In the next year, I was losing to Lucy and Becky, the perfect people. First, Dally asked Lucy to marry him, and a month after, Sodapop and Becky announced the same thing. Jacklyn and Ponyboy were a much stronger couple than Johnny and me, but they weren't getting married just yet.
At Lucy's wedding, I was one of the bridesmaids. Becky, of course, was the maid of honor, and I was just a lowly bridesmaid. I wore my glasses to the church and when Lucy saw me, she shook her head.
"What?" I asked. "You said you didn't care how I did my makeup."
"No, that's not it," she said. "Kelcie, you look fabulous. It's just the glasses that are setting you off. You're not wearing the glasses that you hate. Not at my wedding."
"Do you want me at your wedding, Lucy Curtis?" I snapped.
"Kelcie, no," she pleaded. "Don't, don't think that. Of course I want you at my wedding. I just don't want you to be complaining about how your glasses made you look bad in years to come."
I glared at her and took my glasses off. Sure, I wasn't blind, but whenever I take off my glasses right away, I can't see very well. Johnny walked up to me and gave me a hug.
"Hey," he said. "What happened to your glasses?"
"Lucy says I can't wear them," I sneered. "Who does she think she is, anyway?"
"The bride," Johnny answered, laughing. "Everything's gotta be perfect on her wedding day."
"It's all perfect everyday when you're Lucy!" I wailed.
He looked at me with that sort of blank look, which usually passes for deep thought or at least the notion that someone's home. That couldn't be a good sign.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" I finally asked.
"Because it's all about beating Lucy with you," he responded absently. "Look, Kelcie, I love you, but you're gonna need to feel good about yourself for once in your life."
Nothing. I said nothing because I knew Johnny was right, and that I should feel better about myself. My self-esteem swung from low to high to in the middle and back to low again. In the past Becky has said that my amps are always one or ten, never in the middle. Now I was thinking she might be right.
"I'll see you up at the altar, Kelcie," Johnny whispered and gave me a small kiss on the cheek. By now I was really wondering when he'd break up with me. It had been almost two years since Two-Bit shouted "Johnny and Kelcie got it on!" and Darry said that he doubted my love. He still hadn't broken up with me, and things hadn't really changed.
As planned, Dally and Lucy got married and a month later we all did the same thing for Soda and Becky's wedding. That wasn't much different that the first wedding, except I didn't wear my glasses in fear that Lucy would make me take them off again. They were married too, and at the reception, I was a bit drunk and started asking Johnny questions I'd probably never ask him if I was sober.
"Johnny, we've been to two weddings for our friends," I slurred. "And it probably won't be long before Ponyboy's proposing to Jacklyn. Then it'll just be me, the single one. When are you gonna ask me to marry you?"
I don't remember the look on Johnny's face, but I do remember tasting peach wine cooler. He was looking at me though, processing my words for forever. It might have been thirty seconds.
"Gee, Kelcie, I don't know," he muttered. "Do you really mean that?"
"Of course I really mean it! You're the only guy I've ever been with, and you're the only guy I've ever loved. All I want to do is marry you."
"Maybe we should wait until Pony and Jacklyn get married. He's probably already thinking about it anyway."
"No! We gotta get married before them!"
"Don't have this be all about the competition."
"Life is competition, Johnny."
Again, he was silent. Finally he said:
"I think we should wait until you're not drunk anymore. See if you really mean what you're saying."
"But Johnny, I do mean it!"
"Okay Kelcie, we'll wait and see."
But I did mean it. I think.