5.
Dallas was sitting at the table in the Curtis' house. He was eating a plate of eggs and talking to Two bit and Ponyboy enthusiastically. "And then I pounded that Soc!" He exclaimed slamming his fist on the table shifting his eggs. Two bit looked up from his food. "That's nice man."
"Yeah, he got so frosted!" Dallas boasted happily, stabbing his eggs and taking a mouthful.
"Hey, isn't Kaitlyn supposed to get out of the hospital today." Two bit asked, stealing a bite of chocolate cake from Ponyboy's plate, who smacked his hand away, an agitated look on his face.
"Mhm." Dallas mumbled through his mouthful of food.
"What time?" Two bit questioned.
"I don't know, in about an hour."
"Aren't you going to go see her off?"
"Why would I do that?"
"I don't know. Thought you guys were friends or something. Aren't you?"
"Geez, are you writing a book?" Dallas snapped up aggravated.
"Just wondering, man, yeesh." Two bit stood up and walked away heatedly into the living room. Ponyboy eyed Dallas curiously.
"What?" Dallas demanded.
"I thought you did like Kaitlyn." Ponyboy answered carefully.
"She's alright I guess." Dallas replied uninterestedly.
"No, I mean liked her." Ponyboy clarified. Dallas choked on the eggs he was eating. After finally coughing up the eggs, he looked at Ponyboy.
"Why would you think that?" He asked smoothly.
"Well, you looked like you were about to kiss her." Ponyboy stated.
"What? Naw." Dallas said quickly.
Ponyboy looked down at his half eaten cake. He took another bite and sighed. "Dallas, if you don't like her, why are you being so nice to her?" He asked delicately, moving his food around with his fork.
"Oh, I dunno. Moment of weakness I guess, don't get used to it. She saved me from going back to jail, so I guess I owed her, and I don't like owing people, so I made it up to her." Dallas replied nonchalantly.
"So are you going to talk to her again-"
"What is with all the questions today!" Dallas barked. Ponyboy sighed halfheartedly and took his and Dallas' empty plates and put them in the sink. He went into the living room with the rest of the gang. But Dallas didn't get up. He was thinking hard on what Ponyboy had said. Why was he being nice to her? Maybe it was the way that when she looked at him she didn't look afraid or disgusted like most girls seemed to. Still, it wasn't like Dallas Winston to be nice to anyone, except maybe the gang. Dallas didn't know for sure why he was being so nice to her, but he didn't like it. That's when he decided that he couldn't be nice to her anymore; it just wasn't an option for him. He shook his head and stood up to join the others in the living room.
Two bit was sitting on the couch with his arms crossed over his chest, looking irritated, and watching Mickey Mouse. Ponyboy and Johnny were sitting crossed legged next to each other in the floor. Dallas walked over and plopped down on the couch. "You guys wanna go do something today?" He asked offhandedly.
"Sure." Ponyboy replied looking at Johnny and Two bit, who both agreed.
"Alright then, let's go." Dallas said, jumping up and wasting no time to get going.
They walked down the road silently for a while before anyone spoke up. "Dally, where are we going?" Johnny asked curiously striding alongside Dallas.
"Well, Johnnycakes," Dallas said, "I thought we'd go bother Soda and Steve down at the DX."
"But Dally, they're working." Jonny replied quietly.
"So?" Dallas said bluntly, still walking in the direction of the little gas station that Sodapop and Steve worked at.
He strutted up to where Sodapop and Steve were standing outside, the others following a little ways behind him. "Hey guys." He called.
"Oh, hey Dally." Sodapop called back.
"What're you guys doing here?" Steve asked crossly.
"Ah, we were just in the neighborhood and thought we'd stop by." Dallas replied, pretending he didn't hear the impatience in Steve's voice. The group hung out around the DX for a while and, after a few Coca-colas and restocking on their cigarettes they trekked off again.
