Not What It Seems ||An Outsiders Fanfiction||

Chapter 9

I wake up with Leesha in my arms. She opens her eyes at the same time I do.

"Good morning," she says, smiling at me. I smile back, kissing her softly for a moment.

"Morning, Leesha," I whisper.

"You gonna tell your brothers today?" She asks. I sigh.

"Leesha, you know that it's not that simple. We have to wait for the right time," I explain. She changes the subject.

"How do you think it went with Dallas and Johnny last night?" She asks, sitting up.

"I dunno," I respond with a yawn. "Wanna go check and see if they're still here?" She nods, and without changing, the two of us go out into the living room.

"Dally probably went to Buck's, Leesh. Don't get your-" I started, about to tell her not to get her hopes up, but I was cut off by a gasp. I run out the door to see what happened, and end up gasping too.

"Ana!" She squeaks.

"They look so cute!" I exclaim, staring at the two bodies intertwined on the couch.

"Don't get your hopes up my ass, Ana. Too bad we weren't betting anythin'," she says, fake pouting. I laugh.

"Awe, poor you," I tease.

"Why the hell are you guys always waking me up?" Dally suddenly says, interrupting Leesha before she can even get a word out of her mouth.

"It's our job," she answers, smiling at him.

"Yeah, well, I would like it if the two of you could please shut the hell up, because my boyfriend and I are trying to sleep," he snaps at us. Leesha and both gasp.

"What? What'd I say?" Dally answers immediately, starting off loudly, but lowering his voice as his boyfriend, Johnny starts to stir.

"You don't know what you said, Dal?" He asks.

"Awe, damn. Did we wake ya? I'm sorry," Dally tells Johnnycake. They both sit up, not cuddling anymore.

"So that answers that question," Leesha says.

"Yeah, I never thought I'd live to see the day where Dally apologizes to someone," I say, laughing.

"So..." Leesha says. "Are you guys gonna tell the gang today?" Dally's eyes widen.

"I dun-" Johnny starts, but Dally cuts him off.

"No. Why would we do that?" I roll my eyes, but don't respond. Nobody does, until Ponyboy comes out of his room.

"Tell the gang what?" He asks with a yawn, rubbing his eyes. We all look to Dally. He says nothing, so Johnny talks instead.

"Uh, it's nothin', Ponyboy. Don't worry about it," he says. I let out a silent sigh, because with an answer like that my little brother will just keep asking.

"Alright. Well, what are you guys doing tonight? Anything?" Ponyboy asks. We all look at each other, making sure nobody has plans.

"Nope. You got any ideas?" I ask him. He nods.

"There's a football game tonight for my high school that I want to go to and I thought you guys would have some fun going too," he explains. I raise an eyebrow.

"Since when'd you get interested in football?" I ask him. His ears turn red and he looks down. Dally laughs at him. Ponyboy'd always liked running, he was on the track team, and he'd play football when the whole gang did, but he would much rather stay in and read a book, and he always hated watching games with Soda, Darry, Dad and I.

"Since he's got a crush for the head cheerleader," Dally tells me. Poor Pony's ears turn even redder, if that's even possible.

"You do? Who is she? What's her name?" I ask, surprised. Back when

"Yeah, I guess'o... Her name's Cherry. Cherry Valance," he says.

"Cherry? The name sounds familiar... Is she an 8th grader or freshman?" I ask him. He shakes his head.

"No, she's a a junior." My eyes go wide.

"Ponyboy Michael Curtis! You're chasing a girl four years older than you?!" I exclaim, not sure if I was proud of him or angry. He nods, blushing.

"Well, let's see her. You got any pictures, Ponyboy?" Leesha asks. I smacked her arm. Ponyboy nods, running into his room. He comes out a few minutes later with a yearbook in his hand and flips to a page, pointing to a pretty red headed girl.

"Man, Pony. She's a good choice. Pretty hot," Leesha says. Again, I smack her arm.

"Shut up, she's a lot younger than us," I say.

"Um... Why would it matter?" Ponyboy asks. I look at him funny, so he elaborates. "You're a girl." My eyes widen and I almost gasp.

"Yeah, and I like girls," Leesha says, like it's nothing. And it is nothing... For someone comfortable with sharing their sexuality. I'm just not yet.

"Wait a second," Ponyboy responds. "Is that why you spend so much time with my sister? Because you guys like each other?" I look to Leesha for helping, sending waves of panic to Dally, screaming in my mind for Johnny to help, because I'm too afraid of what will come next to speak.

"Uh, no.... She and I are just best friends," Leesha says quietly, giving me a questioning look. I nod.

"Good," Ponyboy says. "Cuz that would be kind of weird." I take a deep breath. I want to tell Ponyboy that's not an okay thing to say, that there's nothing wrong with it, that I'm lesbian and I'm dating Leesha and I am proud. But I don't instead, I silently walk into my room and sit against the wall, bringing my knees up to my chest, and leaning my head on it. I can't believe my little brother would say that. This is exactly why I haven't said anything yet. Why I haven't told anyone.

After a moment, someone knocks on the door. When I don't answer, Leesha walks in.

"Hi," she whispers, sitting next to me putting an arm around me. I lean my head on her shoulder, not saying a word. I know if I do, I'll probably start crying. Leesha starts talking, and her voice soothes me to the point where I almost feel better. But the anxiety inside me is still skyrocketing. I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself down.

"I get it," Leesha says, hugging me. "I get it." I wipe a tear, I didn't even know I was crying. She keeps going.

"I can wait. Until you're ready, baby."

A/N: This published without my last 600+ words, (I noticed it was only 9 pages, so I checked and it was only 887 words! I had a 1.3k chapter! Now it's only 1.1k, but it's better than nothing) so I apologize for that. And I do still want to thank you guys for the 300 reads!! I'm so happy! ☺️