the thunder of a kiss, a comforting romance story
warning: character death and adult themes
The wind blew softly, whipping the bleached blonde hair of a grim-faced, fourteen year old boy as he walked through the quiet cemetery, his hands in his jean pockets. Ponyboy Curtis allowed his eyes to wander from gravestone to gravestone in search of the familiar name his older brother Darry had scribbled on his to do list. Darry had made Ponyboy a daily to do list, so he wouldn't forget to do anything; he had stared at his brother when he first shoved the paper into his palm, but he didn't question it any further. With a sad face, he pulled the list out of his pocket. Everything was crossed out, except for one, lone statement.
Visit the grave of Johnny Cade and pay your respects.
Darry knew. When everyone except him had gone on a group trip to say goodbye to Johnny and Dally, he had snuck away after they arrived at the cemetery and tailed it home. Darry had gone after he had gotten off of work a week later, but he never mentioned anything to Ponyboy about knowing he didn't go. The boy hadn't even checked over his to do list when he had gotten up. He just snatched it off of the refrigerator where it was put every morning, and left the house.
So, here was the blonde, walking quite slowly to find his friend's grave. He wasn't in a hurry; he'd take as long as he wanted to. Green eyes darted up to the sky, pending storm clouds telling him that it would either rain soon or a thunderstorm was coming.
Still looking up, Ponyboy tripped and fell to his knees, to try and stop his head from cracking with the stone, but to no avail. His hands ground in the dirt and his head throbbed as it hit a nearby headstone. He rubbed the gash on his head and looked at the grave with a slight feeling of ache. But, he was shocked to what met his eyes. 'Johnny Cade,' it read across the gravestone, '1950 to 1966, may you rest in peace.'
Pulling his body into a kneel, he came to terms with himself. He had found Johnny's grave, but everything he had been rehearsing to say slipped from his mind. His hand traced over the words that made his name. Johnny Cade. He felt the cold gravestone against his fingers, the burning piece of paper in his pocket, his dark green eyes focused on the date of death, yet he couldn't find a thing to say.
He felt the rain trickling down slowly and he felt his eyes tear up. He didn't want to leave; Darry had warned him that if it started raining, he needed to head home. He looked at the grave and was surprised to feel a hand on his shoulder. Jumping to a standing position and whirling around all at once, he became face to face with the most enchanting green eyes he had ever seen. Which meant, they belonged to one person. Cherry Valance.
The girl had a soft look on her face after realizing what Ponyboy had been kneeling in front of, and she spoke quietly. "I was watching you, Ponyboy." When he quirked a questioning glance, she pointed behind where he had been. "From over there. I was visiting Bob. Randy had come along, but he left a few minutes ago. That's when I saw you."
The blonde nodded, not knowing what else to say. She dropped her head slowly, to read Johnny's grave, her red hair falling into wavy tufts at her shoulders and started to cling to her back because of the moisture of the rain. When she finished reading, she turned to face him, with tears in her eyes. He suddenly felt bad for making her cry.
"I'm sorry, Ponyboy." She choked out quietly. "I'm sorry for Johnny and for leaving you when you needed me. I'm sorry for my jerk of a—of a friend and I'm sorry that we got off on such horrible terms. I mean, the first outbreak of a Greaser and a Soc getting along and I have to ruin it." Ponyboy stepped closer to her, looking at her intently.
"It wasn't your fault that Johnny died. It wasn't your fault you had to leave, or that Bob was your boyfriend, or that you and I stopped speaking. None of it was yours to blame, Cherry. Don't —"
"You were such a great person. I ruined it. It's my fault, just leave it be at that." At this point, tears were slipping down Cherry's cheeks against the rain that was still falling in little droplets.
"No. I'm a Greaser. I can't be a great person. I'm just a normal, Greaser boy, who did something wrong and got what he deserved." She looked at him with a tinge of admiration in her green eyes before she reached out to place a gentle hand on his cheek. Her hand was warm against the chill of the rain and her fingers slid up towards the gash on his head; Ponyboy winced as she wiped the blood away from his hairline.
"It's not like that. Just because you're a Greaser, it doesn't give me the right to treat you badly. It doesn't give anyone the right to treat you badly, the Socs just think they can."
"Cherry," his voice was raspy and he wanted to say something prolific for this defining moment, but him mind was addled, "I'm going to kiss you." He licked his lips and then looked up at her. She nodded dumbly after a few seconds, unable to find anything to say. He leaned forward and touched his lips to hers gently; rain fell between them before he moved his body closer to hers, searching for comfort and for explanation, for shelter and for warmth. His hand wound its way into her wet hair, stroking the red strands gently, while her hand rested on his chest.
When they pulled away from each other, Cherry leaned on him softly, and Ponyboy dropped his head onto hers. It was wet and cold, but he didn't mind it so much when she wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed herself closer to him. His lips ghosted at the top of her head, whispering wordless bits of affection. Briefly, he wondered how much trouble he would be in for staying out in the rain.
Cherry felt at peace with him holding her. She wanted to mourn without turmoil and despite not expecting it, she had found some semblance of closure with Ponyboy's lips gently caressing her own. She knew that she would never forget the way he had kissed her. And she never knew she could experience that thunder of a kiss.
note: this was surprisingly without a lot of revision! i simply took a few suggestions from readers to fix the dates (which was a huge error for me, especially having just read the novel) and corrected the eye color.