Seventeen

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Dallas happily walked into the Curtis house with a smoke hanging from his mouth, a beer in his hand and his knuckles bloody. Everyone sitting around and playing cards in the living room looked over to see who it was. When they noticed the way Dallas stood in such a peppy mood, they wondered what he'd done.

Edith shook her head and got off the couch from between Pony and Two-bit. She went to go find the first aid kit, even if Dallas didn't give two shits that his hands looked bad and he had taken a blow to the face. His jaw kinda swollen and the bruising barely noticeable as it was too early to see where the hit had been.

He explained to the boys what he had done and how thrilled he was about his work. Edith found everything she needed and had grabbed two rags, soaking them with warm water. It wouldn't be too hot, but hot enough to help get rid of the dirt and blood. She entered the living room where the rest of them were and stopped when she heard Dally's story.

"...He was not ready for it and I turned, throwing a bunch after I yelled at him for being an asshole."

"Uh oh." Steve spoke.

"Wow, who'd knew kicking Jason's ass would be so awful." Two-bit piped in. Ponyboy kicked him and he slapped Pony in return, the two wrestling around and Two-bit had pulled Pony off the couch and on to the floor.

"You jumped Jason?" She asked, looking at Dallas. She was confused and lost for words.

Dallas nodded, proud of himself. "I did it for you, Kid."

"Why? He didn't do anything wrong?"

"Broke ya heart." Two-bit etched out, rolling around on the floor with Ponyboy, who was slowly starting to get better than he was at wrestling. He had a chance against Two-bit now, whereas Two-bit usually always had the advantage. 

"And I didn't jump him. He saw me coming, but he didn't do anything because I never beat him up. I did this time and he didn't see it coming." Dallas laughed, leaning against the wall.

"He didn't anything wrong, Dallas." She inhaled. "He didn't." She exhaled.

"Don't defend him. I'm doing you a favor."

"Now you just started a war between them and us."

"Bring it on." He said nonchalantly, ready for whatever came his way. She threw the wet rags at him and he caught one, the second splatting onto the wooden floors. Darry looked down at them and she looked at Dallas. 

"Pick it up. You seem quite capable of beating someone up, I think you handle a rag, too." She told him and grabbed her school bag. Not only was she in a good mood before, now she had to go find Jason and apologize for what Dallas had done. She wasn't really in the mood to see him, but she needed to explain to him that she did not send Dallas Winston after him.  "See you at school, Pony. Bye, Johnny." She waved.

"What's her deal?" Dallas asked. "I did what she wanted. He's a dumbass and hurt her. I did my job, didn't I?"

"Not exactly, she never said anything about wanting to get him back." Sodapop said.

"Yeah, she was only upset that we were right about him." Steve pipped in, adding to what Soda said.

"Well, I did her a favor. Now he knows not to mess with her or next time I'll bring Steve or Darry."

"Hey," Two-bit stopped and looked up. "Why not me?"

"You're getting beat by a kid." Dallas motioned and shrugged, taking the rag off the floor and hit Two with it, the other he cleaned his knuckles and face off before rinsing the cloth out and leaving it in the washroom to dry.

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