Hi everybody! I'm back in town! I hope this chapter is well-liked; I don't know how I feel about it.
I know some people don't like OCs, so I'd like to mention that this chapter has two girls who are entirely insignificant. The boys don't care about them as people (and neither do I), but they're a means to an end.
Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders or TWT TIN.
Turn of Events
Chapter 5: Three AM
When Johnny wriggled and stirred in his sleep and began stretching out, Dally wasted no time in shoving the smaller boy to his side of the bed. He didn't want him to wake up on his chest and realize they'd been cuddling. That would be horrendous.
"What time is it?" The kid rolled over, pressing his face into a pillow, which muffled his voice.
The noise and the shaking from the club below were still audible, as were the periodic shouts and hollers from the streets and alleyways. It was that time of night where only the hardest-partying cats would be up, fueled by booze, drugs and the prospects of getting lucky.
"Three in the morning," Dally guessed, sliding off the bed. "Get up. Git yer shoes on."
The younger boy sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Why? Where we going?"
"Downstairs. If it's three AM, we's a lot of catching up to do!" The blonde threw Johnny his clothes, the shoes bouncing off his bare chest with a dull thunk.
"Catching up?"
"Yeah, I ain't nearly drunk enough, and you still hafta begin."
The dark boy noticed Dally wasn't making eye contact. "Um," he began slowly, "you ain't drunk enough now, but you was drunk enough to do what'chu did with me?"
He could feel the sweat form at his hairline and armpits as he tied up one shoe. "Well, uh, yeah. I was drunk enough then, but I ain't drunk enough now."
"Oh,"
Dally didn't like the awkward silence that followed. "C'mon man, lemme get you some beers and we'll score some broads together. It'll be fun." The floorboards creaked beneath him as he padded across the room.
An image of his father, a very angry drunk, flashed before Johnny's eyes. He shook his head to clear it away. He'd been feeling so good…so delectably energy-wasted from getting off with Dally, and so warm from sleeping in a bed with someone else. He didn't want that image to ruin how he was feeling.
"Naw man, I don't wanna be drunk." In the darkness, he felt Dally move near him.
"You don't have to get shitfaced. We'll just get you happy. How's that sound?" He groped for Johnny's wrist and pulled him up. Sensing his unsure body language, he added, "I'll watch ya. Make sure you don't drink too much. Aight?"
A scuffling sound told him Johnny had pulled his shoes on. "Okay."
They stepped into the hallway and into the narrow corridor. The odd expression on the dark boy's face as he surveyed his older friend made Dally squirm inwardly. He couldn't believe the things he'd done. They passed the small alcove where some teens had been smoking grass earlier. They were gone now. He ruffled Johnny's hair as they proceeded down the rickety staircase in a ditch attempt to make things feel normal.
"Why are you acting funny?" Johnny asked, stumbling as he turned on the stairs to look at the older boy.
"I ain't. And why are you talkin' so bold to me?"
"I ain't neither. I just hope you ain't gonna do LSD next or something."
"Fuck hard hippie drugs." Dally spat. "I'm crazy but I ain't stupid."
Inwardly, Johnny was relieved. "But you was on drugs before you messed around with me?"
Dally smirked. The kid was pretty damn intuitive. He was about to ask 'how'd you know?', but instead decided on, "Okay, maybe I'm a little fucking stupid sometimes. But I ain't doing LSD."
"And isn't grass a hippie drug?"
The kid was a smart-mouth! "Yeah, but it's okay if you beat the shit out of a flower child to score it."
Johnny cocked an eyebrow and followed Dally into the bar. He covered his ears against the deafening music and scanned his eyes around the dingy bar, taking it all in. Four guys stood around the pool tables in the back, their angry voices carrying over complaints of hustling. The sweet but pungent scent of grass drifted from a table around which the same 'flower children' Dally had mentioned were sitting. The bar was packed with guys in plaid shirts and girls in short skirts. Dally was making his way to the bar and Johnny, lowering his gaze, followed.
