The Outsiders

Chapter 15

I twisted around Buck, slowly feeling the music encase me and taking to some far off place where Dallas wasn't watching me like a hawk and I wasn't grinding on a hammered Buck. Buck spun me to face him, his breath gagging me enough to suffocate me. It smelled worse than stale tobacco and English Leather shaving lotion. I tried not to shiver and writhe away from him.

"Greaser Girl, you move well," he slurred as he tried to bury his face in my neck. I stepped back a little. "Wha's wrong, Greaser Girl?"

I am definately not drunk enough to let him do that without a conscience.

"No, Buck," I said. I need a heavier drink or two before I could ever get it out of my head let alone allow him to kiss my neck. "I need a drink before we get there."

"Oh," he said as he lowered his eyes halfway and stared at me, taking all of me in. "Then le's go get you a drink."

He was getting drunker as the moments passed. He was slurring more and if he tosses everything he was drinking and then some, I was going to do the same on him.

Buck took me by the hand, tightly, and guided me to the fridge and pulled out a beer bottle. He opened it with a bottle opener against the fridge and handed it to me. I pressed my lips tightly together and tipped the bottle back, not allowing a drop to fall into my mouth.

"Now, come on, Greas'r Girl, we have to finis' our dance," Buck said as he wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him.

I turned away from him and tried not to puke on him. When I turned back to him, I smiled slyly. "Fine, let's go dance."

I was determined to be one of the only ones, if not the only one, sober here. He guided me to where the rest of the dancers were grinding on each other and about two seconds from tearing off their clothes and doing other things. I refused to look at him as I felt his hand slide from the bottom of my ribs to my waist as he pulled me closer to his body. His face was buried on top of my shoulder, like I was his girl. I'm not his girl. For the time being, I am no one's girl.

"Greas'r girl," Buck muttered on my shoulder. "I figured you'd be with that Cade boy by now."

I stopped dancing with him and looked at him. "Johnny Cade?" I asked, trying to keep the tears back.

"Tha's who it is," he said as he pointed to me like some eureka moment. "Jo'nny Cade. He was a small li'l thing."

I walked away from him. I swear, if he said his name again, I was going to break down crying. I walked up the stairs, remembering where to go from three years ago when Dallas was helping Johnny and I get out of town. When the party was still going on down stairs and the upstairs was slightly more peaceful, just like I remembered.

"Pony, what the hell are you doing here?' I heard a voice ask.

I looked up with my hands still cupped like they were still holding my face, catching the tears as they fell. He was wearing a plaid, button-up shirt for once instead of a white or black T-shirt like some hoodlum.

"Dallas, what are you doing here?" I asked him as I stood up and pretended I wasn't just crying.

"I've been staying here," he said as he climbed a step so we were a step apart. "Still, what the hell are you doing here? Darry would put you in a grave if he knew you were here."

"Darry would do no such thing," I said as I wiped tears from my face. "He can't lose anyone else. I'm all he has left and he's all I have left."

Dallas widened his eyes a little like reality struck him. He took my hand firmly and pulled me into his arms. "Come with me, Pony. Let's get you away from this party."

He picked me up and carried me down the stairs. I didn't fight with him. I was done with Buck's place anyway. I was done when he started slow dancing with me and mentioned Johnny. I closed my eyes, avoiding the looks I was about to get from the jealous girls. Dallas has always been good looking, or so I've been told.

"Dallas, baby, where are you going?" I heard a girl ask as she gripped his arm and snaked her arm into his. Doesn't she know he's holding me?

"I am leaving," he said as he writhed a little out of her grasp. "Leave me alone, Sylvia."

"You know, Dally, since you've come back, you've been more of a jerk to me," Sylvia said sharply.

"There's a reason for it," Dallas said like the Dally I remembered.

"I can tell you it's sickening." Dallas stopped a couple steps away from her and turned. Something caught his attention. "You run to that damn Greaser Girl more than me."

"Sylvia, you cheated on me," he said. "Pony, hasn't. Leave her and me alone. I didn't come back for you. Hell, since I dumped your ass, I completely forgot about you."

Dallas continued walking out of the party. I had no idea Dallas hated his ex-girlfriend so much. I nestled my head farther into his shoulder and opened my eyes to see some bright stars.

"Dallas," I said with a sigh.

"We're almost to Buck's T-Bird. He won't be driving anywhere tonight," Dallas said as he looked down at me. He looked back at where he was going. "I can't lose another friend to drunk driving."

Dallas wasn't drunk?

Dallas opened the door to the Thunder Bird and set me inside. He got into the driver's seat and started it. It purred and he sped out of the driveway. Dallas was quiet, which was a miracle in itself, until something bothered him enough to force him to speak.

"What did Buck say to you, Pony?" Dallas asked as he looked to me.

I took my head off the cool window, half surprised there wasn't some bloody mark like the last time I rested my head on the window at night.  I looked to my legs, pressed my lips together, and looked to Dallas again.

"Buck asked me why I wasn't with Johnny," I said, trying not to think about what I was saying.

Dallas stared at the road ahead. He wore an expressionless face, but his eyes were shocked. Something told me Dallas wasn't quite ready for that one. "Why would he ask that? He knows about Johnny."

"I don't know," I said as I shrugged. I can't pretend that talking about Johnny casually wasn't bothering me.

He screeched into some abandoned parking lot and parked the T-Bird. He turned to me. His once soulless eyes, filled with wonder and regret.

"Pony, I am not going to pretend that I didn't watch you walk into Buck's. I sure as hell ain't going to pretend that I wasn't jealous of Buck." He muttered something after saying Buck's name. I chuckled a little.

I had the urge to tell Dallas that I loved Johnny and being without him was harder on me it was on the rest of the gang. I resisted the urge to and scooted closer to him. I wanted to be in Dallas's arms for once.

Dallas put an arm around me and pulled me closer to him. I could feel his heart beat at an unsteady rhythm. I looked at him, wondering why his heart was pounding so fast and uneasy. He looked back at me, and his heart went faster, pounded harder, and the unsteadiness heightened.

"Dallas, would you ever kiss me again?"