Disclaimer: SE Hinton owns The Outsiders. Kings of Leon owns "Eyes on You."

I try hard to understand
The crush of the world in the palm of your hand
You know we sit just right
Let's run away from the light

April 1970

When morning rolled around, Ellie quickly got ready and called Two-Bit. It was still early, but he answered sounding wide awake.

"Did you see him?"

"Yeah, I did. He was actually sitting outside waiting on me."

She could hear the relief in his voice. "How is he?"

Pausing, Ellie tried to put into words how he seemed. It was hard to pinpoint. "He's ok, but a little sad. His arm's hurt and he doesn't seem to think it's going to get any better. He's managing, I guess."

"But he seemed good? Happy to be home?"

"Well, sure. He asked about everyone. I'm sure you'll see him today."

"Are you going to school?"

She really didn't want to, but she already skipped one day and Steve would kill her if he knew she skipped again. It was hard to go, thinking she might miss out on something.

"I need to," she finally said.

"You should. If anything is going on, I'll come get you at lunch or something."

Hanging up, Ellie grabbed a quick breakfast and headed out the door. She walked slowly by Steve's house, happy to see the house was dark. Hopefully that meant he was resting.

XXX

When lunchtime rolled around, Two-Bit didn't come by and she was a little disappointed. She sat on the steps, eating a sandwich alone and watching for his car anyway. Dallas didn't come by either, and she frowned as the bell rang.

Every class drug on longer than the one before it. By the time the last bell rang, she ran to her locker, switched out her books and slammed it shut. She saw Wade ahead of her and ran to catch up with him. Touching his arm to get his attention, she noticed too late that his girlfriend was with him. Standing back under the heat of her glare, Ellie suddenly didn't know what to say.

"What do you want?" Sheryl asked.

"It's ok," Wade told her, but Sheryl looped her arm through his, holding on tight. When he looked back at her, he looked just as happy as he usually did, but she noticed the tight lipped way he started to speak. "Did Steve make it home?"

Nervous, and feeling stupid that she believed she was back on any type of good terms with him, she said, "Yeah, he made it home last night. He's hurt, but he's doing pretty good."

He nodded with a warm smile. "That's great. I hope Soda makes it home soon, too."

"Thanks."

Sheryl tugged on his arm, still glaring at her, and Wade said, "I'll see you around, Ellie."

As they walked away she heard Sheryl tell him that he would not see her around. Standing with her back against the wall in the busy hallway, she wanted to kick herself for being so stupid. He was only being nice because that was the sort of thing he did, but she realized now it was only a gesture. It was something to be worthy of his kindness again, but she knew his girlfriend wouldn't put up with much more. Ellie had taken advantage of his kindness once before and she decided to just be happy about what he had given and move on. She didn't deserve it anyway.

Giving them a head start, she finally spilled out of the front doors of Will Rogers with the rest of her classmates. She was happy to see Dallas parked at the end of the school lot. She wove her way through kids running every direction and got into the truck.

"Hey," he said, wasting no time getting out of the parking lot.

She looked over at him when she realized they weren't headed back to her neighborhood.

"Where are you going? I want to go home."

"Up to Buck's for awhile," he said, with a glance in her direction.

"Steve's home, remember? I'm sure we're all getting together tonight."

She noticed him set his jaw. "Jesus, you were there all day yesterday."

"He just got home, Dallas. I missed him and I want to spend some time with him. I'm sorry that I'm taking time away from you to see how our friend is doing," she snapped.

"Our friend?"

Ellie really had to grit her teeth on that one. "He's your buddy, too. He always has been and I'm sure he'd like to see you, too."

There was a fight brewing and maybe a small part of her even wanted it to blow off the steam of what just happened with Wade. Ellie was over him not waiting with the rest of them to hear about Steve only because she knew being at that house made him uncomfortable. She didn't want to push him too much, but she couldn't brush off his denial that Steve was a friend.

"Steve doesn't give two shits if I come by and see him."

