Darry was on the rooftop of one of his client's house. He was so glad that it was almost time to go home to the gang, but it wasn't like his work would be done. He would have to go and make dinner for his brothers and probably the rest the gang, too. 'They pratically live at my house. They should help out at least a little.'

Piling all of the old shingles and wood in his boss's truck, Darry was glad that it was finally time to go home and that it was the end of the work week...for this job. 'Having two jobs is a pain in the ass, but at least I have money to take with me to my family.' When it came to his family, he didn't mind having to put in the extra time, effort and work.

Driving home, tired and in need of a shower, Darry thought about what he was going to feed his family. 'Maybe I can just buy some pizza.' Yeah, to Darry, that sounded like a great idea.

Once he got home, he opened his mail. 'Bills, bills, and more bills. Just great.' He slapped the pile of papers back on the counter and made his descend upstairs.

"Ring..Ring..Ring..."

'Oh, fuck me. What now?' Using his manly voice, Darry said, "Hello," into the phone.

"Mr. Curtis?" A woman said on the other line.

"Yes."

"We had Dallas Winston here. He is ready to be discharged from the clinic. All we need is a signature from you and he's free to go."

"Ok. I'll be there soon, Bye." He hung up the phone with a loud 'clank'.

"What the hell has Dallas gotten in now?" Grabbing his car keys, the twenty- year old sped all the way to the hospital.

"Dallas Winston," Darry said to the nurse at the front desk.

"Room 205."

He ran all the way there. He made it just in time to see all of the bandaging the nurses placed on his skin. Darry was sure that these new wounds would overlap the old one which laid on top of even older scars. 'Scars, on top of scars, on top of scars. When was it going to end. When was Dallas going to stop hurting himself like this?'

"Hey Darry. Thanks for picking me up," Dallas said smiling. But, this wasn't a time to smile. Dallas was too stupid to see that the whole gang worried. Especially Darry. He knew what this path of self-destruction could lead to. He knew what the outcome of this behavior could lead to because Darry, himself, was living that path after his parents had died but he learned to pull himself together for the sake of his brothers. But, Dallas had no one to lead him away from this path. He had no one besides the gang. His mother was a drunkard and his father was never home. He had no other siblings or actually family.

"What happened this time?" Darry left his voice hard and cold as they got into his car.

"Oh well, I kinda got into a fight at Tim's house. I fucked this girl that belonged to one of Tim's boys. Man, was he pissed. We were throwing punches and then he pulled out a switch blade and cut me. Everyone ran after that and left me to walk to the hospital. They stitched me up and I was free to go. I had to get thirty-seven stitches but I didn't mind since there was a hot nurse tending to me."

Darry said nothing.

"Hey, Darry. What's the matter? You've been quiet this whole time."

Darry still said nothing the whole ride to the Curtis house. When he parked in the driveway, they sat in silence.

"So are you going to tell me what is the matter?" Dallas asked.

"You are too stupid to see."

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?" Dallas yelled to Darry.

"People worry about you. More than you think."

"That's not true and you know it. Nobody cares about me."

Angerily, Darry grabbed Dallas by the chin and kissed him roughly. God, why was Dallas so stupid that he could see that the gang cared and loved him? More importantly, Why couldn't he see that Darry loved him and cared about him?

When Darry released the seventeen year old, he said, "I cared about you. And, I love you Dallas Winston."

Dallas just stared at him, in shock. "Eww. I hate fags." With that said, Dally ran out of the car and away from Dallas.

Even though they were far apart, they both thought, 'What the hell just happened?'