THE COLOR RED | DALLAS WINSTON

xxxi. NEW BEGINNINGS

CHARLOTTE LAZILY DREW ON HER PAPER MENU, shading between the lines. Her pen scratched the paper nervously, praying that Brooklynn would walk in to say goodbye. But her friend was late, terribly late. But she would have waited all day if she could have. Every time the bells on the door jingled, she paused her art, looked up, and imagined Brooklynn was looking around for her. But that never happened.

Dallas arrived instead, sliding into the diner booth with his mischievous smile. "Ready?"

She looked out the window, looking for that gray Pontiac. It never pulled in with its usual rumble over the pavement. Brooklynn was gone before Charlotte was awake. She didn't initially think anything of it, Brooklynn was an early bird. Dally got himself lunch to go and they were on the road. Well, they were until he made a harsh right turn, speeding towards North Tulsa. 

"Where're we going?" She asked, looking over at him

"Forgot somethin'." Dally replied, soon pulling up to a curb, hitting a trash can in the process. "Don't bother." He said when she got out of the car to clean his mess

He walked her up to a house in dire need of a paint job and gardening. The greaser knocked on the door before walking in. The boy from the papers, Ponyboy, and the class clown who skipped graduation, Two-Bit, were sitting around with cards in their hands. 

"So this is the unlucky lady." Two-Bit laughed, dropping his cards to shake Dallas's hand. Ponyboy offered Charlotte a nod of acknowledgment, before cleaning up Two-Bit's mess.

"Didja stop by to' say bye t' Stevie and Soda?" Ponyboy asked. Then the eldest Curtis, Darry, walked into the crowded room. Charlotte remembered him from her early days at Will Rogers. He was a big football stud and hung out with a bunch of Socs too. 

"Yeah, did that yesterday." Dally replied, lighting a cigarette, dismaying Darry. "How y' doin, Superman?"

Charlotte looked on awkwardly. Darry asked for a quiet moment with the jailbird, kicking everyone else out. It was clear neither Two-Bit nor Ponyboy were gung-ho about Charlotte. Perhaps they blamed her for Dallas's abrupt departure. There wasn't a proper way to clarify it was all the JD's idea, that she didn't plan on going anywhere, stealing him away from his gang. 

Eventually Darry and Dally walked back out, hugging it out one last time before Dallas walked down to the car. Charlotte took one last look around before getting in the passenger side.

He drove past the cemetery without a word. She was so close to asking if he was going to stop to say his last goodbyes to his friend, Johnny Cade. But he didn't stop. He didn't stop to eat until she asked to eat. He didn't stop to sleep until she begged him to. Last glances of Oklahoma faded to the flat monotony that was Indiana and Ohio. Then there it was, a sign welcoming the pair to New York. A week of driving was coming to fruition. 

Days of aching from the car and endless boredom from unending highways and pit stops were drawing to a close. This was the luscious introduction to a new life. To new beginnings. New York, the land of the unknown.