ITS ABOUT TIME ➤ Ponyboy Curtis

3

𝙶𝚎𝚘𝚛𝚐𝚒𝚊 𝙳𝚊𝚠𝚗 𝙼𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚠𝚜
♫ - "Flirting in Space" by Brad stank

    I took a seat next to Ponyboy on the end of the smaller couch, only because Two-Bit decided to sit on the floor. I would have sat next to him. On the other side of Ponyboy was Johnny, and the rest of the boys sat on the other couch while Darrel sat in the recliner. I looked at the blushing boy sitting next to me. He was not so subtlety avoiding eye contact. "You're blushing pretty hard. Are you embarrassed or something?" I knew that he was, I just like being mean. Not mean mean, but teasing mean.
    "You ain't a'woofin'," He said, rubbing the back of his neck before getting mad at Steve for making another joke. I just laughed and looked around.
Mickey Mouse was playing on the T.V so Two-Bit was obviously not paying any attention to the conversations the rest of the guys were having. Neither was I to be honest. I sort of just stared at my shoes and thought about anything that popped into my head. Even though the guys were nice and friendly, I was still a little shy and didn't want to force myself into a conversation that I wasn't involved in. I'm skilled at talking to people but I'm always second guessing myself. When I talk, it comes on normal to other people, but they don't know that five minutes before I say anything, I ask myself if I should even open my mouth. I'm really scared of embarrassment. How other people view me is something that matters a lot. It's really draining and I know I shouldn't care about that kinda stuff but I do.
    The staring contest with my shoes was interrupted by a tap on my shoulder. I looked to my right and my eyes met with Ponyboy's.
    "You alright?" he asked, his eyebrows slightly raised. I thought about how weird I must have looked.
    My cheeks grew warm—it was somewhat embarrassing to know someone saw me looking like a fool. "Oh yeah I'm fine. Just thinking." I reassured.
    His face relaxed and he gave me a small smile, "Anything interesting?"
    I returned the smile and laughed a little. I bet I blushed too. It was nice that he acted interested. He might've just been being polite but it still made me feel good. "If you think sleeping is interesting then yeah. It's way past my bedtime." I joked. My mom never cared what I did, let alone what time I slept.
My mom and I didn't get along at all. I always tried to please her, I really did, but she was gonna hate me no matter what I did. In her eyes, I ruined everything the day I born. At least that's what she told me before we stopped talking to each other. I still think she's a good mother, a mother who provides for her two children, but we don't get along.
    "Yeah, I'm kinda tired too. I've been trying to go to bed earlier cause it takes me a while to fall asleep."
    "How come?" I questioned.
    "I used to get these nightmares that kept me up. Soda used to sleep in my room with me and my that worked, but I still don't like sleeping."
    "Even though you don't have them, you still don't want to sleep?"
    "It's not that I don't want too, I'm just used to not sleeping I guess." Ponyboy smiled sheepishly and looked down at his lap.
    I felt bad for pushing it. He probably didn't even want to talk about it and just felt like he needed to make small talk. Thinking back on it, I had no reason to be so embarrassed. But then again, I was a teenager and teenagers get embarrassed by anything and everything. I played off my embarrassment by starting a new conversation on a shared interest. "Ever try reading before bed? Whenever I do, it practically knocks me out."
    He looked up from his lap and smiled softly. "No. I mostly read during the day but I'll have to try that out." God damn he's cute, I thought. He was a real charmer alight. All the girls in Tulsa, even Socs, wanted a chance with Sodapop and I was wondering why Ponyboy didn't get the same attention. Thinking our conversation was over, I looked at the T.V and started paying attention to whatever was going on. "What's your favorite book?" Ponyboy said from beside me.
    I turned to look at him, not showing my surprise that he started another conversation. I was feeling pretty good about myself because he obviously wanted to talk to me. "Mmm," I huffed, thinking about what my answer would be. "Probably The Bell Jar. It's oddly funny."
    "I've been meaning to read that. Didn't that get banned?"
    "Yeah," I said, "The school board thinks that women's rights are controversial."
    Ponyboy laughed a little. "Like that'll stop anyone."
    I looked at him for a little bit, admiring his features. "What about you? What's your favorite book?"
    "The Catcher in the Rye. It's also banned."
    "The best are always banned, huh?" Ponyboy shot me a blinding smile. I'm being dead serious when I say that he's the most handsome guy I've ever seen."What's your favorite color?" I questioned playfully. He had asked an out-of-the-blue question, so now I had too. I like to call this The Question Game. Me and Two-Bit used to play it when we were little when we had nothing else to do.
    He blinked. "Orange."
    "Mines green." Greens the color of life and nature, two things that I find beautiful.
    "That's my second favorite." Ponyboy said while smiling wide. "Who's your favorite singer?"
    "Most definitely Ray Charles. What about you?"
    "I don't think I have one." He admitted. We stared at each other for a second or two.
    "You can think of a second favorite color but not your favorite artist?"
    He chuckled, "Sorry, I didn't know I was supposed too." He paused. "You and Two-Bit sure are funny."
    "You think I'm funny?" I scoffed. I didn't mean it in a rude way, I was just surprised.
    Ponyboy shrugged. "Yeah. I mean, it seems like both of you can make a joke at anytime." he looked at Two-Bit and chuckled. "Your jokes make more sense though. Two-Bit's humor is more scatterbrained."
    "I'm glad I didn't inherit the scatterbrained gene." I rubbed my right eye.
    I was getting tired. Ponyboy and I didn't say anything for a minute. We sat there in silence, smiling like fools until Two-Bit decided that it was time to go home, only because his show was over and some other cartoon started playing. I think it was Mr. Magoo. Two-Bit didn't like that one. "C'mon Georgie, it's time to split." He said, standing up from his spot in front of the television.
    I stood up and looked at the guys, "It was nice hanging with y'all. Thank you for having me."
    "Anytime Georgie." Sodapop teased.
    I glared at Two for using my childhood nickname in front of the guys. I liked the name, but it felt a little condescending—like I was a little kid being spoken too by an adult.
    "We'll see ya'll tomorrow." My brother said while slinging his arm around my shoulder and stepping out the door. "Did ya have fun?" Two asked.
    I looked up at him and smiled. "Yeah, I did. Thanks for making Sodapop invite me."
    Two-Bit cocked an eyebrow, "I didn't tell him nothin'."
    A smile formed on my face as we walked through our front door. It felt really nice being wanted, knowing that somebody wants to be around you.
Our dog, Pluto, came running towards us. He was carrying an old shoe that Two-Bit gave him for Christmas. He was a tannish color and real big. He almost looked like a mastiff but I'm definite we didn't get a purebred off the streets. Two found him a few years ago while he was walking home from school (before he had a car). We managed to keep him a secret for around a week before our mom found him and flipped her lid. She calmed down after she saw how cute he was. Two-Bit named him "Pluto" because Two-Bit is childish and has a weird obsession with Mickey Mouse. I think it's because he grew up too fast and is only now letting himself be childlike. When you live in a city like Tulsa, you grow up real quick. You loose your innocence.
I thought about Ponyboy again and the poem he shared with me while going to bed that night. It was such a beautiful piece of art that I would have never shown interest in if he hadn't shown it to me. If I had read the poem on my own, I would have thought it was pretty and forget about it. But when somebody you like shows you something pretty, it becomes beautiful. I liked Ponyboy, he was a nice kid and liked the same things as me. Two-Bit had always said that we would get along but I didn't listen because I didn't have an interest in making friends. But now I did, and I was happy I found one.