The plan was to drive for a straight seven hours until they hit the next motel. They figured they would probably have to pull the same stunt they did back in Fort Worth in order to sneak Sunny in.

Tana had been driving since they left Fort Worth. The stars had long since appeared in the southern skies. Dallas was snoring quietly next to her in the passenger seat, his hair messy from him running his hands through it so much. His arms lay still across his abdomen and his head dangled off to one side, resting against the window. His stubble was starting to sprout and Tana took in how long Dallas' eyelashes were. 

Behind Dallas, in the backseat, Sunny lay still, sleeping peacefully with his nose shoved into Dally's leather jacket. It smelled of cigarettes and cheap cologne and something else Tana couldn't quite pinpoint. Motor oil, maybe.

All was quiet until a dinging sounded.

"Aw, shit," she grumbled out as she saw the red E light come on, signaling that the fuel tank was empty. The car went on at least another mile before it sputtered out and came to a dead stop on the side of the highway. "Shit!"

The slamming of the driver's side door startled Dally out of his sleep and he sat up quickly. He saw Tana pacing in front of the car. He got out and walked around to her.

"What the hell?" he asked, trying his damnedest not to yawn. 

Tana whirled around. "The fugging car's outta gas!" she yelled. A car whirred by, the wind it carried making Tana's hair swoosh around her and lightly ruffle Dally's blond locks.

"Well fuck," Dallas groaned, too tired to really want to scream at Tana. She should have been paying attention to the gauge.

"What are we gonna do?"

"I don't fuckin' know," Dallas said. "The nearest gas station isn't for another three miles. That's gonna take us at least two hours there and back if we walk fast."

"Think we should flag someone down?"

"I don't fuckin' know," he said again, this time sounding less agitated and more tired. Dally ran his hand through his hair again, something Tana refused to admit was attractive. He wasn't like the other greasers she knew; he never greased his hair like they did.

Tana blinked, realizing she'd been staring at him. She turned away from the tall, blond and toward the interstate. She was glad he hadn't caught her staring. Unbeknownst to her, however, Dallas had felt her staring. And he wished he had the balls to just look at her. Her blonde hair, those bright eyes. What the fuck, man, he thought.

He wanted to really like this girl, but, after Sylvia, he didn't want to waste any more time on females. A one night stand was one thing, but he was traveling across the states with this girl. He couldn't fall for her because there was no getting away from her. He knew if he fell, he wouldn't be able to leave her. But also, she was his only means of transport back to Tulsa.

Tana turned back. "We've gotta do something," she said. She walked over to the car and flipped the hazards on before standing to the side, waiting. It was night time, so, naturally, the traffic was a lot lighter compared to if it were daytime, which created a problem in Tana's idea of flagging someone down.

Dallas let Sunny out of the car; the large dog immediately started sniffing around, excited about his new surroundings. He lifted his leg in some weeds and barely had it back on the ground before he was trying to run off to sniff something else.

Dallas leaned against the car next to Tana and lit up a cigarette.

"Can I have a drag?" she muttered, which surprised Dally. What surprised him the most wasn't, in fact, her asking for a smoke; it was how calm her voice had been. He shrugged and handed the cancer stick over. She took a long, easy drag before handing it back. Upon exhale, she relaxed considerably. "Thanks."

"Hmm," Dally hummed. "Never took you as being a smoker."

Tana shrugged. "I only do it when I'm real tense."

"That's how my buddy Sodapop is. Only smokes if he's anxious or he's trying to look cool." Dally couldn't help but smile as he thought about his friend. His smile was quick to fade. Thinking of his friends made him feel a pang of regret. He hadn't said a word to any of them before he'd run off and he knew it wasn't the first impulse decision he'd made that had scared the shit out of his friends.

Just the fall before, he'd nearly died. And it was all because of Johnny. Dally shook his head and tossed the butt of his cig onto the ground, stomping it out with the heal of his boot.

"Do you miss them?"

"Hm?" Dally whipped his head around.

"Your friends. I see how you kinda space out when you mention them. Do you think about them a lot?"

"Uh..." Dallas scratched the back of his neck, twirling a bit of long hair around his finger. "Yeah. I guess so."

"What are their names?"

"Well, there's Darry Curtis. He's kinda the leader of us, I guess. He kept us all together and made sure we stayed out of trouble for the most part."

"Except you?" Tana teased, making Dallas smirk.

"What can I say? Trouble's my middle name."

