Ponyboy started making his way threw the crowd but I was already loosing him so I reached for his hand. And I couldn't help but smile as he held my hand in return. We had made it outside but there were just as many people outside as there was inside. But Ponyboy seemed to have a destination set and kept on walking, so I followed. We had been walking when I felt someone grab my side. It was Lee. He was sitting on one of the bench's outside with Jen on his lap. And judging by the red color of his lips it seemed like Lee and Jen had been making out.
"Where are you going?" Lee asked still holding my side with one hand and his other arm around Jen.
"None of your business Lee," I said a tore myself out of his grip, "Get lost!"
Ponboy had stopped and was watching me but as soon as I had gotten away he continued walking, still holding my hand. We walked over to the back alley and towards the park. Finally we stopped at the top on one of the hills.
"Wow we finally made it!" I said with a laugh.
Ponyboy grinned as he sat down. Since he was still holding my hand I sat down with him.
"Who was that guy?" he asked as he looked across the park.
"Oh him. Don't worry he's my best friend. Hi name is Lee. He's just real protective over me. That's all." I looked over at Ponyboy and followed his eyes across the park too.
It was really nice. Nice and quiet. Well fairly quiet. You could still hear people yelling from David's party. Man they were a lot more people there then I expected. I could only imagine the amount of people coming to the store tomorrow looking for hang over remedies. But it was kind of cool sitting up here on this hill. You could see overtop of some trees and you could see all of the flowers everywhere. It was just real nice, kind of peaceful.
"It's real nice out here," I said still looking around.
"Yeah kind of peaceful."
"That's just what I was thinking," I said with a smile. He smiled back.
We talked for a while about the scenery. Ponyboy was a real dreamer. I liked that about him. I found myself talking to him about things I never had with anyone else. I even found myself taking about my past. Which is something I hardly ever do.
"Sometimes I feel like I've grown up to fast you know," I said quietly.
He nodded his head, "My brother Darry is like that. Once my parents died he had to take care of me and Sodapop. Sometimes I think I forget that he's only 20."
We talked about his family for a bit longer. I was real interested to here what his home life was like. It sounded like he had grown up with a real good family. His brother's really cared about him. His oldest brother Darry was working real hard to keep their family together, giving up a lot of things for Ponboy and Sodapop. I always wondered what it would be like to have a family that cared about you. The closest thing to family I had ever had was Bryan, Lee and Gary maybe Mrs. Hannigan.
"I miss my mom and dad so much," Ponyboy said softly.
We both naturally got closer to each other. Although I don't think either of us had realized it at the time.
"I don't miss mine," I replied.
Ponyboy looked at me a little stunned.
"Well I didn't really know my mom. She ran out on us when I was like 2 or 3," I said though I was a bit quiet I didn't like talking about this sort of stuff but it felt good to tell someone else.
"I'm sorry Kate," he said putting his arm around me. I snuggled up a bit closer. Though I wasn't nervous like before, and neither was he, at least I didn't think so. It just felt real natural. Like it was right. I know it sounds cheesy but that's how I had felt.
"Thanks but I don't really blame her. My dad's a complete ass. Well more like a pervert. I swear he hits on anything that's female," I explained, "Even his own daughter."
Ponyboy looked at me. He seemed a bit shocked. I had only ever told Lee, Gary and Bryan about what my dad used to do to me. I had never told Mrs. Hannigan about it though. I was real embarrassed about it. But one of the maids Catherine always stepped in when my dad was trying to hit on me. But even Catherine left, when I was like 9 a few weeks before I had ran away. My dad had never really done anything to me. But he's said and asked some stuff that just really creeped me out.
"Sick bastard," he said I could tell he seemed a bit upset by this too.
"Yeah he really was. And to make matters he was never married to my mom. And he was a real rich bastard. He didn't want anyone knowing he had a daughter out of wedlock. So I was home schooled. I hardly ever got out of that house. And I hated it," I said with a bit of anger. That house was like hell for me, "But one day he pushed me too far. I ran away when I was like 9. I hadn't taken anything with me. I hated everything I owned. So I had just started running, and I kept on running. I ended up at some park and I just cried for like hours."
"You poor thing."
I smiled at Ponyboy and looked him in the eyes for a while before continuing.
"Yeah that's when I had met Lee and Bryan. They were like 10 at the time. They were just real nice to me. And when Bryan and Lee had to head home they took me with them. Bryan's mom was a bit of a nut job so he lived with Lee. Lee's mom had been a real nice lady and she took me in. It was good for quite awhile. I lived there till I was like 13. But Lee's mom couldn't afford for all three of us. So we all worked whatever jobs we could to help out. Though not many people would hire a 13-year-old but my looks definitely helped me out. But one day we had gone into this store and stole some food. When Lee's mom found out she kicked us out. Lee's mom had been going threw a lot; her mom had just died. And she wasn't stabile," I said taking a deep breath.
This was really hard for me. I didn't know why I was telling Ponyboy all of this. But he had told me all about his family. And I just opened up to him. It was good to have someone else to talk too. Ever since Bryan had passed away. Lee and me had a hard time talking about that stuff anymore. It still hurt real bad.
