Meet me under the stars (The Outsiders fanfic)

Chocolate laughing monsters

"Being happy doesn't mean everything's perfect. It means you've decided to look past the imperfections."

"Soda? Oh hey Ponyboy." I slowly opened the door to find Pony sitting on the couch. He had his head in his hands. I sat next to him and hugged him, something was wrong. Johnny?
"Finals are next week and I don't understand what this is." He pointed at a paper lying on the floor. Picking it up I read, "Augmented Matrices" I understood this stuff.
"Hey no look, it's okay, I know this stuff I'll teach you." He looked up at me, his hair had no grease in it. It was soft.
"Really?"
"Yeah." I assured him.
After about 20 minutes of explaining this to him I heard the floor creak.
"I thought I heard voices. How'd it go?" Soda was asleep and also had greaseless hair. I loved their hair without grease.
"Good. Just finishing up here and I'll go to bed."
"What're you doing?" Soda asked.
"Teaching him some Augmented Matrices for finals." I lifted up the paper. He looked at it and laughed.
"I'm too stupid for that, hurry up Ky." I nodded.
"Get it?" I asked Pony.
"Yeah. Thanks Kaya." He reaches out and hugged me. Ponyboy was like a little brother to me, I'd always protect him, I'd always be here for him. Even if he didn't want me to be.
I did my usual routine, brushed my teeth and combed my hair. I had already showered. I peeled off my jeans and replaced them with soft short shorts. I slept in the tank top under the flannel.
"What happened?" Soda asked as he grabbed my hand and looked at the ring.
"Nothin much we just went to the Dingo and then to Bucks. It was fun." The tattoo. My shirt covered it but I still pulled the blanket up to cover my chest.
"Did you tell him?" Sods wrapped him arm around me, his hand was right above where the tattoo was. I winced. "What's wrong?" Crap he noticed.
"Nothin, and yeah I told him."
"What's he say." Dallas didn't say anything, he just held my hand. He knew it wasn't something I wanted him to respond to. He kept driving. He looked at me with pain, kissed me, left me at the house and left after I walked inside.
"He..." I searched for any lie a could tell. "He just hugged me and said it was okay. I think he already knew to be honest." He probably did, I mean there's new and faded scars all up my arms and legs and stomach. Soda didn't respond. He just looked at the bookshelf in the corner. Packed tightly with the books Pony read.
"What did the others do?" I asked before he could say anything.
"Well everyone was here except Steve, idiot got a tattoo. Johnny was laying on the sofa, he started crying. We had to give him some sleeping pills cause the crying was hurting him. He cares a lot about you, I can tell. The way he looks at you and the way he hugs you. Ponyboy cried too even though he already knew, he doesn't like being reminded. Two-Bit didn't crack a joke for once in his life. He just said okay like he understood that just meant to be careful. I'll tell Steve tomorrow morning."
I didn't know how to respond so I just said "Okay."
"You okay?" He held me closer.
"Can we go to California? I mean I know Darry can't take off work, but I have money up there, I can pay for it. Dally said it was a good idea. I'll pay for it. Once Johnny is okay, it'll be his first time out of here. You all could see the ocean and I could show to my friends and I could show you the Griffith Observatory. Please?" Soda looked so confused for a moment.
"Uhhh"
"Come on. I have money. I'll pay Darry for the days he missed, and I'll get a job down here. School is over in 2 weeks. We can go then. Thomas and Luke can help."
"I'll talk to Darry."
"Really?!?" I turned to look at him.
"Yeah."
"Yes yes yes!!!! Today has been amazing." I hugged him tightly.
"Calm down, I didn't promise anything. If you finish school he is more likely to consider it, now sleep."
I stared into the darkness for a while. Soda fell asleep fast. His snores lured to sleep after a while. The darkness pulled me into a long dreamless sleep.

"Ky Ky Ky Ky Ky!!! You're gonna be late now waaaakee up." Pony jumped on me.
"Ah quit it horseman!! I'm up I'm up."
"When are we going?" He pulled me up.
"To where?" Everything was a little blurry.
"California you idiot!!"
"WHAT!?!? HE SAID YES!?!?"
"Look at the bathroom mirror." I ran so fast to the bathroom I slipped and hit my head on the doorframe. My stupid socks.
"Ow."
"You dumbass." Steve stood in the living room.
"Wanna Go Randle??" He laughed.
"Let's go." I charged towards him bringing us both to the ground. We knew it was just play, we weren't gonna hurt each other. He wrestled me and pinned me down. "Look who's losing." I kicked him between the legs with my knee and he curled a ball. "No fair. You bitch."
"Look who's winning." I sat on him and messed his perfectly greased up hair.
"Aye aye aye alright. Calm down breakfast is ready." Soda shouted.
"Wait!!" I ran to the bathroom. There was piece of paper on the toothpaste. It read: How long will this vacation be? I'm game. "YES YES YES" I shouted.
"What the hell." Steve ran to the bathroom, taking the note from me. "What vacation? Where are we going? I wanna come." He sounds like an eager 4 year old.
"California but keep your mouth shut. It's a suprise. Johnny can't know yet. He might be awake." I shoved him and walked out.
"Awww tough ol Kaya Curtis planning a surprise getaway for Johnny." I chucked my hairbrush at him, he dodged it just in time. "Hey!!!"
"BREAKFAST!!!" Eggs, toast and bacon.
"God Steve calm your tits. That's not the last good on earth." Soda told Steve.
"You don't know that." His mouth was full.
"Look in the fridge idiot." I finished first and ran off to get ready. Beat up Converse, ripped jeans, and a t-shirt. It wasn't socially acceptable to wear jeans yet but I liked them and I didn't care.
"Did you get the note?" Soda asked as my put my hair up.
"Yes. Thank you so so much Coca-Cola you're the best." I reached up and hugged him.
"I know I know. Now hurry up. 5 minutes."
I grabbed my bag and walked to Darrys room.
"Johnny?"
"Yeah?" He voice still raspy from sleep. "How're you feeling? Any better?" I sat by his feet of the bed.
"Yeah." He sat up. "Much better, I just needed rest. I'll be at school tomorrow, how much work I miss?"
"Oh dont worry about that, I got you covered. And what I didn't know, Pony did."
"KAYA WE ARE LEAVING!!!" Pony shouted
"Aw shucks you didn't have to." His eyes darted to me hand.
"Finals are in two weeks. You need the grades. Anyways I'll see ya later. Bye Johnnycakes." I planted a kiss on his cheek.
"Bye Flower." I walked out and jumped into the car.

