When school went back into session after Thanksgiving Break, Pony handed in his theme. The fall leaves that had only shown their reds, yellows, and oranges for a few weeks about a month before had turned brown and rigid, falling to the ground and shriveling up, breaking into fragments when stepped on. Mr. Symes gave it back it back to him with an A+ the next day, saying that it was one of the best pieces of work he had ever read and he couldn't put it down last night. Ponyboy smiled at our teacher's praise and we walked back to our desk hand-in-hand. We were a little early to class and nobody but us and Mr. Symes were in the classroom, so Pony hugged me, picking me up a little, and spun me around before putting me down, making me squeal. A huge smile was covering his face.
"I knew you could do it!", I exclaimed happily, my arms still around his neck.
"I could only do it because you believed in me", he smiled before giving me a peck on the lips.
"I love you, honey", I said quietly as people began to file into the room.
"I love you too, darlin'. And I always will."
The theme bumped Pony's grade up from an F to a C, making all of us relieved (especially Darry).
The weather started getting colder and I could smell the winter in the air. When we walked to school in the morning, Pony and I both had red noses and cheeks from the sharp air which, in my opinion, made him look adorable. He said the same about me. The days were getting shorter, the darkness of twilight already falling when I made my way to dance on Mondays, making me much more self-aware and paranoid of Socs. I practically ran there and on the way back, since the darkness had overcome the sky by then.
It was during the middle of December that Ponyboy and I talked about Christmas. The Socs had put up their Christmas lights and some had nativity scenes inter front yards, even though the Greasers knew that the people inside could be less than holy on occasion. Pony and I had been together for a little over three months and the topic had come up in one of our conversations while walking to school.
"What are you doin' for Christmas?", he asked me. My gloved fingers were intertwined with his bare ones as we walked.
"I'll be at home all day. It's what we do every year. It's nothing fancy. We open presents in the morning and lounge around for the rest of the day. What about you, honey?"
He thought for a second, a frown coming to his face, "I don't really know what we're going to do this year. This is the first Christmas without Mom and Dad. And without Johnny and Dally. Christmas was always the one day of the year, other than our birthdays, when Mom would actually let us eat cake for breakfast. Christmas music would be playing on the radio for the week leading up to it and the week after, until New Year's."
I smiled lightly, "What else did y'all do?"
"Dad always cut down a tree. We had a mix-match set of ornaments. They were usually old family ones or ones that Darry, Soda, and I made in school. We'd decorate the tree a few days before Christmas. When I was little, Dad always sat me on his shoulders so I could put the star on top of the tree. Dally, Johnny, and Steve would usually be over. Two-Bit would come by later, after spending the morning with Lizzie and his mom. We would watch the Christmas specials all day in our pajamas."'
"That sounds wonderful. Don't y'all have a tree yet?"
"Yeah. We got it a few days ago. Steve and Soda took Darry's truck and got it. We haven't decorated it yet, though."
I wrapped my arms around his torso from the side, hugging him as we walked. Pony wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him.
"I'm not gonna take you away from everyone on Christmas", I started, "But do you wanna come over my house for New Year's? I'll ask my parents if you stay over."
"If they say yes and Darry does too, I would love to", Pony smiled, kissing my temple.
I asked my parents that night and they agreed that Pony could stay over on New Year's if Darry said it was alright. I told Pony the next day.
"Darry said it was okay", Pony told me after I told him what my parents said.
"But, I know we're not going to be able to sleep in the same bed", I warned him.
"It's fine. I'll just take the couch", he assured me.
"Are you sure?"
"Darlin', I'll be fine. It's nice enough that I get to stay over. I'll live."
"If you say so."
Christmas Break rolled around. Plans were finalized and Tulsa's lights and signs made a stark contrast against the cold, crisp winter nights as people set up for the holidays. Christmas morning was interesting as always. Anna, Henry, and I got up early and woke up our parents before going to the tree. We never got a lot, but that had never really mattered to me. The twins got some toys and clothes. I got some books, a dress, and a new pair of Converse, these ones black.
Pony called about halfway through the day to with me a Merry Christmas. The gang was making a ton of noise in the background.
"Are you at a zoo?", I joked.
"No", Pony sighed tiredly, "Everyone's just excited and fawning over their presents."
"Have they been like this all day?", I laughed.
"Pretty much. It's only noon, and they're already driving me up the wall. I swear to God, if Two-Bit doesn't stop throwing that around-", he muttered the last sentence before I heard a loud crash over the line and lots of yelling.