"Actually, I think he would," she said, remembering how Steve had asked about Dallas the night before. "And even if he doesn't, it might make me happy if you even pretended to give a damn. I missed him and I'm not going to just sit and watch you get drunk at Buck's all night."

His jaw clenched again as she waited for an answer, but he said nothing. Instead, he jerked the wheel and, with tires squealing, he made a U-turn. When he pulled up in front of her house, he made no move to get out.

"You're going back, aren't you?"

After a long, tense few seconds, he put the truck in park and shut off the engine. He followed her inside. She dumped her school things and changed her clothes while he sat sulking on her bed. When the phone rang, she went to the kitchen to answer it and he didn't follow. Allison was on the other end.

"I figured you were home by now," she said. "I wanted to let you know that Steve's over here and Two-Bit and Carolyn are heading over, too. Hurry over when you're ready. Darry is going to grill out."

"I'll be over a few minutes, do you need anything?"

"Just you, hurry up!"

She hung up and came back to her room where he was still sulking.

"Darry is going to grill out," she told him, cooling her tone from earlier. "Just come and say hi and you can go. Just a half hour."

Glowering, he finally stood up and they headed out.

XXX

They walked when he would have preferred to drive, and it was a silent walk just so he would have an easier out when the time came. He didn't want to go into that house and see anyone because every time he went in there, everyone just stared at him. Ellie was dead wrong about anyone giving two shits about him, Steve especially. Maybe they had been buddies at some point, but he couldn't imagine them being buddies now. Things started cooling between them the minute Dally started dating Ellie.

Ellie climbed the steps and he followed her right on inside where a half-a-dozen people all looked up from where they sat at the same dining room table where they used to play poker for peanuts. He didn't miss the split second disappointment on Darry's face or the fake smile on Allison's when they noticed him. They both excused themselves to start getting food ready. Two-Bit and his girl were nice enough, but when he looked at Steve all he could see was that the guy looked like hell.

Dally nearly put his hand out to shake Steve's, but instead gave him an awkward pat on his left arm when he noticed the sling.

"Good to see you, man. Glad you're home."

"I can say the same about you. Looking good, Dallas."

He didn't know what to say to that, but Two-Bit was handing him a beer and breaking into the awkward encounter. Dally stepped back and leaned against the wall, holding the bottle so tightly he thought he might break the glass. Ellie was standing beside Steve and Two-Bit with a beaming smile as Two-Bit cracked a joke. When she looked at him, she smiled in a knowing way and mouthed something. Thank you. Tipping the bottle to her, he drank.

They stood around, talking and drinking and moving from inside to outside and back again. Ellie stood by him for a while and had already given him permission to leave, but he stayed hoping she might want to leave with him. Grabbing a fresh beer from the cooler outside, Dally sat on the cement steps instead of going back in. He drank alone in the night, watching the last of the charcoal embers go out in the grill. When the back door opened, he fully expected Ellie to be there. He almost choked on his beer when Steve sat down next to him. Not knowing what else to do, Dally dug a bottle out of the ice, popped the cap, and handed it to him.

"Thanks," he said, accepting it with his good arm.

"Sure." Dally had never been good with small talk and sat there uncomfortably.

Steve seemed to pick up on that. "I needed some air. You have a smoke?"

Without a word, Dally whipped out his pack of Kools and shook two out, lit them, and handed one off to Steve who had to set his beer down to accept.

"I don't know how you still smoke this shit," he said, with a laugh.

They smoked in silence which was fine by Dally. Steve was the one that finally broke the silence.

"Ellie says you guys are doing pretty good."

Dally shrugged and said nothing. Even he had to admit they were in a better place than they ever had been, despite the fact they could still fight over the dumbest things. That afternoon being a prime example.

"I mean, you're here tonight and you clearly don't want to be, but she wants you to be here, huh?"

"Something like that," Dally replied.

"I think it's exactly that," Steve said, draining what was left in the bottle. "I'm glad you finally came home."

