HOW TO FALL APART AND GET STITCHED BACK TOGETHER // DALLAS WINSTON

3.5

Six months earlier...

"You're jealous of Sylvia, I can see it in your face," Angela accused, pointing at me from her spot on Kathy's bed. I was sitting on the floor near the closet, using a mixture of Angela and Sandy's makeup pallets to do my eyeshadow. It was another Friday-night sleepover, where all of the girls would decide to meet up at someone's house and watch movies, eat snacks, gossip, etc.

Well, not all the girls. Just me, Ophelia, Kathy, Evie, Angela, and Sandy. If we invited every woman on earth to Kathy's bedroom, there wouldn't be enough room. We would run out of oxygen, and snacks. So, it was just the six of us. Our small, tightly knit, group of girls. We were all connected through the gang. Kathy was dating Two-Bit, Evie was dating Steve, and Sandy was dating Sodapop. Angela was Tim Shepard's sister, who was friends with Darry and Dallas. I was friends with Ponyboy and the rest of the bunch. Ophelia knew everyone else because she was friends with me.

But it doesn't really matter how we met, all that matters is that we were friends. Well, friends that loved to accuse me of things, apparently. Especially being in love with Dallas Winston. They weren't wrong, but I could never admit it and I hated the constant reminder. Dally had just gotten out of jail after being locked up for three months and I was looking forward to seeing him again.

"Why would I be jealous of Sylvia?" I pulled the brush away from my face and looked up. I looked over at Sandy and Evie, to see if they would back me up. They stayed silent. "I mean, she's a good-looking girl and everything, but I really have no reason to be jealous of her."

Before Angela could reply, Kathy's mother called for her from downstairs. "Angela! Your brother's here! He says he has to give you something- your hairbrush!" I knew that Tim wouldn't walk all the way through town to give his sister a hairbrush. He may love her, but not that much.

Angela seemed to be thinking the same thing, "Tell him to come upstairs!" Everyone quickly put embarrassing things like old yearbooks, extra tampons, and dirty clothes away, before sitting back down and trying to act natural.

There was an awkward silence before there was a firm knock on the door. "Come in," Kathy said.

Tim Shepard opened the bedroom door, stepped inside, and handed Angela her hairbrush. He began speaking in Spanish, "Entré para demostrarle al rubio que le gusta tu amigo." I then noticed Dallas, standing awkwardly in the doorway. It was the first time I had seen him in months, and he looked just as good as he did before, just something about him seemed different. He had a colder look on his face. It softened as soon as he saw me. He smiled at me, and I smiled back at him. The room could have been on fire beside me and I wouldn't have noticed.

He mouthed to me, "I like your," he gestured towards his face. ¨Face stuff." He gave me a thumbs up, "It looks real good."

"Thank you," I mouthed back. I wanted to curl into a ball and scream.

"How are you and Sylvia doing, Dallas?" Kathy asked.

"We're not," Dallas responded. Everyone in the room either gasped or put their hand against their mouth in surprise, except for Tim. "Yeah turns out she was cheating on me, with some jackass from Tiber Street." He looked down at the ground for a second, "I mean, it don't mean nothing to me, man."

"I'm sorry Dal," I said. "It was right after you got out of jail, too. Whatever, she's just an ass. She doesn't deserve you anyway. I hope you find someone that treats you right." I had this voice in the back of my head that said Dallas and I could date now that Sylvia was out of the way but I ignored it. I genuinely felt bad for Dallas, I didn't want to make it about myself.

"Thanks, doll," he looked back over at me. "I hope I find someone that treats me right, too." I didn't respond, I just smiled at him. He looked back at me. He was so pretty. It made it so hard to stop myself from thinking about what it would be like if I dated him.

"You ready to get out of here, Winston?" Tim asked.

"Oh uh," Dally looked away from me suddenly and ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, that's fine." Tim said a quick goodbye to Angela, and they turned to leave the room.

Before I could stop myself, I called out, "Dallas." He turned around to look at me. "Please try and not get yourself thrown in jail again. We missed seeing you around."

"Thank you, I'll try my best," he said, and with that, they were out the door.

The room stayed quiet as we heard their footsteps trail through the hallway and back down the stairs. Once we knew they were out of earshot, Ophelia turned to me and said, "That's your reason." I hated the fact she was absolutely correct. I spent the rest of the sleepover in the clouds, replaying that simple interaction between Dallas and I in my head. I let myself explore the unrealistic unattainable idea of our relationship developing into more than friends, and all of the wild things that would happen because of it.

Little did I know that Dallas was doing the same thing. 

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Author's Note: 

Hey guys! I am so sorry that I haven't updated this story in ages. I went through some stuff and really lost my motivation to keep it up but I'm back now. I decided to rewrite this filler because I just wasn't happy with the way it turned out. 

While I was gone, I wrote a poem reflecting on my relationship with the Outsiders called "Why Can't You See Me?" and it went to Teen Arts State in Poetry and got awarded at the Salute To Ocean County awards. I have received so much love in regards to the poem. I've had people that made fun of me for liking the Outsiders apologizing to me about how they were treating me, along with other members of the fandom telling me that I was able to put into words something they never could before. It's been a really nice feeling. If you want to read the poem it is posted on my Instagram (@leonellowinston)

I'm on summer vacation right now. I'm going to be a Junior in high school in September. It's crazy to me how much I've grown and changed since I began this story in December of 2019. I have a lot of free time on my hands to write, draw, and explore my creative mind. I'm currently rereading The Outsiders cover to cover for the first time since middle school and it has reentered me into my love for the gang. Not like I ever really left, but still. I feel so inspired to keep working on this story. 

I'm not going to say "expect a new chapter soon" or anything like that because I'm not really good at following through with those promises, as y'all have seen. But what I will say is that I am almost done with chapter four and I promise it has been worth the wait. 

I can't wait to show you guys what I have in store for you, 

- Leonello