Pony scaled the oak tree in the dark, easing out onto a limb like the balancing act of a trapeze artist. He hoped to god he wouldn't fall or wake up Dally as he slowly reached out and slid the second story window open. It was never locked, and the screen was long gone. Evidently, Tara snuck out of it a lot, because it opened silently, without creaking or sticking.
He grabbed onto the windowsill and pulled himself up, his feet leaving the branch and for a second he was dangling over the ground with nothing to keep him from falling but his sweaty grip on the ledge. In one swift movement, Pony hoisted himself through the window, but the tip of one of his shoes caught on the edge and he tumbled nosily through the window and into his girlfriend's room. Shit.
In the dim light coming through the open window, he saw her shadowed figure bolt upright in bed, blankets rustling as she nimbly jumped out of bed, and the next thing he knew Tara had him pinned to the ground with her blade pressed against his throat.
Her eyes were blazing and the moonlight illuminated the sharp angles of her face and spikes of her messy hair. Her face was awash with a whiteish-blue ethereal glow, pale skin, ice blue eyes, and bleach blond hair giving her a ferocious beauty. Honestly, Pony was scared of her right now, but that could be the sneer on her face and the knife at his throat.
Within a millisecond she recognized him and relaxed, sitting back on his chest and letting his arms go, the blade still in her hand but hanging limply at her side.
"You've got three seconds to tell me what the hell you're doing here before Dally comes and kills you," she said casually in a low voice. It was the middle of the night, and even though they were both wide awake, whispering seemed appropriate.
"I wanted to see you before you had to leave," Pony answered, still on his back on the floor and not minding at all that Tara was still sitting on his chest. But he thought to soon because she got off, flipping her blade closed and setting it on the nightstand by her bed.
"It's not like I'm moving to another state or something, just, you know, two hours away for four months," she remarked, still speaking in a low voice.
Surprisingly, Dally hadn't come bursting into the room yet, so maybe Pony's ungraceful entrance hadn't made as much noise as he thought.
"Well it's not like I can come visit you there everyday. It's reform school. From what I've heard, it's pretty much a jail," Pony answered, getting off the floor and brushing a leaf from his shirt.
"Oh good, then I'll feel right at home," she answered sarcastically.
"Tara, I'm serious. I could hardly stand you being gone a week, how am I supposed to last four months?" Pony pleaded in a loud whisper.
She opened her mouth to answer but then the floor outside her bedroom door creaked loudly, and in seconds she had tackled Pony to the ground again, to the side of her bed that wasn't visible from the doorway. She got to her feet and Ponyboy held his breath, his face pressed to the musty-smelling carpet that had once been a cream color but now looked a dirty grayish-tan color. Frozen in spot, he listened to their conversation.
"What was that noise?" he recognized Dally's gruff voice ask.
"I was having some crazy dream and I must've fallen out of bed. I don't know, I woke up on the floor," Tara's voice responded. Again, you'd never know she was lying unless you knew the truth.
It was silent for a moment, the tension in the room thick and making Pony restless, but then Dally said, "You've got to get up early. Go to sleep," and the door clicked shut behind him.
Tara muttered, "Goodnight to you too," as footsteps receded, and it was another tense second before the house was silent again.
Pony stayed frozen where he was, pasted to the floor, but he exhaled a loud breath, sending little dust particles from the carpet dancing in the moonlight.
Tara flopped down sideways on her bed, on her stomach with her feet hanging off one side and her head leaning over the edge on the other side, so she was looking down at Pony.
"You might want to leave now," she whispered, her breath warm on his face before he got up from the threadbare carpeting.
She still hadn't answered his question, and he knew she wasn't going to, but he said instead, "At least tell me you're going to miss me, too."
She sighed and gave in, saying flatly, "Fine, I'll miss you, too."
"You don't mean that," Pony responded dejectedly, looking away, his voice still low cause there was a high likelihood Dally could come barging through the door again.
A smile crept across her lips, and she gave him a quick kiss and said, "Yeah I do. I'm just going to pretend I don't. Now go," and she gave him a light shove towards the window.
Pony smiled and grabbed her hand, giving her another kiss before letting go and heading towards the window. He looked back only once as he crossed their lawn, at the ghostly girl standing in the window in a tank top and pajama pants, watching him go.