Whenever Ponyboy wears Dallas' jacket, an unease settles over Darry.
He can't exactly explain why, as the autumn cold starts to settle in, it unsettles him so much. It wouldn't be the first time that they've worn hand-me downs, and as much as Darry doesn't want to think about it, it wouldn't be the first time in their neighborhood that someone had worn clothes of a friend who had died. It was an uncomfortable piece of reality for them — of all people though, he hadn't thought Ponyboy would be evidence of this.
Two years changes things, though. Two years, three deaths all over the news, and things changed.
The unease, he thinks it has more to do with the fact that Dally had died so recently, so violently. Darry still remembers finding Ponyboy there, of having to watch Dally crawl to him in that horrible way. The gunshots, Two-Bit crying out as Dallas died. Feeling anger, despair at Dallas, at the cops who had fired without even verifying what was really going on. Having to watch both of his kid brothers fall apart one after the other, having to keep everyone and everything together no matter what — and feeling everyone start to change.
Some of it he knew was inevitable, that Two-Bit might drink more, start to drift more towards the Shepards, that Steve and Soda might start to splinter in two, that Ponyboy might crawl further and deeper into that dreamer head of his. Some of it comes true: Steve and Soda do fight, and when Soda and Sandy begin to talk again, he can feel things cool between them further. Two-Bit does go on more benders than he ought to, sometimes taking Ponyboy with him more than not. Darry, himself, spends more time feeling lost and high strung over the changes, over the tragedy spilling out.
Like a lot of things, though, there are twists and turns.
Evie talks Steve into some sense. Steve and Soda aren't exactly the same, but they don't stay mad at each other anymore. Two-Bit actually gets out of high school thanks to some help from Ponyboy and even if Darry is wary about the Shepards easing in more with his brothers, nothing as bad as last year has happened yet. He even gets promoted, makes more money than before.
Still, though there are little things that disturb him about Ponyboy at the moment and the jacket is one of them. The way it sits on Ponyboy's smaller frame makes him uncomfortable. Something about the way he wears it with the burn, after he recovers from his cold makes Darry uneasy.
It almost seems to cling onto Ponyboy, day after day in a way that other clothes have not before. The way he pushes his hair out of his face some days makes Darry feel as if Dally is right there in front of him.
Before Dally died, he never would have said that, never would have thought that. He's not sure, exactly, why it bothers him now so much to see it, Pony squinting at books, hand on his cheek, expression so focused.
He's being paranoid, he tells himself.
Ponyboy is just getting older. He's had to go through a hell of a time, just like the rest of them, and Darry quells the thoughts as he watches Ponyboy from across the room.
an interlude with darry! thanks so much for reading, i appreciate any and all feedback.