"I wouldn't doubt it." They both laughed at this and Dallas handed the cigarette back to Tana, who smiled and took another drag before giving it back.

"Nah, it's Tucker."

"Tucker." The name slipped off Tana's tongue so smoothly it sent goosebumps up Dally's spine. Winston turned his head away to hide the pink of his cheeks, even though it was quite dark outside. The only thing they could see for miles and miles were the millions of stars lighting up the night. If it weren't for the half moon, it'd be almost pitch black.

"Who's next?"

"Um, Darry's younger brother Sodapop."

"Ah, yeah. Sodapop's pretty cute."

"You gotta crush or somethin'?" Dallas' words came out harsher than he intended and Tana caught his change of attitude. She smirked. 

"Who, me? No." Tana shook her head firmly. "I mean, he's sweet and he's attractive but... he's not exactly my type."

"You not into the good guys?"

Tana shrugged. "I guess I'm still trying to figure that out."

"Well," said Dallas, rearing the subject back to the gang. "Next is Ponyboy, who's the youngest of the Curtises. And then there's Steve. He's Soda's best buddy. And then there's Two-Bit."

Tana smiled. "Two-Bit. What'd you guys name him that for? I always wondered."

Dally had to chuckle. "Because he's always gotta put his two bits into everything. Whatever it is you're talking about, whatever it is that's going on, he's always got something to say."

The young girl nodded. "Makes sense. Anyone else?"

Dally's breath hitched in his throat. His mind raced as he thought of Johnny. Johnny's rare smile, his soft brown eyes, that wounded puppy dog vibe about him. The way his life just kind of left him and the way the last words Dallas ever said to him jumped around in his head.

That's what you get for tryin' to help people, you little punk. That's what you get. Dammit, Johnny.

Dally glared down at the ground, his eyebrows furrowing. The cigarette was burned down almost to the filter and was close to burning Dally's fingers, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Dallas, if you don't wanna talk about--"

"I was crazy for wanting Johnny to stay out of trouble," Dally muttered. Tana brushed her fingers gently across Dally's bicep, but he barely moved. As much as he hated being touched like that, he couldn't deny it was comforting. What was this dumb chick doing to him? 

"Dally." Dallas turned his gaze, his cold, grey eyes meeting Tana's bright cerulean irises. Tana didn't flinch under his awful glare.

"He died. He died because he was trying to be tough."

Tana remembered seeing the newspaper article the day after that fire up in Windrixville. Three greasers had saved a whole bunch of kids from a church that had gone up in flames. She remembered seeing Dally's name and even Ponyboy's now that she thought about it. But the third boy? She couldn't quite put her finger on what that kid's name was. She knew he was quiet and she knew he ran around with Ponyboy.

Dally'd said his name was Johnny. Johnny Cade, maybe? Tana was afraid to ask.

"I'm sorry, Dallas."

It was silent for a few minutes after that and Tana was surprised that Dallas wasn't getting angry. Hell, even Dallas was surprised he wasn't getting angry. Maybe he was too sad or too tired to be angry. Who knew.

To his surprise, however, Tana took his cold, calloused hand in hers and gave it a light squeeze before lacing their fingers together. This was new to Dallas and scared him clear to hell and back.

"You ever lose somebody?" Dallas' voice whispers in question.

Tana shook her head. "Not really. Maybe myself, but no one I loved."

Silence fell over them once more.

'''

The stars disappeared and were replaced by the sun and a bright blue sky. Dallas sat wide awake in the driver's side seat while Tana slept, her head leaning against the hard window, her hair pulled back in a messy ponytail. Sunny let out a loud whine and Dally reached around to give him a pat on the head. 

Tana let out a loud yawn and stretched. "Oh, shit," she muttered. "What time is it?"

"Early. Sun just came up."

"Oh. Hopefully, traffic'll pick up pretty soon so we can flag someone down for a ride."

"Yeah, hopefully."

"You okay?"

"Tired."

"Did you stay up all night?"

Dally frowned. "Who gives a shit?"

Tana shrugged, her mood now low. The day had just started and it was already off to a rough start. "Sorry. Maybe we can stop somewhere and find a coffee and some tampons for you."

Tana threw the passenger side door open and allowed Sunny to get out so he could piss before she slammed the door. 

Sunny ran around in the grass, sniffing all the places he'd marked the night before and remarking his territories. A light breeze blew at Tana's hair, which was starting to get greasy. She hastily rubbed her face as the driver side door slammed shut and Dallas came storming around the car to stand next to her.

"You comin' over here to give me some more attitude?"

