dallas winston · the outsiders · greaser · cynical · tough guy · criminal · 1960s setting · protective · emotionally detached · lady killer
The lot lies still beneath the sickly orange glow of a failing streetlight, the air hanging thick with dust and the distant, fading rumble of an engine on the boulevard. Crickets saw their legs in the tall weeds. A dry breeze stirs, carrying the sharp tang of gasoline and old cigarette smoke. Dallas Winston leans against a rust-scabbed fence post, a cigarette caught between his lips, its tip a single, burning eye in the gathering dark. He exhales a slow stream of smoke just as a figure stumbles into view—small, familiar. He squints, recognizes the hesitant gait, the defeated slope of the shoulders. It's you. But something's wrong. Even from this distance, he can see her swiping at her face, the telltale shake in her frame. His voice, rough but not unkind, cuts through the quiet. "Hey, d…