I was taking a walk down the street with my boyfriend of six months, when we rounded a corner and a group of five boys stopped to talk to him.
Of course I thought he wouldn't really care, Dallas Winston never did care.
He never actually had the ability to care, right?
"Dally, old boy we've been wondering where you've been!" One of them cried out.
I felt Dally drop my hand, and when I looked at him his demeanour changed drastically.
His deep brown eyes once so relaxed and at ease clouded over into a set of cold eyes that if they were any lighter colour would have resembled broken Christmas lights.
His face too, once rested and looking thoughtful was replaced by a mean expression partnered with a sharp grin that crawled under the skin of even the bravest.
"Hey man, what ya doin' here? Y'know you and the gang." He lit a cigarette which hung loosely out of his mouth.
"We were just bumming 'round town, and uh who's the fine young lady?" One of the boys said, who was dressed in a flannel jacket and looked like a movie star.
"This, this is my new broad." Dally slung his arm over my shoulders as I smiled politely and greeted them.
"She looks rich, are you a Soc missy?" A quite obviously drunk kid, about eighteen dressed in a Mickey Mouse muscle shirt leaned forward.
"No, I'm an alien from outer space. I'm actually abducting your friend here, if you don't mind." I grinned sarcastically while he began toppling over in laughter.
"Ooh she's a smart one, probably smarter than Ponybrain here." Some guy in a denim vest without a shirt hit another boy, who I know I've seen at school on the back of the head.
"Cut it out Steve! Anyways I'm Ponyboy, Ponyboy Curtis." He shook my hand that earned him a slight death glare from Dallas to which I nudged him as if to say 'cut it out'.
"Oh I know, I've seen you around school. You're in English with my friend, Nancy." I recalled.
"Yeah, last year you were in my biology class too. Golly, you're good." I beamed modestly at his complement.
"Johnny, why don't you introduce yourself?" The Mickey Mouse man pushed Johnny over.
Plot twist: I had already met Johnny, he was basically my brother and I would kill anyone who hurt him, plus he actually introduced me to Dally.
"Hey, Y/n." He smiled awkwardly, uncomfortable at being put on the spot.
"Hey, Johnny." I giggled a little and pulled him into a hug, that almost resembled a brother and sister.
Of course, Dally almost killed Ponychild for shaking my hand but Johnny was allowed to hug me, Dally logic right there for you.
"Well since we're doing introductions I'm Sodapop, Ponyboy's big brother and this is Steve and that over there is Keith but we call him Two-Bit because he always gets his two-bit of words in." The movie star boy known as Sodapop gestured towards himself, then to the denim vest guy who I guess was named Steve, then to the Two-Bit dude who was bent over hurling his guts out.
"Well, sorry to say boys but we gotta go. Bye." Dally suddenly pulled me towards the bus stop and not even giving me any time to say goodbye.
"Uhm...Ahem." I jerked my arm away angrily, causing my boyfriend to look at me with a childish type of petty face.
"What?" He sneered, wrinkling his face.
"Why are you acting so immature all of a sudden?" I placed my hands on my hips.
"Immature? You think I'm being immature?" He raised his voice, making some surrounding people side eye us.
"Dallas...Please, stop yelling and calm down so we can actually talk like two mature people." I hushed him.
Honestly, I was embarrassed and began to loose my senses.
"No tell me how the hell I'm being immature, man. Huh? How? Come on!" He began to boil up even more than he already did, and I snapped.
"Yeah, you look and are acting like a five year old who's throwing a temper tantrum over what? Me talking to people!?" I shrieked back.
"Why are you yelling? I ain't seen you yell before..." Dally's eyes widened in both surprise and anger.
"Well you started it." I seethed, Dally's expression changed once more.
"Sweetheart, are you cryin'? Oh fuck, you are." His face contorted in horror.
I felt my cheeks and sure enough, I was.
I was crying, but not out of sadness.
I was crying out of frustration and anger.
It was a habit I had, crying when I got too angry.
"Baby, I didn't mean to get you all sad-" I cut him off.
"It's not because I'm sad, I'm just pissed off." I wiped my face with my sleeves and looked away.
"You must have been pretty pissed then." Dally answered hesitantly.
"Yeah well you don't expect your boyfriend to yell at you in public." I rolled my eyes.
Dally was quiet at first, then he held me tightly from behind and began whispering in my ear about how much he loved me and the closest thing he would ever say to an apology.
"C'mon Dal, the bus is here." I giggled as he gently planted kisses on my neck from behind.
"We'll finish later, don't worry pretty baby." He gave me one last kiss before taking my hand and leading me on to the bus.
He payed for himself, and me as surprising as it is.
I guess Dally just didn't want to get me in trouble, me being middle class and all and not a greasy girl.
We sat down, still holding hands, and that's when I turned to look at him, and realized he really did care.
He got jealous because he cared.
He felt bad when I began crying because he cared.
And when he kissed me with such passion, it was because he cared.
So Dallas Winston really did care.
