The next morning I woke up groggy and very thirsty. I walked into the living room and was met my Dally. He pulled me into a huge hug.
"How are you?" This was the most genuine and worried I had ever seen him.
"I'm really thirsty and I really need a shower. I feel so disgusting after that scumbag..." I trailed off.
"Do you need any help in there?" He asked, back to his usual self.
I turned beat red. I thought back to the event two weeks ago that spurred his comment.
I turned off the water and wrung my hair out. I stuck my arm out from behind the curtain and searched around for the towel that I had put there. Or did I? Shit. I stuck my head out, no towel in sight. Shit, shit, shit. What was I going to do? I knew a couple of the guys were over, but I didn't know which ones. I stepped out of the bathtub and pressed my ear against the door. I head the familiar sounds of Mickey Mouse playing from the TV. I didn't hear any voices, so that meant that they were either all outside or too enthralled with Mickey to say anything. I was hoping for the first. I took a deep breath and opened the door quickly, knowing full well that there was quite a view of the bathroom from the living room, and ran at full speed down the hall to my bedroom. I panted as I shut the door and listened for anyone to say anything. I didn't hear any voices so I assumed I was safe. I got dressed in peace and made my way back out to the living room where I was surprised to see Dally. I walked over to where he was sitting on the close end of the couch and kissed his cheek. While my face was still relatively close to his, he whispered, "Nice show you put on there," nodding to the bathroom door. My eyes grew wide and he just laughed, pulling me down into his lap. I buried my face in my hands to cover the red that was burning it. He pulled my hands down and made me look at him, "you ain't got nothing to be embarrassed about." He winked at me, adding to my embarrassment.
I whacked his arm, and winced as my shoulder disagreed with my actions. I let out a small laugh, "I actually might." He raised his eyebrows. "But not like that, and not from you."
"I'll get my chance one day. But in the meantime, if you're feeling up to it, maybe we could go for a walk in the park tonight." He suggested.
"What is with you and these cheesy ideas?" I asked.
"I dunno." He simply replied.
"Well, we can go if you want. But just be expecting to carry me half way home." I rubbed the bruise on my forearm.
"Deal," He said and kissed my forehead, "I'll be back at 6."
I passed the time by reading a couple of books that Ponyboy lent to me. He had pretty good taste in books. I don't know why I've never asked him for some before. I was wrapping up Gone With the Wind when I heard Dally slam the screen door.
"Jill! You ready to go?" He yelled through the house.
"Be right there!" I yelled back as I finished the last page. I hopped of my bed and made my way to the front door, tossing the book at Ponyboy as I passed him.
"Didja like it?" Pony asked.
"It was great! I'm gonna have to borrow books from you more often!" I responded and he smiled.
I turned to Dally, "Alright, let's go."
He smiled and took my hand, "I'll be back later." I called to Pony over my shoulder. He'd started to skim through the pages of Gone With the Wind and just nodded and put his hand in the air.
On the way to the park Dally was telling me how much fun he thought we would have. "There's a swing set and a huge slide." He gushed like a 4 year old. "There's even monkey bars!"
"That's great, Dal! But you'll have to push me on the swings."
We were at the park for about an hour. He was having so much fun acting like a kid. He jumped off the swings when they were at their highest and then he failed miserably at the monkey bars. It was the funniest thing ever to see the Dallas Winston swinging himself around like a monkey and then falling on his face. He could tell I was getting tired though and he agreed to take me home. He caught a glimpse of something across the park and turned us away more hurried than before.
"C'mon, Jill. Let's get out of here." He said and scooped me up, walking faster than I could have.
"What's wrong, Dally?" I asked.
"Noth-" He was cut off by someone calling him across the way.
"Winston! Hey, Winston!" It was Buck. He was jogging to catch up with us. "I got some unfinished business with you!"
"What are you talkin' 'bout, Buck. Just leave me alone." Dally sneered.
Buck shook his head with an evil smile. "I ain't lettin' ya get away from me this time." Buck reached behind him and pulled out a pistol that was tucked into his pants. Dally gasped and shoved my body behind his. His eyes never left the gun.
"Jill, run home. Now. I don't care how much it hurts, just run." I was off before the last words left his mouth.
I was running as hard as I could, but my sore body couldn't keep up with my demands. I slowed my pace to hopefully catch my breath. Before long I stopped completely and put my hands on my knees, and that's when I heard it. The sound ripped through the trees that lined the city street. A gunshot. My heart stopped. There is no way that Dally would have let Buck get any closer with that gun, let alone shoot him. I sprinted back to the park, not caring about how much my body was protesting.
When I reached the park again, I saw a body crumpled on the ground and another standing over it. "Oh, God." I whimpered out loud. The figure standing was panting hard as it looked up at me. It was Dallas. I let out a involuntary sigh of relief. He limped over to me. I was so overjoyed that he was okay, and when he closed the distance between us I reached up to touch his face.
His breathing slowed back to normal and he grabbed my hand and started to tug me back towards home. "We gotta get outta here."
"Why? What happened?" I looked back at the body on the ground. "What happened to Buck? What happened to you? You're limping!"
"He shot me in the foot." He said bluntly. I gasped, but he gave no reaction to it.
"Why's he laying on the ground?"
"He's dead." I gaped at him, too speechless to ask anything else. "I had my switch blade on me and he was trying to kill me, so I got to him before he could do more damage."
I stopped in my tracks. My boyfriend was a killer, I mean it was rumored that he'd had his hand in some bad stuff before, but now I saw it first hand. But it was in self-defense. If he hadn't stabbed Buck, then he would be dead. But still, we have to tell the police. They'll understand that it was self-defense, wouldn't they? Dally had a track record a mile long, and they'd do anything to bring him in. Oh, God.
Dally snapped me out of it. "Jill! Listen to me. I've got a plan. We're gonna say that he came to that park swingin' his gun all around threatening you because of what happened before, and that I was just protecting you and I happened to get caught in the cross-fire with my foot. Got it? The cops'll believe it more if you tell them."
"You want to go to the police?" I asked dumbly.
"Only because I know that's what was goin' on inside that pretty little head of yours. Now let's go before someone finds him layin' there."