"What happened?"
Pony sighed heavily and I could picture him running a hand through his hair in frustration, "Our friend, Keith, over here, just threw a ball in the house and knocked a picture off the wall. Darry's goin' off on him. I gotta go before anyone else breaks anything. I'll talk to you soon. I love you, darlin' and have a good Christmas."
"I love you too. Merry Christmas", I told him before hanging up the phone.
Our families kept both Pony and I occupied for days, so we didn't get to see each other.
A couple days before New Year's, I went over to the Curtis' house. When I knocked on the door, Pony answered.
"You know you don't have to knock, don't you, Princess?", he laughed.
I shrugged, "I know. Just force of habit."
He walked me into the house, "Did you come over for a reason?", he asked before a look of worry crossed his face, "Not that I don't love having you over and seeing you. Glory, that first thing came out wrong-"
I cut him off with a laugh, "Honey, I get it. I came over because I wanted to see you since we haven't seen each other for like a week because our families were keeping us busy."
Pony sighed and pulled me into a hug, "I missed you, darlin'."
I smiled into his chest, breathing in his familiar smell of cigarettes and cologne, "I missed you too."'
"I have something for you", he said, taking my hand and leading me to the living room. The tree was only about Ponyboy's height with the mixed array of ornaments that he had described. It's bit of awkwardness was wonderful and endearing.
I sat on the couch as he went over to the tree and picked up a small package, the only thing still left under the tree and walked over to me, handing me the package, and sitting down next to me.
Pony wrapped an arm around my shoulders, "Open it. It's from me."
I started carefully unwrapping the gift, peeling the paper back to find a book. To Kill a Mockingbird, to be exact. The book we read when we went to the bookstore the morning of the car accident. When I opened the cover, I saw scrawled out in Ponyboy's semi-neat handwriting, "I remember reading this with you for a hours at the bookstore in town about a month ago before the car crash. Whenever finished it. I love you and I always will. Love, your Ponyboy". In the front cover was also the one of the pictures from Pony and I danced in his house over Thanksgiving Break.
"Glory, honey. You didn't have to."
He brightly grinned, "But I wanted to. Merry Christmas, Princess."
"Merry Christmas, love", I said, wrapping him in a tight hug, "Thank you. I love it and I love you."
"Your welcome and I love you too. And I always will", Ponyboy tilted my chin up and gave me a kiss.
"I got something for you too", I told him when we pulled away. I took my gifts for him out from my jacket pocket, "I know it's not much, but I hope you like it…"
They were pieces of white card-stock that I had gotten from our art teacher, Ms. Thompson. I had carefully cut them into a rectangle about 7 inches long and 2 inches wide. On one of them, in lines across the the two-inch width in looping cursive, I had written out the poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost. The other had the chorus of Love Me Tender, also written across the width in cursive. The written-on card-stocks were supposed to be bookmarks. The words went all the way down the bookmark, my penmanship filling up most it. On the backs of both, I had written, again in cursive, "I love you, Honey. So much. Love, your darlin', Lily".
I looked at Pony's face as he read the bookmarks. His mouth turned up in a soft smile and he ran his fingertip along my writing, tracing the looped lettering.
He looked back up at me, his green eyes sparkling, "I love it. It's the best thing you could've done."
"Really?", I asked somewhat hesitantly.
"Really", Pony confirmed, setting the bookmarks down the the coffee table, "Thank you, darlin'."
"Of course", I smiled and leaned up, cupping Pony's cheek and kissing him. He put his hands on my waist, holding me.
"Ponyboy! You'll never guess what just-", Sodapop came barreling into the living room, skidding to a halt when he saw Pony and I kissing, "Did I interrupt something?"
We pulled away, blushing.
"No", Pony sighed, putting an arm around my waist, "Now what are you so eager about, Pepsi-Cola?"
Soda took a few deep breaths. He must have run all the way to the house from the DX.
"I gotta date!", he exclaimed happily, making us laugh and smile.
It had been a few months since Sandy went to Florida. Soda was definitely still sad about it and it seemed almost like he had given up on the idea of him ever finding love again, so him having a date and him being excited about it was great. He always had hoards of girls lining up for him, but he never really wanted to date any of them, so if he was this enthused about this date, he must really like the girl.
"That's great, Soda!", I cried.
"When is it?", Pony asked.
"Next Friday. We're gonna have a double-date with her friend and the friend's boyfriend."
"Sounds fun. Where are you going?"