They headed off even further into town, but Ponyboy noticed that they never came close to the hospital, or if they did Dallas was quick to walk the other direction. Two bit left them to go meet up with his girlfriend after a while. So the trio, Dallas, Ponyboy, and Johnny, continued to roam around the town until it had grown dark outside. "Hey, Dally, I better get home or Darry'll have a fit." Ponyboy said as they rounded another corner. Dallas just shrugged and Ponyboy turned to leave.
"Wait." Dallas turned to Ponyboy. "Take Johnnycakes with you in case you guys get jumped tonight." He said nodding his head towards Johnny.
"Not that I'd be much help." Johnny muttered feebly, but set off with Ponyboy nonetheless.
Dallas walked around for a while longer, not planning on doing anything in particular. After walking around purposelessly for a few more minutes his stomach started to growl. He sighed and entered the nearest restaurant and took a seat towards the back. A pretty girl with long blonde hair that was tied back in a ponytail came bouncing over to his table. "Hello, I'm Joann and I'll be your waitress!" She said perkily, with a big, and fake, smile extended across her face. But her smile withdrew when Dallas looked up from his menu and fixed her with an irked expression on his face. "Um…What c-can I get you sir?" She asked in a panicky voice. Dallas sighed and looked at the ceiling in indignation before fixing the girl with a vexed glare. "I'll take a cheeseburger and a Coca-Cola." He replied crossly.
The girl simply nodded and swallowed hard, before warily reaching for his menu, grabbing it, spinning on her heels and dashing away. Dallas sat and waited for his food, which came back out somewhat fast. As he was eating, he took the chance to glance around the rest of the restaurant. His eyes fell onto the one familiar face that he really did not want to see. Kaitlyn was sitting alone in a corner, gazing into her glass of whatever she was drinking. She was moving her finger in a circle around the top of her glass slowly, looking awfully downcast. Dallas eyed her curiously, but made no point to talk to her. He ate quickly and paid for his food, which he'd fully intended on skipping out on but wanted to draw no attention to himself, and moved quickly outside. He had planned to leave as fast as he could, but stopped. He knew that he should go if he wanted to avoid Kaitlyn, but for some reason, he decided to stand outside and smoke a cigarette first.
He leaned back against the wall and smoked one, then two cigarettes before finally turning to leave. He started to walk past the doors, but was promptly smacked in the face by one of them. "Ow!" He growled, turning to glare at the person behind the door. "Oh, Dallas, I am so sorry!" Kaitlyn exclaimed, shutting the door and surveying his face for damage.
"It's fine." He muttered as he sidestepped away from the door so he didn't get hit again.
Kaitlyn smiled up at him apprehensively. "Well, at least it's not bleeding; I didn't wear a jacket today."
Dallas started to smile back at her, but stopped himself, setting a scowl on his face instead. "Yeah, lucky me."
Kaitlyn laughed uneasily, picking up on his dry attitude towards her. "So…How've you been?"
"Fine." He replied stonily.
"Where were you today? I was sort of excepting you to see me off this morning at the hospital." She asked, cocking her head to the side.
"I had stuff to do." He said simply.
"Oh." Sighed Kaitlyn, looking down cast again. "So." She said trying to get a conversation going.
"So what?" Dallas asked nastily and turned to walk away.
"Hey!" Kaitlyn followed him and grabbed his shoulder to spin him around fixing him with an angry face, but the confusion in her eyes was evident. "What's your problem? I don't remember what I did to make you act like a jerk, could you please enlighten me!"
"I've just got better things to do than talk to you." He replied venomously.
"Excuse me!" Kaitlyn yelled.
"You heard me!" He yelled back. "Why do you keep talking to me, huh? I don't even like you!"
"They why! Why did you talk to me, why did you help me the other day, or visit me, or almost kiss me?" She countered angrily.
"Because I was trying to repay you for helping me with the cops, I don't like owing people!" He snapped back.
"So, you never liked me, not even a little?" Kaitlyn asked in a defeated voice.
"Not even a little." Dallas hissed maliciously, and a nasty sneer spread across his face. "In fact, I can't even stand you."
