"A Happy Life"

Dally's POV:

I can remember the first time I saw Cherry. It was at the Drive In movies, the Dingo. I remembered thinking about how cute she was, her red hair and all. I almost fell in love with her because of how good looking she was. Me being a tough guy and all made me feel like I had to play some kind of trick on her, which I regret doing today. I love her to this day and it makes me feel happy that she loves me, too.

I can remember after Johnny died, I was really bent out of shape. There was no one left for me to really love, exept maybe Ponyboy since he was the only other gang member that was so close to me. On this perticular night which was a couple of weeks after Johnny died, i was laying in my bed, crying. I had never cried before, or at least I couldn't ever remember crying. I couldn't stand Johnny being gone. He was my buddy and I cared about him. It seemed like I never really got the chance to say goodbye to him and I get really sad every time I think about that. Sometimes I just think about the fact that he's looking down on me from heaven and knows that I wanted to say goodbye to him.

Anyway, I was laying in bed with just a shirt and boxers on when there's a knock on my bedroom door. " What do you want, dad?" I asked. My dad opened the door. I sighed, not knowing what the heck he was going to do next. " What do you want, man?" I asked. He suddenly tossed me a suitcase. I looked up at my father, stunned. " Get all your stuff packed," he told me. " After that, it's time for you to leave." I sat up. " What do you want me to leave for?" I asked, wiping a tear from my eye. " My best buddy died and I need some place to stay." Without saying another word, he left. And I was left to sit there and pack all of my clothes and stuff. I got all mad while I was doing this, I kicked over my lamp on the bedside. It fell to the floor and blew out with a blue flash. " Shit," I cussed under my breath. I just couldn't take this anymore, it was too much for me.

Cherry's POV:

I was sitting in the big armchair in my living room. My parents were both asleep, but I wanted to stay up all night. I couldn't sleep, anyway. After all I had been through in the past few weeks, I was only thinking about my old boyfriend, Bob dying, the greaser, Johnny Cade Dying, and having to go to court about Bob's murder. It was all so horrible. I hadn't seen Dallas Winston in a while. At first I couldn't stand him, but it wasn't really like that anymore. I told Ponyboy that if I ever saw Dallas Winston again that I'd probably fall in love with him and I did end up seeing him again.

It wasn't that Dallas was a bad person or anything, it was just that he could be a little rough sometimes, you know? I was regreting that I had thrown that coke in his face and yelled at him because he's just a misunderstood guy. I did admire him now, there was no doubt about that. He was a cool dude type of guy and I really lioked that about him. The TV was on in my house, but I wasn't paying attention to it, I was only thinking about Dally. And Ponyboy. I wasn't sure how Pnyboy was doing. I knew that Johnny had been his best friend and it seemed like out of everyone it would be hard on him the most.

I was thinking for a while what I should do, if I should go and see how Ponyboy was doing or if I should just stay here at home. My parents weren't being as nice as they used to be. I was thinking that maybe they were a little mad at me for being the girlfriend of a person that was murdered. It wasn't my fault, though. In a way it was all Bob's fault. If he hadn't been drunk that night, he wouldn't have been kil;led in the first place. I know that Johnny killed him, but I wasn't blaming Johnny for it at all.

I finally decided what I was going to do. I was going to go over to Ponyboy's to see how he was getting along with his brothers and everything like that. I would just sneak out of the house since my parents were asleep. I turned off the TV and quietly walked out the front door.

Dally's POV:

After my father had kicked me out, I went out on the streets. Since it was night, i couldn't see much of anything and I didn't know what to expect. I put my suitcase down at the corner of Pickett and Sutton. Then I sat down on the sidewalk. Now I was wearing a tank top, jeans, and a baseball cap. I didn't know where the heck I was headed for. All I knew was that I wouldn't be living at that same house anymore. I could stay at Buck's. I knew that he would let me have a room, but I was thinking about all of the parties and stuff and if I was tryin' to sleep, it would be hard. Buck and I had been buddies for a long time, but I just couldn't make Buck take care of me like I was his kid brother or something. I had to think of something else.

It was scary out on the streets at night in Tulsa. There always seemed to be this dense fog that came out late at night along with a weird breeze. There were some rough people out on the streets at night, but I had lived in the rough areas of New York City and I knew how to handle things like that, even if it meant me getting some ribs cracked. I lit a cigarette while I sat there on the sidewalk. I saw a car go by once in a while, but not much. It was pretty late and I didn't expect to see many people out. Once I was finished with the cigarette, I got up and started walking around the streets. I didn't know what to expect now. There were plenty of places I could wind up in, but it finally came to me where I should go. Ponyboy said that his house was always free to people that needed to stay. I knew he'd let me stay there.

So, then I started heading to Ponyboy's house. I was getting pretty tired. Especially weith the heavy suitcase. But I just kept saying to myself, " You can do it, Dally, come on, you can do it, Dally!" To tell you the truth, I was scared being out on the streets late at night by myself. I know I don't seem like I'm the guy that's afraid of anything, but I really am. I do get scared over certain things and Johnny dying was one of them. At first I didn't want to believe that he had died. As a matter of fact, I still don't want to believe that he's dead. I like to believe that he's alive and kicking. The poor kid. Anyway, once I got up to Ponyboy's house, I knocked on the door. There were lighrs on inside, so I knew that I wasn't disturbing them or waking them up in the middle of the night.