"I dunno. Somewhere casual. I'll have to ask her."
"What's her name?", I inquired.
"I'm not saying until after the date. If it goes well, that is."
"I'm sure it'll go just fine, Soda", Pony assured him.
"Did you run all the way over here to tell us?", I questioned with a laugh.
"Yup. Gotta get back to Stevie now. Bye y'all".
And with that, Soda zoomed back out the door.
"At least we know he's keepin' warm", Pony chuckled.
"I suppose", I giggled.
I stayed over for a few more hours, just talking with Ponyboy until I had to go home.
"I'll see you on New Year's. Come by at four o'clock", I told him, giving him a kiss as I prepared to walk out of the house.
"Four o'clock", he confirmed.
"I love you", I said.
"I love you too. And I always will", he said back as I left.
Two days later, it was the day of New Year's Eve. I woke up at about 11:30 in the morning, quickly had breakfast, and cleaned up my room like my mom told me. She couldn't stand the house being messy at all when we had someone staying over, so while I was cleaning my room, the twins were cleaning theirs, and Mom was cleaning her and Dad's room and the living room. Dad was at work and would be home by dinner.
After I felt that my room was sufficiently clean, I read for a while. I could hear the twins down the hall in their room arguing about if one's side of the room was being invaded by the other person's belongings. It was what happened every time they cleaned their room, so I was used to it.
I lost track of time as I read and didn't realize that it was 3:30 until my mom told me by yelling the information up the stairs. I jumped off of my bed where I had been into my stomach and ran to my closet. I pulled on a white blouse with a Peter Pan collar that I tucked into a light pink, knee length skirt before slipping on my black flats. I braided a section of hair near my face on either side of my part and tied them together behind my head before running downstairs to brush my teeth. Just when I finished, there was a knock on the door.
I got to the door and opened it up, finding Pony standing on the porch.
"Hi, honey", I smiled, "Come on in."
"Hey, darlin'", he said as he walked in, wrapping me a hug and kissing my head. He had a backpack slung over his shoulder.
"Are you ready for nineteen sixty-six?"
"Yeah. Nineteen sixty-five's been a rough year. The best thing that came out of it was you."
I blushed a little and leaned up to kiss his cheek just as my mom came in.
"Hello, Ponyboy. I'm so glad you could stay over."
"Thank you for inviting me", Pony said politely as I took his jean jacket and hung it up.
"It was no problem at all. Lily, why don't you take Ponyboy up to your room."
"Already on it", I told her as I grabbed a laughing Pony and pulled him up the stairs.
We went into my room and I closed the door behind us, "You can leave your stuff in here."
"But I'm sleeping on the couch, aren't I?"
"Yeah, but you don't want your stuff in the living room where everyone's gonna be throughout the day", I reminded him.
"I didn't think of that. Good idea", he set his backpack on the floor as I flopped on my bed on my stomach.
"What in the world are you doing?", Pony laughed.
"I don't really know. At this point, I'm just lying on my bed."
"I'll do it with you", he said, laying on his stomach next to me.
"How's the gang been?"
"Good. Two-Bit stole a new switchblade that he won't shut up about."
When the police were searching Dally after they shot him, they had found Two-Bit's prized switchblade and took it away.
"That's good, even though annoying."
"I guess. Soda's still excited for his date."
"The gang must be pestering him about who she is. Did he finally tell?"
"No, but he did said that her name starts with an 'A'."
I shrugged a little, "I don't blame him for not wanting to say who she is unless the date goes well after what happened with Sandy."
"Yeah", Pony flipped over so he was lying on his back and looked over at me, "C'mon over here, Princess."
I scooted closer to him. Apparently, I wasn't close enough for his liking, as he literally pulled me on top of him. Our stomachs and chests were pressed together. My hands were on his shoulders and his were resting on my waist.
"Would you like something?", I smirked.
"A kiss would be nice", he joked.
To tease him, I only gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
He groaned, making me laugh, "Really, darlin'?"
I nodded, "Yep. Really, honey."
"I didn't mean a kiss like that", he whined.
"What kind of kiss did you have in mind?", I asked, pretending like I didn't know.
"You know full well what kind of kiss I meant, darlin'."
"I don't think I do. Would you show me?", I giggled.
A smile crossed his face, "Gladly."
And with that, Pony took a hand from my waist and moved it to the back of my head, smashing my lips to his. My eyes widened in surprise for a moment before I melted into the kiss. I moved my hands from his shoulders to his arms, squeezing his bicep muscles. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me tighter to him. We pulled away after a bit, needing air.
