dance in the sun 〖 the outsiders 〗

the alone time

My eyes fluttered open as I felt the car come to a stop; the sun was setting but it was still a little bright out and I could see clearly the 'DX' sign, meaning we were back in town and gas was probably low. I stretched my arms and looked to my left where Johnny was removing the keys from the ignition.

"Boy oh boy, don't tell me little ol' Johnny is stealin' cars now?" I heard a loud voice say jokingly from outside the car. I giggled and opened the door at the same time as Johnny.

"What if I was?" he replied with a sly smile.

"Well I'd say good on ya', kid, snagged yourself a beauty." Getting out of the car, I saw Steve standing by Johnny on the driver's side and gave him a quick smile and a hello. "Hey there," he said, "So it's your car?"

"No, my dad's. He let my sister use it so obviously we took her around today."

Steve nodded and chuckled. "Need some fuel?"

"Yeah, here you go," I answer, reaching over the hood to hand him the cash. He walked back inside and I turned to Johnny. "So, watcha doin' for the rest of the night?" I ask.

"I don't know, probably just hang around these guys."

I hope that he doesn't get the wrong idea but I really wanted to spend more time with Johnny. Knowing that my mom most likely wouldn't be home made it even better timing. "Well you could come by my place," I offered. "For a little bit, y'know, I could drop you off later but my mom won't be home tonight and we can just hang. Watch TV and stuff."

"What about your sister?"

"She won't say nothin', trust me we always look out for each other."

He seemed to think about it for a bit and Steve made his way back out to come pump the gas for us. "So where'd y'all go?"

"Some lake about an hour and a half west," Johnny answered.

"Nice, Johnny here sure makes good company don't he?" Steve said to me.

"He does, it was real fun!" I respond, resting my head on my hands and glancing at Johnny with a smile. Steve smirked and looked at Johnny as well before focusing back on pumping the gas.

"Hey Johnnycake!" Sodapop greeted, walking out of the store. I giggled at the cute name they gave him and he rolled his eyes and said hello back. "Sorry, I didn't see your girl over there."

"Hey, Sodapop," I greeted.

"How ya' doin', Marlena?"

"Never been better." The car was a main topic of conversation among the guys for the next few minutes before Johnny told them he was gonna go ahead and let me get home. I'm not a car person so everything they spoke about went over my head but it sure was cute seeing Johnny talk about it with his friends; I didn't even know he knew much about cars but I guess you pick up on things when your closest friends love them the way Sodapop and Steve do.

"Y'all be safe, alright?" Sodapop says as Johnny pulls out of the DX lot.

I looked at him, noting the darkening sky outside and hoping he'd wanna spend some time with me too. "So?"

Johnny looked at me then the road and shrugged. "How do we get to your place?"

❁

We pulled into my driveway and the only light on in the house was in Sherri's room, as I expected. He looked up at my dimly lit house as we get out of the car. "I've seen your house before but it's just so nice. I look at it and think 'wow my girl lives here'?"

My heart beats a little faster when he says my girl. I really really hope he asks me out tonight. I mean we had a great day and now we're gonna spend time together at my house, what better place? "Your girl?"