The Outsiders

Chapter 29

Dallas groaned under his breath as the doctor knocked again. He pushed himself off me and rebuttoned his shirt to how he had it from before. I sat up on the table, trying not to groan from the pain shooting up my leg. Dallas went to the seat in the chair in the corner as the doctor walked in. I remembered him from the hospital both times I was there. He scanned me over, taking me in.

"Good to see you breathing, Miss Curtis," he said as he looked to me and back to his chart.

I didn't say anything and prepared to tackle Dallas back down. His eyes were expressing all kinds of profanity toward the doctor. I didn't know if it would be right to laugh or not at the sight of Dallas's face. I kept staring, hardly noticing the doctor already beginning his assessment on my injuries. There was the Dallas--Dally-- I remembered.

I gave Dallas a look when he growled at the doctor after he gasped a little at the leg wound. I reached for his hand, trying to comfort him and ignore the shooting pain from my leg as the doctor began to poke at it. That didn't last long. Before I knew it, I was hissing, trying to bite back the pain. 

"Hey! You're hurting her."

"That's good," the doctor said as he cleaned his hands of my wound. "Means there wasn't nerve damage in the wreck."

The word "wreck" made Dallas tense up. I knew he blamed himself for the wreck even though there was nothing he could have done differently that night. I looked to him, giving his hand a gentle squeeze to keep him from reliving every moment of that night. I had nightmares about it, but I wasn't telling anyone. Especially not Dallas.

---

 "Pony," Dallas asked as we sat on top of the hill outside town just after my doctor's appointment. It was the same hill we first kissed on. I looked up from my lap and to him. "Are you going to go back to school? You know, in the big city?"

I sighed. I hadn't thought about it much. Part of my reasoning for going there was because it was a place that didn't have memories of Dallas or Johnny or Soda around them. Another was because Cherry was there and we'd gotten close.

"I haven't thought about it. I mean. I want an education like what Darry wants for me, but I also want to stay here," I said softly and slowly, trying to think before I spoke. 

"Why do you want to stay? You're bigger than this town."

I looked to my lap and to the grass after staring at my shadowed reflection in the shining black paint of the car. "Because you're here, Steve's here, Randy and Marcia are here, Two-bit and Darry are here."

"That's not too much of a reason to stay."

"It is for me. All that is there is a good education and Cherry Valance."

Dallas chuckled, remembering the younger Cherry he knew that threw a Coke in his face at the drive-in one time. The girl that couldn't have gave two cares less about him, but was afraid of being around, or even see, him anymore at the risk of falling in love with him.

Now here I am, dating Dallas Winston.

"I remember her very well."

I chuckled. "I am sure you do. Not many girls fought back with you, then told you to go to hell."

"You did."

"You were persistant, and Darry taught me better than to just lay down and take the inevitable."

Dallas chuckled again, scratching the back of his head like he was nervous. "Yeah, he definitely taught you that at a young age. You and Johnnycake were good in a rumble."