A/N: I am gonna be popping out new chapters like a breeze for the next few days, just because I have such incredible muse for this story right now, just warning you! :) ENJOY and REVIEW PLEASE! :P

Scout

Just as Pony asked, I waited two days before going to visit him and talk about our future. Two days felt like two years, and the only thing I thought of the entire time was what he would say. He had agreed to move in with me, but under what circumstances and when? I knew it was stupid to worry that he'd have some big list of things I would have to do before he bothered moving in with me, but it was really hard to not worry. On the third day after Pony spoke with me, I went over to his house, ready for a serious talk. Instead, when I arrived, I found only Frankie and Hal sitting at home.

"Darry said you'd be comin' over, Scout," Frankie greeted through the screen door after I knocked. "He told me to tell you to go here," and with that, she gave me a slip of paper and disappeared into the kitchen where I could hear Hal hollering for her.

The address on the paper was familiar for some reason, but I didn't give it much thought. If Darry said to go there, it meant Pony was probably with him. What they could possibly have planned at an unknown address I had no idea. Instead of worrying about it, I just went along my way. It was better that I relieved all of my stress before arriving, just in case the talk got heated. Pony and I had a lot of fights before, and usually we got loud. Never hurt each other - but we got really loud. Hopefully this talk went smoothly and no one would yell.

When I arrived at the address on the paper, I was a little surprised to see Steve sitting in the back of his pick-up with Two-bit, Soda, Darry, and Ponyboy. The five of them were laughing and talking amongst each other, and didn't seem to notice me at first. So, I approached the truck and knocked on the tailgate before beginning to climb in. Before I could make it, however, Ponyboy told me to stop and he jumped out of the back of the truck.

"Let's go inside." he suggested, pointing to the house. He looked back at the others. "Thanks for the help, guys,"

"Anytime, Pon," Soda winked.

Ponyboy took my hand and led me slowly up to the house, and I got a good look on the outside as we made our way up to the front door. It was small, with two windows on the front of the house and what seemed to be another window on the side that I could see. The panels were painted light grey, to where they looked almost blue, and the front door was painted green. Kind of tacky, if you asked me. He paused for a moment at the front door and looked at me, and I raised my eyebrows in question.

"Who's house is this?" I asked.

"You'll see," he smiled, opening the front door and leading me inside. It was so much better on the inside.

The first room we entered was a living room. On the far wall there was a yellow couch that looked as though it was used, and it matched perfectly with the light colored paneled walls and the black coffee table that was set in front of it. On either side of the couch were the same colored chairs - both looking used as well. The next room was the dining room, with a very familiar looking table for four and all the very familiar chairs set around it. The kitchen was small and set right to the side of dining room, where the stove and fridge looked a bit beat up, but it was nice enough to me. As we moved further into the house and down the hallway to the bedrooms, I kept wondering who lived in this house, even though I had already figured it out but hadn't processed it yet.

There were only two bedrooms and one bathroom. The bigger bedroom had a nice queen-sized bed fully quilted, and the guest bedroom was unfurnished. The dresser in the master was used looking, but quite in tact, and the bathroom wasn't up to date exactly, but it was usable. Finally, Ponyboy pulled me all the way into the master bedroom and told me to close my eyes. Without hesitation, I did, covering my eyes with my hands.

"So, what's going on here?" I asked, but he didn't answer me. I heard him shuffling around, but kept my word to keep my eyes closed, excited for what surprise he had for me.

"Alright. Take a look," he said, and I felt one of his arms go around my waist as I opened my eyes. In front of me, the previously deserted dresser was now decorated by four pictures. All four of them were of Pony and I together, laughing, and they were in perfectly used picture frames. It was at that moment that it all clicked in my brain and I finally realized what I had known since walking into the house.

"Pony…" I whispered, looking over at him, trying to contain my tears. "Pony...Did you...Is this…?" I couldn't complete a full sentence, but he grinned, understanding what I was saying.

"Yes I did, and yes it is." he grinned, leading me over to the bed. "I thought a lot about you said. I'd been thinking about moving out on my own for years, and had even looked at this house when it first came out for sale. Well, when you said that thing about Soda and Liz, I realized what you were trying to say...and figured now was just the right time to finally move out on my own...well, of course, alone except for you."

I watched him as he spoke, and wanted to respond really badly, but I just couldn't get out any words. He had actually listened to me! He'd actually agreed! Why had I been so scared to say something to him? Of the almost nine years I'd been dating Pony, I could always tell him anything, and always he would be so supportive. The only other time I had ever hidden something from him was when we had our first kiss and I avoided him for days. That had ended in real disaster.

"You like it?" he asked, starting to look worried.

Without even thinking, I lurched forward and tackle-kissed him, not knowing how else to explain to him what it meant to me. He responded happily, kissing me back with enthusiasm and I knew he must have been relieved. Somehow, I ended up straddling him, but before it could go any further than kissing, the sound of the front door being opened and then Two-bit yelling through the house forced us to stop. I didn't have time to remove myself from Pony before our friend burst into the bedroom.

"Oops, interrupting something?" he chuckled.

"I thought you guys left," Ponyboy muttered, putting one hand over his eyes in annoyance.

"Want some alone time with the lady, I get it, but you sort of promised us some money," Two-bit said, grinning. I sighed and got off of Pony to sit on the bed beside of him. He took another moment to lay there before jumping up and following Two-bit out of the room, throwing me an exasperated look on his way out. I laughed lightly and stood up, looking around the room one more time.

Everything was absolutely perfect.

A/N: Don't let the last line fool you. With every big step in a relationship comes hard times. ;)