The Delinquent's Daughter {An Outsiders Fanfiction - Sequel to Hope}

24

FINALLY SOME ELI CHAEACTER DEVELOPMENT YAS WHO'S BEEN WAITING FOR THIS?!

"Your father," Elliot repeated, pulling me a bit closer. He didn't ask any questions after that, and I didn't say anything. There was so much I wanted to say to Dallas, so much I wanted to say, but I felt safe in Eli's arms, looking at the gravestone, reaching my hand out to touch it every once in a while, and didn't feel that I needed to say anything. He said a few things to Johnny though.

He started with, "I can't believe all I've ever wanted my whole life was a brother... and I had one." He wiped a few tears away, looking at Johnny's headstone from our seat by my father's.

"Our parents never told me about you. And I know they abused you... but I know in some way, Johnny, that they loved you. Otherwise they wouldn't have had me, right?"

"I'm sorry I wasn't born sooner. I'm sorry there wasn't anything I could do to get them to stop hurting you." That one made me cry. He choked up for a second, standing up to stand over his late brother's grave, but then kept going.

"That's what brothers are for right? To help and protect each other? I'm sorry I could never do that." I went over and put a hand on his shoulder. I almost told him it wasn't his fault, but I figured I should just give him his moment.

"Johnny... I didn't even know about you until now. I'm 17 years old now... you'd be around 33 now. It seems weird, doesn't it? That I'm so much younger than you. And that I never even knew about you until now? I'm sorry you had such a bad life. I wish you were still here though, so I could know you. So you could tell me everything that happened yourself and I wouldn't have to sit and wonder if our parents told me the truth, if that was everything or if they left parts out..." He stopped to catch his breath, then started again, with an emotional crack in his voice.

"How am I supposed to know without you around? They've lied to me for this long, Johnny, how am I supposed to figure out if they aren't now?" I hugged him, and he put his arms around me. I felt bad, terrible that I knew about all of this before him. Even worse that I had kept such a secret from him. His and my own...

"I can't believe I never got to meet you. My own brother... You know they don't even have any pictures of you?" I tried to think back to the scrapbook my mom had shown me. It seemed like forever ago now. I tried to think back to if we had any pictures of Johnny other than the one in that scrapbook. I didn't think so, but I could picture Johnny. He would have been proud of his brother. They looked alike.

"You have the same hair. Eyes too. I've only seen one picture of him. But you look alike, almost like twins." He nodded slowly, a smile appearing on his face.

"Really?" I nodded, kissing his cheek. He looked like a weight had been lifted off him, like I had just told him something great.

"Let's get out of here, Hope," he said. I nodded, kneeling down to trace "Dallas Winston" in that headstone one last time.

"Thanks for today, Dad. I needed that."

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"Where're we going?" I asked Eli once back in the car. He looked at the time, it was already 12:30.

"It's too late to go back to school... Wanna get a bite to eat?" He asked. I nodded, that sounded good. That was, until he pulled up to a little '50s themed diner a little out of the way. Out of anywhere in town he could have taken me, it had to be here. I sighed, not surprised. Isn't that how everything works out?

"What's wrong?" He asked. I shook my head.

"Nothing. Let's just go inside. And out of curiosity, how'd you find this place?" I asked him, looking at the Mathews Milkshakes and Food sign. I remember when it was put up, when the diner first opened. I was there, and so was Faith.

Uncle Two-Bit had picked the two of us up, smiling bigger than we'd ever seen.

"Ready to go see something cool?" He asked, unlocking the door. We nodded.
Aunt Marcia held the door open and turned the open sign for everyone to see while Uncle Two-Bit ran over to the counter, dropping us down on it. We both smiled, feeling on top of the world.

"I'll be right back," he said, walking over to a JukeBox and putting on our favorite song at the time. We smiled and giggled, looking around the room. It was something out of Happy Days, it looked exactly like Arnold's, and it made Faith and I even more excited. Aunt Marcia brought the two of us milkshakes, chocolate for me and vanilla for her. They were the best things we'd ever tasted back then.

"Welcome to Mathews Milkshakes!" A waitress called from the counter, smiling up at us. We took a seat in a booth, and I prayed my Aunt and Uncle wouldn't be our servers.

"So Hope," Eli said, completely changing the subject in my head.

"Yeah?" I responded, looking down at a menu, even though I knew and had tried everything on it.

"I think we should talk about what you told me earlier... if you're ready," he said, smiling up at me with his eyes as if I needed persuasion to say anything. I nodded.

"Yeah. And after that I want to know everything your parents told you... if you're ready to talk about that." He took my hand from across the table and I opened my mouth to speak, but a waitress suddenly appeared at our table.

"I'll take a choc-" I started, and looked up to see my Uncle looking at me.

"Hi, Uncle Two-Bit," I said, nervously. I was so busted.

"What're you doing here? School's not out for another few hours," he said. He wasn't smiling like usual. I looked at Eli for help, but I knew that I was going to be in trouble, and probably grounded for another month, maybe more.

For the first time in my life, I had skipped school.

A/N: IT'S ONE AM AND I'M NAUSEOUS AF AND CAN'T SLEEP BUT I DECIDED I NEEDED AN UPDATE. I THOUGHT I STARTED WRITING THIS BEFORE BUT I GUESS EITHER I DIDN'T OR I DELETED IT, SO HERE'S A COMPLETELY NEW VERSION OF CHAPTER 24!

(Also, my friend pointed out that I spelled a few things wrong in the author's note **that I fixed!** and that bodes well for the coherency of the chapter so I swear I'll go back and edit tomorrow. I feel like death rn though, so it's not a good time😂)