After graduating college, Austin Curtis returns home without really knowing what to expect. Time has helped her mature, but through the years she spent away from Tulsa, there was a nagging in her mind about how she left everyone...more specifically...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Dallas's fingers grasped tightly at the sun-cracked steering wheel of the roofing company's work truck. He wasn't quite sure how Darry had convinced or connived Dallas to join him at lunch, and as much as he wanted to avoid Darry's sister, he couldn't help feeling a sliver of anxious hope that she would be there. Dallas hadn't thought through the intricacies of maintaining his friendship with Austin's family upon her return on account of simply not planning for Austin to ever come back to Tulsa. He knew she was destined for bigger things than their city, but for some reason her heart was stuck in their quadrant of Tulsa. He didn't know why the girl who had the world ahead of her joyfully returned to her poverty-stricken corner of the world, but because she did, Dallas was left to either get over his discomfort of being around her, or dismiss himself from any outing she was at. Currently, he tried to ignore his discomfort through the shredded and sunbaked shards of leather of the steering wheel stabbing uncomfortably into the palms of his hands.
Darry had glanced over and noticed Dally's knuckles were blindingly white from his hold, and he gently waded into conversation with Dallas. "You know the truck won't get away from you. Ease up on the grip, bud." Dallas listened to what Darry said, but didn't put any stock into his words. His distraction prevented him to offer a witty response, and Darry knew something had to be bothering him. "You okay, Dal?"
Hesitantly, Dallas brought his eyes from the road to Darry's. They had been working at a new housing development on the South side and still had about ten minutes left in their drive, so there was no escaping Darry's question.
"Sorry about bringing Sylvia last night," Dallas sighed the words in a single, quick breath as he brought his eyes back to the road.
"She's come over before, Dal. Don't worry about it. We're all used to her attitude—"
"No, Darry, I shouldn't have. I know how much she hates your sister—"
"She doesn't hate Austin for no reason, Dally." Darry wanted to respond to Dallas the same way he would Sodapop or Ponyboy, however a snarky tone was laced in his words and he raised his eyebrows at Dallas. "She hates her because you—"
"I know." Dallas's voice was flat. He knew the words that would come from Darry's mouth, because you gave Austin the necklace. Everyone knew what that necklace meant to Dallas, and they also knew what it meant that she still had it. The cold air began to slip through the truck's vent and pierce his lips and Dallas tried to refrain from remembering what happened on the roof; however, the second he realized he was beginning to strangle the steering wheel again, he turned his face to Darrel once more. "I kissed her last night," Dallas admitted in a cold and empty tone—the one Darry quickly learned Dallas assumed whenever he was being vulnerable.
"Yeah?" Darry awkwardly shifted in his seat as he tried to balance himself in being a good brother yet Dally's only confidant. Because he hardly ever knew how to toe that line, he often stuck to vague words that would allow Dallas to feel comfortable enough to share what he felt was important while also allowing himself to not gain too much information into Austin's love life and maintain her trust.
"We were on the roof and airing out the past a little bit, and I—I just had to know if there was anything still there, at least for me."
"And?" Darry pushed Dally's shoulders backwards towards the seat-back, and Dallas realized he had been hunched over the steering column in an attempt to not callous his hands once more. Dallas focused on relaxing his posture, and slowly brought his eyes to Darrel's as he continued their conversation.
"Darrel, I know I still care about Austin, but after these past few years—after getting to know you better and after everything you've done for me—your trust and respect means a lot, and if you don't want me to—" Dallas took a deep breath and Darry knew the younger man was trying to find the right words to keep himself from losing his temper. All Dallas has done in the past year to turn his life around and right his wrongs was to have a chance with her, and he hated that he was even considering abandoning his heart if it was against Darry's wishes...yet there was part of him—a part that he hated—that wanted to use Darry's potential 'no' as a shield from any potential pain that relationship could cause him. The right words never came to Dally's brain and he envied the vocabulary of the other man's sister.
"Dal." Dallas had never witnessed a soft side of Darry, at least not until after his last jail sentence. As a teenager, Dallas didn't know how Austin, Sodapop, or Ponyboy could stand to be around Darry, let alone listen to him as he barked orders. Darry had always been so stern to Dallas in their youth—which usually resulted in Dallas doing the exact opposite of whatever Darry had warned him about—but Austin had been a blessing on her older brother the same way she had been to Dallas. The gentle tone Darrel had assumed when saying Dally's name was his way of showing the progress he'd made in his own hot-headedness. "You and Austin are both adults now. You're able to make your own decisions. That being said, when you first told me about everything that happened between you and Austin, I punched you in the face." Dallas nearly winced as though he could feel the blow all over again at the mention of that less-than-pleasant interaction. "And although I would punch that stupid kid again, you—the man you are today—are someone I could see my sister being with."
"Do you think she could forgive me?" The words left Dallas's mouth before he could register his brain had even thought of them, and the tips of his ears flooded a dark pink as he realized what he'd asked. He'd never asked Darry to insert his opinion into his relationship with Austin, for fear Darry would play to his sister's side rather than as an impartial party.
"I think the question is can you forgive her? I know you don't like to say it, but—"
"She hurt me when she left, Darry. I can say it."
"You and I both know Austin ain't the kind of person who would deliberately hurt someone she cares about."
"That's it though, Darrel. Was it an accident—a one-time mistake that landed me in her crossfire—or am I not someone she cares about anymore?" Dallas's voice was growing weaker as his level of vulnerability heightened, and Darry rested a reassuring hand on Dally's shoulder.
"Maybe that's something you need to talk to her about, Dally." Darry remained silent for a moment until he realized his words had done little to help his friend cope with yet again being thrust into an uncomfortable situation with his younger sister. Inspired by the cracks in Dally's armor of masculinity, Darry too decided to offer up a piece of vulnerability. After a deep, shaky breath, he spoke. "Gracie and I were best friends before she went to college and before my folks passed away. It killed me that she didn't come to the funeral, because I know how much she meant to them. I didn't know if her reason for not coming was because it would be too painful for her or if it was because she didn't care about them in the way I thought she did. When she came back him, that was a question I needed answered before I could decide if I wanted to seriously pursue our relationship. It was difficult to bring up and even more so to get through, but we left that conversation feeling much closer than when it started. Sometimes you just have to talk, no matter how much neither of you wants to."
Dallas nodded as he took the exit towards where the restaurant was located, and began to think through how he could go about talking to Austin. They were both so stubborn and hard-headed that he had little hopes for discussing what he needed to calmly. He didn't expect to blow up on her last night, but he was still hurting, and maybe she did the same because she was too.
