Goldie's POV
Nothing in particular woke me up today. No birds were chirping outside, there was no smell of breakfast being made, and no grunts and yells from wrestling occurring in the living room. I just knew it was early.
I sat up and my back ached from sleeping on the floor. I cracked it, and looked up to see my siblings still sound asleep. I rubbed my eyes and stood up slowly, now considering that I probably woke from my sore back.
I groggily stumbled down the hallway and found Darry anxiously pacing the living room, Dad was sitting on the couch with his head in his hands, with Two-Bit sitting next to him. They had a stamp of worry on their faces.
I cleared my throat which caused everyone's head to snap towards me, and even caused Darry to stop pacing. His eyes were red and dark circles that told me that he didn't sleep at all last night.
"What's going on?" I asked, trying to read the room but I was given no context clues.
"The kids are gone," Two answered.
"I'm sorry, gone?" I asked. What does that mean? "Where's M— um, where's Bri?"
"After you went to sleep last night..." I could see the dried tears that Dad didn't wipe off his red face. His voice was tight, like it was going to break at any moment. "Pony ran off... and um... Bri went with him, and they ain't been back since. We ain't even seen Johnny."
"We've called over at every place they could be," Darry said, chewing his pinky nail. "Ain't no one's seen any of 'em."
"Oh my god," I muttered. "We-we-we gotta call the cops."
"Can't." Darry shook his head.
"Why not?" I asked angrily.
"If the cops find out Ponyboy is missing, they'd throw me and him in a boys' home," Dad explained with a soft voice. "They can't know."
"That certainly makes it harder," I said. "They'll turn up. I'm sure of it."
"A Soc was found murdered at that park a few streets away. Deader than a doornail," Two told me.
"Murdered? Don't sell me a dog."
"Can we go five minutes without your weird words?" Two asked exasperatedly. He rubbed his red eyes, I could tell that he was extremely hungover.
"I can't help but think they got tangled with the guy that did it," Darry said nervously.
"Glory, I hope they're okay," Dad said and his dipped his head down.
"Have you heard from Dally?" Darry asked. "Bri said that he walked her home, maybe he bumped into them on the way back."
"I ain't heard from him," Two spoke up.
"I haven't either," I said. Not like I could, I just woke up.
"God dammit," Darry spat. He stressfully looked at his watch and rubbed his clammy palms down his jeans. He said, "I gotta... I gotta get to work."
"Go, Dar. I'll be home all day, I'll keep watch of the phone and the door," Dad offered. "I'll call you if I hear anything."
"Okay," Darry agreed. "Just... don't nobody move." He hesitated before rushing into his room.
"I don't think I've ever seen Darry look so freaked. He's wound tighter than a clock," I observed.
"Neither have I," Dad said with a small voice. "He's just worried. Hell, we all are. After what happened to Mom and Dad... we can't lose them too."
"I'm sure they'll be fine. They have to be," Two stated. Two is a very positive and outgoing person. No matter the situation, he is always optimistic and that is something that I greatly respect.
"Yeah, they're gonna come back soon," I reassured.
"I even bought her the flowers, man," Dad said, shaking his head. His eyes were as red as Darry's and his cheeks were flushed. They must have had a really long night.
"They will be come back and be fine," I said, a little more sure of myself.
If they weren't then I wouldn't be here... right?
Unless...
No, I can't think about that. If this tears them apart, then me, Candy, and Red will be history. We will no longer exist. This incident is supposed to happen. This should happen... I hope.
Another fear I had is that maybe we wouldn't necessarily disappear into thin air, but we might be wiped from existence. My siblings and I will go back to our time but we will never have existed in the eyes of the universe. We would be going home to nothing. I wasn't sure which was worse.
I began to lose hope around day four without them coming back.
I didn't know what to think. Darry and Dad kept giving me information that I passed on to my siblings, but it's only bits and pieces. No one really knew much, all we knew was that Johnny was being blamed for the Soc's murder due to some eye witness accounts of what happened. Mom and Pony were innocent, but accomplices since they ran with Johnny. The police got involved, and we all had to give statements for the case.
