RED [dallas winston]

fourteen

"don't be bitter, you soc kisser!" sandy teased.

"oh shut it, that was a mistake!" harley said rolling her eyes. soon, sodapop and steve came and sat down with drinks.

     "wait harley i have just the thing to cure your attitude." sandy said reaching into her bag pulling out a cheap bottle of vodka and pouring some in harley's coke.

     "holy shit! i'm not drinking that sandy."

     soon all four of harley's friends started chanting "drink it! drink it!", and she drank.

one thing about sandy was she was always prepared. she always had bandaids, hair ties, and in this case, alcohol. the girls, and steve, proceeded to get plastered in the back of the movie theater while sodapop laughed hysterically.

"harley don't go!" evie cried throwing herself over the seats landing on the ground, causing fits of laughter from everyone.

"yeah harley you can't ditch us! we need you!" steve yelled a little too loudly due to his drunken state causing the attention of a few people, namely dallas winston and his girlfriend at the time, sylvia.

"what are you guys doing?" dally asked analyzing the group. evie had still not picked herself off the ground and harley and sodapop's faces were bright red from laughing.

"just a bit of light drinking." sandy announced taking another swig from her dad's flask she had stole.

"light?" sylvia questioned while grabbing evie's arm and pulling her up. "you drunk over there too harley?"

"n-no." harley tried to say but burst out laughing, "just a bit."

"you're something else!" sylvia teased before sitting down next to the group and handing harley a water bottle.

harley shook her head in awe at the memory. she hadn't realized how different everything was now. she used to be friends with sylvia and sandy, people who proved themselves to be problematic. she used to be just friends with dallas winston. she couldn't decide if she betrayed sylvia, because after all sylvia had betrayed dally. harley remembered the last time they spoke.

     "you got a boyfriend yet harls?" evie asked flipping her hair over he shoulder. evie, sandy, and sylvia were all huddled around the payphone talking to their friend on the other line. they were using the money sylvia stole off of some soc girl to pay for the long distance call.

      "evie i don't have the time. i had to get a job just to afford keep up with you lot." harley laughed looking around her empty kitchen.

     "if sylvia has the time, you have the time." sandy smirked, "word on the street is she's been offtly busy."

     "you got a job now sylvia?" harley asked excited for her friend.

     "oh god no! me? working? that would crush my reputation." sylvia said shocked.

      "no she's too busy getting around to half the east side!" sandy teased yet again.

     "what about dal?" harley asked furrowing her brows.

     "what about him?" sylvia said clearly confused.

     "aren't you still dating dallas?"

     "oh harley. he's not doing me much good in a jail cell now is he?"

     "but sylvia that's cheating." harley said in shock.

     "oh harley. you'll get it eventually." sylvia said brushing it off.

   
     harley never did get it, and when she came back to find sylvia and dallas broken up, and sylvia and evie's friendship on the rocks she chose to not go looking for her. after all their group seemed too far gone now with sandy off god knows where. although harley would never forgive sandy for what she did to sodapop either.

     "come on let's just sit at the lot." sodapop said breaking harley out of her thoughts. she sat down on the cold cement followed by evie.

    "i bet we all look real sad walking around town with our un-greased hair and lack of energy." sodapop said watching their friends walk farther and farther in the distance.

     "i don't know, steve doesn't look too cool spending an hour greasing those swirls on his head in MY bathroom every morning he's there." evie said shaking her head.

    "man you should see soda and ponyboy fighting over the hair grease in the morning, it's a shit show!" harley joked causing a small laugh out of sodapop.

     "what about me?" ponyboy asked defensively and harley realized the group had turned around and met them in the lot.

    dally took a seat next to harley on her other side and eyed her stomach before looking back up at her as if to ask if it hurt. she nodded in response causing dally to ask ponyboy for something. harley couldn't really hear their conversation until suddenly ponyboy pulled a tin container out of his back pocket and lit a joint.

     the girl eyed it as it made its way around the circle. it went from ponyboy to johnny who looked almost grateful for it. then to dallas who blew his smoke in harley's face trying to get a laugh out of her. when it was harley's turn she inhaled slowly appreciating the warmth. she inhaled again pushing the smoke towards her lungs, passing it to evie before exhaling.

     harley knew that was all she needed due to her very low tolerance but it kept making it's way around the circle. harley also learned that day that there was two different kinds of weed. indica, the kind she smoked with dallas, that makes you calm and tired, and sativa, the kind ponyboy had. she watched as her and her friends began to feel almost euphoric passing the joint around. sodapop would decline each time it reached him but would pass it over to ponyboy who would restart the circle.

     "steve and two-bit are in jail." ponyboy said looking at the ground making a sad face. sodapop looked over to comfort him but stepped back when ponyboy started laughing. "what idiots!" ponyboy said laughing harder.

     "i took a switchblade to the stomach." harley said giggling.

     after a few hits the joint no-longer went to harley and evie. harley did however watch from her high state that even people with tolerances like dally and pony got high sometimes. ponyboy wasn't trying to hide his blissful state, but she really had to analyze dally. harley could see him focus on things like a rock on the ground before blinking a few times and rejoining the conversation.

    when they got back sodapop went in first to talk to darry while the rest of them piled on the ground. "hey harley." dally said his head resting against hers.

     "hey dally." she mimicked smiling at him.

     "do you have any plans this weekend?"

a/n: if you see me refusing to update because I'm gonna miss this book too much and i don't want it to end, no you don't.