[sweet annie] dallyboy

[chapter 1]

Time is a funny thing. It's infinite - growing and creating all the time. Stretching farther and farther in complete fluid, forward motion, both existing and not existing simultaneously.

And yet, for us humans, time is entirely finite. The human race will never know the length and intricacies of time. Time will go on. It will outlive all the planets and the stars and the clocks we constructed to track it. We can do nothing to stop it, or make it reverse to better times; easier times, when man knew much less about its insignificance.

Dallas wished he could go back. Wished he could go back to that one day. That beautiful day, walking home from the jailhouse thinking his life was over, only to find the rest of his life waiting for him asleep on his bed; when I love you's had been exchanged between first kisses.

Dallas Winston wished he could live that day forever, make it all rewind, so that he didn't have to watch it all slip away.

"You got this in the mail, Pony." Darry said one spring morning over breakfast.

Senior year was treating him well. He'd stopped smoking - sort of - and continued to get good grades. Track was just as fun as it always was, mostly because teasing Dallas while wearing his tiny track shorts was hilariously fun.

Naturally, Darry was happy with how well Pony was doing. It used to freak him out, Pony only reading books and doing homework - it was almost unnatural for a kid. But now he could see - Ponyboy was going to do something with his life. He was gonna do great things, greater than most greasers would ever dream of.

Darry leaned over Two-Bit and Steve arm wrestling for the last piece of cake, ignoring them completely. "Stillwater, Oklahoma," was all he said, letter in his outstretched hand.

Pony reached for it, but before he had it in his grasp, it was snatched away.

"What's this?" Dallas asked with a devilish grin.

Pony sighed, reaching over to take it back, which only prompted Dallas to hold it further, standing up to back carefully away. Dallas ripped the letter open unfolding the papers inside as Pony chased him around the table.

"Dallas, you asshole, give it back!" Pony huffed, stopping short to glare at him.

"Dear Ponyboy Curtis," Dallas read aloud, his eyes shifting further than his mouth could speak. What? Dally trailed off slowly, "We would like to inform you of your-"

Pony lunged forward and snatched it from his hands. "Fucking thank you," he muttered, pacing into the living room.

Dallas watched him. His knees felt weak, stomach twisting into knots, heart pounding. He watched Pony, seeing his face stay excruciatingly neutral.

"So, kiddo? What'd they say?" Darry asked before finally having enough of the arm wrestling and slapping both boys upside the head. "Settle down now."

Both boys huffed, glaring at him. "You're no fun, Darry." Two-Bit huffed.

"Look," Soda cut in with that beautiful smile, "how about I cut it in half. Then you can both have some."

Both boys contemplated this for a while and finally came to an agreement. Half was better than nothing. Soda cut it in half, and they both glared at each other from across the table with mouths filled with cake.

"So?" Darry asked again, all his attention back on Pony.

Pony looked at his older brother, then his eyes shifted over to Soda. He didn't look at Dallas, who's heart was beating out of his chest. It felt like the adrenaline right before you get into a fight, or you're being hauled into a cop car, or punched in the fucking gut.

This couldn't be real. It couldn't be happening. Things like this didn't happen to greasers.

"I got in." Pony's unreadable expression turned into a smile, and he looked back down at the letter as though checking he was reading it correctly. "I got in," he said again, because it was worth repeating.

Darry shot up from his chair and hugged Pony tight.

"Great job, Pony! I knew you could."

"Got into what?" As Steve spoke, a piece of cake flew from his mouth onto the center of the table and Two-Bit visibly gagged.

"I got into Oklahoma State." Pony held out the letter to Soda and the middle Curtis took it.

Then, Pony's eyes finally landed on Dallas. The whole room seemed to fade away as they stared at each other. It was just the two of them, really. Pony looked happy, but the smile didn't quite reach his eyes. He looked scared and sad and anxious and excited all at once, and Dallas felt like hurling.

Just when I finally got you, you're leaving me.