Kaitlyn drew in a deep breath and looked at him like they were merely discussing the weather. "Well, if that's how you feel…Well then. Ok. I'll leave you alone." She started to walk away, but stopped and turned back. "Oh, and just so you know my only two friends stopped talking to me. They said I could either hang out with you and your friends or them. I chose you." She then turned and walked to the restaurant's parking lot, climbed into her car and sped off.
Dallas didn't move after she drove away, he squinted after her until he couldn't see her car anymore, then just stood there staring at the spot where Kaitlyn stood yelling at him only a few moments ago. He remained there for seconds, minutes, hours, he didn't know. He just stayed there until the owner of the restaurant came outside and nervously asked him to leave. He turned at took off running, but he wasn't sure where he was running to.
After running for a while he found himself outside the Curtis' house. He slowed down and walked up to their door. It was unlocked, as usual. He let himself in and saw the living room was empty. He sighed and fell over onto the couch. He knew that they wouldn't mind him staying the night here; it wasn't like he could go home. Soon enough he was snoring on the couch, deep in a peaceful sleep.
On the other side of town however, Kaitlyn was lying wide awake in her bed.
She had driven home and had barely parked her car before she was out of it storming up the stone walkway to her door, which she opened and slammed behind her. She didn't stop until she was in her room with the door closed behind her. She felt so angry at everything. She kicked off her shoes and dressed hurriedly for bed. But she didn't get into her bed. She just paced her room in circles, milling the whole day over in her head.
She lost her only two friends. Then not even an hour later, the only other person she thought was her friend told her he hated her. The thought of Dallas Winston infuriated her. Kaitlyn stopped pacing and kicked her dresser forcefully. "Ow!" She yelped, now clutching her now aching foot. She hopped over to her bed and collapsed onto it. She climbed slowly to the top and lay down. She just laid there awake for hours, unable to fall asleep. But, eventually she managed to drift off into a light sleep, as dreams of Dallas Winston continued to flash before her eyes.
After a while she awoke crying. She sat up and scowled into the darkness, silently chastising herself for allowing Dallas to get to her like this. As the tears streamed down her face, she just hugged her knees and let herself cry. Kaitlyn didn't cry very often, but she couldn't help herself.
Dallas was tossing and turning on the Curtis' couch, his peaceful sleep was now being disrupted by a nightmare.
Dallas was walking down the street; it was just like any other normal day. But, he turned a corner and saw the same Socs that had attacked Kaitlyn the other day. "Hey, what're you doing here?" Dallas asked almost casually. Then the boy with the thick black hair stood up from where he crouched, his eyes looking crazy, a disturbing smile on his face. He tapped his friends and they all stood up. Beneath them was Kaitlyn. That's when Dallas noticed all the blood all around them. "What did you do?" He yelled. They all laughed manically and ran away down the road.
Dallas dropped to his knees in front of Kaitlyn. "Hey!" He shook her shoulders, but she didn't move. Dallas just stared wide eyed at her unmoving body. "Somebody, help me!" He demanded as people just walked by him. "Help!" But the bystanders around them just ignored him and continued to walk. "HEY! I SAID HELP ME DAMMINT!" He shrieked at the people around him.
He turned back to Kaitlyn who hadn't moved. "Don't be dead…Please." He pleaded. He sighed and stared at her blank face. He had given up on the people around him, and was about to stand up to go get help himself when all of the sudden he felt a firm grip on his wrist. Kaitlyn was clenching his wrist, a distant look in her eyes. "I hate you." She said, sounding far away.
"What?" Dallas asked quietly.
"I hate you!" She yelled.
Dallas bolted up from the couch. He was still in the Curtis' living room, but someone had placed a blanket on him. He was sweating and breathing hard. He didn't really know why, but that dream had terrified him. He fell back onto the couch and put his hands behind his head. He couldn't get back to sleep though. He kept on thinking about Kaitlyn, no matter how much he tried not to. She was there in his head and he had a feeling that she was going to stay there.