Time flies: It's Only The Beginning (Ponyboy Curtis Love Story)

Chapter 5

AJ's  P.O.V

The train slowed to a complete stop and I heard the conductor yell 'First stop, Windrixville!' I quickly ran over to Ponyboy and Johnny, they were y curled up next to some old, dusty boxes and fast asleep.

"Hey, guys! We gotta get off, it's Windrixville!" I said loud enough for them to stand up.

 The three of us, me Ponyboy and Johnny, quickly jumped off the freight train in to the wet dewy grass, all our faces getting wet for the spray. Johnny slowly got up and help Pony up while I stood up on my own. We trudged through the dried grass and leaves. Ponyboy's face was lit up with awe as he looked around taking it all in. I never been in the country before so this was the first time and I loved it. We got to a dirt road and stopped. The road was empty. Only a few country kids on their horses came by.

"Go ask for directions, Pony." Johnny instructed.

"What?!" Ponyboy said wide eyed. "They're gonna recognized me the first time they see me, make AJ do it."

I glowered at him I ain't doing it, don't he know something about being a gentleman?

"Just make like a farm boy takin' a walk or something." Johnny encouraged. 

I watched as Ponyboy argued with Johnny awhile more then gave in and walked around shyly. I stayed with Johnny but he was pretty quiet and shy but I got him talking.

"When I woke up in the park..." I began. "I saw boys drowning' Pony, why?"  

Johnny was quiet for a minute and I thought the I might've said something wrong. But he started to talk.

"'Cause we picked up their girls. And they were boozed up." He explained.

Then he started stammering and shuddering saying he didn't mean to knife Bob the Soc so I put my arm around and made small shushing noises to calm him. Johnny finally did and sighed. I told him that I was sorry for asking.

"It's OK, Johnny. You fought strictly on self-defense anyhow. They ain't gonna hurt ' cha, Johnny." I said to comfort him and he finally started calmed down, too.

Johnny looked at me and a small smile formed on his lips. I smiled back. By then Ponyboy had came back from talking to a sunburn farmer in a green rusty tractor. He led the way as me and Johnny followed and he seemed to know where he's going, too. Johnny started falling back behind us but hearing the gravel of the road crunch, I knew he was still behind us. Pony started to explain things to me about his gang, his friend, Curly Shepard, and then about his parents but mostly Curly Shepard. 

"Glory, Curly seems like a real troublemaker." I remarked, jokingly. Using as much as a country accent as I could muster.

Ponyboy smiled with a laugh at my attempt and nodded. 

"He sure is!" Pony said and laughed. 

We both laughed for awhile before we were too tired and aching from trekking up the hill to say anything else and I was beginning to feel cold and was thankful for that leather jacket. Pony had put his arm around me to keep me warm and I smiled at him. It's good to know someone's always their for you. Finally, we got to the abandoned church Dally had told us to shelter ourselves in. Once we got in Ponyboy moved his arm from around me and flopped onto the hard, concrete floor of the church, and I could tell he wasn't  gonna do anymore floppin' around. I stifled a laugh. Johnny, who was already asleep again, was shivering from the cold of the church.

"Hey, Pony." I called.

"Yeah?" Ponyboy replied as he sat up to get a better view of me.

"Think we should find some wood to burn? It's freezing!" I asked, already being to shiver.

Ponyboy looked as if he was thinking about this as he turned to see Johnny's shivers get more frequent. He turned to me and nodded. We both stood up and started walking toward the door when Pony stopped. I asked him what was wrong and he said that he should write a note in the ground.

"Just so Johnny knows where we when if he wakes up" Pony explained.

That sounded like a good idea and so I told him so. He started writing with his finger in the dirt.  He wrote, Johnny- We left to get some firewood, Be back later- P.C  Then we left through the back of the church because someone could see us if we went out the front. We started going down the steps and it took a while for us to get to a woodsy area but we finally bent down and started to look for some good firewood. I knocked around the woodsy meadow until I found what could be the perfect peice of firewood.  I picked it up then screamed when I saw an even bigger wasp on it, then threw it to the ground, hurriedly. The wasp floated up to my nose and I dashed off through the woodsy meadow, fast. I heard Ponyboy's voice call, 'AJ!' but I kept running anyway, I ain't inching to be stung in the nose at all! Suddenly I tripped over a fallen tree and it sent me flying through the air and crashing down into tall grass. I lied there for a long time before I heard Ponyboy trotted back to me. In a few minutes, which felt like hours, Ponyboy's face appeared above me, a confused frown showed on his pale face.

"You aright?" He asked with concern. 

A sharp pain flowed through my body as I closed my eyes tightly, trying to end  it. The pain was still there anyway. Pony offered a hand and I took while smart in' an aching all over and stood up. Once I stood up, Ponyboy kept my hand, clutching it in his palm, staring into my green eyes as I stared into his greenish-gray ones.  A red film shone on her pale cheeks as we stood there, staring. 

"Pony..uh.. Can I have my hand back?" I asked awkwardly. 

"Oh, uh, yeah sure." He said, although kept holding on to my hand.

I pulled my hand away and he quickly looked down. I knew he felt embarrassed of something and I felt bad. Ponyboy turned and started walking back to the woodsy meadow and shouted that we should go back to findin' wood over his shoulder as I stood there, thinking.  What the heck just happened? I thought. I trotted over next to him and we walked in silence. I didn't understand what was happenin'.  

After a long time of finding firewood, we trekked up the hill with the church with a bundle of wood in our arms. Splinters and jabs of wood hung to our clothing and jeans as we held them. The awkwardness that built up back there and died down to a small level until it drowned out. We started talking a lot about my family and my brother, Oliver. I told Ponyboy that Oliver was 16 going on 17 pretty soon. Pony said that His brother Sodapop was going on 17, too. I smiled and him and he returned it. By then, we finally got to the church and in through the back. 

"Here, I'll put the wood you got in the burner for you." Ponyboy suggested.

"Aright." I said and handed him the masses of firewood.

He smiled and put his and mine in the burner. The warm air wafted in the room and I even saw Johnny stop shivering. I began to yawn and stretch and Ponyboy noticed.

"Get some sleep." Pony offered.

I nodded and went over to one of the pews, lied down, and nodded off.