reckless 【 the outsiders 】

fourteen.

Leigh didn't even know that her boyfriend was out. Not yet. A few times over the last two months, she had actually been going to Buck's willingly. She would miss him and go up to the room just because it smelled like him. She usually missed him the most at night, no matter what they were doing during the day, when it was too late for a call or a visit.

She was at Buck's one night at the bar babysitting her second whiskey and coke when Dallas was the only thing on her mind and she swore for a second she was hallucinating when she saw him heading up to his room with a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other. She could see him stumbling a bit and her mind started going a million miles per hour. She wondered the most: why the hell wouldn't he tell me he was out?

She followed him up to his room completely undetected and closed the door behind her. He finally saw her. He was both upset and a little happy. but the emotion he chose to display first is obvious. "Winston, what the hell?" Leigh grabbed onto his arm lightly and sighed; she missed touching him. "What are you doing here? Where have you been?Why didn't you call me or anything?"

"I don't know." His words were slurred and he took another sip before sitting his drink down.

She sat down and sat him down beside her. "Why are you so loaded?"

"'Cause I've been drinkin'."

"Funny," she groaned. She couldn't help but be a little annoyed. Drunk Winston was either very horny, clingy, or angry. Not her first choice for the way she'd wanna see him for the first time in months.

"God, do you know how good this skirt looks on you?" he asks, chuckling and playing with her miniskirt, raising it up slowly from the middle of her thigh. She pushed his hands away but he just attached his lips to her jaw instead. She sighed again.

"I don't wanna do this with you right now," Leigh says, standing up. "Have you been out long?"

He shrugged and took another sip from the bottle resting on his dresser. "Couple weeks, I think?" He took off his shoes and laid back on the bed.

Leigh couldn't help the cold stare that she was giving the boy on the other side of the room. He was restless and shifting positions on the bed while she stands motionless by the wall, her arms tightly crossed. "You didn't think to come see me?"

"It ain't like you missed me. You didn't see me neither."

"I missed you like crazy, Winston."

He rolled his eyes and put the butt of his Pall Mall out, trying to reach the ashtray but burning a circle into the wooden dresser instead. "Whatever. You were probably off with some other guy and sellin' coke to all your dancer friends and forgettin' all about me."

"I know you're only sayin' this 'cause you're blitzed but that don't make it less annoying."

"I missed you, y'know? Wished you would've visited me. You said you would."

"I've got a life of my own, Dallas, things came up."

He stood up and grabbed her, pulling her into him. She, distastefully, took in his scent at the moment: that of alcohol and leather. "My name sounds good comin' from you. Sucks that you only say it when you're mad at me."

"Can you stop?" Her patience was running out and she pushed away from him even when he held onto her for dear life. The room was dark, only a small lamp gave them a dim light but it seemed that Winston's drunken attitude brightened it up a bit; on the other hand, Leigh's irritation only made the room darker. His demeanor changed to match hers.

"Why didn't you come see me?"

His words were slurred but he sounded sincere. As sincere as one could when drunk off his ass. She actually did feel bad, she didn't know how important it was to him. "You said it didn't even matter."

He scoffed, "I say a lot of things I don't mean."

"I guess I forgot to tell you I wasn't psychic."

He scoffed, sober Dallas would've been able to acknowledge that she had a point, but drunk Dallas wanted to be understood. "It gets kinda lonely in there sometimes, not like anyone ever visits but you were the first to ask so I just thought..." He was much more volatile and Leigh noticed. He laid back down on his bed and somehow the quiet in the room following his thoughts only made the tension worse. "Whatever."

"I'm sorry, alright? I wanted to go see you. For the first few weeks, I was so mad at you for getting locked up because I didn't realize..." she paused and got ready for her next words, she wasn't completely used to being out in the open with her feelings. Growing up around men will do that to a girl. "I didn't realize how much I'd miss you, y'know? And now you're out and you don't even come see me. You've been out for weeks and I haven't known. When were you gonna tell me?"

"Some time." She couldn't stand these short responses that she was getting from him, it made her wanna punch him in the face.

"You know what? I won't even try. If you're gonna sit here and bitch about me, then get mad when I try and talk to you then I'll just leave."

The filter for his words was impaired and it was obvious. "Don't leave," he began quietly, "It's been a long time and I haven't seen you and it's just makin' me crazy."

She leaned against the door, her back against the wood while she watched him laying there. His eyes were closed but he probably wasn't even close to tired; he still looked much more peaceful than he ever did when he was up. Leigh made her way to the bed and sat on the edge. His hands moved to her hips and he lightly tugged. She looked at his pale hands and moved a little closer so that they would wrap around her waist and she lied beside him.

"You're annoyin' when you're drunk."

He chuckled and she smelled the rum on his breath but didn't mind it because she was taking him in again. After months away, Leigh could finally look at Dally again. She would argue with him more in the morning but accepted the moment she was in.

edited 12-29-21