Dally let it slip that they were all headed to Texas. From the stories I've heard about him and the months I've spent with him, I have learned to pick up his tells and habits for when he's lying, and that Texas remark was no exception. Two, however, believed him. He even tried to go off and find those three the other day.
Two-Bit actually felt partially responsible for it all. He said that he talked to Mom and Pony and Johnny that night at the Nightly Double, but he was so drunk he doesn't remember what they were talking about. He keeps saying that he should have stayed with them all night, and has been blaming himself for everything. We try to remind him that there was no possible way he could have known about this, and that it wasn't his fault.
Steve had been trying to stay grounded and logical about the whole situation. He is very observant, and he could recall all of the places and people they were close with who might know where they went. At one point I saw him at the table, drawing on a map and circling places he thought they could have gone. He would go out and check it out, then come back to cross it off the map and keep looking.
Dally hadn't been around much, and everyone pretty much knew that he has information about them that he wasn't telling us, which was pissing me off. Candy doesn't like getting secrets kept from her, and I've been trying to include Red in everything lately. He's voiced to me that sometimes he feels left out.
Ever since Johnny, Mom, and Ponyboy disappeared, Darry has been on edge, more than usual. He's angry, bitter, but above all he is worried and terrified. He was really upset when the police got involved, because now it's up in the air if he is responsible enough to raise two teenage boys. It's not looking good for them.
Darry hasn't been sleeping at night. He has been sitting by the telephone every night with the lamp on until he eventually falls asleep. Every morning he seemed more tired than the day before. He told me that he felt like he failed his parents. He couldn't bear to think about what life would be like without Ponyboy. He loves him so much, he was ready to risk it all. None of us could sleep without knowing that the boys and Bri were okay. I could hear Darry and Dad crying themselves to sleep at night, and it broke my heart.
Dad has been a nervous wreck. He is just a pile of anxiety, with a mouth. I have never seen him like this before. In 2038, I have never seen him touch a cigarette, and I've only seen him drink alcohol a handful of times in the eighteen years I have been alive. In 1965, he only smoked when he was stressed, and I've only seen him drink once, maybe twice since I've been here. Steve told me that he doesn't like to drink, because he's 'drunk off life'. However, since Pony, Mom, and Johnny disappeared I have seen him go through well over a pack of cigarettes a day, and he has been drinking more than he can handle. No one has said anything, because it's only been a few days. But we were all worried about him.
This was eating him alive, and it broke me because he's my dad, he is supposed to be strong for the rest of us. There was nothing I can do or say that could help him.
Thankfully, Steve has been pretty good about distracting him with work. We are still forcing Candy and Red to go to school, but I've been skipping this week to focus on keeping Dad at work and from going off the deep end into a pool of stress and booze.
I finished ringing up a guy at the DX who was buying a bag of chips when I noticed that Dad was more gloomy than before. He was staring at a wall. He was getting more and more distracted in his own mind every day.
"Soda," I said as the man walked out the door. I always had to think hard before talking to either of my parents. I couldn't let a 'Mom' or 'Dad' slip. "Are you okay?"
I really hoped that he was sober. I was worried that some day he would come here drunk, and get himself fired. Then he would really hit rock bottom. He can't afford to get fired. Dad is usually the kind of person who will hide behind his smile and paint the town, so seeing him outwardly upset and depressed made it all the more concerning.
He snapped out of his funk for a second to look at me. Just from studying his face, I couldn't tell if he was still drunk from his bender last night or if he was just suffering a gnarly hangover. His once young, bright eyes looked dull and tired, and his chapped lips were quivered into a frown.
"What's wrong?" I asked a little more sternly.
"It's Sandy," Dad said. I didn't even notice the note in his hand until it crinkled under his fingers. He sniffed softly and said, "she left me, man."
"What? When?" I asked. I felt relieved because this whole time I still had the thought in the back of my mind that it was our fault. Now, I know that this breakup seemed to be on track with my timeline.
"Got the letter today." He opened the folded paper and started to read it over and over again.
