The day of the courthouse wedding appointment still felt like a dream. Especially, actually getting ready to go. I decided for the occasion to wear one of Mom's dresses. Just so, I had a piece of her there with us at the courthouse. I opened the door to my parents' bedroom, and after so many months of avoiding it, I stepped inside and turned on the lamp.
“You sure you're okay with this, sis?” Soda asked, stepping inside as well.
“Yeah, I'm sure. I want them to be there as well, and this would be the closest way,” I said. “I want something simple, but it has to be white.”
“Okay,” Soda said, walking over to our parents' closet, before opening it. I took some slow breaths to calm my nerves and walked over as well. We carefully looked through the closet. Pushing past sweaters and different dresses. “How about this one?” He picked up a white sundress that looked a bit boxy around the waist.
“That should work. It definitely will give me some room for the baby,” I said. He handed me the dress and stepped out of the room to give me some privacy to change. I changed into it and adjusted the waist a little to feel comfortable around my baby bump. I opened the door and Soda looked at me.
“Wow, sis,” Soda said quietly.
“How does it look?” I asked.
“It looks great,” Soda said, adding the silver hair clip to my hair. “You look beautiful.” I smiled at him, and heard someone coming through the door.
“Hey are we ready to g- oh my, look at you, Shawna,” Darry said, standing in the doorway, looking at me.
“How does it look? Good?” I asked, sounding hopeful, wanting a second opinion. I did trust Soda's opinion, but Soda sometimes just tells me nice things, so he didn't hurt my feelings.
“You look amazing,” Darry said. “Mom and Dad would be proud of you.”
“Thank you,” I said, fixing my hair a little, so it wasn't in the way, while Soda put the chain to my wedding ring around my neck.
“Come on, let's get ya to the truck. Shante's probably already at the courthouse with Johnny by now. Hopefully, they don't think ya have cold feet,” Darry said.
“Right, let's go,” I agreed. I walked outside to the truck with my older brothers and carefully climbed into the truck, Soda making sure the dress was inside, so it wouldn't get stuck in the door. Darry climbed in the driver's seat and Soda sat down beside me, as Darry started up the truck.
“Should we have gotten you a head thing? What's it called again?” Soda asked, as Darry drove away from the house and toward the courthouse.
“A veil? No, I think the hair clip is just fine, Soda,” I said, chuckling a little. “It's a little too traditional for this kind of wedding.”
“Huh, you got a point,” Soda said, smiling at me. “Are you nervous?”
“Not as much as I expected to be,” I said. “I'm more excited than anything. I'm making a big decision in my life.”
“Yeah, ya almost don't realize how much of a big deal it is until ya actually think about it,” Soda said.
“Exactly,” I said, laughing softly.
“We're almost there. We should be a bit early,” Darry said, turning into the courthouse parking lot, where Shante was helping Johnny fix his hair in her car. Darry parked the car and Soda hopped out, before carefully helping me out of the car. Shante looked over and waved happily.
“Oh my Lord, look at you!” Shante called from the car. Johnny looked over at me and I swear, I have never seen his eyes get so wide. Just the way he stared at me, made me feel warm inside. Every time we reminisce about this moment, Johnny says that he fell in love with me all over again at that moment.
“You ready to head in or do y'all need a minute?” Darry asked, walking up beside me.
“Oh, we're done. We're ready to go in when you are,” Shante said, stepping out of her car. She was dressed a little more formal for the occasion, wearing some jeans and a nice pink blouse, with her hair up in a neat bun.
“Now I feel underdressed,” Soda said, chuckling a bit, wearing his normal blue jeans and checkered flannel. Honestly, I was just glad his shirt was actually clean and car grease free for once.
“You look fine, Sodapop,” Shante reassured. “You could be wearing a cardboard box and still find a way to pull it off.”
“Thank you,” Soda said, growing a little flustered. “I haven't heard that one yet. That one is really creative.” I watched the two in slight amusement, while Darry walked over to me with Johnny.
“We can head in if you both are ready,” Darry said. I nodded and looked over at Johnny.
“You ready, hon?” I asked.
“Ready as I'll ever be,” Johnny said, smiling at me. I smiled back and took his hand in mine, before walking with Darry up to the door, Shante and Soda following, as they talked a bit. Those two had been getting closer, I figured Steve would start getting jealous at some point. We were able to check in on time and were able to start the small ceremony. We followed the officiant's instructions, said our vows, shed a few tears, and signed our marriage certificate. Once we had made things legally official, we were able to kiss. “Hang on.” Johnny gently reached around me and carefully unhooked the clasp on the necklace, gently sliding it off my neck. He slid the ring off the chain, letting it fall into his palm, before gently holding out his hand. I took it and let him slip the ring onto my ring finger, before gently holding my face in his hands. I smiled at him softly and leaned in, kissing him softly. Someone, I figured it was Darry because who would let Soda hold the camera, was taking pictures of us, as we kissed and gently embraced one another, happy that we finally made the big leap. “We did it,” he said softly to me.
“We did,” I said happily. We walked out of the courthouse with a copy of our marriage certificate, as we happily talked with one another.
“Pony is gonna throw a fit when he finds out he missed it,” Soda said.
“I'll calm him down by telling him he can come to the hospital when the baby is born,” I said.
“That should work,” Soda said. “Would you actually let him, Darry?”
“I'll take him out of class myself,” Darry said, walking to his truck. I giggled a bit and shook my head. I don't care what Pony says, Darry can be funny when he wants to be.
