The Outsiders: Tally

Bottled Up

Tim discovers Dallas all beat up from an altercation with his father.

-

"Dally? Dal?"

Tim Shepard hasn't heard from the blond in a while. For a week, to be precise. Each day without seeing Dallas made Tim grow more and more worried. With his anxiety becoming the greatest it has ever been, he decided to search for the blond. He checked Buck's, the Curtis' household, the Dingo. He was desperate enough to check the drive-in out of all places. His second to last guess was the blond's own house.

The curly-haired greaser entered Dallas' house, noticing the dangerous amount of trash covering the floor.

"Dallas?" Tim cried out once again, looking around the disheveled home. He made it to the hallway and checked through each open room. He suddenly looked into Dallas' room and spotted the blond in his bed, his face covered by his pillow.

"Hey," Tim said, his voice low. Dallas was curled up, almost as if he was trying to protect himself from something.

Tim sat on his bed next to him.

"I haven't seen you in a while. You okay?" Tim asked him, placing a hand on the blond's shoulder. Dallas suddenly flinched, trying to cover his face even more.

"I'm fine," Dallas mumbled into the pillow. Tim raised an eyebrow at him.

"Why're you coverin' your face?" Tim said.

Dallas remained silent. Tim lightly shook him jokingly.

"C'mon. Let me see that pretty face," he said, reaching towards the pillow.

"No," Dallas grunted, holding the pillow tighter, "Just... come back later. I'm not in the mood right now."

"What's goin' on?" Tim said. From what he can see, there was an apparent bruise on his right cheek.

"Lift up the pillow."

"No."

"Goddamn it, Dallas. Just do it!"

"I said no!"
Tim suddenly grabbed the pillow and ripped it away from Dallas' face, freezing when he saw it.

Dallas' nose was stained with dried blood, the part of his sheets below his face covered in it. There was a large bruise on his right eye, which added to the bruise on his cheek. His bottom lip was slightly swollen and cut.

"Who did this?"

"Tim--"

"Who the fuck did this?"

"My old man."

Tim let out a noise of anger and got up.

"Is he still around here? When did he leave?"

"Don't even bother. He left a while ago."

Tim sighed and looked back over at Dallas. The blond looked so defeated. He hated it.

"I'm gonna get you some ice and tissues, okay?" Tim said. "Stay there."

-

Dallas held a make-shift ice pack to his face while Tim cleaned up his nose and lip.

"He hurt you pretty bad, huh?"

"Don't say that. Makes me feel worse."

"Sorry."

Tim gently turned Dallas' head, taking a closer look at the blond's injured lip.