Chapter 4:

Strawberry Ice Cream

(Dally)

Have you ever found that one person who makes your blood run hot and fast every time you see her? I sure have, and I really need to do something about it. The thing is, I can't stop thinking about her. Sure, I love thinking about girls and all but this is different. Cherry Valance makes my body feel like it's going to split in two if I don't grab her and taste her right then and there. And then there's the fact that she hates me. This should bother me, right? But instead, every time she pushes me away I just get even hotter for her.

I've never known a girl like her, sexy and classy and full of enough passion for the both of us. Maybe I need a little more passion in my life, I don't know. I guess all I've really got is finding new ways to get into jail, which gets boring, and Johnny, who is more than enough right now—but how long until he grows up and leaves? Soon enough he'll have a girl and he won't even need me anymore. Without Johnny, I think I would die of boredom so I'd better find something to keep me interested in life. Hopefully that something involves nailing Cherry Valance.

Today we're out on the beach again. It's just me, Cherry, Johnny, and Pony. Soda asked if he could borrow my car for something, and he's been gone for the past few hours. I really hope he's out getting laid by some dumb blonde with big boobs. He hasn't had any action since Sandy left him a few months ago and he really needs some. He still talks about Sandy all the time and I hate seeing how weak she made him. Soda just needs to get over her already. He could get any girl on the planet to jump into bed with him and instead he chooses to mope around over a scared little girl who ran away from him. This is exactly why I don't fall in love.

The four of us have been sharing a big bowl of cherries, all of us sprawled out on our beach towels. At one point, I tie a cherry stem into a knot with my tongue to give Cherry an idea of how talented of a kisser I am, but she does not seem impressed. Nothing is impressing her.

Suddenly feeling annoyed at everything, I scratch hard at the hot skin on my arms, which is now tinted pink. I hate all of this sun.

"You sure you don't want any sunblock?" Cherry asks me, stifling laughter.

I perk up at her near-smile. "I don't need any sunblock. Unless of course you'd like to put it on me."

Her face flames with irritation, all traces of laughter escaping from her features. She grabs the bottle of lotion and throws it down beside me before rising from her beach towel. "You can do that yourself."

I slide my sunglasses down my nose so she can see my eyes—I have to squint in the sunlight but I think it adds to the smoldering effect I'm going for. "But I don't want to do it myself."

Refusing to meet my eyes, she declares, "I'm getting ice cream," and storms off in the opposite direction as if I just told her I have the plague. She's wearing this tight little yellow bikini that showcases her ass in just the right way. I groan.

"God, why does she hate me so much? I don't see what I'm doing wrong."

Johnny says, "I really don't think she hates you. Just ask her out already."

Pony flashes a hurt look at Johnny, who glances away with shame. I do feel bad for Pony. I apologized to him yesterday for teasing him so much about his crush on her. He seemed shocked to hear the words "I'm sorry" come out of my mouth; I was shocked too. I can't remember the last time I apologized to anyone.

Now I almost tell him he can have her right after I get her in bed, but I can't form the words. I can't stand to think about Pony or anyone else dating her.

My eyes find Cherry; she's at the ice cream cart some distance away from us. She smiles at the vendor and she just looks so damn pretty. I start to think about what she would look like naked and I forget Ponyboy.

I rise up from my towel and run over to her. She flinches when I suddenly pop up right beside her, as if I'm the scariest monster she's ever seen.

"I've got that," I declare to the vendor, pulling out some money from my pocket. I haven't got much, but I have enough to pay for a cone.

"Oh, I can pay for it," Cherry insists, looking uncomfortable.

"No, it's my treat, beautiful."

I hand the money to the vendor and he hands a cone of strawberry ice cream to Cherry. As we walk away, she says, "You really didn't need to do that." Her voice is unsteady. She then pretends to focus on eating her ice cream, but her eyes keep shifting over to me. I stare at her the whole time, and she starts to blush. I smirk with pleasure.

"I want to ask you something, Cherry."

A deep pause. "And what is that?"

She finally dares to meet my eyes. Her green eyes look so afraid yet so fearless all at once.

Before I even know what I'm doing, I step toward her and grab her around the waist. Her mouth parts in shock and her ice cream falls to the ground. Before she can even figure out how to react, my lips are crashing into hers. She gasps into my mouth. Without intending to, I growl into hers. Cherry puts her hands on my chest as if to push me away, but instead they slide up around my neck to pull me even closer to her body. She's kissing me back. Her tongue is hot in my mouth and I can taste strawberry ice cream and nothing has ever tasted better.

After we part, she just stares at me, dumbfounded by what just happened. Her lips are red and swollen and I already want to kiss her again.

Breathing heavily, I blurt out, "Will you go on a date with me?"

"Okay," she says without even needing to think about her answer.

She smiles wide, and I know I've got her now. I really hope I've got her for a long time.

A/N: Hey guys, thanks so much to everyone who has kept up with this story! I really appreciate it and I am so sorry that I haven't posted in so long! I got really caught up in school and unfortunately I don't have a lot of time to write for fun. But I will definitely continue with this story, so please stay tuned. It may be a while before I finish the next chapter, but I am really going to try to get it done soon. Thank you for your patience and I really hope you enjoyed this chapter!