At school:
"Ugh I hate this." Alex groaned.
"Yeah me too, wanna ditch?"
"No." Adam answered for her. "Neither of you are ditching, Finals are soon and you aren't failing." I rolled my eyes. My locker finally opened after several tries.
"I'm coming tonight so I'm not coming over." I told Alex.
"Man, alright." And we went to class.

After school:
Dallas showed up to pick me up. Pony and Two-Bit went walking home.
"Did he notice?" He asked about the tattoo.
"Nope. But guess what." I turned my body towards him.
"What?" He smiled at me.
"Darry said yes to California, well he asked how long it would be. So I think that means yes? Once school is over so in two weeks." I smiled so big I thought my lips would crack and my cheeks would get stuck.
"Really!?!? How are we gonna get there?" He stopped the car in front of my house.
"I dunno we all have to talk together as a group, I don't wanna tell Johnny yet, it's a surprise."
"Awh he is going to love this." Dal didn't love anything. But I could tell he cared about Johnny. Maybe loved him, I was pretty sure he did.
"Yeah well Soda doesn't get off until 6 and Darry doesn't get off until 7 and everyone is coming tonight  so we can all talk tonight. I gotta go make chocolate cakes before I get killed. Bye Dal." I kissed him on the cheek and grabbed my bag.
"Excuse you doll but I'm comin with."
"Stop calling me Doll I hate it Dal!!" I giggled.
"Yeah yeah whatever."

Johnny was on the couch asleep. I shushed Dal quickly and walked to my room. "He's so adorable." I told him. Dal nodded and I took of my pants. Dal immediately smirked.
"No it's just hot." I put on some shorts and walked to the kitchen. Dal walked over to the radio above the sink.
"Ya like music?" He went to turn it on.
"Ya like breathing?" I remarked. He smiled.  I Cant Help Falling In love with you by Elvis Presley came on. I moved my hips to the slow beat while I grabbed the ingredients. Dal grabbed the eggs and milk from the fridge and put them on either side of me. The music made the world spin faster in a way, everything we did looked graceful for the time being. I stirred it all together and scooped it into the pan. He put his hands on hips and his head on my shoulder watching me. As the song ended I turned around and swiped chocolate batter on his nose and lips.
"You bitch." He smiled his beautiful rare smile, which made me smile. I grabbed the spoon and ran into the living room. He looked at me and chased me. "NO NO STOP NO!!" I giggled as he picked me up and threw me into the other sofa. "STOP" he tickled me. "IM GONNA KILL YOU DALLAS WINSTON" He stopped and looked at me. He smiled and took the spoon. He wiped it all over my face, I sat there motionless and shocked.
"Oh. My. God." I grabbed his face and kissed him, getting chocolate on him. I wiped some off my face onto his. He laid on top of me, chocolate all over us both. As he laughed his eyes glowed the beautiful blue of his eyes.  The door opened suddenly, revealing us both, chocolate laughing monsters. It was Ponyboy and Two.
"Dammit Kaya you had one job. Make chocolate cake. Not chocolate babies with Dally." Two joked.
"We should probably do that. Have chocolate babies. That would actually be cool." I sat up.
"I'm game." Dal said and kissed me.
Pony pretends to gag and Two-Bit shielded his eyes. "AHH IT BURNS!!! MY EYES!!"
"Will you guys Shut your traps. God this house is never silent." Johnny spoke. I got up and finished the cake.
Soon, everyone was home and waiting to eat. Soda and I cooked, giving Darry a break as he sat In the living room playing cards with Steve and Two. Johnny and Ponyboy sat talking. Dally was watching me and smoking. I loved seeing us all together, it gave me a kind of hope for the future, it gave me a hope for tomorrow. All the boys were a disaster of their own. They all went through lots of different things. They all were imperfect but they were happy. Being happy doesn't mean everything's perfect. It means you've decided to look past the imperfections.