Some girls were up on the bar, dancing and wiggling to a country song. Cautiously, Johnny peeked up at one of them. She had on a cowboy hat and boots which clicked on the counter with every step she took. He brunette hair swung around and she nearly feel several times. Johnny didn't want to ever be as drunk as that.
Dally was seated at the bar and pulled Johnny beside him. Somehow, in the cacophony of noise, he managed to order a few beers. He turned his attention to a leggy blonde sitting beside him. She had braids in her hair and a peace sign necklace about her neck; a blatant hippie.
"Hey baby, nice dress." Dally was saying to her. "Think I could borrow it some time?"
Johnny snorted as she settled her curious green eyes on Dally's blue ones. "You create your own reality," she said mystically.
"Did you learn that on your hippie bus?" he taunted, leering. "'Cause I can give you a ride on my very own VW; right here." He gestured fervently to his crotch and Johnny laughed louder.
"Man, that's far out."
Dally continued to throw her lewd comments, but she didn't seem to mind at all…or even notice for the matter. Johnny sipped his beer, determined not to drink more than a third of it. He averted his eyes momentarily from Dally and the hippie to watch the dancers, but when he turned back, Dally had the girl seated on the bar and they were kissing! Johnny blushed as his friend licked and nibbled the stranger's mouth and neck, his hands running over her body hungrily. He thin fingers worked into his blond locks and she tugged it and squealed at each rough ministration. How did he go from insulting her to kissing her?
Johnny backed away, leaving his beer on the bar. It seemed Dally was busy now and had forgotten about him. He wasn't upset so much that Dally was no longer paying that physical attention to him, but rather that he failed to set him up with a broad as promised. Johnny never had too much luck with girls. He looked too much a hood to score the nice ones, and the tough ones wanted bolder cats like Dally.
"You forgot this," someone said.
Johnny turned to see the brunette from the bar dance standing before him with his beer in your hand.
"This is yours?" She said slowly, cocking her eyebrow, which cracked the thick layer of black make-up beneath her eye.
"Yeah." He took it from her. She was a pretty little thing with her short brunette cut, but despite the cowgirl outfit, she looked high class. She was slumming, and her overt drunkenness was not attractive.
"Did you like the show?" She asked, referring to the dancing.
"Yeah." He rounded his shoulders and turned away from her. He peeked again at Dally and the hippie; his hand was now tracing dangerously close to her breasts.
He jumped as the brunette laid a hand on his arm, stepping into his personal space. "You're cute, you gonna drink that?" She asked in one breath, her eyes on his beer. He shook his head and handed it back. It seemed to make her day. "Thanks, doll!" She hollered, leaning in and planting one on his lips.
Johnny straightened up. It wasn't every day pretty little things like her kissed him. Even if she was wearing beer goggles, and even if he forgot to kiss back, a kiss was a kiss.
"You're an odd little cat, aren't you?" She eyed him a moment before downing his beer in a few gulps.
"Johnny." He looked past her to see Dally pulling the now mussed-up hippie behind him. "Johnny, turns out Cindy's gonna give us a ride in her VW." He waggled his eyebrows significantly. Johnny wondered when he found the time and breath to ask her name. "You comin'? You and this pretty chick?" He turned his attention to the dancer and eyed her quickly from the feet up, and back down again.
"Yeah I'm coming," she slurred before Johnny could respond.
Before he knew it, he was out of the smoky club and back on the city street. Dally slung one arm around Johnny's shoulders and laid the other on Cindy's rear, giving it a squeeze. The dancer tottered her way behind them.
"Where we going?" Johnny asked hesitantly. He was nervous going to some places with strangers at this time of night.
"The Ribbon for a drive. C'mon man, it'll be fun."
Johnny let himself be lead down a few blocks to where Cindy insisted her vehicle was parked. He was glad that Dally was having fun and was at least only drunk at this point. But as he glanced at the stumbling Cindy in her flowing dress, he wondered how long it would be before she busted out the grass. It was already so late at night, but new things just kept getting started.
The Ribbon, by the way, is a location from Hinton's That Was Then, This is Now. It's a pretty interesting place. Keep reviewing and we'll find out what goes on there!
