RED [dallas winston]

one

"ow" the girl groaned as her head yet again hit the cold hard glass on the train window. she prayed a bruise wasn't starting to form there, and decided it was best to give up on sleeping.

she had already been on the train for around an hour making the journey back to tulsa. despite spending every other summer with her dad she was never able to make friends like the ones in oklahoma with her mom, and she couldn't wait to see them.

the summer had dragged out, long and boring. she missed the parties and staying out late, she missed the chaos in tulsa. she missed ponyboy waking her up at 5 in the morning when she fell asleep on the curtis' couch to watch the sunrise with him, or dragging her outside to watch it set. she missed steve randle claiming everything that happened to harley was payback from when they were eight and she tripped and fell, smashing her face right in his birthday cake. she missed darry scolding her to make mature decisions, funnily enough it made her feel seen and appreciated. she missed johnny cade of course, his company had always been one of her favorites, the two could sit in silence yet feel so heard. she missed two-bit mathews, always cracking jokes when she was down until she forgot why she was even sad. and of course harley missed sodapop curtis. he wasn't the best at writing so she had hardly heard from her best friend all summer, not that it would affect their friendship much. the two seemed to be able to pick up right where they left off. hell, harley even missed dallas winston, and she hardly sees him anymore. he seemed to always be locked up when she was in town.

by the time the train arrived in tulsa harley was grinning ear to ear. she pulled her bag off the train and scanned the nearly empty station hoping darry had gotten her letter. due to the fact she worked a lot, harley's mom wouldn't be able to pick her up, harley didn't mind though, and in fact she quite admired her mother for how hard she worked. harley didn't grow up a soc, but a greaser, next door neighbors with steve randle.

    harley continued to scan the station but had seemed to not check behind her because she was suddenly scooped up in the air by arms wrapping around her stomach. the arms belonged to none other than sodapop curtis, and the duo were both smiling ear to ear. as sodapop let her down harley adjusted herself for another hug, facing him this time.

    "god your such a harley hog." steve groaned causing harley to start laughing.

    "a what?" she questioned, still laughing. the two boys were both still in their dx uniforms and seemed to have just gotten off work in time to pick her up. she figured darry was at work and thing one and thing two were the best option.

    "a hog now come here." steve said pulling the girl into a tight hug.

    "no that's cool, i didnt need to breathe or anything." harley said causing steve to let go with a laugh.

    the three ventured off towards the curtis house catching up as they drove. harley's mom wouldn't get off work for a few hours so they figured she wouldn't notice if they didn't take harley straight home.

     when they arrived harley was tackled in a hug by two-bit causing laughter to irrupt from ponyboy. she rolled her eyes and tacked ponyboy in a hug thinking it would annoy him, but to her surprise he hugged her back.

    harley sat on the couch beside steve who had already found himself invested in the episode of 'Tom and Jerry' that was playing on the tv when they arrived. the room filled with random how are you? how was your summer? questions from the gang as they all caught up. sodapop's head layed in the girls lap as his legs hung off the couch. ponyboy had sat on the ground in-front of them next to two-bit who shuffled between listening to the conversation and watching the tv. the conversation had died down and harley sucked in a breathe as the door opened revealing johnny cade and dallas winston.

    she didn't know why she sucked in a breathe, she wasn't sure why her hands went sweaty, or why when johnny had tried to say hi to her she didn't hear him. harley wasn't sure why for the first time in her life she found her eyes drawn to dallas winston. he looked a lot different from the last time she'd seen him. his hair was longer, he was slightly tanner, and he had definitely grown some muscle. however she was drawn out of these thoughts when she heard johnny repeat her name. "hey johnny how have you been." the girl said smiling as johnny took a seat next to ponyboy and yet again they were all engaged in conversation. dally was leaned against the wall watching the scene played before him, sometimes speaking to two-bit or johnny, but he had yet to so much as acknowledge harley's presence. she hoped he still remembered her at least, but from what she remembered he was just a dick and she shouldn't read too much into it.

"i swear to god two-bit if you bark one more time i'm becoming a cat person" groaned harley. the gang had been lost in conversation that moved from how have you been? to look what animal impressions i can do drunk! two-bit had been trying to prove he had a realistic bark, he didn't.

"don't become a cat person cat's are stupid" steve stated, somehow thinking he made a point.

"so are you but we keep you around." sodapop laughed playfully punching steve. this caused fits of laughter from everyone but harley had found herself less focused in the conversations and her eyes drifting over to dallas. unfortunately for her he noticed.

"i remember you harls, put away the pouty lip." was all he said for her face to go bright red. she hadn't noticed a pouty lip or even being that disappointed until he said it out loud. dally, however, found this hilarious. harley looked around desperately but fortunately no one was paying attention to their conversation and probably assumed dally's laughter was about whatever sodapop had said. however harley was saved when darry walked in the door and called for her claiming she needed to go home before her mom got off work. dallas winked at her on her way out before returning his attention to the gang and the girls face turned red yet again.

a/n: yay chapter one!! harley, steve, and sodapop best trio!!