"Gimme that," I said. I felt rude, but you gotta be stern to get what you want or need with these guys. Learned that at a young age too. I snatched the letter from his hands before he had a chance to say no. I read it over and over and over. It almost didn't make sense.
"She was pregnant... we knew that," I read aloud.
I read some more and let the information really soak into my head. "She got her roof rusted by some goop and... what? Does this say— you guys talked about it and you said you were going to raise it as your own?!"
"Not so loud, would ya?" Dad hissed.
"When did you find out that the baby wasn't yours?" I asked.
"She called me about it yesterday. I-I don't..." his gravely voice trailed off.
"And now she's off to Florida to live with her grandma," I finished and put the letter down on the counter. She must have dropped it in our mailbox before heading out of town.
"Yup," he said and popped the 'p'.
"Are you planning on following her?" I asked, praying that I didn't just plant the idea of his head.
He sighed, "I was thinking about it. Just to talk to her." His hand was shaking as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a nearly empty box of cigarettes. He didn't talk again until after he stuck one in his mouth and held a lit match up to it. "But no, I ain't gonna."
"Why?" I knew I was going to regret asking that.
He shook his head. "She ain't worth it."
"Attaboy," I said. He used to say that to me when he was proud of me when I was younger. That and 'sport'. I thought maybe he'd like it too. I asked, "so, what happened?"
"She got knocked up by some guy from Central," he began. Central is one of the oldest high schools in Tulsa, and a rival to Will Rogers. "When she first told me, she said it was mine. Then when she called me, she told me that it ain't mine and that she had made a mistake and that she was sorry, and that we would raise the baby together. I wasn't so sure, but then she started crying about how the dad wanted nothing to do with it and she was going to be all alone. I was... in shock, so I told her that I would be there for her. Then... the letter... I guess she told her folks and they freaked out and sent her to Florida."
"That's wild," I said. If Sandy was pregnant, she has probably been cheating on Dad for a while... it made me feel really bad for him. She took advantage of him and his generous nature. He's such a sweet guy, and is so nice to everyone he meets. He doesn't deserve this. He's got more problems than Carter's got little pills.
Sometimes I overhear people talk about Dad. Even though he dropped out, he was apparently very popular when he was attending high school and is still popular now. There was a rumor at one point that Sandy had cheated on him just before summer started, and it went around the entire school. I'm not sure if it was true or not, so I didn't tell him. But considering she ended up cheating on him and getting pregnant, tells me that she probably did. Who knows how many times she cheated on him. But people in school were going around, calling him a fool for staying with her and listening to her lies. She will never change, I just wish he could have seen that earlier.
"I just want to think. Give myself some space from girls and figure out what I really want first. Y'know? I think falling in love is the best part of a relationship," Dad stated. "I stopped falling in love with Sandy a long time ago."
Oh, no. Shit. Shit. Shit.
"What about Bri?" I asked. "I thought you guys were really hitting it off."
"I don't want her to think I move on from girl to girl. I ain't ready to move on from Sandy yet. I thought we were going to have a child together. We broke up today. I ain't some floozy. We both will need time," he explained.
"Okay, that's understandable." I nodded. I could accept that.
When I mentioned her name, his sneer broke into a soft smile. It was the first time he looked remotely happy in days. I don't even think he's showered since they ran off. His hair looks so dirty and greasy, and I don't think it's the artificial grease that he usually puts in his hair. Stubble was growing on his face, creating an unflattering 5 o'clock shadow, and his skin was dirty and oily from work. I'm surprised he was willingly in public looking like that. Well, I don't think he was here willingly.
"You just gotta tell her that you like her," I suggested.
"Yeah, but... oh, I don't know. She's one of my best friends, I don't want to run her off."
"You won't run her off," I promised.
"It might be hard for you to believe but I used to play around with the hearts of girls that came when I called for them."
"No, really?" I asked, trying not to sound sarcastic. But Dad had told me that he was a ladies man in his youth, and I could believe it because he is a handsome guy. Seeing it in person has been one wild ride.
