Reckless

Chapter 3

   Soda looked up to see Dally asleep. He seemed to have dark circles under his eyes, his arms wrapped around Soda protectively, hugging Soda to his chest. Soda didn't want to move.
       Pony walked in worried about his brother, when he saw Soda's eyes open he darted away. Soda's eyes weakly closed again, the light hurt. The door opened and Soda felt a familiar touch on his forehead. It was Darry. Darry did this anytime one of them was sick. Weird, I'm not sick, Soda thought. A surge of nervousness went through Soda as he remembered he was still in Dally's arms.
    "Hey buddy, you awake?" Darry's voice was gentle and Soda's eyes forced themselves open. His blue eyes were strained by pain and exhaustion.
    "Who's sick?" Soda's voice came out hoarse and weak,
     Darry smiled, a hint of sadness. "You are, Pepsi-Cola. Scared us all half to death with that fever."
    Soda pushed himself away from Dally "What?" Soda asked in complete confusion. What happened?
   "You've been sleeping on and off for almost a day, we couldn't get a complete sentence out of you-you just kept asking for Dally, you wanted Dally." Darry stopped and rubbed his eyes. "Dal told us what happened-you must've hit your head or something, gotten a concussion, you've had a bad fever. You seem to be okay now."
   Dally stirred under Soda. Soda glanced up at the older boy's face and saw his brown eyes beginning to open. Dally looked down at Soda and his eyes softened, something only Soda noticed. Dally then turned to look at Darry.
   "Is he okay?" Dally said his voice deeper due to him just waking up. Soda blushed slightly. If his mind wasn't racing and his body wasn't in pain maybe he could've enjoyed this moment. Darry nodded. "He's okay. Just woke up a minute ago."
    Dally looked back down at Soda He seemed to be debating something, and then he gently moved Soda off of him and place him in the bed. He softly rubbed his hand on Soda's shoulder before standing up. "I should go." His eyes were tired, he sounded drained and stressed. Darry nodded. "Thank you. For staying."
    Dally didn't waste any time leaving. He didn't even glance back at Soda before closing the door. For some reason that hurt Soda. But why? It wasn't that deep He was tired and probably annoyed by being dragged into the mess.
    Darry cocked an eyebrow at Soda. Soda replied with a confused look, why was Darry looking at him like that. What did he do? "So, how you feelin' buddy?" Darry asked returning to a gentle voice and soft approach on Soda. Soda huffed and moved uncomfortably, "It hurts." Soda mumbled. Darry gave a lopsided smile and rubbed his hand softly on Soda's side.
"You know, you didn't ask for me or Pony once. All you wanted was Dally. What going on between you two?" Darry said using the same expression as before. Soda gave him a confused face before slowly drifting back to sleep, already exhausted by today.

