So You're Leaving?

house of memories

Dally walked slowly down the street, watching the clouds moving across the sky. He had gone to a party at Buck's the night before and caught up on some much needed sleep afterwards. The party had been more of the same- lots of drinking, one night stands, loud music, and fights He figured he must've been pretty tired, he really hadn't enjoyed himself that much. He usually participated in all of the "activities" that Buck's parties had to offer, but last night he'd sneaked up to his room around midnight and fell asleep. Dally sighed. He didn't really know where he was going, but he'd had enough of Buck's place for a while. For whatever reason, nothing about Buck's place was appealing to him at the moment. In fact, nothing about Tulsa was appealing to him. For the past few days he'd wandered around aimlessly, not finding much of anything to do. He didn't feel like hunting up trouble like he usually did. He just felt...empty. He had been to the Dingo a few times, back and forth to Buck's, and he'd walked by Tim Shephard's place once but didn't stop. He didn't feel like talking to anyone. He hadn't been to the Curtis place at all since the day Johnny left. He knew they were probably all starting to wonder where he was, even though it had only been a few days. He knew if he waited much longer to make his appearance, he'd get the stupid questions the minute he walked in the door: "Where ya been, Dal?" "What's wrong with you, Dal?" "Were you in jail again?" etc.. So, with a sigh, he turned down the street towards their house. He didn't have anything better to do to occupy his time. As he got closer to the house, he spotted Ponyboy sitting alone in the lot. He felt a twinge of saddness for the kid. He'd been so miserable since Johnny left. Everyone had, but Ponyboy was taking it especially hard. Dally walked over to him and sat down. Ponyboy just stared at the ground. Dally took a long drag on his cigarette and looked at the sky. "So what's new, kid?" he asked calmly, not really expecting much of an answer. Pony paused for a moment and then looked at Dally. "Not much," he shrugged. Dally nodded. There was a long silence. They both just sat there looking at the clouds. "Ain't it about dinner time at your house?" Dally asked. He was getting a bit hungry. "Yeah," Ponyboy scowled at the mention of dinner. "I ain't eatin" "Huh?" "Darry sent me to my room without dinner," Ponyboy said angrily. He started pushing dirt around with a stick. "I got a D on my math test 'cause I didn't study. I swear, he just can't stand me. He'd sent me straight to a boys home, if not for Soda-" "Hey, kid! Don't talk like that." Dally scolded him. Then he softened his tone a bit. "Darry's tough on you because he wants you to be able to get out of this dump. You know that." Ponyboy didn't respond. He just kept staring at the ground with the scowl on his face. Dally stomach turned a bit. A memory flashed in his mind of Johnny and how Dally would find him out in the lot every so often just sitting by himself, not doing anything in particular but being away from his house. He of course never looked angry, like Ponyboy did right now, but Dally knew Pony well enough to see the hurt behind his eyes. He felt a sudden surge of protectiveness for the younger boy. This surprised him. "Why didn't you study?" Pony swallowed. His voice was quiet when he answered and there was a catch in his throat. "I don't know. I couldn't concentrate. I ended up writing a letter to Johnny. Then he called and I talked with him a while... And then the next night I called him and talked to him for about an hour. Darry's pissed about that too. He just got the phone bill." Dally sat up a bit. "You talked to Johnny? How's he doin'?" Ponyboy shrugged and poked at the dirt again. "Ok, I guess. He's stayin' in a real nice place and I guess everybody's nice to him...His grandmother's kind of funny..I don't know. He just sounds kind of sad." "Funny? Funny like Two-bit?" "Huh?" "The grandmother... you said she was funny." "Oh. No, I think funny like... weird. She's makin' him start school out there and I don't know. He says she just... looks at him funny all the time. She's just weird." Dally chewed at his lower lip. He wasn't sure he liked that. But he wasn't really getting enough information. He started to take in the rest of what Ponyboy had said. Johnny was sad. He certainly didn't like that. But it's only been a few days, he thought. He just needs some time to adjust. That didn't make him feel any better. He wished that he had gotten to talk to Johnny. He berated himself for not showing up at the Curtis' more after Johnny left. He should have thought that Johnny would call. Dally stood up suddenly. "Look, I'm gonna go get some food. I'd drag you along, but your brother would kick my head in- I'm assuming you climbed out your window and he doesn't know you're out here?" Pony nodded. Dally smirked. "That's what I thought. All right. Go on back inside," Dally stood and took a final drag on his cigarette before crushing it out in the ground. "I'll come around to your window in about half an hour. I'll bring you a burger." Ponyboy brightened a little and looked at Dally, surprised. "Thanks, Dal!" As Pony stood Dally got closer and pointed his finger at him, somewhat threateningly. "You better get some work done tonight. And if you let on to Superman that I'm doin' this for you, I will beat the tar outta you, you got me?" Pony nodded and ran off towards the back of the house. Dally watched him go. He shook his head and headed off towards The Dingo to find something to eat. He was suddenly not as hungry as he was before. He needed to talk to Johnny.