Tatiana continued to see her new found friends, and whatever Dallas was, a couple of hours a week. A couple of hours a week turned into a couple of days a week. Now, they saw each other nearly every night.
Dallas continued to flirt with Tatiana, however she soon realised that he also continued to flirt with other girls; he must've forgotten she worked in the centre of town, meaning she got front row tickets to the show. You had to pass the diner in order to get to the Nightly Double, which was always Dallas' first date place. So, Tatiana would watch him go by with another broad under his arm, and he picked up a fair few girls over the couple of weeks...and by a fair few, I mean half the population of Tulsa.
It bothered her, of course it did, but she had heard of him and the games he played before she met him. Tatiana was somewhat already prepared for this situation.
She sat on the couch, Soda laying between her legs. Ponyboy was sat on the same couch, Two-Bit, Johnny and Steve on the chairs. Darry was washing the dishes in the kitchen, and all was content.
The door swung open, Dallas strutting in and lazily knocking the door with his ankle to shut it with a bang. He shrugged his jacket off his shoulders and threw it onto the arm of the wooden chair in the corner, which attracted the all the attention he so desperately wanted.
"Where've you been?" Ponyboy was the first to ask the question which was on everyone's mind. Dallas wanted someone to ask the question, which was why he made sure he was arriving home later than usual that night. Tatiana hadn't shifted her gaze from the fuzzy screen.
"I was out with that hot broad I picked up at the DX." He boasted with an obnoxious, cocky grin. Everyone's immediate reaction was to look towards Tatiana, who furrowed her brows at them and avoided making eye contact with Dallas.
"What?" She questioned with a slight laugh. They expected her to break out into an uncontrollable fit of tears, yelling and screaming at Dallas until she could make a sound anymore. However, she couldn't be any calmer, which began to agitate Dallas already. He wanted a reaction, and he wasn't satisfied with the one he received from her.
"You're not angry? You've been warming up to each other for weeks and he's still off picking up girls." Sodapop appeared disgusted by him, causing Dallas' smirk to grow even wider.
"I don't care, I've got a date on Saturday anyways." She shrugged, relieving the irritation and annoyance towards Dallas within everyone else in the room. They mentally cheered her on, stopping themselves from saying anything to watch the conversation between them unfold.
"Oh you do, and who is this date?" Dallas crouched down, resting his folded arms on the arm of the couch, staring up at her with a knowing grin. He had this guilt trip many times before; make up a fake date, grab the next guy that walks by and pay him to keep his mouth shut.
"A guy came into work today and asked for my number. So, I called him when I got here and he asked me to go to the movies with him." She didn't falter or stumble over her own words, and her body language was as confident as could be.
"And you're going?" Dallas appeared confused, no one had ever done this to him before. It was a completely new situation for him, and he didn't like it one bit. He was Dallas Winston for crying out loud! He always got what he wanted.
"Yeah. Why wouldn't I?" Lily replied with a smirk that would usually belong to Dallas.
"You just met the guy! Y-You don' even know 'im!" He exclaimed incredulously, using his hands to also express his current emotions. Dallas' accent seemed to become stronger when he was frustrated, which Tatiana had soon picked up on.
"I know you've been flirting with other girls for weeks now, Dallas. How stupid do you think I am?" She chuckled, Dallas' ears and cheeks burning red as he discovered that he had been caught.
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"It's not nice to be played at your own game, is it?" She grinned, patting his head. He hit her hand away and stormed out of the room, resembling a baby elephant as his feet pounded along the floorboards. Another door was slammed and that was their queue to begin celebrating.
The others all smiled proudly at her, Two-Bit and Darry also giving her a round of applause, to which she mimicked a bow before laughing.
"Finally, someone's putting him in his place." Soda thanked her in a way, patting her knees with playfulness.
"Have you actually got this date? No offence to you if you ain't." Johnny questioned, worried that he may come off as sounding rude and impolite. Although he was very close to Dallas, his main fault was that really didn't know how to treat women right, which would become quite detrimental in the far future.
"I do actually, he's called Robbie. I think he works in the gas station near you guys." She glanced at Steve and Soda, who craned their heads to look at her.
"Robbie Lachance?" Soda asked, Tatiana jumping slightly as she recognised the name instantly.
"Yeah! That's him. You know him?" Tatiana returned another query, to which Steve and Soda nodded.
"Course we do! He's a real good guy." Steve replied, Sodapop agreeing with his statement.
"God, that's so relieving to hear. I wasn't sure you'd all like him." Tatiana sighed in relief, her hand laying on her chest as she felt her rapid heart beat calm back down to normal.
"We ain't your parents. You can date whoever you want, as long as they treat our li'l Ti right." Two-Bit spoke, Tatiana smiling and melting at the thought of these guys wanting to protect her. Her mother obviously wanted to protect her daughter, but these boys would literally fight whoever decided to hurt Tatiana.
"Thank you, it means a lot." She thanked them genuinely, the gratitude shaken off almost instantly.
"Don't be thankin' us for nothin'. We wanna protect you." Darry came through from the kitchen, joining in on the conversation.
"I don't have a dad to make half joking half serious threats to any boy that comes around. It means a lot that I have you guys doing the job of him instead. I don't feel like I'm missing out on as much now..." Tatiana smiled at all of them, a few of them tearing up whilst smiling.
No one had to say anything, it was a conversation that could just end right there without an awkward atmosphere arising. The group glanced between one another, proud of what they had all achieved; they were all so young and had gone through so much, but they were currently around good people, and that's all that was needed to be able to carry on.
The silence continued until Darry broke it one final time.
"You're one of us, Ti. We're there for each other, that includes you. And we always will be."
•••
"I won't cry, I won't cry, no I won't shed a tear Just as long as you stand, stand by me."