Pony's eyes met mine, "How'd I so lucky that I found you?"
"I don't know. I ask myself the same question about you every day, love."
I guess we had been up there for longer than I thought because I heard the door open and close which meant my dad was home.
"Let's go downstairs", I told to Pony, standing up, taking his hand and bringing him downstairs.
"Hello, Mr. Smith", he said when we got downstairs and saw my dad on the couch.
"Hello, Ponyboy", my dad answered back.
"I'm gonna help my mom with dinner. Sit on the couch or something", I said.
"Alright. Let me know if you need any help in there."
"I will. Don't you worry."
Mom turned the radio on as we (well, mainly she) cooked. Dinner was pasta. Mom was Italian, so she knew how to do this kind of stuff from her mom. She made and cooked the pasta while I stirred the sauce on the stove. I wasn't very good at cooking, but I tried.
A while into cooking, Mom took a bathroom break, leaving me alone to my devices. I was keeping an eye on the pasta as I stirred the sauce.
The song "Gloria" came on the radio as I stirred. I moved my hips to the beat, singing under my breath.
"…You know she comes 'round here", the radio sang,
"Just 'bout midnight.
She makes me feel so good.
She makes me feel alright.
And her name is G,
L,
O,
R,
Iiiiii…
G, L, O, R, I, A
Gloria;
G, L, O, R, I, A
Gloria…"
I jumped out of my skin when I felt hands on my waist.
"Sorry, darlin'", I heard Ponyboy apologize with a laugh.
"Glory, Pony", I said, turning around to face him and tying my hair into a low bun with an elastic from my wrist, "I think my heart just skipped a beat."
"Doesn't that happen every time you see me though?", he asked with a cocky smirk.
I rolled my eyes at him, smiling, "What am I gonna do with you, Horseman?"
"I liked your little dance, by the way. It was cute."
I felt myself blush, "You saw that?"
"Damn right, I did."
I turned back to the stove to continue stirring the sauce, my face red from the steam of the pot and my embarrassment.
"You don't have to be embarrassed, Princess. Like I said, it was cute", he wrapped his arms around my waist from the behind, his hands resting on my stomach.
I smiled, not answering. Pony rested his forehead on the back of my head and started to hum. I could tell the song he was humming was "You Are My Sunshine". I started swaying a little, making Pony do it too.
"Did I miss something?", Mom asked as she walked back into the kitchen.
"Nope", I answered, "Pony came in to visit me."
"I'm gonna let y'all do what you're doing. I'll be in the living room if you need me, darlin'", Pony said, giving me a kiss on the cheek before walking back to the other room.
My mom smiled as she went back to the pasta, "Y'all really love each other, don't you?"
I smiled down at the sauce, "Yeah. We definitely do."
I looked up to see Mom giving me a light smile, "You're his world. And he's yours. I can tell."
We finished cooking soon after and Mom was about to call out that dinner was ready, but I shushed her. She gave me a confused look.
"I wanna see what Pony and Dad are talking about in the living room", I explained in a whisper.
"Got it", she said, "Let's eavesdrop on our guys."
We tiptoed down the hall and stopped a few feet away from the living room doorway, behind a wall. The T.V volume had been turned down to almost mute so Dad could talk to Ponyboy.
"So how long have you and Lily been dating, again?", I heard Dad ask.
"Almost four months, sir", Pony responded.
I looked at my mom and mouthed, "Sir?".
She shrugged and mouthed back,"I don't know".
"And just what do you like about my daughter?"
I pinched the bridge of my nose, knowing this could go bad.
"Glory, I can't name everything. She's smart, beautiful inside and out, kind, caring, understanding, supportive, stubborn…"
I heard Dad laugh and it must have been at "stubborn".
"What is your favorite physical feature on her?"
I blushed, knowing Dad was planning on Pony saying my breasts or behind.
"Her eyes", Pony answered, "Her eyes are without a doubt my favorite feature on her. They're big and brown and beautiful and they are so passionate."
I smiled, both in relief and because of the compliment.
"I remember saying the saying the same thing about her mother when we were younger", Dad told him.
I looked back at Mom to see her smiling and her eyes sparkling.
She looked at me and whispered, "It's the Italian attractiveness in our eyes. It gets 'em every time."
I snickered quietly, "Oh yeah. We're master seductresses."
"Exactly", she joked.
"I think it's time to intervene, don't you?"