Darry answered the door. He looked shocked to see me here. " Dally!" he said. " What are you doing here?" I walked in. When Darry said, " dally!" Ponyboy looked up. He was laying on the couch, watching a movie on TV with Paul Newman. I knew that Ponyboy's favorite actor was Paul Newman. I think he still is to this day. " What you doig here, Dally?" Ponyboy asked. I sighed. " My old man, he kicked me out. I was wonderin' if you'd let me stay here or something." Soda who was in the armchair nodded. " Sure, Dallas, you know we'd let you stay no matter what." " thanks, man" I said, putrting down my suitcase and taking off my baseball cap. I sat down next to Ponyboy and asked him, " Whjat's this movie, Pony?" " Cool Hand Luke," he answered. " It's really good." I nodded. " oh, yeah, I've seen this one, it's cool how he escapes and everything, man." Ponyboy looked up at me. " I'm sorry about you getting kicked out," he said. " That's alright, kid," I told him. " I'd rather be with you guys, anyway. You're like brothers to me."

That's all true. I really did feel comfortable with Ponyboy and his brothers. I also felt comfortable with Cherry, but I knew that she would never accept me cuddling up to her. Suddenly, the unexpected happened. Cherry Valance walked right in through the front door. It was all a shock to see her standing there right when I had been thinking of her.

Cherry's POV:

I hadn't expected to see Dallas there. He was sitting next to Ponyboy who was laying down on the couch. They were watching some movie with Paul Newman in it. " Ponyboy," I said. " Cherry?" he said. He was probably not expecting me to come to his house at this hour, so I said, " I'm sorry gfor coming here so late, but I really needed to know how you were doing and everything." He nodded. " I'm fine." Dallas was looking up at me. His eyes were usually cold and mean looking, but now they were sweet and sensative looking. It was almost as if he had changed from being tough and mean to sweet and vulnerable. " Hi, Dally," I said, smiling. I didn't know what he was thinking, but he continued smiling at me and then said, " Hi."

He was actually pretty nice looking all cuddled up on the couch there. It seemed like he wouldn't harm a fly. Ponyboy yawned as I came over to both of them. " Hi, you guys," I said. " Again, I'm sorry for disturbing you, but I just couldn't sleep without knowing." Ponyboy chuckled. " That's okay, Cherry, we were all awake, anyway. I saw Soda and Darry over in the kitchen. The last time I had seen Soda was in court. I could remember him a little from highschool, but since he was a dropout, it was hard to remember him that well. I could remember Darry pretty well by the way Ponyboy started talking about him, but he didn't really seem mean. I looked at Dally who was still smiling. " How are you doin', Cherry?" he asked me.

" Not too bad," I replied. " I'm actually glad to see you." His eyes widened. I think that he was thinking the same thing that I was thinking. Love. Could it be? I had never been in love before. Not real love, anyway. I don't really think that I ever loved Bob as much as I would towards Dallas Winston. It was funny that things had changed so quickly. A few weeks ago, I was yelling at him, but now I was actually falling in love with him. It was the truth, though. I really was glad to see him. " Me too," Dally said, smiling. " You said you were glad to see me, huh?" " Yeah, I am." Ponyboy wasn't really noticing this. He was concentrating on the movie. I was glad about that. I didn't want Ponyboy to suspect anything going on between the two of us. I could really feel love this time, though. It certainly was love. I thought of what Dally and I could do togeether. We could go to the movies, the Dingo. I wouldn't even mind if he took me up to Buck's once and a while. When you love somerone, it doesn't matter where they take you. The important thing is that you want to be with them. That's the way I felt about Dally. I wanted to be with him.

" Hey, Cherry," Ponyboy suddenly said. " Do you want to spend the night here?" I was about to shake my head no, but then I thought for a second. " Are you spending the night, Dallas?" I asked. He nodded. " Yeah, I am. My old man kicked me out and I've got to stay here." " Oh," I said. " That's terrible." He looked up at me as though he were glad that I said that. " Sure,"I said to Ponyboy. " I'll stay over." He looked pretty surprised to hear me say that. I suppose he thought I was still mad at Dally or something, but of course, I wasn't.

Dally's POV:

As I said before, I feel comfortable being around Cherry, but I never expected that she would actually stay over at Ponyboy's house while I was there, or ever stay at Ponyboy's house at all. I looked at Ponyboy. He had a look on his face like, " That's weird, huh?" I looked back at Cherry. I now knew that I had fallen in love with her, completely. She was so beautiful and I just needed to be with her. I could cuddle up to her, hold her, love her, and care for her. " well," Ponyboy said. " I might as well get your beds ready, then." He walked out of the room to leave Cherry and I together alone. She sat next to me on the couch. What was she going to do? " How have you been lately, Dally?" she asked me. I nodded, meaning fine. " I've been fine." " Yeah?" " Yeah."