"I thought I was in love with Sandy, but when I met that girl I knew that I would fall for her," he said, and I knew he was talking about Mom. "I was a fool for letting myself fall for her. After Sandy, I don't want to give away my heart again."
"Do you think you were fine with raising Sandy's baby because you were afraid of your feelings for Bri?" I asked bluntly.
"Maybe." His voice shook.
"What do you like about her?" I asked.
"I could go on and on about her," Dad said with a smile. "There's just something about her that attracts me like no one else has. I feel like I have known her since the moment that we met, there's no doubt in my mind about it. I want to make her laugh all day long. I can see when she smiles it's like she knows that all I gotta do is think about her. I honestly enjoy spending each moment with her."
"Soda, we are going to find them," I reassured confidently.
He looked down at his fingers and fiddled with them. His facial muscles flexed as he tried to keep himself from frowning and he sniffed. His voice wobbled as he said, "what if they're not okay? Pony ain't never been away from us for so long. He's probably so scared. He ain't the kind to go it alone."
"He's got Bri. Right? She can take care of them. And Johnny."
"Johnny. Oh lord, Johnny." He began to break down. "They'll be going to hell in a hand basket if they stay on the run."
"He's all right. He's going to be all right. They are all going to be all right," I said quickly so he wouldn't cry.
"It's mighty strange seeing them three in the paper. It don't feel real. It ain't s'pposed to be this way."
"Yeah," I agreed.
"D'you know where they are?" He asked. "I know that they're laying low, but there is only so far they can run."
I didn't want to lie to him, but I didn't have a choice. "No, I don't."
"I just wish there was something I could do. I just want them all to come on home. Our house ain't a home without them. Even Darry wants to throw in the towel. He doesn't think he's cut out to take care of us, he said maybe the state should have taken us away. I don't want him to talk like that, because I can't lose my big brother too."
I walked up to Dad and patted his back to comfort him. "Do you know what will help them?"
"What?" He asked, looking at me with tears in his eyes. It hurt me to see him like this.
"You getting a shower, a shave, and some food that isn't cigarettes or booze."
Dad sniffed and asked, "how would that help them?"
"Help them by helping yourself. You can prepare for when they come back home. It will help so they don't have to worry about you when they come back."
"I was there," he said with a shaky breath. "I could have followed them. I-I could have stopped them."
"The most you can do now is prepare for them to come home. I'm sure they miss you."
"I miss them."
"I know." I patted his back one last time and returned my arm to myself. "Me too."
I've never had to comfort my father like a child before. It made me realize that we all need help, no matter what stage of life we are at. Grown ups don't have it all together, no matter how much they fake it. It's their first time living too. They always need a shoulder to cry on.
I was sick and tired of being left in the dark about all of this. I was done with keeping my head down and just letting time play it's course. Obviously, that's not good enough. I need answers. I deserve answers.
After work I sped over to Buck's place. My brain blocked out the music stemming from the radio as I racked my brain with thoughts of what I was going to say to Dally when I saw him. If anyone knows anything, it's him.
Lights strobing out of every window made my eyes roll back. I know that Buck throws a lot of parties, and I also know that Dally gets shitfaced at every single one. And with the stress of what's been going on, there's no way he's sober tonight.
I parked my car and marched inside. I let myself in, where a harsh red light burned my eyes and made everything around me look red. A few people stepped out of my way as I squinted and spun around trying to find Dally.
Finally, I found him. He was sitting at the table with a beer in his hand and some cards in the other. There were knocked over shot glasses on the table with a nearly empty bottle of booze sitting in the middle. His cigarette was glued to his lips, when he spoke the cigarette stayed stuck to his bottom lip.
He glanced up at me and let the smoke spill from his mouth. He looked surprised to see me, but relatively happy. "Goldie, join us."
"I need to talk to you, Dallas," I said firmly.
"About what?" He asked.
"I hate to ask you—"
"Then you probably shouldn't," he stated as he slapped a couple of cards down on the table.
I exhaled roughly and finished by asking, "where are they?"