   Dally rushed out of the Curtis house as fast as he could. He nearly stumbled over a half asleep Ponyboy and waved and a sickly Johnny. Johnny had finally gotten out of bed and was moving around now. He still was in pain and hurting but was nowhere near Soda in that regard.
    Dally had never seen someone so beat up, and for it to be Soda. He had never been so angry in his life. But he managed to swallow it, keep it down, and help Soda without exploding. But now, he was on his way across town. "Don't get thrown in the cooler again Dal." Darry had said less than a week ago, but that didn't matter. This was for Soda.
     Dally hunted around for a blue mustang, but with no success. That was until he saw an all too familiar Soc. Randy. Randy must have seen him too because Randy had started off in the opposite direction of Dally. Dally rounded the corner and cut him, off before pushing him to his car so he couldn't escape. "What the fuck is wrong with you!?" Dally raged. Randy panicked and looked scared for his life. Dally's reputation would cause even the cockiest Soc tears.
    "It, It wasn't me I swear. It, it was Bob. He, they, uh." Randy frantically mumbled spitting out the words. "Oh is that right?" Dally mocked gesturing to the barely visible switchblade in his pocket. Randy continued to struggle, dally was getting annoyed so he upped the scare factor. He wiped out the blade and put it to Randy's neck. "Why?" Dally demanded an answer. "They were angry. One of the Shepard gang members recently killed one of our buddies, Mike, they were taking it out on any greaser. That's why they got Johnny. But they weren't satisfied, when they saw your little friend Sodapop they decided to take it up a notch, punish him for just plain existing. You know, the rumor is Soda is gay?"
Randy mumbled. Dally was confused, he put the switch back in his pocket and shoved Randy down, and walked away. Dally made it back to buck's place and stormed through the door.
     All eyes went on him, but he didn't care, bad attention was the best attention. He ran up to his room and threw his jacket off in anger. Why was the world the way it is, it punishes the good and praises the lucky. Soda never deserved to be in pain, god Soda needed to be protected. Leaving your switch blade at home because you 'don't' like it, god he's an idiot. Or is he just a better person than Dally? Dally's brain swings him with questions like these.
      Dally hates the world, hates what if. The uncertainty of these questions that were better left unanswered cut him deep. If you kept focusing on what's real you don't get lost. Your mind doesn't float to the unknown. He learned that at a young age. When his father was hitting him he knew better than to daydream about if his father was a better man. It would just make things worse. Keep things real even when it hurts.
      Dally sat in his bed and leaned his back against the wall exhausted. Dally pulled his switch blade out again a spun it in between his figures. That blade was his real best friend. He's had it since he was 12, he pocketed it from another JD. It's been in his life longer than anything else. Back when he was home in New York he'd use it to protect himself from his father. 
     Dally's old man was a messed up person. Dally never could comprehend how his mother ended up with him. But up until he was 7 his mom would stop his drunken dad from harming him. She would draw him butterflies and race cars, and tell him stories of pirates. She was a good cook and an amazing listener. Her goal was to eventually leave Dally's dad and run to Texas. She loved Texas, that's how Dally got his name. She wanted to save Dally so bad. But cancer doesn't care if you have a kid who needs you. Cancer doesn't care that you are only 24. Dally lost the only person he loved at 7.
     From then on it was a game of survival. His dad got worse, way worse. He went from threatening Dally to hitting him with beer bottles, punching him, kicking him. Dally was only a kid, he couldn't out power him. So Dally lived just like how Johnny does. He would spend almost all his time out of the house as far from his dad as possible. He would end up caught in fights with older boys, and being pressured into bad things like smoking and stealing.
    It was rough but he was happy, well happy is a loose term, but you get the idea. He had gotten a lot stronger, a lot faster, and a lot wiser. He was a young street rat, but he could fight with the best of them. And beat it out of there when the cops showed up. He only saw his dad at night, but that didn't mean he was safe. His dad would beat him senseless if he didn't sneak in without a sound. Dally eventually learned to wait till his dad was black out drunk to come home. That was for 3 years. Then one night his 'friends' pushed it too far, he had tried to steal a mustang, but the fuzz got there. He was sent to juvie for a year and a half. Got to turn 12 in a reformatory. Cops don't know how to party.
      Once Dallas got out, his dad was fuming. He had beaten Dally so bad he nearly passed out. His dad had choked him before slamming him to the floor. He couldn't catch his breath, nor could he stand back up to run. Betrayed by his body he was helpless. His father kicked him hard in the gut and yelled through his tears that if he didn't stand up he'd kill him. Dally couldn't stand up, he didn't have the strength, so he fumbled around in his pocket and found his switch, he stabbed his dad, but only in the ankle, he'd never kill his father. His dad fell over grabbing on to his new wound. Dally grabbed the knife and a stack of cash and took off. His mom never made it to Texas, but at least he could.

    He never made it to Texas. At around 14 he stumbled into the small town of Tulsa Oklahoma. He was completely out of cash and was unhealthily thin. He had become an amazing thief and fighter, he was strong for his size.
       One night he left the motel to leave town, but a group of rich kids surprised him. They started beating on him, he fought back, but he was out numbered. He thought it was game over until 6 boys chased off the kids. One who seemed similar to his age kneeled over him, "Are you, okay man?" The boy said with a slight accent. "I'm fine," Dally whispered. "Names Soda, what's your name?" The boy asked. "Dallas." "Nice to meet ya, wanna come home with us?" Before he could reply he was scooped up by the older beefy boy. They carried him home, and that was the night he became one of them. That was the first night in a while, he had a home. And from then on, he had a family.