Man, she was beautiful. I couldn't help but love her. I really did love her now. The first time I saw her I could feel love coming on. She was really a person that I wanted to be around. Ponyboy came back into the room and said, " I have the two bedrooms set up for both of you." We both got up and went out into the hall. I really wanted to know what she was thinking right there. Did she love me, too? I hoped so. I needed her. I could feel my love for her deep down inside me. I turned and went into the first bedroom while she went into the room next to that one. I was kind of excited about sleeping in the bedroom next to hers. There was a bathroom in my bedroom, so I took a shower. It felt nice. I hadn't had one in a few days and I liked people to see me clean. As I washed myself, I thought about living here with Ponyboy, Darry, and Soda. What would it be like. I knew that it would be nice, though. As I said before, they're all like brothers to me.

I got out of the shower and went into my bedroom. I was wearing nothing at all and that's when Cherry suddenly walked in. " Oh, I'm sorry," she said, realizing that she had just seen a full view of me naked. " That's alright," I said, putting a towel over me. " It's just a little skin, that's all." I laughed and she smiled. " Dally," she said, coming up to me. Now I was really determined to know how she thought about me. " What, Cherry?" I asked. She sighed. " Well, I..." " What?" " I..." I could tell that there was something going on here. " Oh, Dally, I... I love you." Now I was the happiest guy on earth. " You do?" I asked, almost not believing it. She nodded. " Yes, I do." " Wait a second," I said, realizing that I was only wearing a towel. " Let me go get dressed first, okay?" She nodded. I went in the bathroom and put on boxers and a T shirt. When I came out, she had put on her nightgown and had climbed into my bed. The door was closed.

" What's this all about?" I asked. " I love you, remember?" she said, smiling. I was so touched that she loved me the way that I loved her. " You want me to get in bed with you?" She nodded. I went over to the bed.

Cherry's POV:

I simply had to tell him what my real feelings for him were, so I did. I was madly in love with Dallas Winston and I had just told him. As he climbed into the bed with me, I took a good look at him. With nothing but boxers and a T shirt on, he was pretty cute. He seemed really nice now, not the way he had been at the Dingo. " Here," I said, pulling the sheets over both of us. " That'll help us keep warm. He was smiling at me. " What is it?" I asked, putting my hand through his hair. " I love you, too, Cherry," he said. " You do?" " Yeah." " Oh, Dally!" I said as we kissed. It was the most wonderful kiss I had ever experienced. It was beautiful. It lasted for about two minutes. I actually wanted it to last longer.

" Well," he said after the kiss. " I suppose the two of us are in love with each other, aren't we?" I nodded. " Yeah, we are." I loved this. It was the greatest moment of my life. Just being with Dallas Winston was great. I knew that I had to be with him forever. I would never leave him. After a while, we turned off the lamp. The others had definatly gone to sleep by now, so we figured that we would just turn out the light. We didn't go to sleep, though. We talked and hugged and cuddled. You know, stuff like that. Man, I love Dally. While we were talking in bed, he said, " You know, Cherry, I was surprised to see you sleep over at this house, anyway." " Well," I said. " I actually didn't expect to see you here, but I'm really glad that you were. I always loved you, Dally, I always did." " You did?" " Yeah," I continued. " It's a mystery to me, too. I know I threw that coke in your face and everything and I'm really sorry that I did, Dally."

" Oh, that's okay, Cherry," he told me right before he kissed me. " I forgive you. I can understand, though. I have to admit that I was being a little rude to you." " No," I told him. " You weren't being rude, you were just trying to have fun. I can understand how boys are, but that doesn't mean that they're rude people, they're just misunderstood, that's all. You're very sweet, Dally." I cuddled up to him. " I'm crazy about you, Dally." He put his arm around me. I loved him. He was so sweet and vulnerable now. " Will you merry me?" I asked him. " Of course I will," he said. We kissed again. " What about your parents, though?" " Oh," I said. " Don't worry about them. We can live here for a couple of days and then we can plan where the two of us can go. We'll take a train somewhere. We'll get married, find a house, have kids, and just have a happy life together." " So, you want to run away and get married?" he asked me. " Yeah. I need to get away from my parents." " Why?" he asked. He sounded surprised. " Did they ever hurt you or anything like that?" " Oh, no," I said. " But I can't tell them that I'm already getting married because they'd probably say that I was still too young. I don't care, though. I'm going to get married to you no matter what happens, Dally. I promise that the two of us will be very happy together."

We hugged tightly and we both fell asleep that way, too. I felt so comfortable being close to him. He wasn't only the person who was going to become ny husband, but he was also my bst friend, my buddy.

Ponyboy's POV:

In the morning, I got up and started breakfast. Dally's door was closed, so I went to Cherry's room first to wake her up. It was weird at first because she wasn't in the room. Her bed looked like it hadn't even been changed from her laying on it. " Cherry?" I called. I went over to Dally's room to see if he knew where she was. " Dally, do you..." I stopped and looked over at the bed. The two of them were cuddled up together, asleep. Awwww, you should have seen it. It was really cute the way they were. I closed the door. I didn't want to disturb them.

Dally's POV:

When I woke up from the sunlight coming in through the windows, I looked at Cherry. She was waking up, too. I was so happy that we were getting married. " Hi, honey," she said. " Hi, baby," I said as I gave her kiss. " How'd you sleep?" " I slept better than ever since you were with me." " good," I said, hugging her. " I'm glad that you feel comfortable with me. I feel comfortable with you, too." After the hug, I said, " Let's go see if Ponyboy'll make breakfast for us." " Okay!" We both got out of bed and got dressed. Then we went out into the hall.