"We probably should. If we don't, dinner's gonna get cold."
"Ponyboy!", I called at the same time my mom did it, but her shouting, "James!"
"Yeah?", they both called back.
"Dinner's ready!", Mom yelled loud enough so they would hear and Anna and Henry would hear her from upstairs.
The twins pounded down the stairs as Dad and Pony came over to Mom and I.
I took Pony's hand in mine and smiled at him, "You're too sweet."
"What do you mean?"
"The conversation with my dad", I clarified.
"Were you eavesdropping?", he asked with a smirk.
"Maybe…", I trailed off before running to the table, him right on my heels.
We all ate dinner while talking about school, the coming new year, etc. By the end of dessert, it was 8 o'clock, so we still had almost 4 hours to kill until we all had to be in the living room to watch the ball drop on the T.V.
Pony and I went back upstairs to my room and I turned on the little radio that I had in there. I changed the stations with the tiny knob until I found a station where we liked the music that was playing.
The song "Johnny B. Goode" started playing and Ponyboy immediately got up and grabbed me.
"What on Earth are you doin', honey?"
"We're dancing." He quickly spun me around and started swing dancing around my rom with me, making me laugh.
"Deep down in Louisiana, close to New Orleans;
Way back up in the woods among the evergreens;
There stood a log cabin mad of earth and wood;
Where lived a country boy named Johnny B. Goode
Who never ever learned to read or write so well,
But he could play a guitar like ringin' a bell.
Go.
Go, Johnny, go.
Go…"
Pony and I continued to dance around my room until the song ended. We both sat on my bed, breathing heavily.
I smiled, "That was fun."
"Yeah, it was", he looked at something on my desk and walked over to it.
I got up and followed him to my desk where he was standing facing it with a picture frame in his hands.
"What're you looking at, honey?"
He turned to face me, smiling, "These pictures."
I looked at the pictures. They were of Ashlynn and I at last year's recital. We were wearing our ballet costumes that were absolutely beautiful and our pink tights and pointe shoes. Our costume dresses were a light peachy pink with softer tutus that puffed out at the hips before the tulle cascaded down to our knees.
The first picture was of us in the dressing room. Ashlynn had given the camera to our only other friend in dance. Her name was Rachel and she was a senior so this was her last show. She was the only other Greaser besides us at our dance school. Ashlynn was trying to touch up my makeup and had said something to make me laugh. My head was thrown back in laughter and she was doubled over, clutching her stomach with one hand and holding the lipstick that she was using to touch me up in the other.
The other picture was us outside the dressing room. Rachel had said that she wanted nice pictures of us, so we were standing with our feet and arms in with position. Our posture was straight like your teacher had taught us, our heads were high, and we wore large smiles from the excitement.
I smiled at the pictures, "She was fixing my makeup in the first one and made me laugh which made her laugh too. Our friend, Rachel, said that she wanted some final pictures of us since it was her last dance recital. She was a senior and a Greaser. She went to college this fall. The University of Tulsa, I think. She wanted to become a journalist. That's where the last picture came from."
"With all that makeup on, I wouldn't even think that's you", he laughed.
"If we don't put a ton of makeup on, we look washed out in the stage lights, so we cake it on."
I walked over to my bedside table and grabbed another picture frame off of it, handing it to Pony, "I think you'll enjoy this one."
It was a picture from Ashlynn and I's second dance recital. We were both about 5 years old and were wearing cute little pink tutu dresses and flat ballet shoes since we hadn't been old enough for pointe. The picture itself was from right after the show. We were in the hallway of the venue, holing small bouquets of roses which her mom had gotten for her and my parents had gotten for me. Mom was in about her last month of pregnancy with the twins, but wasn't in the picture. We both had huge grins covering our little faces, our cheeks heavy with blush and our lips stained red from lipstick. I had my free arm around her shoulders and she had her free arm around my waist.
Pony smirked, "Glory, you were a cute kid, darlin'."'
"Thanks, honey. I'm sure you were too."
"Eh. Not really", he told me.
"I think you're bluffing. You were probably adorable, Pony", I laughed, "The next time I come over to your house, I'm going to have Sodapop show me pictures of you as a little kid."
He sighed, "If you say so."
I leaned up and gave him a peck on the lips, "I do say so."
Hey! I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while school's been crazy and I had about 2 pages of this chapter done, but they weren't good at all so I scrapped them. This chapter is a little slower, but the next one will be much better. I love y'all and stay gold!- AthenaRavenclaw13