reckless 【 the outsiders 】

nine.

"Y'know, the guys have been askin' a lot about you," Dally said to the girl, quietly so only she could hear him. She wouldn't notice but he felt like if anyone else heard him telling her to meet his friends, they'd know he was lying about why. "I think you'd better hang out with them sometime."

"Sure thing, just tell me when," she says quickly, taking some of the popcorn from the bucket Dally had bought.

What he wouldn't admit was that Dallas really wanted her to meet the people he hung out with. He met her friend not too long ago and knew her brothers a little bit. He felt it would only be fair. Not to mention, a small part of him wanted the guys to like her and he really thought they would. "Wanna go tonight?"

She thought for a second and upon realizing that tomorrow was Saturday, she had to decline. "I gotta get up early for work tomorrow, how about after?"

"Yeah, I'll pick you up."

"You sure?" she asks, looking at him, "It's pretty far. Levi goes about a hundred whenever he drops me off and it still takes, like, thirty minutes.

"Sure, yeah. I'll go one-fifty."

She rolled her eyes, "Don't do that." Dally and Leigh continued watching the movie and after an hour of Leigh laughing on and off at the dumb jokes and Dal laughing at her in quiet adoration, he drove them away.

"You goin' home?" he asks.

"I oughta," she says, "I think I said earlier I gotta work." He drove to her house and she hadn't realized just how tired she was and went to sleep on the way. He drove slowly, compared to how fast he usually goes, to avoid bumps and potholes disrupting her sleep as soon as he realized.

"You better get up before I drive off," Dally says, shaking her lightly. She opened her eyes and looked around until her eyes adjusted and landed on the boy in the driver's seat. She smiled and closed her eyes again. "Much as I like you sleepin' in the car, I'd better get it back to Buck."

She groaned and got up out of the car, still not completely awake. "Thanks, Winston, night." He nodded back to her an drove off after she went into the house.

The next day, she got dressed up in her usual: striped shirt and dark red shorts, with a matching bandana to keep her hair out of her face. Her face was not yet done but she had put on her favorite red lipstick and would leave it to one of her co-workers to help with that. She was hoping Dally would take her home before taking her to meet the gang he hangs around.

Dally made it there about thirty minutes after she was let out and her legs were freezing from the heavy wind but she didn't mind at all. She did get nervous, though, seeing that he had two kids with him. She figured the two were Johnny and Ponyboy since they looked so small. Those were the two she explicitly remembered him talking about.

"Hi, y'all must be the friends that was dyin' to meet me or somethin'," Leigh greeted with a smile, climbing into the backseat of the car.

"I'll take the back if you want," Johnny says to her.

"No, no big deal. I don't mind the backseat." Dal sped off and Leigh decided to say something to fill the awkward silence in the car. "So you're, uh, Johnny and Ponyboy, I'm assumin'?"

She got the names and faces mixed up and pointed out Ponyboy as Johnny and vice versa, so Pony fixed it for her and the silence continued. It bothered Dally, but he knew it was probably because he was in the car so he stopped at the store and insisted on being the only one to get out.

She tapped on the window of the car, trying to think up something to say. Leigh was never one to talk first either which made talking to other quiet people rather hard. The silence was uncomfortable for her and she had a hard time believing it wasn't for the two boys. "Y'all are real quiet, huh?"

"Pretty much," Ponyboy said, "We do stuff, we don't talk."

Johnny took a moment to really look at Leigh and he noticed her face had loads of makeup. He saw how she wore her short shorts and he thought she was just like any other grease girl Dally went out with so didn't bother trying too hard to get to know her. He figured she had an expiration date just like everybody else and wasn't sure why Dal would want the gang to meet her so much. "I gotcha. So what brings y'all along? I'm guessing it wasn't just to pick me up."

"Dal picked us up and we just went around for a few hours."

"Where were y'all goin' after?"

"My house," Pony answered. She nodded, biting her lip and looking back down at her outfit. "If you don't want to--"

"No, it ain't that. I just gotta go home first. I don't wear this stuff out 'cause it kinda makes me look trashy, which is probably what you were thinking when you just looked at me like that," she says pointing out that she noticed Johnny examining her. Johnny blushed and turned around to face the store Dally was in, completely embarrassed.

"Sorry."

"No big deal. I work in front of people all day long, I can always tell when someone's inspectin' me." Leigh pulled her shorts down as far as they'd go, hoping to cover a little more skin. Dally came back out after a couple more minutes of dead silence and drove out of the parking lot as quickly as he could. Leigh, Johnny, and Ponyboy could all see the cashier run out behind him and could imagine him cursing Dallas out. "What'd you get us?"

"Here." He handed Johnny a big bag of M&Ms, Ponyboy got a Pepsi, and Leigh was given five tootsie pops.

"God, you suck. You know I hate these."

"Do you?" Dally said with a smirk.

"Yeah. And I need you to take me home so I can change."

"Why?"

She sat the tootsie pops on the seat between her and Ponyboy. "I don't like wearin' this stuff out. Your friends are gonna think I'm some sleazy chick."

She was a little surprised when Dally didn't fight her but figured it was because his friends were with them. Ponyboy looked down at the tootsie pops, each a different color and Leigh was wondering if he'd ask for one or just stare at them. It took him a while to ask and she didn't know if it was because they were hers, even though she clearly states she didn't like them. "Can I get one of these?"

"Sure, I don't mind," she replies, "Y'all want one? Johnny? Winston?" Johnny took two out of her hand and Dallas said no. The rest of the ride was filled with quiet, scattered conversation taking place every few minutes. Leigh was hoping the rest of the guys weren't as quiet as these two.

edited 12-28-21