ʜᴇʀᴏ

smitten

Sunday's were always the perfect balance of peace and chaos in the Curtis house.

I sat on the couch with two- bit and johnny. jamie had left before everyone else had woken up, trying to avoid being seen coming out of my room. nothing happened but the gang and darry would assume the very worst.

two- bit forced us to watch mickey mouse but I honestly didn't mind, it made me feel like a kid again.

darry and soda were sitting at the table, still finishing up breakfast. i could tell darry enjoyed these sunday's more than the rest of us, and i didn't blame him. he broke his back working to make ends meet and sunday's are his only day of solitude.

dallas sat in the love seat and pony on the floor in front of the coffee table.

steve came into the house,
"you guys gotta check out this car that jack brought over. sickest ride i ever did see."
he said, almost giddy.

all of the guys except johnny got up and followed him outside to take a look. i will never understand men and their affinity for cars.

johnny looked over at me,
"i saw jamie go into your room with you last night..."
he said in a lower tone.

i looked at him and my eyes widened.
"oh johnny please don't tell anyone. they'll kill me and do worse to jamie. please."

he laughed and shook his head.
"i won't tell a soul.."

i leaned in closer to him.
"nothing even happened. we just went to bed, promise."

he shrugged.
"i figured. you don't seem like a girl who just.."
he trailed off and blushed
"sorry."

i shook my head and laughed softly.
"it's okay.. thanks for keeping my secret johnnycakes."

he nodded and smiled.
"i'll take it to my grave."

—————

as the boys sat at the table, playing what i could only assume was blackjack, i sat on the couch, half watching cartoons and half watching their game.

every so often i glanced over at dally. was jamie right? did dally really have a thing for me? but jamie didn't know how our gang worked. he didn't understand that all of these guys saw me as a sister. they cared for me like a sister, that's all.

i looked over at johnny. he was smiling and laughing, cursing at the fact that he kept losing. i loved to see him smile, his smile was so contagious.

"john, you suck man."
dally laughed.

"yeah, whip out go fish and i got you beat for days.."
he chuckled, looking at his pile of fake money we use from the monopoly board for games like this.

darry shook his head.
"you all suck, if this was real money you'd all be bankrupt by now."

ponyboy sat there, playing but not engaged with the rest of the group, i could tell his mind was elsewhere.

i heard a soft knock at our front door. i got up and answered it.

before me was one of the prettiest girls i'd ever seen. she was short and petite with long red hair and pale skin. if i didn't already know who it was, i could guess she was a soc based on the way she was dressed.

"cherry?"
i heard ponyboy say, walking closer to the door from behind me.

cherry valance, the most popular girl at our school. how did ponyboy know her?

"ponyboy, can you talk for a minute."
she asked in her sweet, soft voice.

the gang fell silent, eavesdropping on their conversation. ponyboy could tell,
"yeah, let's go onto the porch."