The Outsiders imagines

Ponyboy - 1

AN: real quick, this takes place before the events of the book, so Pony getting jumped won't be mentioned at all.

You closed your locker with a sigh. An endless amount of schoolwork and so little time to get it all done. It's almost as if the teachers expected you to focus on nothing but school. Which you didn't want to do. After all, why do homework when you could have actual fun instead?
       You walked outside and found your older sister waiting in her boyfriends car. She was too good for him. Most of the time he treated her like crap. But she was too in love to realize that she deserved better. Your sister followed in the footsteps of your mother. And you would probably follow both of them as well and end up marrying someone who mistreated you.
       You set your bag in your sisters lap and looked at her. She had been crying again. He always made her cry. Always. "I'm gonna walk around town. Maybe catch a movie. Just tell mom I'm studying at a friends house." Your sister shrugged, set the your bag on the floor of the car, and her boyfriend drove away.
       You began wandering around town, enjoying the sights and wondering what other people were thinking.
       Your feet eventually carried you towards the part of town that was considered middle class. You had found that they were the nicest. Typically kids in middle class never screamed at you as they drove past. They never tried to jump anyone. None of them had ever been in the cooler.
       As you began to turn around, a little movie theatre had caught your eye. It really wasn't anything special. You'd been there before and you knew that it was just your average everyday movie theatre.
       But it wasn't exactly the movie theatre that had caught your eye. It was the boy walking in. You went to school with him. He was young but a genius. He had skipped a grade. He was on the track team. You'd seen him run before and knew that he was fast.
       Before he had skipped a grade, the two of you shared many classes together. Often times you'd walk to class and you'd listen to him talk about books he was reading or listen to him talk about sunsets. He always hid how much he loved them. But you knew better. You knew he loved to watch them simply because of the way he spoke of them.
       And you'd never forgotten his name. Ponyboy Michael Curtis. After all, how could anyone forget a name as unique as that? Especially when the owner of that name was a sunset watching genius.
       You shook your head, trying to clear your thoughts. You had had a crush on him when you were still in the same grade. After he skipped a grade, you had thought that the crush had gone away. You didn't see him quite as often and your thoughts didn't wander to him quite as much.
       But there was something so interesting and alluring about the thought of being able to spend time with him outside of school. Without doing schoolwork. Just the two of you. Sitting side by side in the movie theatre. And maybe, just like in those romance movies, he'd hold your hand...
       You shook your head again. You could feel your face heating up. 'Stop that nonsense. That'd never happen. That only happens in movies.' And with that thought, you had crushed your hopes that he'd hold your hand or have his arm around your shoulder. But you could still sit side by side. And maybe you'd act tired and rest your head on his shoulder...
       Your face became even warmer at this thought. You ran to the ticket booth where he stood and casually got in line behind him. You'd make it look like a coincidence. If he hadn't seen and heard you running already.
       "Ponyboy?" You asked, trying your best to sound surprised. Pony turned around, studied you for a moment, and smiled. "Oh hey (Y/N). I haven't seen you in a while. Nice to see you again." You smiled in response and you knew you had the slightest blush. 'It's not a compliment. Don't get your hopes up. Control yourself.'  You nodded to him, smiling still.
       "It's nice to see you too. What movie are you here to see?" He was now standing next to you as he spoke. As he was talking about the movie, you became lost. You couldn't help but stare. You'd done this many times before when you shared a science class. He would be explaining what portions of a project you'd have to do and you'd get lost in his voice.
       Bringing yourself back to reality, you caught the last bit of what he was saying. "... and Paul Newman's in it. I heard it's supposed to be a good movie." Unable to recall a single thing he has said, you just went along with it.
       "I heard that too. I'll watch it with you." Pony nodded and smiled. He bought both of your tickets. Wait. Both of the tickets? You were supposed to pay for your own. Curse his enchanting eyes that distracted you from buying your own ticket.
       "Take this." He turned to you as you spoke and looked at what you held in your hand. Money to pay him back for buying the ticket. He gave you a soft smile and shook his head.
"That's not necessary. It's ok."
"Please. I insist. I don't want you to waste money on me." He simply smiled again.
"It wasn't a waste." He stated and walked into the theatre with you following close behind.
You follow him into the theatre and sit in the seat next to him. The theatre isn't too crowded and the movie hasn't actually started yet. You and Pony begin talking.
At first it's a conversation simply about what's been going on in his life and yours, but the conversation quickly turns into the two of you remembering funny things that had happened when you were still in the same grade and bringing up inside jokes to make each other laugh.
But all too soon, the movie begins to play and the conversation has to end. As you relax into the seat and the movie begins to play, you realize how close you are to Pony. Yes, the seats have armrests that separate them but you're sitting right up against the armrest. And so is he.

