dance in the sun 〖 the outsiders 〗

the thinking

"So, Johnny, you're seein' this broad every day, draggin' us all the way over here to the middle of town—"

"Hey I ain't draggin' y'all no where," I interrupt.

Dally rolls his eyes and looked at me before placing a cigarette between his lips. "You know we don't mind goin' around with ya' man, and I ain't one to bug or pry too much but when are you gonna hurry up and ask her out already?" In between words, Dal was attempting to light his cigarette but the slight breeze in the air wasn't letting him. He quickly added, "And don't give me that "it just ain't time yet" shit that you're always feedin' Two-Bit."

It's been about a week since Marlena's party, the guys and I talked about it a bit; Ponyboy asked us to tell him all about it, he was a little upset at first that he was deemed too young and Marlena asked (real nicely I'll add) that I didn't bring him. Sodapop and Steve said they liked her, though, and Two-Bit thought she and her crew were actually pretty fun to talk to and hang around. Dally wasn't sure if he really trusted her or not but he was glad he got to know her a bit without the cold attitude towards him.

The guys don't bug me much about Lena, although they make jokes and stuff every day, but it ain't nothing too serious and they don't treat it that way. Lately, though, I've started to really like her and I think the guys are starting to notice.

"Y'know, Dal, she and I wouldn't work, like, not for real." Ponyboy and Two-Bit were with us also, doing what we normally do on the weekends, just roaming around town before we find something better to do. "I think about it a lot, I mean what if her parents wanna meet me? They'd never let her go with a guy like me. And what about after school? She says she don't know what she wanna do with her life but come on what's she gonna do with me? I could never really go to her house and she could never come to mine. And—"

"You're thinkin' too much, man," Dal says coolly.

"Don't I know it. That ain't even half of it."

"All that matters is if she'll put out after you ask her out," Two-Bit jokes, letting out a laugh after.

I rolled my eyes now and give him a light shove. "Come on, Two-Bit, grow up."

Ponyboy piped in, finally breaking the silence that he's held most of our walk, "You must really like her, though, to be thinkin' so much about different scenarios and what not." I shrugged, not wanting to let on that he was right. I really was thinking about her a lot.

All I could say was, "She's a cool girl, is all, nothin' like a lot of the girls we know."

"Yeah, she's loaded she oughta be different than the girls we know," Two-Bit commented.

"Yeah but she's different than a lot of the other soc girls, too. Her attitude is way different."

"Reminds me of one of those hippies," Dally says.

The streets were busy with cars and lots of people were flooding the shopping centers, we were just making it to the area around downtown. The record shop wasn't right in the middle of everything but it was on another busy street, we were probably still about ten minutes away and after we went there we'd probably go get something to eat or something. Or maybe we should eat first because I'm starving.

"Hey y'all wanna go grab a bite first? I'm hungry."

"Me too," Ponyboy agreed.

"Yeah, let's." Down the street from Lucky Star was a diner where they served these delicious chili cheese fries and my mouth was watering just thinking about having them with a burger. We made it to the place, called Dugout, and sat ourselves at the tall barstools, continuing to chat about whatever came to mind, usually something Two-Bit was thinking about because he could never keep his mind on one thing.