Author’s Note: I don’t own The Outsiders.
Soda and I were leary about going to Buck’s, but Sugar said she’d be fine and that we should just go. Not worth arguing and we really did need some time out of the house. Since everything had happened, the tension in the house seems to rise daily, especially with Dally in jail. Sugar seems angier, but at least it’s better than being completely empty.
As we walk up to Buck’s I can make out a group of already plastered greasers sprawled on the ground outside. “Hey Curly,” Soda says as Curly shoots us an evil grin while lighting a weed. “Someone’s looking for you inside Curtis.” I wasn’t sure which one us that was directed to, but seeing as Curly was extremely drunk, I’m not sure he knew who it was directed to. Soda and I just looked at each other then turned to the door. Curly tried to prop himself up on the stairs and failed miserably. I just laughed as we both walked into the noisy house and headed to the front room. There were no open seats so I just sat on the open spots of the floor as I lit a cig. Soda stood over me, “You wanna beer?” I just shook my head no. I really wasn’t in the mood for a drink. I really wasn’t in the mood to be here. Soda walked out of the room and I continued to stare at all the various and loud people around me.
I caught myself staring at the couple making out on the pool table, but when they noticed me looking their way I quickly fixed my gaze out the window. I couldn’t really see out of it being that it probably hasn’t been washed in a few years, but anything was better than being looked at like a pervert. Soda walked back into the room beer in hand and I noticed someone following him. “Pony, look who I found.” I stood up in shock. “Dally?”
“Hey Pony.” He gave slight smirk.
“You break out or something?” I continued to stare at him. I was half expecting the cops to come rolling up horns blowing any minute.
“The Shepard boys bailed me out.” This was news to me, I knew Tim and Dally were buddies, sort of, but I would have never thought they would have cared enough to bail him out. “Said they wished I had gotten a chance to shoot those guys.” I shifted my eyes to the floor. The Shepard gang might be full of loud mouth hoods, but they are always there when we need them. “Is your sister here?”
Soda answered “No, and I think it would be better if you stayed away from her, Dal. She really isn’t ready to see you. I know you care and all, but…” Dally interrupted, “I know, man, just checking on her.” I sat back down on my spot on the carpet. Various greasers and hoods approached Dally to congratulate him on his jail break while Soda went off to charm the ladies. The party was same as always, a few fights, a few broken beer bottles and lots of making out. About an hour in, I was ready to go. I made my way through the house to find Soda chatting it up with some red-head in a short skirt. “Soda, I’m ready to leave.” He gave me a disappointed look, but quickly ended his conversation and walked in my direction. We headed for the front door when a dark figure stood in the way.
“Hey, can I spend the night at your place?” Dally asked trying to keep up the tough man tone. “I don’t think that’d be a good idea, Dally.” Soda looked at him trying to be understanding, but he knew he really needed to stand by Sugar right now.
“Look man, I’ll stay on the couch. I’m sure she’s asleep by now anyway. I’ll be gone before she wakes up. I just need to get some sleep tonight and I’m not gonna get any here.” He had a point, this place was much too rowdy and he probably didn’t get much sleep in jail. Soda eventually gave in and we started for home.
On the way we talked about everything but jail. What had been going on at the DX, a little about Johnny, me and school. Even talked about Suanne and me, or what I was hoping would come from it. We were at the house in no time.
Soda had Dally wait outside until he made sure both Darry and Sugar were in bed. Looked like they had probably been in bed for about an hour since I could make out the loud snores through both their doors. Soda signaled for Dally to come in and I grabbed him a blanket from the hall closet. Dally got himself comfortable as Soda and I headed for our room. Neither one of us bothered to take off our clothes. It was just easier in case we needed to go tend to Sugar in the middle of the night. I layed down and flung my arm over Soda’s shoulder.
Groggily, I can make out yelling coming from Sugar’s room next door. Takes me a second to snap out of my sleep induced haze, but I’m up on my feet and in her room in a matter of seconds with Soda right in front of me. We stand in the doorway completely still as we watch the events unfolding in front of us. Darry has Dallas on his feet with his arms behind his back trying to drag him away from Sugar’s bed. The rage in Darry’s eyes is unbelieveably scary and I don’t want to be in his way when he comes barreling through though I can’t seem to move my feet to get out of the way.
“Dallas, what the hell are you doing here?” Sugar shouts as Dally continues to wrestle against Darry’s grip. “Darry, please, I need to talk to her. Please,” Dally drops to his knees, but Darry isn’t stopping. “Please.” Darry continues to toss him around as Sugar gets up from her bed. Dally starts repeating softly, “I’m sorry” over and over again as tears begin to escape his eyes.
“Darry, let him go.” She looks Darry right in the eyes and he releases Dally as he now completely collapses on the floor onto both knees. He starts to rock back and forth, “I’m so sorry.” Darry backs up to the doorway next to us and stares in shock.
None of us had ever seen Dallas break down like that. He wasn’t strong anymore. He wasn’t the tough guy. He was now a lost little kid. Sugar stood above him staring down. I could make out a tear fall from her eye as her face softened at the sight of the shaking man in front of her.
She slowly knelt down onto both knees across from him. “Dallas,” she said slowly lifting his chin up to face her. She met his eyes with hers and softly said, “I forgive you.” He puts his arms around her and pulled her into a deep hug. I saw Darry go to pull him away, but Soda grabbed his arm. We all watched as Sugar returned the embrace all the while looking over at us over his shoulder. “I forgive you,” she time I knew she wasn’t only talking about Dally, she was forgiving us and maybe, even forgiving herself. I looked over to find Soda and Darry both in tears as my eyes started to well up. I guess that was something we all needed to hear.
Dally and Sugar continued to hold each other tight as the three of us took our cue and headed back to our rooms.
Though the days ahead would still be hard, we all knew that things would be a lot calmer. We had all been forced to face the events of the past few weeks. Little girls truly are angels from heaven who need to be protected, but, unfortunately, no matter how hard we try to control all that’s around us, some things are just out of our control. All of this has truly taught me the old adage is true, “To err is human, to forgive divine.”
Author’s Note: I will be writing a sequel so be on the look out.
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