shakespeare . dallas winston

16; gatsby

"I may be an old man, but I have years on you, son. It may be wise to heed me once in a while." Hanson gave him a scornful look.

"Ain't that what I'm doin'? Jeez."

I could hear Hanson stifle a laughter and I did the same as I followed in his footsteps. He roamed the ample supply of literature on the dusty shelf and pulled one from the classics section. He handed Dallas the original copy of The Great Gatsby, the one with the blue face, and looked at it with hesitation. "Now in all seriousness, this may be a little hard. Read slowly and you'll enjoy it."

"Got it." Dallas sniffed and held it loose by his side.

After a moment, Hanson nodded and ambled off. I looked toward the boy who stood with messy hair and a look of confusion etched in his features as his eyes skimmed the back of the book.

"This is good, Dal." He looked up from the page. "You know, after you finish this maybe you'll be as into it as I am, and we can read together or something."

"Don't get your hopes up. This ain't the shit I do for kicks, sweetheart."

"So I've noticed," I replied with a quick twitch of the lips.

"It's just words." He flipped through the book lazily and eyed it with boredom. "Just... a lot of goddamn words."

"Like he said, read slowly and you'll enjoy yourself." I began to walk toward Hanson, then stopped when our arms were pressed firmly against each other. "You wanna know why I love to read, write letters and all? It's simple, really. Words are limitless and can be used to express anything. You just need to know how to use them correctly."

I could see his eyebrow vellicate, then his lip move downward, and he turned his head toward me but didn't say anything. I ambled off and joined Hanson back at the front.

"So I came here for a book, H." I crossed my arms over the glassy surface of the counter. "What've you got for me?"

"Classic or YA?" He asked, looking beneath the counter in which he appeared to have hidden two novels. I tilted my head in the slightest and thought over my answer.

"YA for now, thanks. I've been reading classics all this month."

Hanson nodded his head and passed over a book named The Luckiest Girl, and I wasn't too used to reading books like such, but it was nice to take a break from the heavy stuff once in a while. I held it close under my arm and shot him a fleeting smile. "Thanks."

Hanson nodded again then creased his brow as he seemed to be thinking over something. "Now Holly, you're grounded and you should have never come out in the first place, especially at a time like this. In fact, even I'll be closing down the store soon."

"Yeah, I hope Steve hasn't noticed. This was gonna be a quick stop but I gotta a little distracted since somebody decided to show up unannounced." I glanced over my shoulder. Dallas seemed unaware.

"He showed up almost two hours ago now, looking for you. We talked while he waited. Now, what have you been doing all day, coming back at a time like this?" He asked, squinting down at his silver watch.

I shuffled on my feet. "A date."

"A date?" He looked up in surprise.

"A date?" Dallas's deep accent sounded and I turned my head quickly to catch a glance. He stood almost directly behind me with his head above my right shoulder, his brows pulled together.

"Yeah, with Daniel."

His lips curved upward in a chilling manner. He snapped his finger and jerked his brows. "Daniel, ahhh, that guy, huh?" He flicked his tongue over his teeth and shifted his weight from one foot to another. "Did you enjoy it?"

"Not much." I paused. "He was a little cynical, kind of like you, Dal, but in a different way."

"Hell, I ain't cynical." He snorted. I rolled my eyes and took a step forward, turning around.

"Dallas, if I could describe you in one word It'd be cynical."

Dallas, with a look of vexation etched into his face, jerked his head toward me. "And, uh, how was he cynical, huh?"

"He was kind of critical of... well, greasers." I dropped my gaze to the checkered floor. "But he was nice. He gave some people the benefit of the doubt."

Dallas twisted his face. "You went out with a soc?"

I rolled my eyes and scoffed. "No, Dallas, he's a greaser. He just lives near the tracks and is close with a lot of socs so he jumped on the bandwagon. He's nice, though, he doesn't hate us, or anything, far from it. He just doesn't like some of us, you know, the JDs."

"Like me?" Dallas's eyes seemed to shine at the idea.

"I guess so."

"Huh." He exhaled sharply and chuckled with huffs of air. "It's goddamn good thing cause I ain't too fond of him, either." I rolled my eyes and Dallas continued. "He probably shouldn't get too used to the idea of being with you, cause you're becoming just as much of a JD as I am."

"Am not," I defended myself.

"You better not," Hanson interrupted, "You better stay just the way you are, Holls."

"And that I am. Goin' out and havin' fun once in a while doesn't make me a JD, Dallas. I don't steal or do wrong to anyone unless they've done wrong to me. I like to think whatever I've done so far under your influence has been justified."

"Yeah yeah," he waved his hand in the air. "We're just getting' started, Doll. You wanna catch a movie?"

"I can't, I've gotta get home." I raised my brows. "Grounded, remember?"

"Yeah, well, I'll walk you home, then." The both of us turned toward Hanson. I raised my hand and waved, and Dallas bid his farewell with a nod of the head. Hanson muttered a quick goodbye before the ringing of the front door as we crossed the threshold into the cool, fall night.