Cherry and I held hands as we walked into the living room. Ponyboy was sitting on the couch, watching the morning news. " Good morning, Ponyboy," I said. He looked up. " Hi, guys!" He got up and said, " I don't want to sound nosey or anything like that, but when I walked in Cherry's bedroom and there was no one there, I looked in the other bedroom and found the two of you sleeping together." I chuckled. " That's right, Ponyboy." " Well," Ponyboy continued. " I would have never thought that I would live to see the day Dallas Winston slept with Cherry Valance." Cherry laughed and said, " Oh, Ponyboy, you haven't seen anything yet." " Really?" " No, you see, dally and I are getting married."

Ponyboy looked like he was about to fall to the floor and pass out to me. I think that he was never going to expect such a thing, but he now knew the truth about Cherry and I. " Well," ponyboy said. " This is so sudden, isn't it?" I nodded. " That's right. It's true, though. We are getting married. We suddenly saw that we were both in love and we just can't libve without each other." Ponyboy nodded. " When have you planned the wedding date?" Cherry spoke up. " Well, we aren't really going to have the huge wedding reception or the bachelor party, or anything like that. Wait, though, we can do all of that stuff, we just can't ever let my parents know!" " You're right!" I said. " We can have the bachelor party, the reception, throwing the boquet, cutting the cake, dancing, wedding gifts, and all of the other wedding stuff you can think of!" " Great!" Ponyboy explained. " I love weddings!"

After breakfast, Ponyboy, Cherry, Soda, Darry, and I were all coming up with plans for the wedding. " Okay," Soda explained. " We can have the bachelor party tomorrow and the wedding on Thursday." " Great!" Darry said. " But we still have to call a church somewhere and get everything squared away." " Oh, don't worry about that," Cherry explained. " We don't need a church, we can just get married somewhere that we both love and then we'll have a priest pronounce us man and wife!" " Okay," I said. I began writing down all of the schedules for everything. " Okay, so we've got to call the catering guy to get the cake ready for Thursday. It'll say Dallas and Cherry together forever, we need to call up a priest so they've got that ready, we need to get a best man, a flower girl, a photographer, an organ player, a band for the reception, we need to figure out where we're going to go for our honeymoon, we need reservations, tickets, money, we need to find out where we're going to stay, we need Ids, we need to know where we're going to live after this, and we need the clothes for the wedding. With all of this stuff, we'll be set for everything."

" Okay," Soda said. " I'm going to call to get a priest, Darry, you go to the bakery to get a wedding cake that says, " Dallas and Cherry together forever," Dally, you call up my cousin, she'll be the flower girl, and Cherry, you can get ahold of the clothing rentals for the wedding clothes. We'll need a tuxedo and a wedding gown." I got ahold of the cousin who was going to be the flower girl and everything else seemed to be working out fine.

Cherry's POV:

I went down to the clothing rentals store a few minutes later. I told the clerk who was working there," I need to rent one tuxedo and one wedding gown, please." The man stood up. " Very well," he said. " What sizes do you need?" I had to think for a second about this one. I hadn't really asked Dally what size he would need. " Well," I said. " For the wedding gown, it doesn't have to be huge or anything, but I don't want it too small, either." The man nodded. " okay, then, you probably want a medium, then." I nodded. " Right."

I was turned over to a woman who was going to fix me all up with a gown and everything. As she was working on it, she asked, " What's your name?" I paused for a second. " Kathy," I said. " Kathy Morrison." " Oh," she said. " I've never heard of you before. Did you just move here?" " Yes, I, uhh, my family was being transfered here to Tulsa and I've met the person that I'm going to merry on Thursday." " How old are you?" " Nineteen." She smiled. I was relieved by that. I had to lie about everything now. I lied about my name, I lied about just moving here, and I lied about my age. This was actually kind of fun. When she was done working on the dress and we both looked in the mirror at it, she said, " You look fabulous! Your husband is going to really love this! Who are you getting married to, by the way?" I supposed that I didn't have to lie about this. This woman wouldn't have to know, anyway. " I'm getting married to Dallas Winston." " Oh," she said. " Handsome, isn't he?" " Oh, yeah," I said. I really couldn't wait to get out of this place. I felt like I needed to see Daly or I was going to vomit. This woman was driving me nuts!

I took the wedding gown in a box back to Ponyboy's house. There, everything seemed to be settled. " Hi, honey," Dally said as I came in the door. He gave me a nice big hug. " How'd you make out?" he asked. I opened the boxes to show him the wedding gown and the tuxedo. " They look great!" he explained. " yeah," I said. " The only thing that bothered me was the fact that the woman who was working there kept asking me what my name was, if I had just moved here, what my age was, and everything, but I lied about all of that stuff." Dally nodded. " Yeah, I don't think we should take any chances with your parents finding out." I told him, " I did tell her that I was getting married to you, though. I don't think that that'll be a problem, though, will it?" He shook his head. " No. We'll probably move someplace else, anyway."

Dally's POV:

I was really glad to see her. Even though she had only been gone for 45 minutes, I felt lonely without her. I missed her as soon as she left. " How'd you guys make out?" she asked. " Great!" i responded. " The only differance is that we're not getting married in a church, we're getting married here." She nodded. " Sure, we'll just have to decorate the place up and everything, that's all." " We got a cake ordered, too," I said. " We have the flower girl all set and we have a priest, too." " Great," she said, hugging me. " Just think," I said. " On Thursday we will be declared to be together forever." I held her tight and I just didn't want to let go. I loved her so much that I just knew I would dream about her every night.