This was a surprising admission coming from the guy who once tried to kick the shit out of him when he first went out with Ellie. Dally gave him a sideways glance, sizing him up.

"That seems like bullshit coming from you."

Steve shrugged. "People change. Besides, she seems happy even though she waited on you for so long."

Dally nodded in agreement, but left the part where she made him wait too out of the conversation. He had a feeling he wouldn't get much sympathy for getting the cold shoulder for a few months when he made her wait years.

"Evie waited, too. She was pissed at me when I left, but she wrote me bunch and we got back on again while I was gone. Then this shit happened, " he said, looking at his arm. "I told her to not to bother when she came by yesterday."

People did not open up to him, and Dally was at a loss. A huge, uncomfortable loss. Steve was staring out toward the alley, and Dally drank.

"Worst part? She hasn't come around since. I kind of hoped she'd been as brainless as Ellie was waiting on you."

Christ, people really hated him. To his own surprise, though, the comment really didn't bother him. Maybe it was because he had her back or that Steve, who had always been such an asshole, sat there miserably spilling his guts about his girl. His own memories were hazy, but Dally remembered that once in a vulnerable spot, he told Ellie to get the fuck out of his way. That was years ago and they were still together despite of that. It was something he should have told Steve because one hopeless situation was as valid as another, but he wasn't good at being supportive.

"She'll come around again," he finally said.

"I can't do shit with this arm. I always thought I'd be a decent mechanic and that would be enough for us. That ship sailed, and I don't know what I can do now. She needs someone who can take care of her," he said, bitterly.

For a second, Dallas wondered how many times people thought he wasn't good enough for Ellie. He knew he was a useless piece of shit, but she somehow always made him feel like less of one. He didn't deserve her, but he fucking loved her. He should have said something like that to Steve, but he gave him the only useful piece of advice he could muster.

"Christ, man, you've been home a couple of days and you've been with her for how long? You don't want to end that. Figure your shit out. If she's a good one, don't let her go like that."

Steve was quiet and Dally reached into the ice and pulled out two more beers.

Accepting his, Steve finally said, "How long did it take you to figure that one out?"

The truth was that Dallas had always known that, it had just taken him a long time to learn how to do anything about it. Looking at Steve's long face, Dallas realized that despite everything, he had ended up the lucky one. That was an unbelievable feeling.

"A long fucking time. Don't be like me."

"Shit, that's the last thing I'd wanna be," Steve said with a smirk.

XXX

Together, Dally and Ellie walked back to her house. They left Steve, Two-Bit, and Darry at the table talking, but Steve insisted she go home and sleep so she wouldn't miss school. It sometimes embarrassed her when they pushed her about it, but she was still happy to have their support. They seemed to want to see her graduate as much as she wanted to.

She wouldn't have minded staying longer, but she also wanted to get Dally alone to ask him about his conversation with Steve. She had gone to find him when he didn't come back after a while, assuming he had taken off without telling her. She was surprised to see them both sitting on the stoop. It was such a quiet moment that she left without interrupting.

"You didn't have to stay so long, you know? But I'm glad you did," she said, sliding her hand into his.

"Yeah."

Quiet again, they made it back to her street and stood outside his truck. She knew he wanted her to go with him, but it was already late.

"What did you and Steve talk about?"

Dodging her question, he dug out his cigarettes and tapped one out. "You wanna come with me? I'll drive you to school in the morning."

She shook her head. "It's really late, but don't worry. School's almost out and then I'm all yours."

He tucked his cigarette behind his ear before he put his hand around her waist and pulled her close. When he kissed her, it was gentle and warm and devoid of urgency. She melted against him. It was one of those perfect moments, and it was hard to believe the evening had begun with them angry with each other.

"What was that for?" she asked, still close to him.

"Nothing." He had a little smile on his face as he kissed her again. "I'll see you tomorrow, Dollface."

When he left, she stood there wondering about him but smiling all the same.

Tongue in your cheek and back in my knife
Out here looking for the good life
Keep on pushing through
I got eyes on you