Disclaimer: I don't own the Outsiders

Author's Note: Sorry for the lack of updates. I have been rather busy over the last few weeks. Right now I'm trying my hardest to write as much as I possibly can in my free time so I can have both this story and Black Roses Red done by New Years. And this time I'm really going to try and make that happen. Unfortunately I'm not allowed to give you all personal comments anymore unless I reply to your reviews when I get them. However I didn't know about this and I had deleted all of my reviews. So there will be no personal messages in this chapter, sadly. But next time I promise I will! So you guys want to know who Roxie picks, don't you? Well here you go:

This chapter is dedicated to tk421beth for being the 100th review. I gave up my naked Emilio for her because I know she's always wanted one (however I get to keep Rob Lowe!).

Chapter Fourteen: Hardest Thing I'll Ever Have to Do

"First I want to let you know that I love you. I think I always will," I said after a moment. There, that was easy. Dally smiled at me and I continued. "And second I want you to know that this is the hardest decision I've ever had to make. But I have made one." I said, pausing to take another deep breath. This part was harder than I thought it was going to be. Dally leaned forward in his chair, waiting for me to continue.

"In order for me to make a decision I had to think about what I want. Not what Daniel wants or what my parents want or what you want but what I want. And I decided that I want a happy ending. And to me that means you." I said. He grinned and made to lean forward and kissed me but I leaned backward, away from him. He cocked his head and looked confused. Taking yet another deep breath I began to continue. "But I also don't want to hurt anyone, especially Daniel. I care about him a whole lot. Maybe not as much as I care about you but it's still there and I can't neglect that. If I stayed here with you it would really hurt him. And it would hurt my parents and all my friends in Ohio. I don't like hurting people."

"Yes you do." Dally said. I raised my eyebrows. "You liked hurting Evie didn't you?" he clasp his hands behind his head and smirked at me.

"Dally, I was fifteen. And she hurt me first." I said. Then trying to get myself back on topic I continued with my speech. "No matter what I chose I have to live with it forever. I can't look back on it. I don't want to go my whole life questioning what would have happened if I had chosen differently."

"Roxie we're adults now. You belong here, with me. Stay with me," he said as he took my hand in his. He rubbed his thumb over my knuckles. I looked up at him with tears in my eyes.

"I don't think I can," I said in a voice hardly above a murmur.

"Sure you can, Roxie!" Dally said. He was trying to sound sure of himself but then he looked over at me. His eyes were filled with disenchantment and when he spoke his voice was shaky. "You're not staying, are you? You want to but you can't."

"Dally, please try and comprehend…" I said, the tears in my eyes starting to fall. Dally took his hand away from me and stood up. He walked over to the wall and cuffed it hard, but it didn't leave a dent. Finally he looked over at me.

"Damn it Roxie! I don't want to comprehend! I don't want to comprehend something that means we have to be away from each other." Dally shouted, storming upstairs swearing all the way. I could hear his feet stomping over head as he slammed as many doors as possible. I broke down crying on the sofa, hugging one of the cushions to my chest. It was just your normal crying either. I was sobbing, I gasped for breath and hiccoughed like a three year old, not bothering to wipe my tears because if I did they would just be replaced with new ones.

I ended up falling asleep on the sofa, curled on my side like a kitten. I woke up disoriented because I wasn't in my bed and I was wearing my clothes from the day before. Dally had put a blanket over me in the middle of the night, but I couldn't hear him anywhere in the house.

"Dally?" I called out, standing up and throwing the blanket over the back of the sofa. I realized I had a headache from crying so much and when I walked past the hall mirror I saw that my hair was mussed.

After searching the house I realized that Dally had gone. Sighing, I ambled into the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee. While it was brewing I picked up Ponyboy's book which was still sitting on the counter, I had only read the first three chapters. I opened it up and started to read from where I had last left off.

I ended up reading all day in the living room. Dally hadn't come back and I was in no mood to go out looking for him. I knew him well enough to know that he would come back when he was ready, and that would be for a while.

I was at the beginning of the very last chapter when somebody knocked at the door. It annoyed me because the murderer was just about to be revealed. I marked my place and stood up, walking to the door and wondering who in the world was there. It couldn't have been Dally. He never knocked, and besides he was still stewing, he wouldn't have come back yet.

When I opened the door my breath caught in my throat as the person standing there said, "Surprise."