As she broke away from the hug, she asked, " Do we have an organ player?" Ponyboy walked in. " Actually," he said. " Since you guys are getting married here, we're not going to get an organ player since there's no organ, but I play the piano perfect and it would be my pleasure to play for you since we do have a piano." Cherry smiled. " Thanks, Ponyboy!"

That night, Cherry and I layed on the couch together. I brought her in close and I kissed her. " I love you," she said. " I love you, too." There was a movie on TV. " Do you understand this movie?" she asked. " Not really," I told her. " I think that woman's the killer, though." Soda came in with some popcorn and drinks. " Thanks, Soda," I said as he gave us some popcorn. He put out some chips and dip, too. That night, Cherry and I lay in bed talking. We loved to talk to each other at night. We did this for hours. " well," I said. " I don't know about you, but I am really excited about getting married the day after tomorrow." She nodded. " I'm probably more excited than you," she said. I laughed and she cuddled up to me.

I pulled the blanket over both of us. I was so happy that everything was working out for the both of us. This was the best thing that had ever happened to me and I just knew that the two of us would have kids and everything. I really loved Cherry and I was so touched that she loved and cared about me, too.

Cherry's POV:

The next morning we had no time to lose. We got up real early so we could get things ready for the bachelor party and the bachelorette party. The bachelor party was going to be held in the basement and the bachelorette party in the living room. Dally, Soda, Darry, ponyboy, and I all helped put up baloons and streamers in the living room and in the basement. Two Bit and Steve came over in the afternoon to help. They were both surprised to hear the news. " Oh, buddy, you sure lucked out this time!" Two Bit said to Dally. " Yeah, I guess I did," Dally responded. Marcia came over, too. I didn't know that she had heard about us. " Well," Marcia said to me. " You certainly chose well, Cherry! If you hadn't decided to merry him, i would have taken your place!" I laughed, but I definatly couldn't picture myself not merrying Dally. If Marcia had married him, I would be extremely jealous.

That night, everything was set to go. The bachelorette party was held in the living room and the bachelor party held in the basement. I was talking to Marcia and Sandy who had been Sodapop's old girlfriend. She had her bby there with her. He was in a stroller. " Oh," she said. " Just wait until you have a baby with him! Not too long ago, I had him." I looked down at the baby. " It sure is a cute little thing," I said. She nodded. " Oh, yes, it's wonderful. Even though I don't know who the father is, I still love this baby more than life itself. Are you planning to have a baby with Dally?" I nodded. " Of course I am. Dally and I are so much in love that we simply have to make love and have a baby. I love children. They always make me feel happy when I watch them laugh and play and everythng that babies do." Sandy nodded. " What do you think you'll call the baby?" " Well," I said. " If it's a boy I'm thinking of naming him after Dally since I love him so much and if it's a girl, I was thinking of calling her Gloria. I always liked that name."

Sandy nodded. " I like that name, too. I only wish that I had a husband to go with the baby. I feel that I need love in both ways. Love with a child and love with a man." Marcia nodded. " Two Bit and I are going out, you know?" she said. " I don't know if we'll get married, but if we do, I plan to have a child as well. I just don't know what I'd name it. There are so many different names and it's just so hard to find the right one. I can remember that when Randy and I had been going out, I was planning to marry him, but I wasn't so sure that things were going out so well between the two of us, you know? I mean, yes, Randy is a nice guy, but I wanted to marry someone who wasn't rich since I have good money and I know for sure tht Two Bit isn't rich. None of these greasers are, but now that we're growing older, the greasers don't even grease their hair anymore." That was true. Dally never greased his hair anymore. I liked it if he didn't. I liked his hair nice and soft. He told me himself that he hates greasing it.

Dally's POV:

While Cherry was upstairs in the living room at the bacheloerette party, I was down in the basement with all of the guys for the bachelor party. I looked around at all tht was going on. There were people playing darts, smoking, drinking beer, and talking. I laughed in spite of myself because none of their parents knew that they were here. " Here, Dally," Two Bit said as he handed me a cigarette. " From your buddy, Two Bit." " No thanks, Two Bit," I said. " I'm not thinking of smoking anymore. I'm trying to quit, you know?" Two Bit laughed. " You've got to be kidding me, Dally, this is your bachelor party, you're getting married tomorrow!" I nodded. " I know, but when Cherry and I are married, I don't want to be smokin' and stuff. You know how that is, don't you, Two Bit?" He nodded. " Sure, I suppose I should quit before I merry Marcia." " You're getting married to Marcia?" " Maybe, I don't know, but that would be a nice thing, man." I nodded. " How long have you two been going together?" Two Bit shrugged. " Idon't know, maybe two or three weeks. It's something like that, I'm not sure, though."

