I proudly walked into the house, followed by Two-Bit who swaggered in behind me. the entire gang was there, and I was pretty excited. I hadn't been with the whole gang together in awhile, and then I remembered it was a Friday night! I was thrilled.
"Hey there Two-Bit, where ya been?" Soda asked with a lopsided grin.
"Oh ya know, just out and about," the older greaser responded with a sly grin. All of a sudden he reached under his coat and tossed Pony and Johnny a bottle of hair grease each. Their faces lit up, and he smirked when they gave him questioning looks.
"Ho ho ho, merry Christmas! Y'all get your presents early this year, thanks to Two-Bit Clause and his famous reindeer, Shadolf!" Two-Bit said, laughing. He continued passing out everything he had stolen. Dally got two packs of cigarettes, Soda and Steve both got a car magazine and a bottle of Pepsi, and Darry the lasted newspaper copy and a canister of coffee.
"How the hell did you walk out with all this?" Steve asked with a look of wonder.
Two-Bit just gestured to me with a gleam in his eye, and I wagged my tail and looked up at the gang proudly. Soda cocked an eyebrow at me and Two-Bit, and Ponyboy just sad there dumbfounded.
"Lets just say, this dog sure does make a good distraction!" Two-Bit managed to get out before he burst out laughing. The whole gang just sat there with confused looks on their faces. All of a sudden a loud laugh sounded from the back of the room, and everyone turned to see Dally snickering.
"You-you mean that was you two!? I heard someone ranting on and on about how this crazy dog running around a store, but I never would have guessed that it would be Shadow!" He said with a cackle. Soon enough Two-Bit told the full story to the rest of the gang, and they all started laughing. Darry and Steve just sat there shaking their heads, while Dally, Johnny, Pony, and Soda couldn't stop laughing.
Finally Dally stood up, stretched, and started to walk out the door.
"I'm gonna go hang out around town, find something to do. Anyone wanna come?" He called over his shoulder. Steve and Soda regretfully shook their heads, but Two-Bit happily obliged. Pony started to respond, but quickly shook his head after a sharp glare from Darry.
"I think I'll go with ya Dal," Johnny said. I decided I might as well go, since I wasn't really too happy about the thought of spending a Friday night inside with Darry and Ponyboy. So I trotted out behind the three greasers, right before the door closed. It was going to be a great night, or so I thought.
After a few hours, Two-Bit had gotten drunk and ran off somewhere with a few blondes clutching his arm. Dally led me and Johnny down the street, looking for a place to go hang out. We followed him without question, and I walked loyally at Johnny's side. The smells of the town were so vivid. The oil from cars, the alcohol from the bar down the street, the food from the restaurants.
Then a new scent caught my attention. It smelled just a bit like me, but wilder, so to speak. I looked around to find the source of the peculiar scent, and then I found it, or rather, him. There stood a young dog, about my age, but I could tell he was a male. His fur was thick, a mixture of brown and black fur. He was lean but strong, and his eyes were a lively amber color. I couldn't take my eyes off of him, or at least until I heard a loud yell.
Dally had been punched by some drunk guy that had stepped out of the bar. Johnny looked at me and took a step back, urging Dally to step away.
"What the fuck was that for?!" he yelled. This just angered the man more, and he took another swing at Dallas. Things got really bad when Dally flicked out a switchblade, and a bystander screamed. That's when I heard the sirens in the distance.
"C'mon Dal, lets get outta here man," Johnny begged. Dally glanced at him, threw another punch, but did put away his blade. However, when he sacked the other guy in the nose the cops were there to witness it. They held back Dally, and cuffed him rapidly.
"Sorry kid, looks like we gotta haul you in again. If it were my choice, you would be in there permanently. Might save me some money so I don't gotta pay for gas driving all around town huntin' you down, son." One of the cops muttered in a gruff voice.
"Yea, yea, well if it were my choice, there wouldn't be all these fucking laws and I wouldn't get hauled in for a bunch of pointless shit." Dally retorted. The cop just rolled his eyes and told Dally he would probably be in for about 90 days. I froze. 90 days without DallasWinston. It was going to be awful, but at least I had the rest of the gang. I would be fine.