I woke up to the feeling of shuffling in the blankets beside me.
I jolt open my eyes and quickly sit up in my bed to face where the shuffling was coming from.
I relaxed once I saw it was just Dallas getting up from the bed.
His shirt was still off and he bent down to pick it up off the wood floor which was glowing from the bright sunlight sneaking it's way past the curtains.
I smiled at the sight of his muscular figure in front of the window, the light illuminating his body perfectly as he carefully slid on his shirt.
He must've felt my stare because he looked at me confused.
He looked so magical standing in the light with his skin glowing from the sun, I didn't even bother to hide my smile or blush.
"Good morning boyfriend" I say cheery as I slide a hand through my knotted locks of hair.
"You're not gonna call me that all the time are you?" he asks, "only until I get it sinked in that you are really my boyfriend" I tell him as I begin to get up from the bed.
"So what are you doing today?" I ask hoping he was free so that I could take my handsome boyfriend on a date.
He paused in his movements and his eyes went wide.
"I- I have something t-.. to do" he says fumbling his words as his face goes pale in the morning sunlight.
He wasn't lying.
But why would he be so worried to tell me that?
Would he think that I would think he was blowing me off?
I don't push the subject, and instead respond with, "okay. Maybe some other day."
He hums in agreement and walks over to me.
He stops in front of me and pulls me into a tight embrace.
I don't hug back at first and instead look around the room in confusion, but he was still holding onto me, so I decided I would hug back.
"This is nice" I say after about a minute wrapped in his tight embrace.
He then pulls away as if I broke his thoughts "Yeah" he says as he looks down at the floor.
Something's wrong.
"Hey Dallas are you okay?" I ask concerned as I try to search for his eyes, him denying eye contact every time.
"Yeah, I just don't know how to act as a boyfriend" he says rocking back and forth on his heels.
Lie
But why would he lie?
"Dallas you can tell me if something is wrong, you know that, right?" I ask him, my heart rate quickening just hoping that he would tell me.
Dallas is a wild card, and it scares me.
"I know" he says with a big breath as if he's collecting himself, "I just really don't know how to be a good boyfriend" he says with a weak smile.
I decided not to push the subject.
It's Dallas. If he doesn't want to tell me, he won't. No matter how hard I push.
"Well okay. I could get Soda to give you a few pointers" I say trying to lighten the mood.
It worked and the corners of Dallas's lips curved upwards in a genuine smile.
"Soda got cheated on. Are you trying to tell me something?" he asks with a sly grin.
My smile changed into a shocked expression and my eyes widened, "n-no!" I yell probably sounding completely guilty even though I'm not.
"I know, I know, I was just kidding, but I seriously have to go" he says pulling me in for a quick peck on the cheek as he grabs his jacket and heads out the door before I can even give a goodbye.
I cock my head to the side.
Dallas has never kissed me on the cheek before.
My face heated up red at the feeling of his soft, warm, wet lips on my smooth cheek.
I then went to the bathroom and started my day.
***
Andddd here we go...
Sirens.
Why were they so loud?
Why were there so many of them?
I turn my attention back to the TV in my empty house and click onto the news channel.
"Oh Shit."
On the box screen there was a fire showing.
It was massive.
Kids were screaming and teachers were freaking out.
I could barely recognize what the building once was as it collapsed onto the ground, the flames still roaring.
I look out my window to see fire trucks and cop cars speeding down the roads.
It must be out in the middle of no where.
Those poor kids must be terrified.
I hope no one got injured.
I shut off the TV and grabbed a jacket and headed outside making sure to lock the house behind me.
The loud sirens slowly faded as they got farther away.
I finally made it to the Curtis house.
When I opened the door I saw Darry reading a newspaper, Soda only in his boxers, his hair a little wet and placed in a cap sitting down on the couch flipping through channels, Steve attempting to make a chocolate cake, and Two drinking some beer with his... eyes closed?
Steve was the first to speak as he happily turned around, "yay! Now Gracie can make the cake!" he yells as he hands me a spatula and hops on the couch beside Soda.
"I don't want to make chocolate cake" I say, "too bad" Steve responds as he opens up a beer with a bottle opener.
I throw the spatula at Steve.
"Go make your own cake" I tell him with a smirk as he holds his face in pain from where the spatula hit him.
"I can't I almost started a fire" he says as he points to the burn marks on the surface of the oven.
"You tried making a cake on the stove top?" I ask narrowing my eyes in confusion, "well how else would you bake a cake?" he asks rolling his eyes at me.
I roll my eyes back at him and change the subject.
"Did you guys hear about that fire that's going on right now?" I ask as I move Soda and Steve over so I can sit in between them.
"What fire?" Soda asks confused.
Darry stopped reading his papers and Two opened his eyes which were all red and they both looked at me curiously.
I was taken aback by Two's eyes.
