Who would've thought

Dal's advice

"Dally." I stated. The boys looked at me. "Dally'll know what to do." Johnny nodded his head in agreement. "Where do we find him?" Pony asked. I knew exactly where. "At Buck Merril's place. There's a party goin' on tonight. Dal told me about it."

We headed over to Buck's place quickly. I knocked loudly on the door and Buck answered. I'd been at his parties with Dallas a few times, so he recognized me. "Whatta ya want?" He asked Johnny and Pony. He then noticed me. "What's up, Addy?"

"Hey, Buck. Listen. We gotta see Dally. It's really urgent, kay?" I told him. "Well, sugar, he's kinda busy at the moment..." Buck looked over his shoulder at the wild party. We looked, too, and wished we didn't when we saw what was goin' on in the living room.

"Come on, just tell 'em it's Aiden, Johnny and Pony." I gave Buck a pleading look. He huffed and went off to find Dally. I knew Buck. You could bully him into doing anything. He was a very persuasive guy.

Dallas came to the door and leaned against the frame. He wasn't wearing anything but a pair of jeans.  "Okay kids. Whatta ya need me for?" And Johnnny told him the whole story, including the part I didn't want to talk about, earlier.

When Johnny finished, Dallas grinned. "Good for you." He gave Johnny a pat on the back. I rolled my eyes. "Dal, you sure you ain't drunk?" He shook his head. "Nah. I'm sober as a turkey." I raised my eyebrow. Okay then... I'm guessing he's drunk.

"Sorry to get you away from the party. We figured you could get us out if anyone could." Johnny apologized. Dally glanced over his shoulder. "Shoot, kid. I was in the bedroom."

My face turned red and so did Pony's ears. "Glory, but your ears can get red, Ponyboy. It wasn't anythin' like that. I was alseep, or tryin' to be with all this racket. Tim Shepard and I had a run-in an' I cracked some ribs. I just needed a place to lay over."

Then Dally mumbled something about Tim being able to pack a punch. He sighed and looked at all three of us. "Well, wait a sec and I'll see what I can do about this mess."
He then looked over to Ponyboy and I.

(I'm quoting this right from the book. I know, I know. It sounds inappropriate!)

"Ponyboy, Addy, are you wet?" Dally asked us. I nodded my head through chattering teeth. "Y- yes-s" Pony replied. "Glory Hallelujah! You'll both die of pneumonia 'fore the cops ever get ya!" Dallas ushered us inside and up to one of the spare bedrooms.

On the way, older boys were whistling at me and checking me out. I flipped them off and Johnny put an arm around my waist protectively. When we got upstairs, he removed his arm and looked at his hand. There was Bob's blood on it. The blood that had soaked into my clothes when I was laying on the ground.

"Oh my god..." I trailed off, fiddling with the hem of my skirt. I looked like I was the one who killed Bob. If the fuzz found us, that's probably what they would think.

That's when it actually hit me. We're criminals, now. I squeaked and grabbed Johnny's arm. "This is bad... this is really bad. Oh my goodness oh my goodness. I can't breathe." I sat down on a stool and held my head in my hands. We're in some deep shit...

Dally closed the door behind us and went through Buck's closet. He found a giant brown leather jacket and tossed it to Ponyboy. "Dry off and wait here. Addy, I'll go find something for you to wear. At least Johnny's got his jeans jacket."

I took off my small sweater and threw it on the floor. "I'm gonna have to wash that out." I told myself. Dal came back shortly after with a plaid button up shirt, a gun and a roll of bills. He tossed me the shirt and gave the gun an' money to Johnny.

"Here, the guns loaded. For Pete's sake, Johnny, don't point the thing at me." I snorted as Dally spoke. "Here's fifty bucks. That's all I could get out of Merril tonight. He's blowin' his loot from that last race."

I started to put on the shirt. Once it was on, I studied myself in a small mirror in the corner of the room. "I think the sleeves are too long." Dal said as he walked up to me. "Here, roll them up." Dally helped me roll up my sleeves. "It's comfy." I stated.

"Yeah. It'll be cold where you're going." Dallas sat down on the bed and eyed us carefully. "Hop the three- fifteen freight to Windrixville. There's an old abandoned church on the top of Jay Mountain. They've got a pump in the back so don't worry 'bout water. By a weeks supply of food as soon as you get there an' don't so much as stick your noses out the door. I'll be up there as soon as I think it's clear."

Dallas sighed. "Man, I though New York was the only place I could get mixed up in a murder rap." Johnny shuddered and gripped my hand. I squeezed it comfortingly. I was still freaking out, myself.

I grabbed my sweater again and Dally walked us back to the door. As we stepped out, I turned to thank him. "Thanks, Dal. Really, for everythin' that's going on, we couldn't've made it through without ya."

He ruffled Johnny's hair and patted me on the back. "Take care, kid." I heard him whisper as we ventured off into the cold night.

This chapter was a bit shorter, but that's okay. We still covered the main details. I'm so excited to get to writing the days in the church, because in the book and movie they just do a time skip. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Stay Gold! 💛