Chapter Eleven
After a few moments, Two Bit's great aunt Gladys opened the front door. Like Two Bit said, she was sticking her tongue out at Two it as she unlocked the door. Sally was laughing and Little Johnny was giggling. She let all eight of us in. " Hello, Two Bit," she said happily. " I'm getting everything ready to make dinner." Cherry heald Sally and I heald Little Johnny. Two Bit's Great Aunt greeted all of us happily. " Hello," she said to Cherry and I. " You must be Dallas and Cherry Winston. Two Bit has told me so much about you. You have two beautiful children!" " Thank you!" Cherry said. " Sally is about a month old and Little Johnny is almost two." " Aww, well they're both adorable!" she explained.
" Yeah, this is Dallas and Cherry Winston," Two Bit told his Great Aunt. " This is Ponyboy, Soda, and Darry Curtis." " Pleased to meet you!" she said. " Come on into the kitchen! I've got snacks out here for you guys and I'll be able to get to know you guys really well." All of us went out to the kitchen. Gladys was already getyting dinner ready. " I always need to cook early for a large group opf people," she told us as she sat down at the table with us. " It comes in handy later. So, Dallas, tell me a little about yourself. Two Bit has said you've been great friend." I smiled. " Well, I'm nineteen, about five feet ten. I met Cherry at the Admiral Twin Drive In one night. That night held a lot of events for us. Anyway, my eye color is green, my favorite food is pizza when I can't have a big meal, my birthday is December 13th, everyone calls me Dally, I enjoy spending time with my family more than anything, and you know, I'm just the regular kind of guy."
" Well, I really like you, Dally," Gladys said. " You're such a gentleman." I smiled as Gladys turned to Cherry. " How about you, Cherry?" " Well," Cherry began. " I'm about five feet four, like Dally said, we met at the drive in two years ago, I love to spend time with Dally and my kids, I really love Dally more than anything, he's my pride and joy." Gladys smiled. " Aww, well, that's sweet!" Gladys explained. Cherry nodded. " And I agree with you, Gladys, he is such a gentleman!" Cherry leaned over and gave me a quick kiss.
By seven o' clock that night, we were all sitting in the living room, watching TV and chatting the night away. Little Johnny and Sally were both asleep in one of the bedrooms. " It's really nice having you over," Gladys said to us. " Two Bit, you certainlyhave some wonderful friends, you should have brought them here a long time ago!" Two Bit nodded. " Yeah, they're pretty swell! I've known Dallas since he was nine and I was ten. It was the same with Ponyboy who was only six when I first met him. I've grown up with these guys and they've made my life much happier." Gladys nodded. " Well, I can see why, Two Bit, you definatly have lovable people with you. I hope you guys can come over more often, I've really enjoyed today since all of you were here. Two Bit has also told me about Johnny who I never had the chance to meet and I am very sorry for his loss." " Yeah," I said. " I can remember that I used to be one of those mean greasers instead of a nice one. Johnny was with us then, but he died after suffering from severe burns. I couldn't take it after that. I missed him because he was the gang's pet. He had been beaten up very badly by the socs and he had been more gentle than any of us since then."
The others were all listening to me as if this was the first timje they had heard the story. I continued. " Johnny's parents were very nasty people. I even hate them to this day. Those horrible people didn't even show up at their son's funeral." Gladys gasped. " They didn't? That's horrible!" " I know," I said. " They didn't even care about him. My father was the same way. He kicked me out of the house a couple of weeks after Johnny's death and I actually haven't seen him since then. That was even before Cherry and I got married, but it was the same night that we decided to."
Gladys was looking at us with care. I felt really glad that I was able to tell someone outside of the gang exactly how I felt with the whole situation with Johnny and everything. Ponyboy even said that he was going to start a book about it, so there would be more people hearing about the whole story at some point. At around nine that night, Gladys showed Cherry and I to the guest bedroom. It was a nice double bed that looked really comfortable for Cherry and I to sleep in together. " Here you go, you two lovebirds," Gladys said. " I made up this bed just for the two of you." " Thank you very much, Gladys," Cherry said. " We appreciate this." " No trouble," Gladys responded. Suddenly, we heard singing coming from the bathroom. Two Bit was taking a shower and he was singing, " Singing in the rain!" Cherry and I laughed as Gladys chuckled.
" He does this everytime he comes over," she said. " Have a good sleep, you two!" With that, she left the room to Cherry and I. We started getting undressed for bed. I dressed into striped pajamas, the ones I wore for winter. Cherry still wore her nightgown. Two Bit could still be heard singing as Cherry and I climbed into bed. The bed was really comfortable. Cherry cuddled up to my side and hugged me tight. I held her tight as she unbottened the top three buttons on my pajama top. I kissed the top of her head as she opened up my pajama top and kissed my bare chest. I held her close as we layed in bed.
I had fallen asleep for a little while. I woke up about tweny minutes later. Cherry's face was still buried in my chest. " Can't sleep?" I heard her ask, her voice muffled from being pressed up againt my chest. " I'll fall asleep eventually," I told her. " In the meantime, we can just lay here and talk." " That sounds good with me," she said. She issed my chest again and I kissed the of of her head. I put my arms around her. It was like a dream it was so wonderful. I had never imagined that I would be in bed with Cherry, the most beautiful and lovable girl I had ever met. I loved her so much and I was so happy that she loved me. We had two beautiful children and loving and caring friends who were part of our family. I was thinking about all of this as Cherry kissed me on the cheek and put her arm over me to hug me.