cliche {Johnny Cade}

iv.

"You kissed him? Why?" My mom asks rudely, cutting her steak. It has been a week since I kissed Johnny, and I still got all smiley thinking about it.

"Why do you have so many infidelities? I kissed him to protect him, mom."

"Don't bring up what I do in my own time."

"You're still married to him mom," I whisper, pushing my steak around on my plate. I'm sure Johnny would love to have this, and I don't even eat meat. 

"He isn't worth my time, just like you aren't." ouch.

"Okay, well, I'm leaving." I grab my steak and put it on a paper plate, grabbing my fork and walking out the door. We lived closer to the greaser side, so it was much easier than living by the soc side. After the short run to the other side of town, I reach the Curtis house.

"Johnny here?" I ask, breathing heavy from the run. Darry points to the living room and I kiss his cheek, walking to where Johnny was sitting.

"Hey Johnny." I say breathlessly, smiling when I see him. The poor kid hasn't talked to practically anyone since last week. Before he got attacked he was always smiling and talking, but now it's rare. They almost killed him, but they killed his happiness.

"Hi Vi," I hand him the food and sit next to him, Johnny smiling when he saw it. It wasn't like he wasn't fed, he just rarely had Steak.

"So I was thinkin'." Johnny starts, making me raise my eyebrows.

"What?"

"You wanna go out to the Dingo later? We haven't hung out with just us two in a while,"

"Yeah, of course, let me go get money real quick."  I stand up and Darry raises his eyebrows at me.

"I could pay." Johnny says and I shake my head, my hair bouncing everywhere. I absolutely hate my hair, but Johnny insists that it's one of my best features. Besides my freckles, I guess. I hated myself personally, but Johnny was slowly teaching me how to love myself. Just like I was teaching him.

"Soda owes me money anyway. Are you sure you wanna go eat when we could just go somewhere else?"  Johnny shrugs and stands up, grabbing the food and looking at me. I raise my eyebrows at him and open the door, letting him go through before shouting a farewell to Darry.

Johnny sticks his hand out shyly and I latch onto it as soon as I could. I smile and look at him as he walks, still in awe that he's my best friend. Johnny was everything you could ask for, and probably more. He was an adorable boy who was so passionate about things he loves.

Believe it or not, Johnny used to be carefree like Soda, before the jumping. He always talked in conversations and waved to people on the street. Now Johnny hides from everyone on the street and barely says anything. I wanna be the one to change that. I'll die trying if I have to.

"Johnny?" He looks at me as we reach the lot, sitting down carefully.

"What's wrong Violet? Did you wanna go somewhere else?"

"Can you say something in Spanish?" 

"Yeah, um, Violeta es muy amable, y ella es muy hermosa."

"What did you say?" I lay my head on his shoulder, Johnny resting his on top of mine.

"I said 'Violet is very kind, and she is very beautiful'." I blush and play with his hand again, tracing over every line.

We sat quietly for a while, Johnny suddenly sniffling. "Why do my parents hate me? Why does everyone hate me?"

"Johnny, no. They don't deserve you. You deserve so much more than all this hate. Not everybody hates you, they hate your idiotic label. You're a great guy," I sit up and take his face in my hands, wiping away a tear that fell. Johnny's eyes flick to everywhere on my face before he hugs me and cries into my shoulder. Johnny has been keeping all of this held in for god knows how long, and he's finally letting it out.

"Muchas gracias, mi bella amiga."

"What does that one mean?" I trace patterns on his arm and he lays back down, pulling me down next to him.

"Thank you so much, my beautiful friend."
---
"Little red, Johnny, get up."

"Dal, what did she say about being called little red?" I hear Johnny say, groaning while I wipe my eyes.

"Hey, little red is up! Let's go." Dallas says, making me sigh and stand up. I hold my hand out to help Johnny up, and he takes it and stumbles his way up.

"Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you two to lovers lane."

"That's not even a thing, where are you actually taking us?" Dallas turns around and rolls his eyes at me, sighing heavily.

"Fine, sorry princess, but we're going to the Dingo." Johnny sends me a look, and I send the same one back. Dallas was only taking us because he didn't want to look lame, and he can try to hit up girls. Last time we went, everyone thought we were dating, so there was no way to get him a girl. Dallas knew better than to just take Johnny, cause the poor kid is so awkward he couldn't really help. 

"Why do we have to go? I was actually enjoying my nap." Johnny says, making me nod. 

"Okay? Of course you were, your little girlfriend was practically on top of you. You two can finish that later."  Dallas blows some smoke away as Johnny and I blush. He was correct, whenever I cuddle something, I have to practically lay onto of it. 

"Why do you always have to target us? Why can't you take Pony?"  I groan, trying to hold down my hair as the wind blows.

"Pony wines all the time, plus he isn't as cute as you two." he points to where our sides were touching, myself blushing again. Johnny just shrugs and ignores Dally's comment, our arms bumping as we walked to the Dingo.

--

"Where are you staying tonight Johnny?"

"The lot, if it get's too cold, I'll go to Pony's place."

"Are you sure?" I fumble with the arms of my sweater, glancing up at Johnny. 

"I'll be fine darlin', don't worry."  

"If you need anything, just come get me." I smile and Johnny nods. 

"Goodnight, Violet." 

"Goodnight, Johnny, stay safe."

"You too princess."

---

pls stop white washing johnny cade.

(this is short sorry)