4.
Two days after her last encounter with Dallas Winston, Kaitlyn found herself walking the streets hoping to find him. She had Ponyboy's clothes in a bag and planned on giving them to Dallas. She'd been walking for hours now, eager to run into him somewhere. She turned another corner and saw a familiar red Corvette. She muttered under her breath and turned away, walking as fast as she could in the opposite direction. She hoped they hadn't seen her, but the voices and slammed car doors told her they had. She decided that her only hope was to outrun them.
She hustled off as fast as possible, but she could still hear them behind her. She pelted down the street, fear surging through her veins. Street after street they chased her, not willing to give up. She tore around another corner and smacked face first into someone's chest. She looked up to apologize and run on, but saw a familiar elfish face staring down at her through ice blue eyes. "Dallas!" She exclaimed, hugging him around his waist gratefully.
"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked, pushing her back by her shoulders to look at her face. But Kaitlyn didn't have time to answer because the boys from earlier had caught up with her. "You." The one with black hair hissed, glaring at Dallas, his nose still wrapped in a bandage where Dallas must have broken it. But Dallas ignored the malicious eyes of the other boy. "Hey Nosebleed." He called to them. "Why don't you get out of here?" The others seemed taken aback but didn't leave. Dallas pushed Kaitlyn behind him and raised his fists defensively. "Are your friends with you this time Greaser?" The one with the curly brown hair cried. Dallas didn't respond, but he narrowed his eyes.
"He's alone then?" A red headed boy who was standing in the back remarked.
The black haired one smiled a satisfied smile. "Let's pound this Greaser then." They all charged at Dallas who thrust Kaitlyn out of the way. They punched, but Dallas managed to narrowly avoid most of their blows. Then the brown headed boy dropped to his knees and seized Dallas by the ankles and gave one sharp wrench, jerking Dallas onto the ground. They all began to kick him where ever their feet could get at.
Kaitlyn meanwhile while, was standing a couple feet back, watching in terror. She glimpsed one of the boys' feet make contact with Dallas' stomach, causing Dallas to cough up a small amount of blood. That was enough for Kaitlyn. "Stop it!" She shrieked, running at the group. She jumped on to one of their arms and tried to pull them away so she could get to Dallas. "Get off me!" The owner of the arm demanded, throwing her backwards. She stumbled and struck her head hard on the wall, causing a jolt of pain to charge through her head and she slumped, unconscious, onto the ground.
"No!" Dallas yelled. He caught one of the boys by the leg and jerked him down, climbed over him and pummeled him in the head, then turned to the next closest guy and clobbered him until he was also on the ground. Dallas climbed shakily to his feet and charged at the brown haired boy they exchanged a few blows, but Dallas managed to whack him in the side of the head. He turned to the black haired boy who was helping up one of his friends. "I said get out of here!" Dallas spat though the blood welling in his mouth. This time they listened and ran off, toppling over each other repeatedly.
Dallas rushed to Kaitlyn who was still slouched against the wall. "Hey, Kaitlyn wake up!" He said. But she didn't move. "Hey!" He slapped her face lightly a couple of time, but nothing happened. Dallas stared at her bewilderedly. "Come on!" He roared, punching the brick wall behind Kaitlyn. "Help! Can someone here help me?" He yelled. But there was no one around to hear his pleas. So he picked Kaitlyn carefully and started walking, heading towards the hospital on the other side of town.
Dallas sat in a chair in a hospital room next to Kaitlyn, his face buried in his hands. "Are you sure you don't want to see the doctor?" The nurse asked for about the tenth time. Dallas lifted his head from his hands and looked at her. "Yeah I'm sure." He had already let her bandage up his ribs, which were extremely tender. "Ok." She said and she walked out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind her. Dallas huffed and put his hands back in over his face and ran the up through his hair. Kaitlyn was still unconscious, and though the doctor had assured him it was merely a concussion, he was still concerned. He heard the door open and looked up, expecting the nurse again. But instead two people came through the door and stopped in their tracks, staring at him harshly.
"Who are you?" Demanded a woman with short black hair and a severe face. Dallas tried to answer but was cut off by a tall man with short black hair and a grey hat. "Doesn't matter who he is, why are you here with our daughter?" The man asked angrily. The nurse came back in the room and stepped in front of the people who were obviously Kaitlyn's parents. "Sir, please calm down, this boy saved your daughter, and took a beating for it too." The nurse eyed him suspiciously- Dallas knew that she was surprised he had done this seeing as he was a Greaser- but she continued on. "Now if you'll come with me quickly, I have some paper work you need to fill out." She told them. They analyzed Dallas and saw the bandages wrapped around him that didn't cover all of the already bruising skin. Even though they still seemed skeptical, they followed the nurse out of the room uneasily.
Dallas sat back in the seat and closed his eyes, this had all became such a mess. He ran his hands through his matted hair. He heard a light groan come from the bed and sat up quickly, looking at Kaitlyn. Her eyes were opened, but barely. She moaned again. He took her hand in his. "Kaitlyn? It's me, Dallas." He said soothingly.
"Dallas?" She mumbled.
"Yeah, you're alright."
"The jacket." She murmured.
"What?" He asked, cocking his head to the side.
"My jacket. Is it ruined?" She explained.
"Oh, I'd say so, it got all bloody."
"Of course, you know we're starting to make that a habit, running my jackets." She muttered.
Dallas sniggered. "Yeah, sorry about that."
Kaitlyn smiled ruefully. Dallas heard footsteps outside the door. "Sounds like your parents are coming back, I should go, and I'll try and come see you tomorrow." He stood up and let go of her hand, but she kept her grip on his. "What?" He asked. She looked up at him expectantly, her eyebrows raised. "Oh alright." He said in faked agitation. He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek again and she smiled gleefully, though still seeming slightly out of it.
