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Like most Friday nights, almost as though it were routine, Johnny was sitting alone in a booth at The Dingo while a song by The Rolling Stones roared across the diner. Perhaps it wasn't 'routine', but rather the result of Dally being away at reformatory school and Ponyboy's commitment to attending his track meets that left Johnny with no other choice but to bum around the diner.
He was there that night with Two-Bit, but had been left alone at the booth when Two ran outside to talk to some greaser Johnny wasn't familiar with. He was keeping himself preoccupied by drumming his fingers against his plastic cup full of Pepsi to the beat of The Rolling Stones song that was filling the entire room.
Johnny was lost in the rhythm and mumbling the words to himself when a voice dragged him out of his thoughts.
"You're Dal's friend, right?"
Johnny wasn't sure if the voice was speaking to him until he felt a tug at the hem of his jean jacket. He looked over his shoulder and locked eyes with Sylvia, Dally's girl. She looked as though she had been crying -- her eye makeup had been smudged and her cheeks were flushed a dark red.
He nodded at her, "Yeah, and you're Sylvia."
She sniffled loudly and began to bite her thumbnail, confirming Johnny's suspicions that she had been crying. "Fuck!" she choked. "Doesn't it hurt you so bad whenever he does this to us?"
Johnny blinked. Sylvia looked at him inquisitively, sizing up the dark-haired greaser, and then she swiped her hand under her nose as she flopped into the seat across from him.
"Mind if I sit with ya?"
Again, Johnny blinked. But this time he had an answer. "No," he said it softly, and shook his head in case she hadn't heard him over the music. "I don't mind."
Sylvia grinned. "You're real sweet, Johnny. Thank you," she grabbed one of Johnny's napkins and began to dab under her eyes. "I'll bet you wouldn't get locked up and leave your girl at home worryin' for months."
Johnny didn't know what to say. Even though he was close buddies with Dally, he didn't know much about Sylvia. Dally never talked about her, so Johnny never asked. And anything he did know about her was probably told to him by Two-Bit or Steve.
Sylvia smiled at him in a way that made him feel like she understood why he was speechless -- Johnny figured that she didn't know much about him either. But by that time The Rolling Stones song had switched to something Johnny didn't recognize and his cup was empty, and he wasn't feeling like getting to know Sylvia right then and there. However, from the way she placed her elbows on the table and leaned closer to him, he knew that was Sylvia's plan.
Johnny began to wonder when Two-Bit was finally going to return.