"Where are who?" He acted dumb.
"You know exactly who I'm talking about," I spat.
"The hell if I know." He tried to shoo me away but I refused to leave.
"I ain't leavin' until you tell me where they are," I said.
Dally looked at me angrily, his smoldering eyes locked to mine. Then he pulled out the empty chair beside him. "Then it looks like you're gonna be here a while. Grab a beer, Goldie."
"Fine. I can't tell if you're either too much of an ass to tell me, or you're just too chicken."
Dally stopped and stared at me again. I knew the chicken comment would take him aback. "All right... I'm gonna take that as an insult."
"Then tell me!"
He took a swig of his beer and said, "all you need to know is that they're fine."
"W-what does that mean? Do you know where they are? Are they okay?"
"Okay, I'm going to be direct because I'm tired of this." He cleared his throat and drank some more of his beer. Dally stumbled out of his chair and slowly walked through the party.
I yelled out to him, "hey, where are you going?"
"Let's go somewhere else to talk," he called back over his shoulder.
I followed Dally and he led me out the back, grabbing a couple more beers along the way. He leaned against his forearms on the old wooden railing that surrounded the back porch. We stood outside alone together and he started smoking a new cigarette. The stars were out tonight, and my eyes started adjusting to the darkness.
"Yeah... I know where they are," he said roughly as he took a drag.
"Thank god, where are they?" I asked. I could still hear the music and the talking coming from inside the house, but through the back door it was muffled. My palms were sticky from the humidity, and the sounds of crickets surrounded us on the back porch. The air smelled of sweet honeysuckle that grew across the street.
"Over at Windrixville," Dally answered.
"Windrixville..." I muttered. I didn't recognize the town name.
"It's a town a couple hours away. Real small, but has an abandoned church up there that I told them to take shelter in."
"You told them to go over there?" I asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, my cousin told me about it. Figured they could use it." He popped open another beer and handed me the other one. "Real cute spot. Nice view—"
"So you've been letting Soda and Darry be worried sick this whole week?" I nearly yelled at him. I was madder than a wet hen. "Letting me be worried sick?!"
"What's the big deal?! What do you want from me, huh?!" He yelled back, his arm flailing to express his anger. "Let them get caught by the fuzz?! Let Johnny go to jail for murder?!"
"Just tell Soda and Darry where they are!"
"I can't do that," he said in a low voice, then he took a drag of his cigarette. He swayed a little as he was talking to me, but that wasn't unusual.
"Why not?"
"Both of 'em will go out lookin' for those three. The less people that know, the better. I don't want no trouble looking for them."
I took a breath, knowing that he was right. Any one of us would have sped down to Windrixville to look for them, and it probably would have made things worse. I hated that it was better that we didn't know. I leaned against the railing with my forearms too, copying his stance.
"How do I know that you ain't lying like a dog on a rug?" I asked skeptically.
"I still got her bra upstairs if you don't believe me."
"What?" I asked blankly.
Dally chuckled and said, "when those three came to the door they were soaking wet, like they just got waterboarded. I gave them some warm clothes, so their wet clothes are still up in my room. Relax, it ain't like I've touched it or nothing. I ain't no creep."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"You know that Two just about drove to Texas to find them," I told him.
Dally chuckled, "I know. God, he's an idiot. He really thought he could search the entire state of Texas for them?"
"He cares," I snapped. I think it's sweet that he was willing to do that for them.
"Easy, I didn't say he didn't. I say we should have just let him go and see how long it took for him to give up."
I smiled small, knowing that he wouldn't have ever stopped looking for them. "A few decades. He hasn't got the sense God gave a goose."
Dally chuckled then said, "that guy is one loyal bastard."
I asked, "have you gone over there to see them yet?"
Dally shook his head. "No, not yet. I will in a couple of days when things cool down a little more."
"I want to go with," I told him.
"I don't think that's such a good idea, man. You gotta stay here for your sister and your brother, and Soda. He's taking this mighty hard. You seem to keep his head on his shoulders. Besides, I don't want you to get tangled up in this murder wrap too."