I continued drinking my soda. I looked around the room. Tim and Curly Shepard were drinking beer and smoking, Ponyboy and Soda were playing darts, Two Bit was puffing on a cigarette, Steve was drinking beer and talking to Darry, and I was standing by the TV, drinking my soda. The TV was showing the news. I don't know why we had that channel on, but no one was watching it, anyway. The room was smoke filled from the guys that were smoking. I really did mean it when I told Two Bit that I was trying to quit smoking. I didn't want to be exposing the smoke to Cherry and especially when we would have our baby. I didn't want the baby to get sick or anything. Most people knew me from being that tough guy on the streets who drank, smoked, and stole stuff, but I was going to change myself around. I was never going to steal again, I wouldn't drink much anymore, and I wasn't going to smoke anymore. I heard that it's hard to quit, but I had to try. Ponyboy was one that I was worried about. He smoked and he was only fourtteen. It's not good to smoke, you know? I, myself had been smoking for a while now, but all of that was going to change. I put the cigarette Two Bit had given me. I wanted to keep it since Two Bit was my buddy and I didn't want to just say, " No, I don't want it!" I didn't want to make him feel bad or anything. Two Bit was simply the practical joker of the gang. The class clown type, you know? He was the one guy in trhe gang that everybody liked. It wasn't like there was anybody who didn't really like him. I liked him. If you were sick or something, just seeing him would make you feel better.

Tim and Curly Shepard on the other hand, they were just plain trouble! Now, I'm not going to lie to you and say that I was never trouble. Believe me, I was at one time. I'm just clearing stuff up now, but Tim and Curly are always gettin' in trouble with fightin' and stealing. Now, Tim's always been my buddy no matter what, though. We had known each other for such a long time. Sometimes we would actually get in a fight. One time I slashed his tires just for the fun of it and I ended up getting some cracked ribs. It was nothing setrious, though. Curly I never really knew that well. All I knew was that he had been in the reformatory for about six months and he beat up a couple of kids, too. They were all still my buddies, though. I just couldn't be like them or else I'd get into trouble. Suddenly, Darry came up to me and said, " I just want you to know that the cake is now ready and I'm going to go and pick it up tomorrow morning, alright?" I nodded. Man, I sure was getting excited about getting married!

Cherry's POV:

Marcia and I were talking when Darry came upstairs with all of the guys. " Hey!" he said. " I just want to take the time to share a nice moment with the future newlyweds!" Everybody clapped as Dally came up the stairs and came up to me. We kissed as everyone went, " Awwwwwww!" It was so nice. I really love Dally. He's such a sweet guy.

In the morning, it was the greatest day ever. This was the day that I was getting married to Dally Winston! Oh, man, i was excited! I woke up first and I shook Dally and said, " Dally, wake up, wake up! We're getting married, sweetheart!" He got up and kissed me. " Today's the big day, hon'," he told me. " You and I are going to be so happy together!" We hugged. We both got dressed, took turns taking showers, and started eating breakfast. " Well, well, well," Ponyboy said. " Today is finally here, huh?" Dally and I nodded. We couldn't even eat because we were so excited! " Yeah," Dally said. " We're gettin' married, man!" oda took a camera. " Let me take a picture of the two of you, okay?" he asked. " Sure," I said. Dally put his arm around me as Soda took the picture. " That's gonna be a cute photo," he said. " You two are a cute couple, you know that?" I nodded. " I know, we are."

Later in the afternoon, people were arriving for the wedding. I was getting kind of nervous, but as long as I thought about Dally, I felt great inside. The living room was filled with chairs for the people to sit and watch. Ponyboy, Darry, Soda, Two Bit, Steve, Tim and Curly Shepard, Marcia, Sandy, Randy, the priest, Dally, and I were all of the people that were in the house. It certainly was crowded! I was in the bedroom. Marcia was helping me with all of my makeup. I looked in the mirror. I was hoping that I looked good. " Do you think my hair looks alright?" I asked. " Of Course it does," Marcia answered. " It doesn't matter, anyway because Dally is a very kind and genourous guy who doesn't care if your hair looks good or not, okay?" I nodded. " i know, I just meant for the wedding photos and everything like that." " You look fine, Cherry, just relax!"

Dally's POV:

I had just gotten my tuxedo put on and everything. " Is my tie straight?" I asked Two Bit. " Yeah, it's straight, Dal'," he said. " You look great! I'm sure Cherry'll think you're really handsome looking." Two Bit was going to be the best man. I chose him because like I said, Two Bit always made you feel comfortable in nervous situations, so that's why I chose him.

I went out into the living room with Two Bit. It was nearly 6:30 at night. It was starting to get pretty dark out. I stood where I was supposed to. All I had to do now was to wait for Cherry. I looked out into the crowd. Tim Shepard gave me a thumbs up. Ponyboy was sitting at the piano, waiting to make his move. Suddenly, people started flashing their cameras over at the hall. I knew that Cherry was coming. Ponyboy began playing, " Here Comes The Bride." My heart was pounding when I suddenly saw Cherry coming up the aisle in the wedding gown. She was so beautiful. I smiled at her and she smiled back at me. When she got up next to me, we looked at each other's eyes. The priest began, " Do you Dallas Winston take Sherry Valance to be your lawful wedding wife?" " I do." " And do you Sherry Valance take Dallas Winston to be your lawful wedding husband?" " I do." " I now pronounce you man and wife, you may kiss the bride." I looked at Cherry in the eyes as I lifted the vail over her head as I reached in to kiss her. Everyone cheered as Ponyboy finished off the ceremony with the final music.

