𝕊𝕥𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕔𝕚𝕥𝕪 - Johnny Cade

14. RSVP

Johnny

Pony and I start out after saying goodbye to Brandy and leaving her place. Before the movie, we horse around the neighborhood and have a smoke with some other boys we know and strike up a conversation. It's just Tommy Peterson and Ricky Dean, and they've just run 4 blocks from a blue mustang that chased them around before disappearing into an alley going downtown.

Hearing their story, my jaw tightens and I accidentally inhale too much smoke, erupting into coughs. Nobody notices, luckily, over their animated discussion. I wipe at the corner of my lips with the back of my wrist.

I'm immediately reminded of Brandy's recounting of her encounter with Danny Davies, who had been chased down by a pack of Socs in a blue mustang. It must have been the same guys. For some reason, my heart rate begins to rise.

After a lengthy chat with the boys, Pony and I stroll around slowly and run into a few other Greases. Finally, we stop by the DX and grab a coke each. Pony looks to the clock inside the store, then with a start, begins to push me back out onto the road hastily.

The movie starts soon, and with Pony, you've got to be rather punctual, especially with movies. That kid's a total film buff. Either that or he idolizes Paul Newman to an extreme degree. For this, Pony and I take the short cut from the end of the road running through our neighborhood, which takes us through to town. There were a few fences we had to scale or crawl under, but in no time at all, we were seated in the movie house and in time for the lights to begin dimming. 

Speaking for myself, I don't know if I like Newman as much as Pony. He's come to believe I do, though, because that's the way it is with most things. If any of the guys ask if I like something they do, I just sort of nod and say, "Yeah." I can never say what I want. I find It's mostly with Pony. I find I just tend to roll with whatever he so fancies because he's a bit of a dreamer. He's obsessed with a bunch of things and I usually need something to kill time. Hey, time away from MY house is the best sort of time there is. So, my eyes fix on the big screen, but I let my mind go elsewhere. 

Brandy... 

I think back to an hour ago when she was arguing with Pony. 

"He's mine"  is what she said, if I'm not contorting my memory to better satisfy my wants. But I know she must have been joking, otherwise she wouldn't have said it. 

That's the thing about Brandy, if she means to say something, she'd never speak it. I think to all the times she's said she loved me or that I was her's and now they all seem to fall through my fingers like dust in the wind. She had said those things in a way that any pair of friends would to each other, but I guess each time I still grabbed onto the hope that there was more to her words. 

And this period of grace we have right now, what if it's just her way of patching things up? Trying to move on and feel normal again? That would just kill me. 

No, I'm... overreacting. 

I don't even realize how long it's been since the movie started, but my thoughts are interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Psst."

Hm? 

I turn around as Pony does the same. Even in the darkness of the showroom, a smile so bright tells me that it's Sodapop. I give a small wave so as to not be loud in the presence of others.

"Soda?" Pony whispers, surprised.

"Hey little man, hey Johnny cake." Soda nods. "Listen Pony, Darry wants you back home now."

"Now? The movie's almost finished!"

"Well, I'm sorry. But Darry's boss just let him off early cause his family's gonna celebrate his son's being accepted into the big TU."