Partners In Crime | Dallas Winston FanFic

Chapter Three: Buck's

That night, right after we parted ways with Cherry and Marcia, Pony and Johnny went to the lot. I would've gone with them, but when we passed Johnny's house, his parents were yelling and you could faintly hear the sound of shattering glass. He seemed pretty upset, so I let Ponyboy talk to him in private. That was mistake number one.

Instead, I went to Buck Merrill's Bar to find Dally. I felt bad about the way we ended things at the drive-in and— no. I don't like Dallas Winston. I don't like Dallas Winston. I don't like Dallas Winston. 

I just wanted to see him, that's all.

When I was at the front door, I questioned whether or not I should turn back. That was mistake number two. The smell of alcohol was nauseating and the blasting Hank Williams music was giving me a pounding headache already- and I wasn't even inside yet. God, love makes you do weird things. I pounded on the door and after a few moments it swung open to reveal Buck. He was tall, bearded, and wearing a cowboy hat. 

"No one under 21 can come in," he said in a stern voice, "This is a bar, y'know?"

"I'm not here to drink, I'm looking for Dallas Winston. Have you seen him around here?" I asked as politely as I could.

"Yeah, he's upstairs in the bedroom. You need to see him?" 

My face turned bright red and I filled with jealousy. Really, Winston? Flirting with a soc one minute and in the bedroom with some other girl the next? God— what do I see in him? This is the exact reason I can't  like Dally, it would never work. We're just too different.

Just then, a figure limped down the stairs, a figure I recognized as Dallas Winston. Buck turned around, saw him, then went right back behind the counter and resumed wiping down glasses. 

"Man, how am I expected to get any sleep when this terrible music is blaring all night?" He complained to no one in particular, rubbing the tiredness out of his eyes. 

When he made his way down the steps and to the door, he noticed it was me. He had a deep cut running down the right side of his face, his ribs were taped, and he was covered in bruises. He looked like he'd been hit by a train.

"Lex, what are you doin around here at this time of night? Come to see me?" He asked with a smirk. 

"Well, kind of..." I admitted, "Can we go upstairs? It's freezing out here," I asked. He had to be cold too, he wasn't even wearing a shirt. 

He led the way upstairs and to a small room where he lived part-time. Sometimes he'd crash on our couch, other times he'd spend the night in the lot with Johnny, but most of his time was spent here. No girls in sight, though. Thank god. He sat down on the twin-sized bed and I reluctantly came to sit beside him. There was some awkward silence, then I finally said what little I had prepared.

"I just wanted to apologize for how I treated you at the drive-in," I said uneasily, "What you do is really none of my business, so I shouldn't have tried to step in."

"You're good," he replied, "I got into a fight with Sheppard afterward, so I've pretty much been punished for how I acted tonight," he said, looking down at his taped up ribs. Did he feel— sorry?

"Yeah, you look pretty beat up. You sure you're okay?" I asked him.

"Man- how do I deserve someone like you, Lex? You come over here and apologize when you didn't even do anything wrong, while Darry's probably at home worried bout you. Then you're worried about my well-being even though I acted like a complete fool tonight?" He asked, a sense of amazement in his voice. Like he'd never heard of such behavior before. But then I realized, he probably hadn't. 

"It just seemed like the right thing to do—" I started, but was suddenly cut off by someone knocking on the bedroom door. 

"Dal, ya got more people wanting to talk to ya!" Buck yelled over the blasting music.

Dally got up and winced in pain, then tried to cover it up with a cough. I could tell, though. 15 years and you start to pick up on some things, like how Dallas Winston tries to hide his pain from the people he cares about. When I looked down the steps to see who was at the door, my jaw almost dropped. There, standing in the doorway holding a bloody switchblade was Johnny. And standing beside him, soaked and shivering, was my younger brother.

I ran back into the bedroom when I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Sure enough, Ponyboy and Johnny followed Dallas into his room, both shaking uncontrollably. Dally started to fling open drawers, obviously trying to find something, while the two of them just stood there staring blankly at me. 

"What have y'all done?" I asked, my voice filled with worry and dread.

"J-J-Johnny k-k-killed a soc." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note:

✨Romance is happening✨ 

At first, I had no idea what I wanted to do for this chapter but I think it turned out cute! I'm super excited to write chapter four, because there'll be even more ✨romance✨ haha. This chapter was the most fun to write so far, because it strayed the farthest from the book and movie; I got to use my imagination :)

Hope you enjoy and stay gold 🌅