Dallas Winston Has A Sister? 2 (Outsiders Fanfic)

Yes, I Love You

Even though my plan had been to avoid Ponyboy entirely, we had school the next day.  I could have skipped, but then he might think I was so heartbroken I couldn't even get out of bed, which wasn't the case by any means, or so I chose to believe.  So I had to go, and while I was getting ready I noticed that I had a big purple bruise across my cheekbone, just like I had expected.  How nice, I thought. 

All day at school I avoided looking at or talking to anyone, just on the off chance that I'd catch a glance of Pony or end up face to face with him and I might actually say something even though I promised myself I was no longer speaking to him. 

I was doing fine until the very end  of the day, when we were leaving school.  I had one of those hunches that someone was staring at me, and I looked back just in time to see Pony's head among the crowd quickly turning away from me.  But not quick enough, because I caught a glimpse of the wounded look on his face, guilt in his eyes and angry disappointment in the grim set of his mouth.

And now he had me feeling that strange guilty uncomfortable churning in my gut again.  Why are you such a damn girl? I asked myself bitterly and quickly began walking home.

The look on his face was still frozen in my mind at midnight when I still  hadn't fallen asleep, and in a moment of rash decision, I climbed out of bed and exchanged my flannel pajama pants for jeans.  I shoved my feet into my sneakers and pulled my leather jacket on over the tank top I had been wearing for pajamas and then left through the window. 

A couple minutes later I was hiding in the shadows along the side of the Curtis house, peering in the window at Soda and Pony's bedroom.  Shit, I forgot Soda shared a room with him. Maybe I should just call the whole thing off...but then, as if unconsciously, my hand raised and I tapped my knuckles lightly against the glass.

One of the lumps under the bedcovers moved, it was Pony, rolling over in his sleep.  Now I could see his face in the moonlight, which looked almost death-like, his face white, his hair dark, and one of his eyes ringed in a deep shadowed plum color, a couple scratches contrasting sharply from his skin, two dark scars on his cheekbone. Looks like Dally had beat him up good.

I tapped again and his eyes flew open, I could see the light glinting off his pupils. I put a finger to my lips and gestured for him to come over by the window, ignoring my heart thumping in my chest and the panic signals going off in my brain telling me I shouldn't go through with this. 

Pony wiggled out from under the blankets--and Soda's arm--and tiptoed over to the window in his pajama pants.  He opened it quietly and stuck his head out, opening his mouth to say something, but I beat him to it.

"I'm sorry," I rushed in a whisper, "I didn't mean to make you mad with whatever I did, and I know it was probably my fault in the first place," I tried to explain, but he cut me off.

"I'm sorry, too.  It was my fault just as much as yours," he apologized.

"No, it was mine," I contradicted firmly. "I always want to know what's going on with you but I never tell you anything when you want to know what's bugging me," I admitted honestly.

I had finally figured it out.  If this was going to work--and I kind of really wanted it to--it needed to go both ways, no more hiding how I felt about everything.

Pony paused for a moment before asking tentatively, "Do-do you still love me?"

I immediately averted my gaze, staring at the window ledge frantically pondering what to say.  I had never said I loved him before, at least not out loud, but it was true, I did.  I looked up, staring directly into his emerald green eyes.

"Yes, I love you," I answered sincerely.

A look of delighted shock passed across his face for the briefest second and then he leaned out the window, pulled me close, and gave me a kiss.

I kissed him back but immediately broke away when I heard a sleepy voice through the window from inside the room ask, "Pony, what're you doin'?"

Pony smiled sheepishly and closed the window before going back to bed, and I smiled in spite of myself as I headed for the sidewalk and started walking home, for some reason almost euphorically happy.  God, I was turning into some love struck lunatic.

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