"Is he mad?" Johnny said, coolly blowing the smoke.
"Bob? Yeah. But he'll get over it," I flipped my hair off my shoulders with a quick toss of my head. Johnny nodded and an idea came to me, why he was acting kind of funny about Bob. But I shook my head and dismissed it.
We walked again and ended up in a vacant lot. Johnny started a fire then pulled me down on a broken old seat from a junked car.
I could see the stars pretty good in this spot, and leaned my head on Johnny's shoulder. He slung his arm around me. I liked this. I liked how he was kind of shy but kind of sweet. How different he was than Bob.
The fire crackled and threw off a steady heat, and I felt sleepy all of a sudden. Johnny kissed my temple and I liked that, too.
"Mmmmm. I like you," I said sleepily, and felt him kind of smooth my hair. My eyes felt so heavy and I shut them. Fell asleep.
"Hey, Cherry. Cherry, c'mon, wake up," Johnny was shaking me a little and I blinked at him, totally disoriented. I was cold and the leaves shook and rattled together in the strong wind. The fire had gone out.
"Johnny?"
"Yeah?"
"It's late, isn't it?"
"Yeah,"
I sat up, rubbed my arms over my thin sweater.
"Oh no. Bob," I said, panic filling my mind, making me restless. Johnny looked groggy, his eyes still half closed.
"Johnny, Bob and Randy will be looking for us, we can't stay here,"
He yawned, tucking his chin against his chest.
"Where are we gonna go?" he said.
"My house," I stood up, tried to get him to stand up by pulling his arm but he pulled away.
"Your house? Don't you live like 20 miles from here? I don't got a car,"
"It's okay. We'll take a cab,"
"A cab? Cherry, I'm flat broke,"
"Don't worry. I have plenty of money,"
We got a cab and sailed over to the south side. Johnny got a little wide eyed when the cab slowed down in front of my house.
"Um," he swallowed, looked out of place at the edge of my driveway, "your parents are here?"
"Yeah. But they're sleeping," I put my finger to my lips…quiet…and slipped the key from my pocket. I opened the door, grabbed Johnny's hand, and snuck him up to my room.
He looked around, dazed by all the ruffles and satin, the piles of stuffed animals, the thick rose colored carpet.
"Shit, Cherry, if your parents find me in here…" He shook his head, shoved his hands in his pockets. I felt a little thrill of fear at the thought.
"Don't worry. They won't wake up,"
My whole room was kind of soft and pastel. Johnny looked so, it was kind of hard to explain. I hadn't noticed how dirty his clothes were, how much grease he put in his black hair. He looked like the most real thing that had ever been in here.