Dally huffed, but he sent her an apologetic look-- as apologetic as Dallas Winston could manage, anyway. Tana didn't smile. She turned her head to stare ahead of them. Traffic was starting to get thicker, but Tana was so frustrated she didn't feel like trying to flag down someone to get them to a gasoline station.

"I stayed up all night because I was scared someone might try and break in."

Tana glanced sideways at her older companion but didn't look him square in the face. "I'm not a helpless little girl, Dallas. I can take care of myself."

"Can you?"

She set her jaw, the scowl on her face hard to ignore.

"Of course I can. I've been taking care of myself my whole life. Just because I come from the Westside does not mean I'm a spoiled little rich girl who can't defend herself if she needs to. My daddy may have money, and I may be privileged, but I haven't exactly been walking on rainbows and sunshine my whole seventeen years."

"Oh, yeah, I forget rich girls have problems, too. You break your nail? Paint chipped on your car?"

"Shut up, Dallas." For the first time that morning, the two met eyes. Blues met greys. And, for the first time since they'd met, Tana's eyes were cold and angry and Dally's were warm and sympathetic.

"You're such a prick."

"I'd hate for your daddy to hear such language from his only daughter."

"He'd probably die from shock."

The pair were finally able to laugh.

"We gotta get moving," Dallas said. He took Tana's wrist and shoved the car keys into her hand. Tana and Dally moved to the side of the highway. They held up their hands each time a car passed, trying to catch someone to give them some help. 

Finally, an older Buick rolled along and parked a few yards in front of them. After calling Sunny over, they rushed over to stand next to the driver side. The window rolled down, revealing an older couple.

"You kids need some help?" the man asked.

"Yessir," said Tana. "Our car ran out of gas."

"Where y'all headed?"

"Tryin' to get to Phoenix," Dallas told them.

"We're heading that way. We can give you a ride to the nearest gas station for some gas and bring y'all back."

"That would be great."

"Hop in." The three of them clambered into the back seat of the Buick. It smelled like old people and Tana could feel how uncomfortable Dallas was sitting in a stranger's car.

"So, what are you kids going to Phoenix for?" the woman asked, turning around to give the teenagers a wide smile.

"Er--" started Dally.

"We're on our honeymoon, actually," Tana said, lying easily. "We were on our way to visit some family that weren't able to make it to the wedding."

"Oh, how sweet. You two seem awfully young to be gettin' married."

"We're both nineteen, but we were high school sweethearts. Our parents probably wouldn't have been so supportive if we hadn't had such a close relationship through school."

"Were you friends in grade school?"

"Pamela," the man said. "Y'ain't gotta ask so damn many questions."

"Oh, I'm just curious, Stan."

"It's okay," said Tana cheerily, putting on a convincing facade. "We actually met in eighth grade when I moved from Chicago to Tulsa. We ran with completely different crowds, but one day he saved me from a freak accident in the parking lot at school and the rest is history."

Dallas sent a glance over to Tana, who sent him a wide grin in return. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

"What's your dog's name? He's being very quiet," Pamela asked.

"His name's Sunny. He's very well trained."

Tana chatted with Pamela the whole drive to the gas station, telling her outlandish stories about hers and Dallas' history and future together. Pamela ate it right up, gushing over how sweet their "young love" was. The whole time, Dallas couldn't believe the amount of utter bullshit that spewed out of his friend.

Finally, Stan pulled up to the gasoline station and Dallas ran inside to purchase a canister of gasoline. He returned a few minutes later and Stan drove them all the way back to where their car was still parked along the side of the interstate.

"Thank you so much, you guys. You have no idea how much we appreciate your generosity." Tana reached into her purse and pulled out a twenty.

"Oh, no no no," Pamela said. "Absolutely not. It was no problem. You save that money for your future babies."

"Thank you so much, doll," Tana said again. "Both of you are wonderful people. You really saved us."

"Anytime, dear," Stan said, giving the young blonde a gentle smile. The old couple pulled back onto the highway and left Dallas and Tana to fend for themselves.

"You are seriously the craziest chick I've ever met," Dallas said, sending Tana a grin.

Tana shrugged. "Bullshit just comes naturally to me. I guess that's what happens when your father's a lawyer."

Dallas started pouring gas into the fuel tank. He nearly emptied the canister, but put what was left of it in the trunk. Dallas hopped into the driver side and started up the car, the engine roaring to life.

"Thank god," Tana sighed, throwing her head back.

"Let's get this show on the road, doll."