Cherry and I were then taken down in the basement where we would dance the whole night through. " Oh, baby," I said. " We're married!" " I know, oh, I love you, Dally, I love you more than anything else in the world!" We kissed. After that, we both cut the cake and everything like that. It was all so wonderful. That was the happiest day of my life.

The next morning, Cherry and I awoke next to each other. " Good morning, baby," I said as I kissed her. We kissed for a while. We were so much in love. Suddenly, Ponyboy walked in. " A little privacy, please?" I said. " Sorry," Ponyboy said, scratching his head. " But I was wondering where you guys were planning to go for your honeymoon?" Cherry and I looked at each other. We didn't really know. " Well," Cherry said. " I don't think that we have enough money to go on some big vacation. We never really thought about that." Ponyboy was smiling. I could tell that he was on to something. " Why are you smiling, Ponyboy?" Cherry asked.

" Well," Ponyboy explained. " I believe you two are in luck!" " What?" I said. " Get dressed and I'll be with you in a second, okay?" Ponyboy said as he went out the door. Cherry and I got dressed and we went out in the hall. Ponyboy led us out into the backyard. There was the most amazing thing there. The pool was filled up with water, rafts, balls, and other pool toys. Lawn chairs were out on the lawn. Soda and Darry had hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill and there were sodas and lemonades set out on a table. There was a sprinkler going in the corner, there was a radio playing music, there were baloons, and Two Bit and Steve were here as well. " Oh, my God!" I said. " What's this all about?" Cherry asked. Ponyboy explained, " This is your honeymoon!" " Oh, ponyboy!" I said. " I don't know how we can thank you enough for this." " Don't worry about it," Ponyboy continued. " Everything's free, enjoy yourselves!"

Several minutes later, Cherry, Two Bit, and I were swimming in the pool. I held onto Cherry as we swam and Two Bit kept doing cannonballs, splashing us. As Two Bit came to the surface he asked, " How was that oe?" " Great!" I said. " Try another one!" " This is great!" Cherry said to me. " This is even better than going on vacation!" I kissed her. " Yeah," I said. " A honeymoon's no fun without having your friends with you." Two Bit did another cannonball. After that, he came over to Cherry and I. " You likin' this?" he asked. Cherry nodded. " This is great! I love this!" I nodded, too. Ponyboy came in to swim, too. We raced each other by swimming laps and we did diving challenges to see who could dive the best dive. Cherry judged the dives as Two Bit, Ponyboy, and I dove into the pool. Then we got out of the pool for a while to eat hot dogs and hamburgers and listen to some music. This was really fun! Darry, Soda, and Steve went swimming, too while the rest of us sat under the sprinkler for a while to get wet that way. " Boy, some fun!" Two Bit explained. " I'll say!" Ponyboy yelled. He went on a swing for a while as Cherry and I sat in the lawn chairs to sun baithe for a while. We sat next to each other and we held hands. " Maybe we can go out to dinner tonight?" Cherry suggested. I nodded. " That sounds nice to me." I put on my sunglasses and sat there, sunbathing. " You look rerally cute with those glasses," Cherry said. I laughed. " Thanks, baby. You look pretty cute yourself, you know that?" She laughed. " Do I?" " Of course you do, you're my little sweetheart." I gave her a kiss and she rubbed my back. " That feels nice," I said. " Can you give me a backrub?" " Sure," she said, getting up. She started to rub my bare back. " Yeah," I said. " That feels nice, hon'."

She sighed as she leaned on my back and started talking to me. " You know, I have to get out of the sun for a while. I don't want to tan too much. It won't look good with my red hair, you know?" I nodded. " You want to go out to the Dingo or do you want to go out to a restaurant?" " A restaurant," she said. " I'm actually starting to get a little hungry." " Well," I said. " We can head out there a little later and then come back." I got up as she hugged me. " Maybe we can stay at hotel or something for the weekend?" she suggested. " Maybe, but we don't want to spend too much money. I need to get a job or something like that, you know? Then, if we have a kid, I'll definatly need a job. We can't just force Ponyboy, Darry, and Soda to take care of us all the time. It's just not fair to them, you know, Cherry?" " You're right," she said. " I think we should both get a job."

That night, I took Cherry out to a fancy restaurant in town. It was a little pricy, but I would do anything for Cherry now that she was my wife. " Oh, Dally, this restaurant is fabulous!" she told me. " The food is delicious, the service is perfect, and the music is so beautiful! You really do care about me, don't you?" I nodded. " Of course I do, honey, I love you more than anything else in the world and I'll do anything to make you happy." She laughed and smiled. She was so beautiful.

The bill actually wasn't too bad. We didn't order too much and we each only had two drinks. Back at Ponyboy's, we watched some fireworks that was going on up on the hill. Then we went to bed. While Cherry was in bed, I took a shower. I had to wash all of the clorene off of my body. When I came out in the bedroom, I just wore a robe with nothing underneath. Cherry looked up at me and smiled. I very slowly untied the robe. It yanked loose and fell to the floor. I felt the cool temperature of the room cool off my body. I was standing in front of Cherry with no clothes on at all.

She studied me, looking up and down, smiling. She pulled down the covers to show that she was wearing nothing either. I slowly climbed under the sheets with her and I turned out the light. The rest of it was like a dream that was very happy. It was like a fantasy. I could feel Cherry holding me tight, kissing me hard on the shoulder. It felt great, but it felt so great that it almost hurt. I don't remember anything else. I must have fallen asleep.

