Chapter Text
"We reached the vacant lot just as Dally came in, running as hard as he could, from the opposite direction. The wail of a siren grew louder and then a police car pulled up across the street from the lot. Doors slammed as the policemen leaped out. Dally had reached the circle of light under the street lamp, and skidding to a halt, he turned and jerked a black object from his waistband" (Hinton 153).
Dally whipped the dark object out of the back of his waistband and I thought: you blasted fool. They don’t know you’re only bluffing. And as he raised the empty gun, my stomach lurched and became a block of ice. I dove at Dallas with no thought in my head except NO—NOT HIM AND JOHNNY BOTH and I tackled him to the ground with a strength I never knew that I possessed—especially since I had barely been able to stand a minute ago.
“Ponyboy!!” I heard my oldest brother bellow, and Soda gasped, almost a yelp, sounding both horrified and pained. I clutched Dally tightly and croaked out,
“Get it—somebody grab the gun—!” And from the corner of my eye I saw Steve snatch it up with murder in his eyes; but before he could point the heater at the cops, Soda wrenched the wretched thing out of his best friend’s grip and said, half-sobbing,
“Here, take it. It’s not loaded.” My brother throws the heater (non-threateningly) toward the closest officer. Two-Bit takes hold of Steve's shoulders gently but I’m not watching anymore because I feel Dallas shuddering underneath me and I roll off of him to check if he's okay. I realize that he’s sobbing.
“Damnit Ponyboy Curtis—why did you stop me?!?” He looks at me with his eyes so wild and broken that I also start to cry.
“I—I couldn’t let you die, Dally. I couldn’t watch…my best friend is dead—and my parents—and I-I don’t want to lose another person I care about.”
“I can’t stick around, kid. Johnny was the only guy I ever—” he swore explosively because Dallas Winston has probably never used the word ‘love’ in his life and he isn’t going to change his ways today.
“You stupid idiot,” I mutter before I stop to think. “Give the rest of us a chance to care. You’re one of us, Dally. You’re the strength of the gang, man. You can’t just go. Now—without Johnny—” my voice broke. “We need you. I need you—you’re the only one who loves Johnny as much as I do.” I know he doesn’t believe a single thing I’m saying, and I know that I’m being stupid and selfish and also that yes, I really had just called Dally Winston a stupid idiot and he probably wants to kill me…
And he’s obviously not waiting all that long to do it because I feel a wallop against my chest and everything goes black, even the glow from the lone streetlight above us—but no, I wasn’t walloped. Dallas is HUGGING me! He just sat up with this intent look on his face and grabbed me around the chest, and now he’s squeezing the daylights out of me. I hug him back, pressing my bruised and bloody face into his still-slightly-shaking shoulder.