Family Is Found (Sequel to Running Towards Home)

CHAPTER 23

PONY'S POV:
"I'm so happy you two are ok." I say. Sam smiles at me, then she kisses me. "Why don't we get you guys something to eat?" Darry suggests, and everyone agrees. We sit down at the table and eat. Arlene decides to sleep here for tonight, so Soda agrees to sleep with Darry. Sam will sleep with me. We all stay up until about midnight, talking and eating chocolate cake. When we finally opt to go to bed, Johnny sleeps on the floor next to Arlene, Dally goes back to Bucks, and Steve goes with Two-Bit to Two's house. I crawl into bed next to Sam, and put my arm around her.

"Goodnight, Sam. I love you." I whisper in her ear. She turns and faces me. "I love you too." she whispers back. She starts to fall asleep. I can feel her heartbeat against my chest. The slow beat lulls me to sleep, and we spend the night wrapped in each other's arms.

SAM'S POV:

I wake up in the morning, and Pony is still asleep. I sneak my way out from under his arm and walk to the bathroom. I look in the mirror. I have a few bruises, but it's not as bad as I thought. They'll heal within a week or so. I clean up, and go back to the bedroom. The door is closed. I walk in, and Pony's in the middle of changing. "I'm so sorry!" I say, covering my eyes.

"It's fine. I'm decent." I open my eyes again. I can feel myself blushing. "I guess we're even now." he says, referencing when he accidentally walked in on me when I had my shirt off. "Did you like what you saw?" He jokes, and I roll my eyes. "Sure." I say, and I kiss him. We walk out, and everyone is awake and heading to the kitchen table for breakfast. Arlene is up, and even though she has a few bruises, she looks happy.

"How ya feeling?" Soda asks, mussing up my hair. "I feel fine, actually." I say, sitting down. Despite a bit of achiness, I feel like my normal self. We all sit around the table, and grab food. We spend the morning watching mickey and playing cards. Johnny beats everyone in poker, but Arlene almost beat him. If poker was played in teams, they would be unstoppable.

The rest of the day is spent playing football at the park. Darry's team wins, of course. I don't mean to brag, but I scored a few touchdowns. Dally scored most of the touchdowns for our team, but Pony scored a few too. He's the fastest out of both teams, for sure.

I get back and shower, then eat dinner with the gang. After dinner, I join Pony on the roof to watch the sunset. Pony turns toward me. "Sam, when I saw you come in all beat up, I was terrified. I was so worried that you were hurt worse than we could see, that they stabbed you or shot you. I was so scared I was going to lose you." Pony says. I grab his hand, and I look him in the eyes, to make sure he knows I'm serious.

"Pony, you are the love of my life. I am never going to leave you. I promise." I say, and I kiss him. The love he feels for me scares me, and what scares me even more is that I feel it too. "I promised you something. Now, can you make me a promise?" I ask him. He nods. "Promise you will never stop loving me." I say. Pony smiles. "That is one promise I could never break. I don't think I could ever stop loving you." he says. I kiss him.

"Sam, I think you should know this. Soda said something that stuck with me. My parents aren't here, but they would have loved you. That is just one way that I know you are perfect for me. You are awesome, badass, beautiful. I love you, Sam." Pony says. I tear up.

"Pony, you are the most amazing guy I have ever met. It was fate that led me to save your butt that first day, and fate that I ended up staying with you guys. You are the only person I have ever met that I love as much as this. I love you too, Ponyboy." I say. I kiss him. We wait for the sun to finish setting, and we go back inside.