Cherry's POV:

Being in bed with Dally that night had been the most wonderful thing ever. I don't have to explain, though. You know what I'm talking about, You know what we did. When I awoke the next morning, Dally was asleep next to me. He was so adorable cuddled up like that. I kissed his hair. " I love you, baby," I said. He suddenly woke up. " You awake?" I asked. " Yeah," he said, rubbing his eyes. " Man, what time is it?" I looked over at the alarm clock. " Quarter to eight." He got out of bed and put on his boxers. " Let's go somewhere today," he said. " We can take a train ride up in the country or something like that. We can check out the stuff up in Windrixville and all of the places that I've been to up there." I nodded and said, " Oooo, that sounds nice!" When we had both gotten dressed we told the three Curtis brothers where we were going and everything like that. Then we headed out. As Dally and I left the house, we got into Dally's red T Bird. We both let the wind come into our faces as the car took off down the roads and highways. " I love this!" I told him. Today he was wearing a white T shirt, jeans, and his denom jacket. I rested my head on his denom jacket as he put his arm around me.

When we got to the train station, Dally bought the tickets and then we waited for the next train to Windrixville. Once the train came, we got on and found some seats. Dally took out book that he had brought with him and he started reading it. I put my head onto his side and rested there. He was my boy.

A couple of hours later, I was woken by a jolt. It was Dally waking me up. " Wake up, Cherry, we're here!" he was saying. I got up and we walked off of the train. Windrixville was a very beautiful place. I had never been there before, but I knew that Dally had been. He told me that this was where the church had burned down and everything. We went to a Dairy Queen for lunch. He had two barbeque sandwiches and cheese friees. I had some cajun fries and a banana split. " This is what I had when Ponyboy, Johnny, and I came here," he told me. " I wanted to re live that memory." I nodded. " I hope it doesn't make you sad to remember that stuff." He shook his head. " It does sometimes, but I try to just remember Johnny when we used to have fun together and everything. Yeah, he was my buddy." " What should we do now?" I asked. " There's only one more place I want to see," he said. He drove the T Bird up a dirt road. There was an old sign that said, " Jay Mountain." " What's up here?" I asked. " The church used to be up here," Dally responded. He stopped the car in front of a huge square hole in the ground. There was burnt wood, tangled metal, and ash in the hole.

We both looked down in. I could see half of a seven of hearts playing cars and a tiny blue piece of paper. Dally pointed down. " That blue thing there is probably part of the cover of that old, " Gone With The Wind," book that Johnny bought for Ponyboy to read." I nodded. I was actually stunned at all that had happened. Then he pointed over to a small piece of half black, half grey piece of metal. " That there's probably a piece of that gun I ggave to Johnny for protection. It's blown to bits now."

Dally suddenly sniffled and I could see a tear run down his cheek. I could tell that he was beginning to cry. " I...really miss Johnny, you know?" He sniffled again. Another tear ran down his cheek. He suddenly just let it all out. " Oh, God, Cherry, I really miss Johnny, the poor little guy." " Oh, Dally, don't cry," I said. I pulled him in close to me and I hugged him tight. I held him and told him, " It's okay, baby, I'm here with you. You don't have to worry, i'm here with you, sweetheart. I love you more than life itself, Dally. I really love you." I kissed his cheek. He broke free and wiped awy all of the tears. " I'm sorry, Cherry," he said. " I just can't help but cry every time I think about Johnny. He was just a kid, you know? He was such a nice little kid. He was my buddy. I'll never forget him." I nodded. " I know it's hard on you, sweetheart, I know how you must feel. Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?" He nodded. " You can give me a kiss." " Okay." I gave him a nice big kiss on the lips. " There," I said. " Does that make my boy feel better?" He nodded. " I feel much better now." I gave him a big hug and said, " Dally, I'll do anything for you no matter what. You're my husband and I love you more than anything else in the whole universe! If something's bothering you, you can come straight to me, okay?" He nodded. He had stopped crying now. " Let's go home," he said. " We can have plenty of fun there."

For the next four months, Dally and I lived happily at the Curtis' house. Dally got a job at the grocery store and I got payed as a babysitter. We made money for ourselves and everything. Still, Ponyboy, Darry, and Soda let us stay with them, so we agreed to stay with them. I found out that I had gotten pregnate with Dally. He was so thrilled that I was going to have a baby. I was, too. When I was in labor with the baby, Dally held my hand the whole time and he never let go. I was so happy that he cared this much for me. Dally and I now had a baby boy with us. We both thought of names until we figured that we would name him Johnny after Johnny Cade. Dally is a really great father. He's the best guy in the world! He cares very much for Little Johnny. He takes care of him very well. " Where's my boy?" he would say when he got in the house. Then Little Johnny would come running up to him. Dally would pick him up and make him laugh. Little Johnny was always saying, " I want daddy!" Ponyboy, Darry, and Soda don't mind at all that we have a baby in the house. Everything is great. Dally and I are the perfect couple.

Dally's POV:

Cherry and I are having the greatest time together. I love her and Little Johnny so much. Cherry and I ended up being the greatest married couple ever! We have the happiest life together.

The End

I hope you liked it! I know it was long, but I hope it was enjoyable! Please review!