ETHEREAL | OUTSIDERS

･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴡᴏ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

♪ : falling for u — peachy ft. mxmtoon

❝ watch the sunset with me. ❞

MY FAVORITE PART of the weekend is the free time I have. I get to do what I want, and just enjoy the days that I don't have school. One of the activities I do is go to the park and paint or draw. The weather is pretty nice today, sunny but not hot. My mom already knows I'm going out, I just can't be out past 11 pm. Like I said, she trusts me and is pretty laid back.

I almost always draw my surroundings, so I drew a tree. Looking up again, there's a person that looks about my age. He started walking to the side of the park that I'm at. Despite my lack of being able to talk to people well, I decided to wave anyway.

"Uh, hi." God I sound so stupid. He looked up at me and had a slight smile on his face.

"Hey, what are you doing by yourself?" he asked, coming over to the bench I'm sitting at, and sitting next to me. Maybe this is a chance of me gaining a new friend.

"I just like to come out here sometimes, alone time ya know?" I said, hoping that I don't sound awkward.

"Yeah I get it. I'm Johnny Cade, what's your name?" he said quietly. He had tan skin, with deep, dark brown eyes. His hair was close to black but more of a dark brown.

"Eleanor Collins, but you can call me El or Ellie." I said, grinning. I think this is a chance to get an actual friend. Right then and there, I saw another boy coming over, waving in our direction. I looked to my side and Johnny started waving at the boy. As he came closer, I recognized him. Oh, that's Ponyboy!

"Hey Johnnycake! Oh, hey El, I didn't know you two knew each other." He said, noticing me about ten seconds after looking at Johnny.

"Actually we just met about two minutes ago." Johnny said, chuckling. Ponyboy smiled, and I scooted over so that he could sit down on the bench too. We basically talked about school, and life in general. I figured out that they have a whole gang, and Pony invited me to meet them.

"I don't have plans today, I could probably go." I responded, shrugging. We all got up to leave to his house, which actually wasn't very far from the park. We passed a vacant lot, which Pony told me is where him and Johnny hang out sometimes.

As we approached the fence in front of his house, I suddenly got nervous. This was kind of nerve-wrecking, because I'm not sure how I can meet so many people at once. It didn't help that I had some level of anxiety.

"Don't worry, they won't bite." Pony pat me on the shoulder, and grinned.

Stepping into the house, I saw about three boys already. They all turned their heads to face me, and didn't say a word for a good ten seconds. 

"Hey guys, I want ya'll to meet Eleanor. She's in a few of my classes at school, actually." Ponyboy introduced me to them, since I didn't say anything yet.

Then, one of the boys that were sitting on the couch got up. He had a mickey mouse shirt on, with a beer in his hand.

"Hey Pony, guess you picked a girl up for yourself?" he said, laughing at his own statement.
"I'm Two-bit." He stated curtly. Soon, the other two boys came up to me. One had beautiful, blue eyes, and looked like a movie star, very attractive. The other had a unbuttoned shirt on, that said DX. He also had, what seemed like, chocolate cake all over his mouth. I soon learned that their names are Sodapop and Steve.

Soon, I met Darry and Dallas. Darry is Ponyboy's brother, he is actually super nice, at least to new people. Dallas Winston didn't really need to introduce himself to me, since he's so infamous for all the things he's done.

"This is actually really good!" I said, surprised. I wasn't expecting Darry to be so good at baking. No wonder Steve and Two-bit devour it almost immediately.

"Thanks, it's nice to hear that, since some people can't say it before they make it disappear." Darry stated, shooting a glare at Steve and Two-bit. I giggled quietly, and turned back around to Ponyboy.

"Let's watch Mickey Mouse or something." He said, pointing to the couch. I nodded, and started walking over to the couch, and sat down with him. Darry made us dinner, which was pretty good too.

After dinner, the whole gang just messed around. Johnny ended up taking a nap on the couch. Steve, Dally, Two-bit, and Sodapop were playing games, and Darry was reading the newspaper. Ponyboy finally got up, and looked at the clock, then his eyes lit up.

"Hey El, you should watch the sunset with me." He stated, excitedly. His face seemed bright, like he was really passionate, for lack of better words, about it. I grinned and nodded at him.

"Why'd you ask me?" I questioned, a bit confused.

"Well, the gang doesn't really appreciate it like I do, except Johnny. Johnny is asleep, though." He said, heading outside and sitting on a swinging chair out in his backyard. I plopped down next to him.

The sunset really is beautiful, all the colors blended together at the bottom, the red and oranges with a hint of pink. At the top of the sky, it juxtaposed against the warm colors with a cold, dark blue emerging, a sign of night coming soon.

"Wow, it really is beautiful." I said, in awe.

"Yeah it is, it's nice to have another person to appreciate sunsets with. You should watch it often, even without me." He smiled, while saying that. We sat in a comfortable silence, just gazing at the beautiful sight.

As the colors faded down to a black hue with a bit of navy mixed in, Ponyboy and I finally went back inside. I checked the clock, and it said 9:02 pm.

"Ellie, you should get back before it gets too dark."!Darry said, looking at Ponyboy and me.

"Okay, I'll walk home." I said, about to wave goodbye to everyone.

"No no, I'll drive you, it's too dark for that." He offered, getting up. Ponyboy decided to tag along, so we got into Darry's truck. The ride wasn't very far, about five minutes at the most.

"Thank you Darry! See you soon, Bye Ponyboy!" I exclaimed, walking up to my house.

"You should come over again tomorrow! Don't forget about the sunset!" Ponyboy yelled back, grinning cheekily.

"I will, now get home guys, bye!" After I said my farewell, I stepped into my house. My mom was on the couch, watching TV.

"Hey hun, did you go out with some friends?" she asked, turning towards me.

"Yep, I was actually planning to go over to their house again tomorrow, if that's okay with you?" I inquired, I didn't exactly tell her that they were boys.

"Yeah of course, but don't stay too late, the day after tomorrow is a school night." she told me. I nodded, and went upstairs. Right when I got into my room, I shut my door and walked to my desk, taking out a sticky note pad.

I wrote on one of them, 'look at the sunset everyday, for Pony'. I smiled at it for about 15 seconds, then stuck it on my bulletin board. Look at the sunset for yourself too, I thought.

Even though I know that every time I see it, I'm going to think of Ponyboy Curtis.