Style | Dallas Winston

Chapter Five

"We were too close to the stars, I never knew somebody like you"- Reflections, The Neighbourhood

It had been a week since Maeve and Dally ran for their lives under the pale moonlight, and for some reason Maeve couldn't look Dally in the eye for more than a couple seconds before turning her head away.

She felt almost embarrassed, as though something had happened between the two of them, some secret that would be revealed to everyone around them if they caught her staring at him for longer than she should. Not that she was staring at him, she was now just deliberately avoiding eye contact with Dally.

This was one of those times. Currently she was trying to read a book on the Curtis couch, which she'd taken after-school naps on many times, but it was very hard with all the noise going on. Darry was sitting in his "old man chair" as Maeve called it, yelling to Ponyboy about the house not being clean. Sodapop was on the phone with his girlfriend Sandy, Steve was rummaging through the fridge complaining about the lack of food, and the tv was on full blast.

Johnny was sitting next to her, trying to do his math homework, seeming to have the same problem as Maeve, and Dally was sitting on the couch, feet propped on the coffee table, observing the chaos.

She found herself thankful that Johnny was sitting in the middle of the two of them, which puzzled her.

Why was she so uncomfortable with him?

She eventually came to the conclusion that it was because of them talking alone at night, after a tense situation. She also got the feeling that he had gotten uncomfortable when she said she liked his laugh, though she didn't mean anything by it.

What does it matter? She thought, it wasn't that big of a deal, why think so hard about it?

"Hey, you two want to get burgers at the Dingo?" Dally asked, getting bored of the atmosphere.

"Yeah, sure," said Maeve, trying to speak over Two-bit yelling at something on tv.

"Sounds good," said Johnny.

"Hey Pony! You wanna come with us to the Dingo?' Dally shouted.

Ponyboy poked his head out from the hallways, glancing at Darry before saying, "yeah sure." She got the feeling that he mainly wanted to get away from Darry.

She understood where Ponyboy was coming from, it was hard having to deal with Darry all the time, especially after their parents passed. Mr. and Mrs. Curtis were lovely people, especially Mrs. Curtis, who Maeve saw more often given that she was close to her own mom. They went to the same church as them, and her mom and Mrs. Curtis were good friends, inviting each other over and going over to the Curtis house. Maeve often went with her mom and got to know the boys, and soon the whole gang, already going to school with some of them.

She spent nearly all of her time with them, and despite often wishing she could slap them, mainly Steve, they were still some of her closest friends.

They all stood up to walk out of the door, Ponyboy running out the fastest, but not fast enough.

"Hey Ponyboy, you be back by 9," he said pointing at him, "and don't do anything stupid, all of you."

"Yeah, yeah" said Ponyboy halfway out the door.

"You got it Superman," said Maeve jokingly.