guess we were both still tired. I put the book down, leaning my head on Johnnys making him shift and move a bit.

I began to think about my feelings for Johnny. Should I tell him? How do I tell him? Does he even like me back? I don't want to ruin our friendship if he doesn't! Maybe I just shouldn't tell him.... But at the same time, he was okay with us holding hands and stuff, so maybe he does like me back! I have to tell him, I just don't know is how. When we get out of this church for sure. It's not exactly the nicest place to confess your love to someone....

So it is decided, I'll tell Johnny once we get back home to Tulsa. I don't care how long it takes, but I'm going to do it! And if he likes me back we could be boyfriends! I could take him on a movie date or to watch the sunset in the lot. Well maybe not the lot.. again, not the most romantic place ever, but it is where we usually hang out if we're not at the movie house watching a movie.

I really do hope he likes me back though... if he didn't I doubt he would still want to be friends with me, and that's not what I want at all. If we do date... will the gang accept us? It's not exactly common for two boys to date each other, and it's not really accepted in our town either. We would probably have to keep it a secret for a while, but with a gang that constantly needs to know your business and a town as small as ours, it was hard to keep anything a secret.

I decided to stop thinking about it and go back to reading. I don't know how long I had been reading for, but it was already nighttime by the time Johnny woke up. I was still reading when he sat up, rubbing his eyes and yawning. He looked at me and stared for a second before saying, "How long was I sleeping for?" , I looked at him, "Quite a while, it's already dark out." He nods, standing up, taking out a lighter to light one of the candles he bought. Once he lit it, he sat down staring at the dancing flame. His eyes stood out a lot more in the candle light. I got up and joined him.

"When do you think we're going to get out of here, Johnny cake?" Of course neither of us knew the answer to this question, we were still waiting for Dallas to come with some sort of news. "Soon, I hope" , he says, sighing. It hadn't even been that long and we were both already tired of this place. Sure, I wanted to get home, but once we got home I could also confess my Johnny. Not that he'll like me back, but I still had hope.

"I wonder what is happening back home, Soda is probably worried.. maybe Darry too, but I'm not so sure." Johnny looks at me, his eyes still glowing in the luminous light of the fire. "Are you kidding? They are probably both worried sick, Pone." He said. Johnny always tried to be reassuring and it usually worked. Not so much in this situation though. "I don't think my folks are worried about me at all... they're probably happy I'm not home to bother them." Johnny said, I could see tears forming in his glowing eyes. The first thing I thought to do was hug him, so I did. "Who cares about them? You have the gang.... you have me." I say, pulling away just enough to see his face. He smiled at the last sentence.

We were so close, close enough that if we even moved an inch further our lips would connect. I kind of wanted to... but I didn't want to make Johnny hate me. We could both tell it was getting awkward, so he buried his face into my shoulder, I decided not to say anything, so I just sat there, quiet, holding Johnny in my arms. Without thinking, I kissed the top of his head. He looked up, a look of pure shock on his face which was quickly replaced with a warm, genuine smile. I loved his smile, it was one of the many things I loved about Johnny Cade. I returned the smile, I could have sworn I saw him blush, but I couldn't get a good look before he buried his face into my shoulder again.

I was filled with hope again... maybe Johnny did like me after all!