Dallas awoke abruptly to the sound of pounding at his door. Buck's iron fist was relentless and he kept on knocking, "Dallas, get your lazy ass up, the fuzz is outside askin' for ya but I'm not lettin' 'em in."
He'd been expecting them of course; he knew he'd be asked to testify, but this early in the morning? The towheaded boy turned to look at the clock and it was…oh..10:30. The fuzz hadn't been so early after all. Dallas got himself up, threw on a shirt and leather jacket, put on his boots, and made his way down to the front door.
"What can I do for you gentlemen?" Dally asked, with a little smile, leaning half his body against the frame of the door.
"We understand that you may have some information that we need presented at a Mr. Johnny Cade's court case at 3 o'clock this afternoon. You'd better show up, Winston, you don't need any more trouble," The burly cop stated sternly, eyeing Dallas, looking at him just like he looked at every other hood in the neighborhood.
"Yeah, yeah. I'll be there, 3 o'clock on the dot…sir," Dallas said, giving the cop a mimic salute and shutting the door in his face. Oh the joys that today would bring.
Dallas sat as quietly as he could on the hard bench of the courtroom at the local courthouse; he would fidget every now and then because the proceedings took quite a long time. Johnny and Ponyboy gave their testimonies, as did he. And the lawyers seemed to be quite sympathetic to their self-defense pleas. Then, Randy the soc took the stand and admitted to being drunk. And finally, of course they'd saved the best for last, little Cherry Valance won the court over by claiming that she believed it truly must have been self-defense because of what she'd experienced earlier that eventful evening.
And so Johnny and Ponyboy got off real easy. Johnny got stuck with some community service and Ponyboy, well, he was free to go on as before. The court thanked everyone and told everyone they could go on home and rest easy.
Dallas was relieved to put it lightly, a huge weight felt like it was lifted from his shoulders. So while Ponyboy hugged the brothers that were his rocks, his family, Dally went over to talk to Johnny because his parents were nowhere to be seen.
"Listen kid," Dally said, as he rested both of his palms on Johnny's shoulders. "This worked out real well for you." He had a lot of emotions running though him, mostly relief, but maybe a little brotherly love also. "But I swear, Johnny," Dally continued, acting tough, and trying to hide his real feelings, "If you ever get yourself into trouble like this again, I ain't gonna help ya…"
Johnny nodded, wide-eyed and took in the words that his idol, Dallas Winston, was saying. Dally's face softened again. "I don't want you being tough Johnny, don't be like me. I want you to keep yourself outta trouble, because jail man, it'll change ya and if you get yourself killed, I don't know what I'd do. I can't lose you, Johnny ya know? You're a good kid…" Dallas was just flooding out his emotions all at once, and his grip tightened on Johnny's shoulders.
"I know, Dal. From now on, I'm gonna be careful. I sure learned my lesson. I won't go wanderin' by myself at night no more, I'm not gonna get in a mess again," Johnny spoke softly, trying to comfort his hero. He'd never seen Dally quite so open with his emotions before, and Johnny felt comforted by it. He realized, sure he might not have good parents, but he had Dally and that sure was something.
"Good Johnny, cause for a while there you sure had me worried." And then suddenly, Dally pulled the younger boy into a hug. It was so uncharacteristic that both of them were shocked, and Dallas pat him on the back as he pulled away. "Yeah you're a good kid, after all."
Cherry had been talking to Randy after the end of the trial, sitting on the steps of the courthouse crying her last tears for Bob. Even though he had started the fight, she couldn't just let go of him that easily. But she swore to herself, after today, it was done. As Randy rubbed her back soothingly, the redhead girl noticed the greaser boys exit the courthouse in good spirits. She honestly was glad for Ponyboy and Johnny; she knew that they were good kids, just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her tears dried as she watched Ponyboy interact with his older brothers, Soda giving him an old punch on the shoulder for congratulations. She smiled a bit and let her eyes wander over to Johnny and Dallas, talking quietly near the streetlamp at the edge of the street. And as Cherry watched a little longer, she was pleasantly surprised to see Dallas pull Johnny into a hug. Her heart felt warm as she viewed the gesture.
"Thanks Randy, for being here for me," Cherry said, giving Randy a kiss on the cheek. "I'm just going to go see how they are…I'll see you in school alright?" She waved goodbye before walking over to where Dallas and Johnny were standing.
Dallas noticed the girl walking over; he stood up a little straighter and the façade of toughness returned to his face. Johnny noticed her to, but he kept his eyes downcast.
Cherry acknowledged Johnny first, "Hey Johnny, congratulations. I'm really glad things turned out okay…" She put her hand out to shake his own, a gesture that let him know that she wasn't holding grudges over the whole mess.
"Th-thanks Cherry…look I'm real sorry-" Johnny began too apologize again, but she shook her head and cut him off.
"You don't need to be sorry, Johnny, not anymore." Cherry smiled warmly at him and he nodded back at her, giving her the smallest smile as well.
"Look, I'd better be heading home, who knows what my parents been thinkin'," He said, as he rushed off to Darry and Pony who happened to be driving back to the neighborhood. "See ya Dal! Bye Cherry!" The cheerleader waved to both Johnny and Pony as they drove away.
She'd really yet to acknowledge the towheaded boy, who was leaning up against the lamppost looking at her carefully and smoking a cigarette. He could barely stand there and keep his hands off her, she looked so good and had helped his friends out so much. "You done real good, Red, you know that?" He asked her, talking through his smoke.
Cherry shrugged, giving him a small smile as she took in his tough stance. He'd hardened again but she'd seen that moment of closeness with Johnny. "I did what I could, any decent person would've…" She added, biting her lip and shrugging.
"Thing is, there ain't many decent people left 'round here," Dallas said, thinking that this probably included himself as well. She was one of the decent ones and well, he just wasn't.
"I saw you talking to Johnny, you're pretty decent to him Winston," Cherry cut in, grinning easily as she remembered the hug. "So you see, it's not all black and white." And things weren't black and white, this whole trial had proved it.
Dallas looked into her eyes then, and smirked a little bit, "So that mean you ain't decent all the time Red?" He asked her, raising his eyebrow at her. He expected a slap in the face but all the girl did was laugh at him and shake her head. The whole street seemed to light up when she did.
"Maybe," Cherry added slyly, crossing her arms in front of her as she debated asking him something. Oh hell, his hair was blowing in the wind and he did look all devilishly handsome, "Do you wanna buy me a coke?"
Dallas had been grinning at her, but when she had asked him that question, he looked almost shocked. Dally had half a mind to ask her if she was sure she wanted to be seen around with him, but decided against it. She might have changed her mind. "Yeah, alright," He said, standing up tall finally after having been lounged against the post.
They started to walk towards the Dingo, it was in between Soc and greaser territory. Dallas noticed that Cherry looked chilly, with her arms wrapped around herself and the wind blowing her light sweater and her curls. He took off his jacket and put it around her. "I don't like frozen cherries," He said with his trademark smirk, tilting his head to admire her again.
The Soc girl rolled her eyes and laughed a little, feeling the heaviness of the brown leather jacket around her. It smelled like cigarettes and something that must have been Dally's scent, and something about wearing it made her feel so safe and so in danger at the same time. It gave her the chills. "Does it make me look 'tough,' Dallas?" She asked, as they headed across the street to the Dingo.
"Yeah Red, you look tuff enough," He nodded, as he slipped an arm around her small frame. And finally, his skin finally came in contact with that famous red hair, the red hair that had really started everything.