"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.
Dallas was sweet talking the bartender, a girl with lots of eye makeup and dark hair that was placed in a neat ponytail. She was going along with it, probably hoping for a good tip which Dal would usually skip out on. Our food came pretty fast and I ordered a chocolate shake, I could hardly resist a good shake when it was nice and sunny out. I finished my burger but didn't finish the fries, opting to continue eating them on our walk. Two-Bit paid for the food and we were on our way again.
Now only a few minutes away from where I really wanted to go, I told the guys they didn't have to come with me but Ponyboy was interested in what kind of books they'd have this week. Pony and I decided to stick together and Two-Bit and Dal went to go find some other trouble for the time being, Dally said meet them down the block on the side of this ice cream shop, barely a five minute walk from the record shop and we agreed easily.
Approaching the place, I already couldn't help the smile that made its way to my face. The sign got more and more clear as we get closer to the glass windows and doors of the store. I saw Marlena but she didn't notice me, she was sweeping the floors and singing along to whatever song was playing.
A thought flashed through my head, still somewhat shocked that a girl like her was actually into me and happy that it wasn't some joke or something, which I used to wonder a lot before getting to know the girl. She looks up at the door as the little bell signals that the door's been opened and she smiled. Man her smile, it really brightens everything. "Hey there, cutie pie."
Ponyboy chuckles and I can feel the blood rushing to my cheeks at the nickname she calls me. It feels real nice when she compliments me but I knew Pony would tease me about it later. "Hey, Marlena, how's it goin'?"
"It's goin'," she shrugged, "Had homework all week and I still won't get a break this weekend because I told someone I'd cover their shift tomorrow but hey who needs rest?"
The biggest down side to this thing with Marlena is that she focuses on a lot; she has work, school, and homework, and her friends, sometimes we just exchange a few words and I hardly even get to see her again. It ain't too bad, just sucks because I don't have a car to go to her and she doesn't have a car either. Hell even if I did have a car, I don't know if her family would be too happy about her having a guy like me at her house.
"What time you workin'?"
"The mornin'."
"Well, you maybe wanna hang out after work? We can go get some food."
She smiled again, nodding her head in response, "Of course. Wanted to talk to you anyway and I definitely can't do that for long here." She had a calm look on her face but her telling me she wanted to talk made me a little nervous. What would she wanna talk about? I really think she's gonna ask me why I haven't asked her out yet, too, I mean it's been months at this point, any girl would wonder right?
"Alright well I'll be lookin' forward to it."
"I'll be off around four if you wanna come by then."
"I'll be here."
"Cool," she said, bringing her attention back to the floor she was sweeping, "Watcha been up to?"
I shrug in response, "Not much, just roamin' around with Two-Bit and Dally; we ain't got much else to do, really."
Marlena smiled again, leaning against the broom she was holding firmly in place, "Glad you came to see me before y'all go around gettin' into trouble," she jokes. Usually when we don't have much to do, Dally or even Two-Bit drags us into doing something usually dumb or sometimes outright dangerous which Lena knows by now. She's always warning me to be careful but it's not like it's that big a deal for us.
"Well yeah, y'know it's nice comin' by here and seein' you outside of school."
"Red, am I payin' you to make eyes at your boyfriend or work?" The guy managing tonight, Preston was his name but they called him Slick, warned from over by the cash registers.
She rolled her eyes, "You don't pay me," she snapped back, "And it's dead in here, I'm already sweepin'."
"That spot's clean you've been there for long enough."
"I swear they only do that when you're here, it's so annoyin'," she says making her way down the aisle next to us and continuing to sweep, making herself look busy to avoid any more nagging from the manager of the night.
"Sorry," I say, pretending to look through the records in the same aisle to make it a little less obvious.
"Not your fault, I don't get to see you a lot, you'd think they'd let me talk for five minutes."
"Well I do come by a lot."
She chuckled, "I'm here for seven, sometimes eight hours. A few minutes don't hurt nobody." I noticed her glancing at my arms, it was warm but windy so I had on my jacket same as most days. "You look tuff today."
I felt myself blushing and looked down, slightly grinning, "Thanks, I feel like a lot of my stuff looks the same."
"Well yeah, but I like it."
"Hey, ready to go?" Ponyboy asks, leaning up against the end of the aisle Lena and I were in.
"Oh yeah, sure."
I straightened up my jacket and looked at Marlena. She smiled and waved at Ponyboy politely and he said a quick good bye and let me know he'd be outside. "Well," Lena began, "Tomorrow at four?"
"Absolutely."
"Good. I'll see you then." She came up and gave me a kiss on the cheek and boy I just about forgot what I was doing, it always gets me a little excited when she kisses me. If we weren't in front of all her co workers and friends I'd really kiss her but I just don't like having much of a crowd. People always look at you and whisper things and joke when you kiss someone in front of them, especially a friend but I don't really like that kind of attention.
I made my way out after telling her I couldn't wait and saying goodbye as well.
"Let's go, cutie pie," Ponyboy teased with a giggle, earning a playful punch to the arm from me.
"Oh, shut it."