𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖚𝖙 𝖍𝖊𝖗, ponyboy curtis

° chapter four.

"get lost, jackasses."

     A cold shiver trickled down Vernita's spine as she stared at the cold metal object that Dallas Winston clenched bravely, pointed at the two boys in front of her.

  A gun. Why did Dallas have a gun?

"Whoa whoa," the boys' eyes widened as soon as they spotted Dallas, and the gun in his hand. They slowly turned their backs to Vernita, so she took this chance and backed away slowly. She watched as the two boys raised their hands in surrender, seemingly scared out of their wits.

    It was almost comical.

  "Don't get yourself into more trouble, hood-rat," one of the boys growled out, his voice slightly giving away and trembling. "You know guns are illegal around here. I'll get the police called on you. Do you really wanna go back to the cooler?"

  Dallas' jaw clenched, his knuckles turning white around the gun. Vernita could hear her heartbeat pounding in her ears, as she wasn't able to take her eyes off of the gun in the Dallas' hand. She knew it wasn't pointed at her, but she couldn't help the way she couldn't breathe with that gun out in the open. Someone was gonna get hurt.

  "I don't give rat's ass about the fuzz or goin' back," Dallas growled out, like a wild animal; exuding nothing but anger. "Get lost, jackasses."

  The door behind Dallas burst open, almost flying off of its rusty hinges, revealing a slightly winded Buck, who was missing a shirt. He was red-faced, and confused-looking. Buck's eyes flitted from a pale-looking Vernita behind the two Socs, who were being held at gunpoint by Dallas.

  Buck let out a heavy sigh, running a hand over his face tiredly. "Dally, what in the Sam Hell is goin' on out here!?" he exclaimed, completely clueless.

  "These assholes were chasin' this poor damn girl, and she looked like she needed some help. 'S all, Buck." Dallas' tone was stone cold, like concrete, but a small tone of reassurance shone through to Buck, who crossed his arms over his chest, upset.

  "Oh what the hell," Buck murmured to himself, before rolling his eyes, stepping further up onto the porch, his eyes flickering back to the Socs. "You two, get the hell outta here, before I go get back-up, which you clearly don't have. I don't want anything to get messy."

  It was like one of the cartoons that Vernita would watch on Sunday mornings back in Montana; the way that the Soc's ran off as if they were Roadrunner from Looney Tunes, would have made her burst out laughing, if she weren't so achy and light-headed.

  As soon as the Soc's were long gone down the road from Buck's, the aforementioned man, along with Dallas, hurried towards her, noticing how weak and exhausted she looked.

"Vern!" Buck called out, rushing to her side, practically holding her up. "Did they hurt you? What happened?"

  Buck continued to murmur out more and more endless questions as he led her inside of the bar, away from the people who lingered outside of the building, and who had watched the entire thing go down. But Dallas, who followed behind Buck, loomed over Vernita and Buck, as they both brought her up to her room.

  Vernita had never run that far, or fast before. She felt like she still couldn't breathe, and that her legs were still sprinting below herself. "I'm fine," she gulped and shook her head as they opened up the door to her room. "Just ran into those lovely people and wasn't interested in what they were offering."

  "Those assholes," Dallas scoffed out under his breath from his spot from behind Buck, who set her up on her bed. "Why, I oughta. . ."

  "Dally, you're gettin' on my nerves," Buck gave him a warning look. "I'll talk to you later. Now, go get this poor girl a glass of water."

  Dallas spared a look at Vernita before grumbling some curse words underneath his breath, and then disappeared out of the room. Buck sighed, then turned back to Vernita, slight concern on his face as he frowned, observing her tiny figure.

"Were there only those two of 'em?" he asked her, in a hurried worried tone. "Did they hurt ya in any way? Did they . . ." he trailed off, seemingly unable to bring himself to finish his sentence.

"No, they didn't do anything to me, unless you count chasing me down for half a mile. And I think it was just the two of them; I didn't see anyone else," she explained, a little bit more calm, but still shaky. She appreciated Buck's concern for her well-being, something that wasn't very familiar to her, but it was nice. Really nice.

"Okay then kiddo," Buck cleared his throat, nodding as he stood up from his place beside her on the bed. "You still got that knife I gave ya?"

Vernita nodded, fishing the knife out of her jacket pocket, where she had put it after she had held it up to those Socs' faces. "I have it right here," she held it out for him to take.

Buck shook his head and shooed her hand away. "Keep it for now. Now that you've pissed off those damn Socs, they'll probably be all up on ya like a sharks on a minnow. You'll need it." Then, without a word, he walked back out of the room.

  "Thank you!" Vernita called out after him, not being able to help the grin from falling across her face. It felt really nice to have someone who cared at least a little bit for her well-being.

"For what?" a smirk, that was almost undetectable, was on none other than Dallas Winston's tan face as he slunk into the room, holding a small glass of water in his hands. He walked up to Vernita's side, and handed her the glass of water, which she hesitantly took.

Now that she knew he had a gun and he definitely wasn't afraid to use it, it made her even more weary of him. She very much disliked people who carried and used guns so casually.

"Thanks," Vernita murmured timidly, taking the water from his hands, averting her eyes from his cold, calculating gray ones, and took a sip of the water. Then, she put it on her bedside table, which was wobbly and looked like it was about to fall apart.

After a few moments of pure silence, Dallas had moved back to the doorway, but still stood there. "You sure you're all good?" he asked her, a sliver of actual emotion showing on his cold face, just for a split second, but Vernita couldn't really tell what it was, as she looked back up at him.

At the girl's lack of response, he scoffed. "What? Do I scare ya or somethin'?" His eyebrows were now raised, as if he were amused. But his lips stayed in a straight, serious line.

"No," Vernita finally responded quietly, shaking her head. "I've dealt with scarier people."

Dallas rolled his eyes. "So? What is it, shorty?"

Vernita glared at him softly, her nose scrunching up with disgust. "Shorty?" she chuckled out humorlessly. "You could do better than that, Winston."

A smirk tugged on the corner of Dallas' mouth yet again. "So, Buck told you who I am?"

Vernita nodded. "Somewhat."

Dallas took one last glance at her before walking across the hallway. "Good," he grumbled out, opening the door that Vernita inferred was his. "Maybe that'll teach ya to leave me alone." And without another word, he slammed the door behind him.

"He's good at making first impressions," Vernita commented to herself, chuckling.