𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒕. ♡ 𝒋𝒐𝒉𝒏𝒏𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒅𝒆.

xvi

december 1965
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"sorry, but i got a D on my last science test. darry won't let me go to the lot with you guys."

click!

"my mom's making me stay home because she has visitors over."

click!

johnny sighed as ponypoy shut the door. trish slightly frowned when jahanna hung up on her. they both thought :

"should i even still go to the lot tonight?"

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"i'm so dumb for thinking he'd still go through with this," trish mumbled bitterly to herself, sitting on her home's front steps that night. although she was wearing a sweater, a jacket, a scarf, mittens, a hat, and even brought out her yellow blanket to wrap herself in, she was still freezing and shivered after she had spoken to herself. johnny and (supposedly) ponyboy were meant to pick her up at 7, but even when they hadn't shown up, trish still gave them five more minutes. but those five minutes kept adding on and it became dark real fast.

"for the love of god, why am i still out here? the neighbors must think i'm crazy..." she thought whilst puffing out clouds from her mouth in the winter evening. "... well... am i?"

"you like johnny cade, don't you?"

trish flinched as jahanna's question from weeks prior popped up again, bouncing off the walls of her mind in the silence of her street and echoing almost in mockery.

"do i? no... no, i can't. i absolutely can't. that's not right. that... can't be right. that's... wrong!" she thought as she slowly sunk down and hugged her legs. her thoughts drifted. they drifted to when johnny cade introduced himself to her. and when him and ponyboy stood up against those socs at the drive-in. when he showed up at her door that night and slept over. and when she brought them both to the rooftop with the sunrise and she thought about that picture of him she still had. and she reminisced on when she hugged him.

"hugs are nice," she whispered into her knees in attempt to distract herself from everything else. her head shot up though as she heard footsteps approaching.

"..."

johnny cade turned the corner. he caught sight of the girl curled up on her doorstep and picked up his pace. he quickly was stood in front of her. their eyes met for an awkwardly long amount of time.

"hey," the boy sheepishly mumbled. 

"hey." the word meekly dropped from her lips and although she was starting to feel numb from the cold, trish felt herself suddenly getting warm. she thought,

"maybe i am crazy?"

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  "sorry i left you out there for so long," johnny apologized, "i'll get a fire going one we get to the lot. d-do you need my jacket?"

  "no! i mean, i'm fine, really. are you seeing how many layers i'm wearing? but thank you," trish quickly declined just as johnny started taking off the denim jacket. johnny reluctantly slid it back on and dug his hands into its pockets.

  "i didn't think you would've still liked to come over to the lot," he said looking down at his moving feet.

  "i thought the same of you," trish replied quietly, "but how could i pass up seeing this sky? especially since it's been cloudy for quite a while."