Work Text:
I’m not gonna lie, I was scared when Dallas pulled out that plastic bag and offered it to me. I’ve barely drank, never mind got high behind the drive in past curfew, but you don’t really act chicken in front of Dallas Winston, so I took it.
We sat down and leaned against the back of the movie house. I rested my head along the wood, staring at the stars as he yanked the bag out of his pants again and started messing with it. I looked away, feeling nausea bubble in my stomach.
He lit the joint and passed it to me, and I inhaled like I would a cigarette. I choked on the smoke, it burned deep down my throat and into my lungs and Dallas had the right to look sorry and a bit amused and pat me on the back.
“M’sorry. Shoulda warned ya.”
“S fine,” I choked out. I wondered if he could get us any beer. The weed was making my head spin.
I could hear the movie start behind us. It was quiet back here, sometimes Shepard’s gang hangs out behind here and messes with the kids that wander around, but it was empty and still tonight.
Dal took the blunt from me and took a drag, exhaling slow and grinning at me. I don’t know why he chose me out of everyone to bring here. I mean, I knew, but I didn’t.
He dug with his heel in the grass till he found a piece of broken glass, probably a bottle or something. Holding the joint in his mouth, he smirked at me, fiddling with the glass in his palm. It reflected the moon, it glinted like a blade. He examined it and then tossed it a few feet away.
“Here-try this.” He yanked the thing out of his mouth. “You just inhale when I tap your shoulder, alright?”
I nodded and he took another drag, and then leaned towards me. He was kissing me again, there I was for the second time this week, kissing Dallas Winston. I don’t know what I expected to come out of this, to be honest.
I barely felt the tap on my shoulder and I inhaled, gasping, and I felt the burn again. Not so bad this time. I laughed a little. He did too.
“You’re such a lightweight, Curtis.” He dug his heels into the ground again before pulling his knees back up towards his chest. The grass was coming up.
“Lookit the moon,” I mumbled, pointing in the general area it would be. He did, which surprised me, so I did too.
It was bright and full, and for some reason I tried to think of what happened during full moons. My mom was always into that stuff, moon cycles and how they affected us, what they meant, but I couldn’t remember any.
“You crying, Curtis?”
I hadn’t realized it, but I was, tears were welling up in my eyes. I didn’t really know why I was crying.
“Mussbe the weed.” I rubbed my eyes with my sleeve. Leave it to Dallas to call me out too. Any normal person would have let it be.
He shook his head and smiled.
We stared at the sky for a few more minutes, and my head was in his lap and I was laying down. I could hear the faint sounds of the movie still behind us, the night air was cold enough that I wished I had brought a jacket.
It had been an hour—he was high now, and I was too, but calming down. It had been mostly silent, his hands had been in my hair, running through the length of it quietly. He’d ask me if I was okay now and then, and I’d mutter the same affirmative every time.
I could hear the credits of the movie rolling, or what I assumed was the credits because it was accompanied with a crappy Beatles song. Dallas laughed.
“You wanna dance, Curtis?”
A “sure” slipped out before I could overthink what exactly dancing with Dally would mean or if he even meant it, but he was lifting my head off his lap and standing, before offering me his hand.
I felt like I was in some corny movie and I took his hand and grinned up at him, and he returned the look. He pulled me onto my feet.
He wasn’t a bad dancer, and I couldn’t tell whether I was surprised or not. His hand fit in mine and the other one slipped around my waist.
“Hey, relax.” His voice was softer and kinder when he was calm. He took my hand that was in his and rested it on his shoulder, and then helped the other one rest on his hips.
I leaned into him a little, and he smiled when I rested my head on his shoulder.
I reached and linked my hands behind his neck, and he placed his hands on my waist, and we were dancing.
Or, he was kind of swaying me back and forth. I was trying but he was better than me at dancing. Probably all the time he spent at Bucks. With girls.
The Beatles crooned on and I wished there was a better song to have our first dance to. I don’t know why I was thinking about it. Or our first dance. First dances were for couples.
“You okay?”
“Yeah. Thanks for bringing me out, Dallas.” I thought about Darry at home, and how I’d have to sneak in the window. Pony would be awake and I’d have to bribe him to not let Darry know, and cover for him next time he snuck out to see Curly.
“Anytime, Curtis. You need to take it easy, working just as hard as that brother of yours.”
I closed my eyes. The song was ending, he sighed into my hair. I’d have to go home, climbing in the window, he’d have to pass out on the couch and it would be over. This perfect, beautiful moment would be gone.
The song died out, and I heard the cars start and the crowd in the seats start to shuffle. We should get out of here before somebody noticed us, two high kids slow dancing behind the movie house, but I couldn’t bring myself to care just then, so I held on for a moment longer.