“Meet you back at the house?” I asked, looking over at Johnny.
“Yeah, we'll meet you there. Gotta pick up Nicole from her place,” Johnny said.
“Okay, we'll see ya there then,” I said, before kissing his lips, and climbing into the truck, Soda helping me inside again, making sure the dress made it in safely. Johnny smiled and waved at me, before getting into Shante's car. We left the parking lot and parted ways, before heading back home.
“So, how does it feel?” Soda asked.
“I can't describe it much, only way I can really describe it is…joy,” I said. “Or like I feel complete, like I found the piece that's been missing in my whole life.”
“Sounds like a dream,” Soda said.
“It still feels like one,” I said. “If I could, I would live that moment a thousand more times over.”
“Well, we're just glad you're happy, sis,” Darry said, continuing to drive.
“Thank you for helping set this up,” I said.
“We were just back up, most of it was just Johnny,” Darry said. “Kid's really stepping up. I'm proud of that boy.”
“I know, he's finally spreading his wings a bit, I'm just glad to help give him that little push,” I said.
“Little push? You might as well have tackled him off a darn cliff. Kid's improved a lot, because of you. You gave him his spine back,” Soda said.
“Tackled him off a cliff?” I asked, giggling a bit.
“It was a bit much, but you know what I mean,” Soda said, chuckling a little. “Still a little confused about the similes and metaphors.”
“We'll work on it. I'll make you some flash cards. You and Steve can make a game out of it,” I said.
“That would actually help a lot. Thanks, sis,” Soda said, smiling at me.
“Hey, you'll be giving me something to do,” I said, as Darry continued to drive us home.
~~~~~
Nothing crazy happened until two weeks after Johnny and I got married. It may have been the most life-changing thing that happened to us, especially to Johnny.
“Hopefully Johnny was able to get to his job on time. I really hate that he wouldn't let me drive him there,” Shante said, walking with Nicole and I to her car after our shift that evening.
“Yeah, I really hate that he had to go alone. Dallas just can't keep himself out of trouble,” I said, shaking my head a little.
“I'm sure he'll be okay,” Nicole reassured, as we all got into the car.
“Yeah,” I agreed, putting on my seatbelt in the passenger's seat. Shante started up the car and began driving out of the diner's parking lot and down the road to my house. “We got out pretty late today. That group of greasers didn't want to leave.”
“Yeah, I was ready to leave 30 minutes ago. I was ready to start throwing their food out the door for them to follow, like a pack of dogs,” Shante said, driving.
“Yeah, and did you see how rude they were?” Nicole asked.
“Yeah, they kept callin' me fat, and told me to stop stealin' the inventory,” I said. “Why do people think that throwing insults at someone is supposed to be funny?”
“I don't know, it's only funny when Two-Bit does it,” Nicole said.
“Yeah, I guess it's because we know he's jokin', and he's tryna make everyone laugh, even the person he's makin' fun of,” Shante said.
“The skills of a wisecracker, I guess,” I said, looking out of the car window. We were coming up past the vacant lot, before I saw something that made my stomach drop. “Shante, stop the car. Stop the car now.” Shante looked confused, but stopped the car. I got out of the car quickly and ran back toward the vacant lot.
“Oh my God,” she said, sounding panicked, spotting what I saw in the dim light of the streetlight a few blocks from the vacant lot. I ran to the lot, hoping that it wasn't what I thought it was, but it was. It was Johnny, laying on his back by the old couch that was left there. He looked so badly beaten that I hardly recognized him. His face was all swollen and bloody, he looked dead. I fell to my knees a little bit away from him, my breaths being shallow and panicked. I screamed loudly in agony, the fear of me losing him really hitting me. Shante and Nicole ran over to me and Nicole gasped, looking away, but the picture of Johnny like that was already burnt into her brain.
“Go get Darry,” I urged. “Go get Darry, now!” Shante was shaking, but she nodded and hurried over to her car.
“Stay with her,” I heard Shante say to Nicole.
“Okay,” Nicole said, before the car drove off.
“Johnny, baby, wake up, please wake up,” I begged, holding his swollen face in my hands. “Wake up!” I yelled, beginning to cry. “Please!” I begged. Nicole stayed beside me and quietly watched, shaking a little herself. I kept begging for him to wake up, or open his eyes, or show me any sign of life from him, until the gang ran back with Shante in tow.
“Does he have a pulse? Can you feel his heartbeat?” Darry asked, running over to me, kneeling beside me to inspect Johnny's injuries.
“I-I don't know, he's not waking up,” I sobbed out, my breathing even more panicked now. “D-did I lose him? Is he gone?” I asked, shaking, Nicole wrapping her arms around me, trying to calm me down.
“He'll be okay, we need to get him inside. You need to get inside too,” Darry said, carefully picking Johnny up, trying to be careful with his head.
“Don't worry about me, I'm fine,” I said through sobs.
“You're not, you're hyperventilating and stressing yourself out,” Darry said.
“Come on sis, let's get you inside,” Pony said, helping me up from the ground with Nicole helping him.
“Okay,” I said quietly, getting up, still shaking a little. My legs felt like jelly, but I needed to get to the house, I needed to get to Johnny.
“Just take some slow breaths, sis,” Pony said, walking with me back to the house.
“He will be okay,” Nicole reassured. I nodded, walking with him and Nicole, holding my baby bump.