𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒕. ♡ 𝒋𝒐𝒉𝒏𝒏𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒅𝒆.

xiii

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  "wow, the smell of grass that's actually alive," trish muttered after stepping out the car and taking a deep breath. while the rest slammed the car doors shut, her mind drifted off into the smell of funnel cake and the distant screaming of children. she remembered she was one of those little kids, and she remembered the funnel cake too, back in jersey.

when she was much younger and her parents saved up enough to treat her a visit to the shore, there, on the boardwalk, was one of the few memories of her parents with genuine smiles she could recall nowadays. there had been so much that had changed since those years, after all. thinking about it was bittersweet. she could go for some funnel cake after reminiscing about that to make it less bitter. maybe she could find some here.

"hey!"

  trish was torn from her train of thought and turned away from the ambiance of the festival to see johnny a few feet away with his scrappy ghost costume in hand, the others farther ahead.

  "no town fairs in jersey?" he teased, but still visually concerned.

  "no, t-that's not it. i- um- sorry, i-i just spaced out for a second," trish sheepishly stuttered out. johnny stared at her for a moment, but slowly nodded before he threw his costume on and she scurried to join the rest at the ticket booths.

trish walked up with jahanna under the "colored ticket booth" sign, expecting this is where they would part ways from the boys for the night, because there was no way they were all about to walk around the festival together. that would be a public sin.

trish politely passed her ten-dollar bill to the lady manning the booth and jahanna had to dig through her jacket's pockets for some change to spare. she glanced around at the venue and the people of tulsa around her, getting used to the look of it all, while they waited for their tickets. but strangely, behind her in line, she caught sight of three persons each shrouded in linen disguises.

"w-what are you doing?" she whispered just loud enough for them to hear. however, to her dismay, they deliberately ignored this question and jay suddenly nudged trish to take her ticket from the lady. trish glanced between her friend and the three boys in utter confusion before quickly snatching up her ticket and stumbling to catch up with jay ahead of her.

  "jay..." trish's voice wavered.

  "hmm?" the other girl hummed back with her eyes focused on some little kids fighting over some cotton candy, stifling a laugh.

  "um... why were the boys in our line for tickets?" trish inquired. jahanna looked at her with a questioning expression.

  "'cause they're coming along with us, why else?" jahanna simply deadpanned. trish's face distinctively flushed hearing this.

  "b-but jay, there's so many people here. don't you think that's a bit, risky right now?—"

  "what's a bit risky?" the voice of dallas appeared behind the two girls. they whipped around to find the boys had successfully got in.

"nothing!"

"trishy over here thinks you guys coming along with us around the festival is a bad idea," jahanna explained despite trish's strong objection. dallas chuckled.

"why so uptight, specs? as you said, how's anyone gonna know who we are with these disguises on, huh?" he remarked and flicked one of trish's paper snoopy ears. trish failed to counter and fell quiet, though it was still prominent to the rest she was still uneasy.

"c'mon, we'll behave," johnny insisted before trish could completely refuse, "right pony? dal?"

"yeah."

"well, no promises."

  trish sighed, but supposed these people knew what people around these parts were like. surely they couldn't be as bad as her old town's folks, that she knew for certain.

  "alright, fine. the extra company ought to be nice."

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  "this would be fine if these pumpkins smelled like the donuts from the dingo," jahanna mumbled, stringy pumpkin bits dangling from her hair and off her clothes, trish walking alongside jahanna not having any less of the orange goop sticking to herself either.

"but this, this smells DISGUSTING," she grimaced. the three boys following behind in the late night cringed as well. but trish oddly found it in herself to let out a small and awkward laugh at the situation, although such situation really wasn't the absolute funniest. but it had all went by so fast, that she could neither locate what exactly could be laughed at or what should be condemnable.

  one moment they were innocently carving pumpkins, the boys having casually pulled out their switchblades for the activity. the next, some kid yells pointing out that those kids at the colored pumpkin carving station over there have some pretty light-looking hands them switchblades. and then the next, two girls with pumpkin insides dumped on them are walking away from smashed jack'o'lanterns in the grass while hearing a couple of white kids congratulating the un-ghosted dallas, ponyboy, and johnny on such a great prank. eventually they heard shoes padding on the grass toward their direction with orange-stained ghost costumes in hand, because it wasn't a prank.

  but trish still managed a laugh. maybe because of those boys that had smashed their pumpkins and their incompetence, maybe because of how currently appalled jahanna was about the strings of pumpkin, or because of her awkward disposition, but her giggle helped lift the tension of the air they walked down the road in nonetheless...

  "you know," ponyboy sighed, "you two really stuck it out back there. i think people like you two sure are strong to not make anything worse when those things start happenin', i've gotta admit that."

  "and to imagine," johnny started right after, "that where you're from, trish, has it even worse."

  "i wanted to knock some sense into those knuckleheads," dallas sneered.

  hearing this was off-putting to the girls at best.

  "...yeah, i, i guess so," jahanna mumbled in reply with trish solemnly nodding, both stunned having never heard words like this directed at them. they supposed it was reassuring, though; it was almost endearing.

  for the rest of the way, they remained silent, and they branched off one by one. trish was left at the steps of her home in the dark, johnny cade standing opposite of her.

  she looked to the side and saw her mother's halloween-themed garden flag fluttering in the blueish moonlight among the hedges in front of her house, aware that although it was very late her mother was still at the hospital working her ass off. who knows what job her father was working right then. but as the quiet was comforting, she turned to johnny.

  "thanks for walking me home. any need to stay over tonight or... are you good?" trish trailed off and focused on the luminescent shine of the grease in johnny's bangs in opposition to looking him in the eye.

  "no, no i'm good tonight. um..." johnny looked down the street, "i'm sure you can get some pumpkin stuff for what you were talking to pony about the other week at the cornerstone we passed when, y'know, we got that picture for our project."

  trish smiled and looked down at their feet,

  "oh, yes, those pumpkin tarts i was thinking 'bout. i checked that store, yeah, but... yeah no there isn't any there."

  "i can ask darry if he has any in their pantry. i'll drop by if they find any," johnny proposed dismissively.

  trish spotted a pumpkin seed on her sleeve and flicked it off onto her lawn before looking back up at him,

  "i think i've had about enough pumpkin for now. but thanks, johnnycake, for caring enough to even think of doing that."

  she went inside her house then; johnny didn't go inside his that night.