The day passed slowly but eventually the next rolled around. Dallas opened the door to Kaitlyn's room carefully. The nurse had promised him that her parents were not in there, but he was still apprehensive. He walked in and was relieved to see that the nurse was right and Kaitlyn was alone, though clearly bored. She had a book in her lap, but wasn't looking at it. "Hey!" she exclaimed happily when she noticed him. She closed the book and sat it in the little bedside table next to her. He smiled back at her, but didn't come any closer and kept throwing sideways glances at the door. "My parents won't be here until late today if that's what you're worried about." She told him. He sighed in relief and walked towards the hard chair that had been moved to the corner. "Wait!" Kaitlyn instructed. Dallas turned to face her and she was scooting herself over on her bed. She patted the space next to her. "Wouldn't want you sitting in that hard old chair." She told him. He smiled and climbed onto the hospital bed next to her. The bed was pretty small and they had to sit close together.
"So how long until you get out of here?" He asked.
"The Doctor said a couple of days. Even though it's just a concussion, he wants to check my noggin for head trauma." She said, knocking on her head and flinching from the pain.
"You may have head trauma if you say noggin." Dallas joked gloomily.
"And your problem is?" she asked.
"It's nothing." He replied quietly.
She cocked her head to the side. "Whatever. You can tell me, promise." She smiled encouragingly.
Dallas sighed. "It's just, I feel like this is all my fault." He started but dropped off.
"How would it be your fault?" She asked, her brow furrowed. "If it's anyone's fault it's mine for walking around on my own."
Dallas shook his head. "I only I'd have been walking faster, or I could have took you and ran away, or if I wouldn't have gotten tripped!"
"Dallas! Stop right there. "None of that is your fault! You couldn't have helped any of that."
He looked at Kaitlyn sideways. "I'm sure there was something I could've done so you at least wouldn't have gotten hurt."
"Dallas, remember when we first met? I punched you in the face. I'm tempted to do it again right now." He just shook his head again. "Look," she said taking his hands. "None of it is your fault, why are you trying to blame yourself so much?"
"I don't know." He sighed.
"Look at me." Kaitlyn instructed and he turned his hard blue eyes to her gentle brown ones. But she didn't say anything. They just stared at each other for a while. Dallas looked at her intensely. He leaned in towards her slowly, but Kaitlyn put her hand on his chest to stop him as their foreheads touched. "Dallas, I don't know." She said gently.
"It's ok." He said.
Outside of the room in the reception area a group of five boys was pestering the nurse. "But you gotta let us in; she'll want to see us!" Two bit complained from the front of the group.
"I'm sorry boys, but we can't let this many people in there at once." She told them again.
"Fine!" Two bit huffed and walked away. The others followed him, but he stopped when they were out of sight of the nurse. "Alright, we need a distraction, Sodapop, you do it."
"Why me?" Sodapop complained.
"Because, pretty boy, you fit the part. Go smile at her or something." Two bit instructed.
"Ok." Sodapop agreed unhappily. He walked back out to the nurses' station. "Hey there." He said, flashing his smile at the young nurse.
"Oh, hello." She replied smiling back at him.
Sodapop took a quick second to think then pretended to trip, knocking a whole cup full of pens into the floor behind the counter. "Oh no! I'm so sorry, let me help you." He climbed behind the counter and helped the woman pick up the pens. Meanwhile, the rest of the boys were running silently across the room and into the next hall where the rooms were. Soda and the woman finally picked up all the pens and she let him by no questions asked.
As soon as he walked through the doors he was cuffed lightly around the neck. "Nice work man!" Steve told him.
"Get off me Steve." Sodapop muttered, playfully punching Steve on the shoulder.
They all followed Two bit to the room that Dallas told them was Kaitlyn's. Without even knocking, they all just piled into the room only to see Dallas and Kaitlyn sitting on the bed, their lips hovering only an inch apart. Two bit cleared his throat loudly and Kaitlyn and Dallas both jumped. Kaitlyn began to blush furiously and Dallas rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Hey guys, what are you doing here?"
Lucky for Dallas and Kaitlyn, no one bothered them too much on what they had seen upon entering. Kaitlyn wasn't sure how she felt about Dallas. She liked him, but she didn't know exactly how she felt, or what she wanted. Dallas was in the same position. He had been with tons of girls, but he never really cared that much for them. But with Kaitlyn, he actually valued her. He didn't know why, but it almost scared him because he had never truly cared about anyone outside of the gang.
They sat around talking happily for hours, laughing and playing. Dallas stayed on the bed, and Kaitlyn pulled her feet up so that Ponyboy and Two bit could sit on the end. Soda and Steve stood together next to the bed and Johnny sat in the chair. "Why don't you come join the party Johnny-cakes?" Dallas had asked at one point, but Johnny didn't seem too interested in being in the middle of all that, but he joined in the conversation from his chair in the corner.
They lost track of time and Kaitlyn's mother got a big shock when she entered the room to find six boys all crowded around the bed. Though she didn't seem as shocked as the nurse when she followed. "I thought I said you couldn't all come in here!" She barked. They all got up and left, mumbling angrily as they passed the nurse. The all waved and surprisingly, Johnny turned and said, "Bye." Her mother gave her a big lecture that she fell asleep in the middle of. She dreamed of Dallas, and the gang, and the adventurous future they were sure to have.
A/N. I'm going to have to, once again, thank foxface15. She's helped me with this story so much and constantly encourages me to keep writing!