"Can we at least tell them that we know that they're okay?" I nearly pleaded. I twisted the cap off of my beer and took a drink.
"That would lead to them asking questions on how we know that," Dally explained, which made sense. "Just keep your head low and don't say nothing. Got it?"
"Got it," I agreed. I just hated the thought of having to keep this from them all. Especially from Dad.
"Trust me, I won't let nothin' happen to them."
"What? Are they gonna stay in hiding for the rest of their lives?" I asked.
Dally sighed softly and flicked the cigarette to the asphalt. "I don't know yet. Johnny probably will, he can't be turning himself in. He'll get in a lot of trouble. I don't know about Bri and Pony... I'll figure it out. I have to."
"And what if Johnny decides to turn himself in?"
Dally shrugged and said, "if Johnny changes his tune and turns himself in then he'll go to jail for a real long time, unless he can prove it was self defense but him running away won't look good for him, and it'll be the Socs word against his. I doubt Sheldon's buddies are gonna admit to all of 'em tryin' to kill those three that night. I don't want to see Johnny in the cooler, man. That's no place for a kid like Johnny."
"They tried to kill them?" I asked, my voice shaking. I had no idea.
"Yep," Dally said with a nod.
"Bri too?" I asked.
Dally cleared his throat and said, "they were gonna do worse."
"Could Bri and Pony go to jail?" I asked, taking another gulp of the cheap beer.
"Beats me, man. Darry will beat my head in if Pony goes to jail. And Bri... you know... she's Bri."
"What does that mean?" I asked.
"She'll get eaten alive in jail. She's too nice. She's too pretty. She's too sweet. Too innocent. Them jailbirds don't do kindly to girls like that, she wouldn't survive a day. Not a damn day."
I chuckled ever so softly. "She's too what?"
Dally drank more of his beer then said, "I ain't sayin' it again."
"I didn't know you had the hots for her."
"I don't," he snapped. Then he decided to be crude by saying, "unless she's in that tight little sweater of hers."
"It kinda sounds like you do," I said teasingly.
Dally is very flirtatious with lots of girls, and touchy in a rude way. I don't understand how Mom doesn't just slap him all the time. However, I have noticed that Dally is softer to Mom compared to everyone else. He is surprisingly protective of her, I never really put it together that it was because he liked her. Tolerated might be the better word, I've never seen him in a relationship with anyone except for Sylvia. They were on-and-off again a lot during the summer because they both just kept cheating on each other.
"Whatever, man," he said sharply and finished his bottle.
"When did this start?"
"A while ago. I don't fuckin' know, man. I can't exactly go around about her when she's the girl of my best friend. I'm fucking drunk so this is just the booze talking anyway."
Even though Mom wasn't dating Dad yet, everyone could see how much he liked her. It was plain to see. At least Dally had enough respect for Dad not to try to swoop her away while he was taking his time, drunk or not.
"That's real chivalrous of you," I told him.
"I'm just an asshole that doesn't want one of his brothers hating him," he said softly. "Besides, Bri and I come from two different worlds. She'd never get with a guy like me anyway."
"How do you feel about that?" I asked him.
"What are you? My fucking shrink?"
"It was just a question," I said defensively.
"I'm cool with it."
"Are you?"
Dally laughed and let his heavy head hang low. He said, "yeah, man. I'm gonna have to be, right?"
"Yeah, I guess so," I said while drumming my fingers against the glass bottle in my hands.
"The other day I slept with some broad I met at one of Buck's parties. I didn't realize how much that little honey looked like Bri until I almost said her name," Dally revealed.
"Oh." Gross. I didn't want to hear that. The sex life of my great uncle is none of my business. Especially when he's thinking about my mother. I stated, "I don't think I ever thought you'd like her."
"Why?"
"I don't know. She's a good... a good girl and you're a... degenerate. You're kinda mean and she's really nice. You're an asshole and she's sweet as pie. She's not like any of the other girls you've been with that I've met. I didn't think she was your type."