"So one of Bryan's friends Gary was renting a place. So we stayed there as much as we could. Though this real nice old lady Mrs. Hannigan took me in after a while. We all stayed their every one in a while. She enjoyed the company. Plus Gary's apartment was only meant for three people. And with Gary's girl there were five of us. So we had to be real careful," I said quietly.
"Then one night some Socs were picking on some little girl. So Bryan had went over to call them off. And the Socs beat him real bad. I had been walking home and I saw him, just lying there. He could hardly move. I saw cuts all over him. He was bleeding to death. I was screaming for someone to help. But it wasn't till I saw Tim Sheppard that someone called the ambulance. I wouldn't leave Bryan. He had done so much for me. And now he was dying," I said tears streaming down my face.
I don't like to cry. And I didn't cry often. I hated crying. Somehow I thought it made me look weak. I felt weak. Crying didn't do me any good. I didn't feel any better after I'd done it. It just seemed pointless to me. But here I was crying. I always found it hard to fight back tears when I talked about Bryan. But his face as he was dying was still etched into my memory. He had been real calm. He was just talking to me softly, telling me about what had happened. And when he saw me start crying he had tried to tell me a joke to cheer me up. He knew he was going to die yet here he was trying to cheer me up.
"I was holding his hands when he died. By the time the ambulance had got there he had died. His hand in mine," I said trying to stop crying but I couldn't, "It wasn't fair. He was too young. After all he'd done for me, and everyone else. He was a great guy. He didn't deserve to die. Not like that. It's not fair."
I put my head into Ponyboy's shoulder still crying softly. And he held me.
"Life's just not fair," he said quietly still holding me.
And we must have stayed like that for at least an hour. After awhile I had stopped crying. But Ponyboy still held me real close. And we were both real quiet. We didn't have to say anything to let each other know what we were thinking.
After a while both of us noticed that the noise from David's party was dying down. Hearing someone calling out Ponyboy's name we both turned around.
"What do you want Soda?" he called back.
"Where are you Pony?" I heard the voice reply, "Oh there you are."
I watched as a boy stepped out of the shadows. I could tell from where I was sitting that it was Ponyboy's brother Sodapop. I knew him down from the gas station but even if I hadn't I could have figured it out. Soda and Pony looked kind of alike in an odd sort of way. They were definitely both good looking.
I could tell by the way that Ponyboy was blushing that he wasn't used to getting caught snuggling with a girl.
"Hate to break you to up," Soda said with a huge grin at his brother, "But Pony we gotta get home before Darry flips."
I looked over at Pony who grudgingly took his arms away from me.
"I really ought to be getting home," Ponyboy said as he looked over at his brother who seemed to be doing some kind of sign language but I pretended to act like I didn't notice it, "Hey… umm did you need a ride home?"
I smiled, "Yeah I'd love one."
I figured Dale and Louis were already to drunk to even remember I was there with them. Most likely they had already left and I didn't feel much like walking home. So I figured might as well get a ride. Plus I wouldn't mind some more time around Ponyboy.
"Great," Soda said still grinning at his brother, "Come along then… Kate right?"
"Yeah," I said, "And Sodapop right?"
"Better believe it," he said smiling, "Come along you two."
I grinned at him. And feeling Ponyboy grab my hand as we headed back we were both pretty happy. I saw a few guys give Ponyboy a pat on the shoulder or saying something like 'Good going man! She's hot!' but I acted like I didn't hear them. But Ponyboy seemed to have a grin on his face the whole time though he was a little red.
As we walked over to the car. I met Soda's girl Sandy. I was real nice to her and she was back. But I could tell by the glare's that she gave me when Soda and Ponyboy weren't looking that she secretly hated me. I merely shrugged my shoulders with a bit of a laugh. Not too many girls liked me. They thought I was some slut who was going to steal their man. I wasn't like that at all, but hey I got some pretty good laughs out of some of these girls' faces when I walked by their guy.
I also met Steve. He seemed like an okay guy. But he was spending more time looking at me then his girl Eve. But I didn't really care I sat beside Ponyboy and the whole time he had his arm around me or was holding my hand. Although most of the ride home we all listened to Two-Bit. The guy was hilarious even if he was wasted. I couldn't help but laugh. Even when he was trying to be serious he was just so out there that we all couldn't keep from laughing. By the time Soda had gotten to Mrs. Hannigan's place all I was dying of laughter. As I got out of the car I thanked them for the ride. Ponyboy came with me and walked me to the door.
"So I'll see you tomorrow," he asked with a smile.
"Definitely," I said with a grin.
I felt Ponyboy lean in to kiss me on the cheek but I redirected his kiss to my lips. He had such soft lips. As we both slowly pulled away I found that I was even blushing slightly. I could hear Two-Bit hollering from the car something like 'Yeah Pony! Touchdown Curtis!' Ponyboy and I both laughed. I saw Mrs. H flick on the lights and Ponyboy noticed too.
"Well I guess I'll see you tomorrow," he said still blushing a bit, "Bye Kate."
"Bye Ponyboy."
I opened the door and walked inside. I looked threw the window and watched Pony walk back to his car and then drive away. I saw that Soda and Steve had taken their turns congratulating Ponyboy and I couldn't help but laugh. I said goodnight to Mrs. Hannigan and headed upstairs with a grin on my face that wasn't about to leave any time soon.
Let me know what you think! This is my first fanfiction before. I hope it was alright!