𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒕. ♡ 𝒋𝒐𝒉𝒏𝒏𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒅𝒆.

iv

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"i hope i get to meet yall again some time," trish said, smiling, as the boys filed out of the house and onto the sidewalk. it was dark outside by now, the teens washing the rest if the day's time away by chatting about miscellaneous topics. the gang had warmed up pretty well to trish during that time, however, and vice versa. so much so that before they stepped out, they even helped clean up the plates and thrown-around couch cushions that had lied in their wake since they first walked in through the door. the kitchen light seeped past trish and jahanna in the doorway and onto the boys faces as they looked up from the foot of the house stairs, just enough to see the smiles they flashed back.

  "say doll, would you want to hit the nightly double with us sometime? it's usually pony, dal, johnnycake, and i. jahanna's been with, so she'll probably be there too," two-bit offered while pulling on his black leather jacket.

  "two don't call me that here," johnny mumbled, his hands in his pockets. trish suppressed a smile at the sight and pretended she hadn't heard that when replying to two-bit.

  "never been but it sounds fun! we'll see, depends if it'll be the right time, right place for someone like me, i'm sure you understand what i mean," trish smiled as means to apologize.

  "take it or leave it, admission is free, heh," dallas snickered. he let out one last puff of smoke then stomped out the rest of his weed on the pavement. "you coming with, jay?"

  "ugh, can't. ma's expecting to pick me here tomorrow morning. she probably ain't wanna see you here with us while we enjoy blueberry pancakes for breakfast either, tucker," jahanna sighed with a lopsided smile. dallas just nodded his head.

  "well we better get going, don't want to miss the bus. it was a pleasure finally meeting you trish, and soda, steve, you two've got work at the DX tomorrow," darrel said. so the boys were on their way, waving at the girls and the girls waving back at them. as they walked, they could faintly hear jahanna teasing trish in the late hour.

  "y'know i ain't gonna let you live that down, right? you were really doing okay until you had to go like 'i mEaN' with johnny back there—" they barely could catch jahanna begin.

"c-can't you just drop it?" trish's voice softly complained, the click of a door shortly following.

"nope!" jahanna popped with a light laugh.

the boys snickered to themselves and nudged said boy in good spirits until the girls' voices couldn't be heard anymore as they rounded a corner, disappearing behind the bricks of the tailor shop down the street.

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"careful, now," two-bit warned the girls as they made their way under the fence of the drive-in. ponyboy and johnny were kind enough to help them maneuver under the wire safely.

  it hadn't been too long after their last encounter when jahanna called up trish one afternoon to tell her she was coming along that night to watch some movies with her, two, johnny, and pony. "whether you like it or not," jahanna had said, "you're getting out your house for a while". needless to say, a batch of chocolate chip cookies were baked out of stress before any dress came out of a closet.

  "careful with the cookies, two!" whisper-yelled ponyboy, who was very set on eating the cookies trish had brought with her during the movie. the girls finally got onto their feet and the five made their way to find a place to sit. they sat in a fairly secluded spot, the boys having a pretty good idea of what would happen if they had chosen to sit elsewhere.

  "dal's really missing out, i bet there ain't any cookies o'er at buck's party," said ponyboy. he had already begun stuffing his mouth with cookies as the movie screen just began playing. johnny carefully took one out of the bag after the fact, his eyes still glued to the screen, however.

  "and guess who's gonna have to gaid his hangover tomorrow?" jahanna added. trish turned to her, her eyes sparkling with excitement at this new experience and with a mouthful of chocolate chip cookie, while answering,

  "'m essing oou?" she managed to muffle out. jahanna simply sighed shaking her head and laid back, either to relax or fall asleep during the movie. the latter was more expected.

the movie was a cliché, wishy-washy love something that what only seemed like ponyboy was truly invested in. two-bit had disappeared barely 30 minutes in, and jahanna, as expected, was fast asleep.

  halfway through the movie, johnny took his eyes off the screen (as the movie ultimately had drawn him to boredom) and saw trish had done the same next to him. at first he contemplated saying anything to the girl who was currently spaced out and was staring into thin air, until he decided it ought to be better to try and talk to the girl and keep her from getting devoured by boredom as well.

  "so how's it treatin' ya?" he started quietly, although trish still had jerked a bit from the sound. she flashed him a small, apologetic smile before replying,

  "it's real neat! there's a nice breeze and great entertainment..." trish trailed off, not knowing what else she was expected to say. johnny smiled in amusement.

  "no need to fake it. i know you ain't enjoying this movie just as much as i ain't," johnny assured her. she let out a sigh of relief and took another cookie out the bag with a genuine smile this time.

  "yeah it's not my forte, per say. never really got all that lovey-dovey stuff. weird, aren't i?" trish admitted. johnny sat back and trish looked back at him, chewing absentmindedly, while he spoke.

  "nah, you're fine- or- should i say- oh," johnny muttered, sheepishly staring off at the end of his remark. trish couldn't help but light-heartedly laugh, though be it almost chocking on the cookie she was eating when it happened.

  "we all ought to have those moments, don't we, huh?" she said to him after she died down, still giggling though and on the way of bursting out again. johnny—for the love of him—couldn't place exactly why, but he started chuckling, too. it was inevitable when they burst into a fit of laughter. but their laughter soon stopped as they heard someone shout out in a slur, audible hiccups heard in between,

  "h-hey!—(hiccup)—we're trynaaa watch a mooovie heeere!" the aggravated owner of said voice came around the car the four were sat behind, a couple more following suit. dread sank in ponyboy and johnny's stomachs.

  "oh heyyyy there greaserssss—(hiccup)—waaait a—(hiccup)—minute, are thooose some minorities you got with youuu thereee?"