Dally laughed as I listed their differences. He said, "maybe that's why I like her so much, because she's not like the other girls I go after."
"Huh," I grunted softly.
"She got me whipped. She's under my skin, man. The fuck can I do?" He asked, not really looking for an answer.
"Yeah," I said softly.
I immediately sucked air through my teeth as a realization came over me. Dally will grow up and get married, multiple times, resulting in thirteen children. He has eight girls, and five boys. Dottie, Ember, Ophira, Horace, Brielle, Amala, Nia, Zoë, Scotty, Hendrix, Rusty, Edie, and Jonathan. Now he has twenty grandchildren and I think so far fifteen great-grand children.
When I was a kid I knew that Jonathan was named after Uncle Johnny, but it wasn't until right now I realized that Brielle was named after my mother. He really does love her.
Mom truly is the best person for Dally. She understands him and can get through to him in a way that no one will ever know. He relaxes around her. Sure, he can still be an asshole but it's just different. But the best person for Mom is Dad. He is who makes her the happiest.
It made me wonder what would have happened if Mom got with Dally instead of Dad. Would he have changed for her? Would he still be an alcoholic, dead-beat dad to his children, or would he have stepped up and been a great father? Would he still have a lot of ex-wives, or would they have been together forever? Would he still be so unhappy and hate his life, or would he have found happiness with her? Does she even know that he has feelings for her? Would he still be alive?
"I'm gonna head back inside. It's colder than a witch's tit out here," Dally stated.
"Okay."
"And don't be goin' around tellin' anyone what I said. I'll deny it all then I'll beat the shit outta you," Dally threatened in his intimidating New York accent.
"Got it." I believed him.
He stood up straight and finished his beer. He flung the empty bottle out into the grass before he said, "I'm gonna get soaked tonight. Wanna join? I could use a drinking buddy."
"No, that's okay. Hey, Dally?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I give you some advice?"
"No."
"I will anyway," I said which made him roll his eyes. "Just... go easy with the drinking, okay?"
Dally's face soured. "Who the fuck do you think you are, telling me what to do?"
"Look, it's just that I've seen this path you're going down and... have I ever told you about my uncle?" I asked.
He shook his head. "No."
"Well, he was just like you. Big, tough guy. Real party animal in his youth. He would get shitfaced, and he got arrested more times than I can count."
"He sounds like a fun guy," Dally joked and took another deep drag of his cigarette.
"But he put so much strain on everyone close to him. He lost custody of his children and didn't speak to most of them, his best friends hated it when he came around because all he did was drink until they were forced to take care of him so he didn't hurt himself, and he was just fucking mean. It's depressing, man. He had done that for decades. When we found out he was going into liver failure... we all knew that he was going to die sick, sad, and alone."
"Why are you telling me this?" Dally asked solemnly.
"That's you, Dally. It will be you," I told him very honestly. "You're doing the exact same thing to Bri, and the rest of the gang. It hurts us. I know you have issues, man, but you get so far out of your mind that we have to intervene because we can't stand watching you slowly kill yourself. And it happens so often."
"Bri?" He asked in a soft voice.
"Yeah, man. Remember the Fourth of July?"
"No."
"Let's just say you put that poor girl through the wringer."
"Oh."
Dally was pretty drunk right now, so I wasn't sure exactly how much self-reflection he could possibly do. But he stood there in thought, hopefully my little speech to him would stick. If he keeps up with these habits, he's going to hate his life and let everyone else know it. I hoped that if he takes it easy now and calms down at least a little, he will be happier later.
"Are you gonna come inside?" He asked with his hand on the door handle.
"No, not yet."
"Don't be out here too long. It's cold as shit," he said.
"I won't," I promised.
Dally disappeared back into the party house and left me out on the back steps. I took a gulp of my beer and tried to think of if there was anything that I could do to help my mom and uncles.
There was a massive weight lifted off of my shoulders. At least I knew that they were all relatively safe and alive. I know exactly how Darry and Dad feel, and it's going to be so hard to keep this information from them. All I can do is offer them support, and hope they all get to come back home soon.