This Might Hurt A Little-A Dallas Winston Fanfiction

Epilogue

We leave something of ourselves behind when we leave a place, we stay there, even though we go away. And there are things in us that we can only find by going back there.-Pascal Mercier, Night Train To Lisbon

Dallas and I went back to Tulsa seven years later. Things were more or less the same. Ponyboy had ended up in New York City, writing plays. He got married, which surprised me since I always saw him a loner.  We planned on visiting him after the trip to Tulsa but we just never got around to it. Still, he writes us letters every so often. We keep in touch with him and I think I miss him most of all. Darry is still fixing roofs, but with Sodapop and Ponyboy out of the house, he has a lot more money to spare. He had ended up marrying a girl, Brenda, and they never had kids. He claimed he already felt like a parent since he raised Ponyboy and Soda. That had been enough for him.

Sodapop stayed at the DX for a couple more years until him and Steve opened their own gas station and auto shop. They claim it to be the most popular one in town. Steve had ended up getting married but eventually his wife left him. He has two kids that drive him crazy but he loves them more than anything. Steve and I don't hate each other like we used to. Neither of us have the energy to hate anymore.

Sodapop never did get married. He says he just can't find it in his heart to settle down. He's still living life like he's 16 and nothing can touch him. I don't know what to make of that. He's as handsome as ever and whenever I meet his eyes I know the old flame is still there.

Two-Bit worked a random ensemble of odd jobs. He only kept them so he could get enough money to buy beer. He's changed the least out of anyone.

Mark ended up in prison. He killed a couple guys over a drug deal gone wrong. I wish I could say I was surprised. Dallas and I visited him in prison which was where he told he wasn't sorry for what he did and he would do it again in an instant. That made me glad he was stuck in that jail. It hurt me to see him like that, it really did.

Cherry had grown old and being a mother of three had taken a toll on her. Wrinkles have formed at the side of her eyes and she sighs often but, her eyes still lit up when Dallas and I visited her. She was the one who had to tell Dallas that Tim Shepherd had gotten killed in a bar fight. 

We never saw Memphis or Phoenix again. It didn't bother me and it didn't bother Dallas. That was enough.

I found it funny, the ways things turned out. From the outside, things hadn't changed but from the inside it was the opposite. The gang still got together at times, but it wasn't a thing like it used to be. Soc's and greasers had grown tired of the games. There was a new guy in Tulsa who tried to keep the peace. I'd met his younger brother, Rusty James, who did nothing but rave about him. Both of them were strange, but if things were peaceful I had no complaints. Grudge matches faded out. It wasn't necessarily good or bad, one way or another. It was just the way things turned out. Dallas and I ended up in Los Angeles. He hasn't changed much. He still goes and gets himself into trouble at night but he always comes back to me in the morning. We agreed to not have kids. Life is interesting with just Dallas and I. 

Dallas still has days where he doesn't get out of bed and the grief of Johnny is too much he can't move. Whenever he gets like that I call up Ponyboy and ask him what the sunset looks like in New York. I can't tell you why it helps Dallas but it does.  So in the end, things worked out the way they were always going to. The gangs spread out across the country now but it's for the best. It's a good way to be. Dallas and I have a few friends here who always ask Dallas to tell them his story. They all decided that his old life had been a living hell. Dallas agreed, but claimed it didn't suit him.

The end. 

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Thank you to everyone who read this. If you liked this story go check out my other on my page. Thanks again for everything. Peace.