"Two what happened to your eyes?" I ask as I search for any more marks on him, but nothing.
"Pepper spray happened" he said as he put the beer on his left eye.
"Ho-" I was cut off by Soda, "who cares about Two's stupid choices and tell us about the fire."
"Just go to the news channel" I tell him while pointing to the TV.
I then look back at Two confused and worried, "let's just say from now on, you're the only girl I will ever be able to trust" he says as he places the beer to his other eye.
I nod my head intrigued by what he meant, but before I could think Soda is jolting up from the couch and Darry is throwing the newspaper on the ground.
I look over to the TV to see three familiar faces.
Pony's.
Johnny's.
And Dally's were all on the screen.
Right under the caption that read, "hero's save children from burning church."
My eyes widen and my heart races.
They were involved in the fire.
I tried to focus on reading the bits of information that popped up on screen.
The room was dead quiet, everyone focusing.
"Ponyboy Curtis and Dallas Winston have escaped the deadly fire with none to minor injuries, while Johnny Cade is being taken to the hospital with life threatening conditions.
Oh my God.
Holy shit.
What-
My panicked thoughts were cut off with Darry's own panicked voice, "everyone get in the truck now" he demands as he rushes off to the vehicle.
Soda quickly rushes to his room and comes back out with a pair of jeans and a shirt in his arms as he runs across the floor and to the vehicle, the rest of us followed behind.
We all crammed in the truck as Darry stepped on the gas pedal, making the tires squeal as he drove like a mad man to the hospital.
It was a shit show in the truck.
Soda was in the front seat trying to get changed, but wasn't getting much done as he kept flying around from the harsh turns Darry was taking.
Steve, Two and I weren't buckled either and we kept ramming into each other, me occasionally getting sandwiched by them, all the while worrying about our dearest friends.
When we finally pulled into the hospital Darry stopped without warning causing Soda, who was buttoning his shirt to go flying into the glass, and the rest of us to bang our heads on the seat.
We didn't complain.
Instead we rushed out of the truck and ran to the emergency section.
I could barley understand what Darry was yelling to the nurse about, but the nurse had better ears than I did and she pointed us to a room.
We all stormed off into that room like a heard of spooked elephants and halted in the doorway.
I couldn't help the tears that came pouring out of my eyes.
The others couldn't help their angered screams and groans of pain.
Johnny was face down on a bed, his back completely burned showing only raw skin, only slightly covered by a few bandages.
The burns continued down the legs, feet, arms, and hands.
But that's not what had our hearts shattering.
As I looked at his bare, burned, raw back I couldn't see any movement.
He was so still.
With how bad the burns looked, and apparently with the broken back he must've been in so much pain and discomfort that he couldn't stop trying to get comfortable.
But no.
He wasn't moving at all.
He wasn't breathing.
He was dead.
I couldn't believe it.
I walked slowly and shakily in the room to see that his eyes were open.
My heart picked up it's pace thinking it as a sign of hope.
But he wasn't blinking.
His slightly parted mouth wasn't gasping for air.
I could hear the sobs coming from behind me, but it was soon muffled out with my own sobs.
"Not even a goodbye?" I ask him as if he were to respond.
I wished he did.
But he didn't.
I don't know how long we were there crying for.
I heard someone at the door and when I looked up I saw a petrified Dally staring down at all of us with such pain in his eyes.
"I-.. Is he?" he asks as he slowly walks into the room.
Not one of us dared to answer.
Not one of us wanted to come to terms that our precious Johnny was gone.
He pushed me away from Johnny and when he looked into his lifeless eyes, he broke.
He took a painful deep breath and used his two fingers to close his eyes before he got back up and walked slowly to the door.
He stopped and looked at Johnny one last time, a few tears fallen from his eyes.
"So this is what you get for helpin people huh?" and with that he punches the door frame and runs out.
I go to get up to run after him, but a strong grasp held tightly onto my wrist.
I turned around quickly, "don't. Give him time and space" Darry says as he goes to sit in a chair.
The rest were crying.
All but Darry.
His eyes were just wide as he stared into the wall.
We were crying cause we were in pain from losing Johnny.
Darry wasn't crying because it was more than pain he was feeling.
Darry lost both a brother and a child.
That's beyond pain.
Pony finally walked in, all parts of hi covered in filth.
We didn't care.
We all ran up to him and pulled him tight in our embraces.
One big group hug, with out two group members.
I think that was all Pony needed to know what happened to his best friend... his brother.
He started to cry.
But he wasn't alone.
We stayed there like that until the nurse came in and told us we had to leave.
I recognized that nurse.
That was the nurse who almost let Dally die, the one I punched.
She looked at me frightened, and was about to step away, but before she could I nailed her right in the jaw... again.
Then we walked out not daring to look at our dead brother.