Once the movie ends, you walk out of the theatre, side by side with Pony. "I still think I should pay you back." Pony shook his head.
"No, it's ok. You should save your money." You put your hand in your pocket and pulled out the money you had intended to use to buy a ticket. You take his hands in yours, put the money in his hands and close his hands around the money. You look up at him and give a soft smile. His cheeks are a bit red and he's staring down at your hands which are still holding his.
"Keep it. I don't want you to spend money on me when you don't need to." Pony opened his mouth as if to speak, but he didn't. You began walking back to your house with Pony at your side. His house was on the way to yours, so you didn't have to leave him right away. Which you were glad for.
As the two of you walked, you didn't speak. You simply enjoyed the silence and enjoyed his company. He didn't speak either. And that was okay. Because he was also enjoying your company.
You looked down, aiming to kick an upcoming rock. That was when you noticed that you were still holding his hand. You had watched him put the money you had given him in his pocket, but you hadn't noticed that he had grabbed your hand afterwards. You had walked for almost 15 minutes without even realizing that he held your hand. You blushed and smiled, returning your gaze to the road ahead. You squeezed his hand gently, and he squeezed yours in return.
His house was visible in the distance and it kept getting closer and closer with every step. You hated the thought of having to let go of his hand. You wanted this moment to last forever. Pony stopped in front of the gate and turned to look at you. You smiled at him, pushing away the nervous, butterfly feeling you had in the pit of your stomach. He smiled back at you, pulled you close to him, and hugged you. You could feel your face heating up as you slowly hugged him back.
The butterfly feeling was replaced by a warm happiness. You closed your eyes and buried your face in his shoulder. The smell was oddly familiar and brought you comfort. You smiled to yourself and relaxed against him. At this point, the hug had lasted almost 5 minutes. Neither of you wanted this to end.
Slowly and hesitantly, Pony pulled away from you. You stared up at him with a smile and a blushing face. He stared back down at you with his perfect and heartwarming smile. And so the two of you stood there for perhaps another minute, just staring at each other.
"We should do this again sometime." Pony said softly. You could tell he was hesitant and nervous. You smiled happily and nodded.
"Oh I'd love to. This was amazing." He smiled brightly at you.
"How about Friday?" He asked, pausing to think of a day.
"Friday's perfect. I'll wait for you by the theatre." He nodded and smiled.
"Then it's a date."
With those 4 words, everything went silent. His face went red and you could feel your own cheeks heating up as well.
"I mean... it doesn't have to be a date," He stumbled over his words and was even more red than before, "Unless you wanted it to be a date, in that case I'm fine with it. Unless calling it a date makes you uncomfortable. I'm sorry... I've ruined the happy mood, I wasn't using my head." He looked down at the ground. After a moment of awkward silence, you smiled and nodded.
"A date it is." He looked up at you with a relieved smile and hugged you tightly. Once he let go of you, he turned and walked inside, stopping to wave goodbye before he went in.
Giggling like a little school girl, you raced home and ran to your room. Your bag was on the chair in front of your desk, right where you knew your sister would leave it. You jumped onto your bed and hugged a pillow tightly. The boy you had crushed on for almost a year had asked you out on a date. And you had said yes.
Smiling to yourself, you buried your face in your pillow and screamed. So much excitement and so few ways to contain it. You hopped out of bed and ran to your closet, looking for what would be best to wear. After deciding on an outfit that you thought was cute, you plopped back down on the bed, staring at the ceiling with a wide smile. You wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight, that much you were sure of.

AN again: lol this was too long, sorry fam