when i met you | the outsiders

✰ eight

Pony and I headed back to the Curtis house where Steve, Soda, Darry, Johnny, and Steve and Soda's girlfriends were.

Man, this was going to shock them.

We walked through the door and Pony's arm was tight around my shoulder, keeping me safe.

"Somebody's crushing!" Steve teased and made kissy faces at us.

"She's my girl, Randle!" Ponyboy said proudly.

"No way." Johnny said and stood up.

I shrugged and nodded, earning a shocked look from Darry and Soda.

"By the way, I'm Sandy, Sodas girlfriend." A blonde, nice-looking girl held out her hand. I shook it firmly with a tiny smile.

"And I'm Evie, that dork over there is mine." A brown haired girl did the same and I repeated my actions.

"I'm Rory, Pony's girl now." I nodded to them and they smiled.

Pony looked over and his jawline just about knocked me off my feet. I was one lucky girl.

"Darry, can I go out for a date? We'll be back by midnight." Pony asked and Darry looked like he was taken out of a glance.

"Uh, yeah sure. Midnight..midnight. No funny business!" He smiled and I flipped him off before we just about ran out the door.

When we did we almost ran straight into Dally who was marching in.

"Bye Dal." I whispered when I ran past him.

He didn't say anything except slightly glare at us. That boy is mental, I swear.

"Pony where are you taking me?" I asked and smiled at him when he looked back at me.

A corvette pulled up beside us and began driving slow.

"White trash!" They yelled out the window.

As they were driving off I got mad and yelled back, "You say that as if you're not!"

I'm surprised we didn't get jumped, but I wasn't complaining.

"Don't let 'em get to ya. At this point there's no fighting it except rumbles. Speaking of which, Tim slashed a bunch of tires so now there's one this Tuesday night." Ponyboy said.

"A rumble's where Greasers and Socs fight, right?" I asked. I still had my damn New York accent, but I never dared thought back about it.

Sometimes I wondered if the child services would ever find me. But that was the least of my worries, all I needed to do was pay rent.

We arrived at a what looked like run off- smaller business- better version of The Dingo.

It was empty but there was a jukebox and Pony and I walked in.

"Hey, Ponyboy Curtis!" The cashier cheered and another boy came out from the kitchen.

"Hey Pony, is this her?" He asked. They looked at me and I probably looked confused, but Ponyboy nodded.

"Alrighty, it'll be ready in a few minutes. If y'all don't mind, you can wait in our back room. Down the hall to the right, forget the employees only sign." The cashier said and I flashed him a small grin as Pony thanked him.

We headed down the hallway and turned into the room that had some boxes, a couch, and a small fridge.

We sat down on the couch and I uncomfortably shifted around. Why was I nervous? It was Ponyboy.

"Come here." He whispered and opened his arms. I crawled into them and he held me like that until we heard somebody shout "It's ready!"

We got up slowly and his scent faded away from me. As we headed out, I smiled wide st the sight.

The table had been moved to the center of the room and two plates of burgers and fries sat on it, along with a chocolate milkshake, my favorite. Pony had vanilla.

"Pony.." I smiled and turned to him. He leaned in for a quick peck on the lips and we walked over to the table.

He took out my chair and pushed me in before sitting down. 

"This is really nice, Pone." I complimented bluntly.

We dug into our food and out of no where he blurted, "I love you."

What? I almost asked him to repeat, because nobody had ever loved me. Not even my parents. Well, they loved me, but no one had really loved me. It must be fake, right?

It wasn't though. Ponyboy Curtis was in love with me. But there was something in my body, pulling me from saying it back. Something saying I shouldn't, not this early, not now. Maybe not..ever.

But then again, what the hell else do you say when someone tells you they love you and some force is pulling you from saying it back?

"Thank you." Was all I could choke out. He looked shocked, hurt, but most of all, confused.

"You don't love me back?" He forced out.

"Ponyboy, we got together about half an hour ago. And nobody has ever said that, and I've never said that, and I don't know I can." I explained in a quick tone.

"I'm sorry." I added and smiled at him. He looked quite angry and stood up.

"Yeah, me too." He huffed before walking off.