***
The Curtis house was for once quiet.
It wasn't filled with the usual background noise of the TV.
Or the loud chaos from Steve and Soda arm wrestling.
Or the noisy pillow fights Dally and I would have on a regular basis.
It was silent.
Painfully silent.
No one knew what to say, and no one knew what to do.
The sudden blaring ringtone coming from the phone spooked all of us as it was the first thing to make a noise for the past three hours.
Darry got up to answered it.
The rest of us continued to sit in silence.
He hung up the phone with wide eyes and he looked at us.
"Dally's in trouble. The cops are after him."
And that's all it took for me to jerk up from the couch and burst out the door.
I started to run as fast as I could trying to find Dally, and figured the blazing sirens would be a good place to start looking.
My feet were blistered from running so far and so hard in converse, but I kept going.
My lungs were on fire and begging for me to stop, but I only ran harder.
It was worth it because I spotted Dallas's limp figure running tiredly to an alleyway.
I ran even faster, ignoring the burning pain in my legs, the aching pain in my feet, and the pushing on my chest.
I just kept running.
Soon enough I was in the alleyway with Dallas.
And then I was tackling him to the ground.
He started to kick and punch at first, but then he opened his eyes and relaxed a little when he saw that it was only me.
"Gracie, jesus christ" he says.
I couldn't talk due to my heavy panting, but instead dragged him behind a few boxes and a garbage bin.
"What... were... you... thinking?" I ask in between heavy breaths as I hold back my urge to slap him.
"I lost Johnny" he says as tears started to flow down his cheeks.
"We all lost Johnny, but you don't see any of us getting chased by the cops" I say trying to knock some sense into him.
"What did you even do?" I ask worried.
"I robbed a store" he says.
I sighed in relief a bit.
For some reason I thought it was going to be so much worse.
"With this" he adds holding up a heater.
I jumped at the sight of it.
"Jesus Dally, put that away" I say fearful of getting shot.
"It's not real" he says pointing it at me and pressing the trigger.
I jumped, but nothing happened. Only a slight click could be heard.
"Relax, I wouldn't shoot you" he says, "oh sorry for getting scared after you just pulled a heater that I thought was real on me" I say rolling my eyes.
"You know. Even in tough situations you still have attitude" he says with a smile.
"Dallas Winston you better not be smiling while you are being chased after by cops" I tell him with a serious expression on my face.
His face straightened out again.
"Johnny's dead" he says as he slams his head back against the brick wall.
"And you will be, or wishing you will be if you get caught by these cops" I say trying to lift him up so we can make a run for it.
He doesn't move.
"Dallas come on" I say strictly.
"I don't deserve to live" he says as he slumps down in his seat.
"It doesn't matter anymore, I lost Johnny" he says with a few more tears dripping onto his shirt.
I straddle his legs and make it so that he's looking me in my eyes.
I put both hands on his cheeks before I take one off and slap him as hard as I can.
His eyes widen, and his cheek reddens from the impact.
"Dallas Winston you listen to me" I tell him sternly.
"We all lost Johnny, that's something we will never be able to forget, but we need each other. We can't lose you too. We need you. We're family. Stop being so selfish and think about your other family. Don't make us go through that pain again. Don't make me go through that pain again." I tell him while looking straight into his eyes.
His breaths calm down and his eyes soften a bit.
"Okay" he says.
He shakes his head, "let's get out of here" he says grabbing onto my hand tightly.
I look out from behind the boxes and look down at the street to see if we were clear, but I couldn't see anything.
I heard voices coming from opposite sides of the alleyway.
"Looks like were gonna have to chance it" I say as I lead him up from the boxes and out to the streets.
I look to my side to see if anyone is there, but before I could look to the left I hear a loud bang.
And then Dally's on the ground.
I look at him horrified as I see blood already spilling out of him.
I look up to see three police officers holding their guns up.
"Ma'am are you okay?" one of them asks, "did he hurt you?" another ask.
I couldn't answer their question, and instead I fall to my knees and hover over a bleeding out Dallas.
"Hey, hey, you're going to be okay" I tell him hoping that I was right, but when I looked back down at all the blood, I didn't have high hopes.
I couldn't hear my sobs, or my own voice as I spoke.
"Dallas. Please say something" I tell him.
"Please. Don't die. Please don't die on me too, I love you" I say through sobs.
"I love you" I say again just wanting him to say it back, to know that he was okay enough to talk.
"I-" he begins to say, but blood came out from his mouth and caused him to gurgle instead of speak.
"Looo-" he couldn't finish.
Because he had just died.
AHHHH I thought this chapter was going to be longer.... so sorry if it's too short for what you were expecting because I thought it was going to be longer.
DALLYY AND JOHNNY NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
How do you feel right now?
I'll let you know that this is not the last chapter.
....
I'm sorry for this chapter...