𐙚 ⋅ ˚ ₊ ‧ The Diner

𐙚 ⋅ ˚ ₊ ‧ the diner

by candyfsh

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dallas winston sits inside of a booth, manspreading and glancing around the diner while he chats simply with his buddies, ponyboy and johnny. he seems to be looking for something, which brings the attention of johnny.

"you lookin for somethin, dal?" johnny asks. dallas looks back toward the slightly younger boys with a small, casual scoff, not meaning annoyance. he shakes his head no.

"nah, man, jus' lookin around..." although, dallas was looking for something. he was looking for someone. despite his denial, johnny and ponyboy couldn't help but notice how he looked over the workers and smirked at one of them. she was giving someone their coffee at the table right behind them, which means the three boys are next.

ponyboy is very observant. so he automatically notices dallas's smirk and what it means. it means he's gonna tease her, which is exactly what dallas does.

"hey, sweetheart," dallas calls out to the waitress, his new york accent thick in the "heart." he licks his lips before speaking again. "how's the shift goin, baby?"

this waitress doesn't even have to look to know who it is. she sighs softly as she finishes with the customer behind them. "decent."

dallas chuckles at her response. she's always like this. whenever dallas is here, he always makes sure that y/n is serving him. even if he gets a different waiter or waitress, he demands to talk to her. dallas is just like that.

"not gonna look at me?" his amused smirk is very genuine. dallas watches y/n intently as she wraps things up by giving the customer a sugar packet and a thing of cream. he's unadmittedly impressed with how she works.

"nope." she responds simply, smiling at the other customer before asking if that's all he wants. dallas notices how genuinely sweet she is. it isn't an act. she just doesn't like to be sweet to dallas because of how annoying he is, which he can respect. now, she starts to walk over to his table. he adjusts his position to sit straight forward, facing her, still with the cocky smirk. he leans his elbows on the table as he can hear ponyboy and johnny share a snicker. "you ready to order?"

dallas shifts to manspread again while his friends nod. "for sure, sweetheart." he winks playfully, which pulls a disgusted nose-scrunch from y/n and amused giggles from ponyboy and johnny.

y/n goes in the order she sees them, except dallas is going to be last. she pulls the cap off of her pen gently with her teeth which is unspeakably attractive to dallas. "okayy, what do you want, cutie?" she asks, nodding her head toward ponyboy with a soft smile. while ponyboy gets ready to order a drink, johnny can't help but notice the look on dallas's face. it's a look that can only be described as a pure liking to the waitress. dallas has a crush.

"uhh, a rootbeer, please." ponyboy responds with a sheepish smile. he scratches the back of his head, obviously a bit nervous but flattered by her compliment. dallas looks at ponyboy and furrows his eyebrows. he's not jealous. ponyboy has a tendency to get slightly nervous around pretty girls.

y/n writes that down in her notepad. "okay, baby, how 'bout you?" she nods toward johnny. johnny looks up at her and can't help but feel a bit bashful himself. dallas rolls his eyes and looks back up at his favorite waitress.

"a coffee." as he responds a bit quietly, y/n can't help but notice how different they seem to be from dallas. they're sweet and bashful while dallas flirts with anyone and is naturally rough around the edges.

she nods and writes it down. "how do you like your coffee?"

johnny shrugs a little and thinks with a small hum. "a little cream." he looks over at dallas before looking back up at the waitress. dallas is still looking at her, waiting for her to give him attention.

she writes it down once more before looking over at dallas. when their eyes meet, dallas smirks again. it's the same amused smirk as before. he waits to see if she'll give him a sweet nickname.

"what would you like, dallas?"

he leans forward a little, looking up at her. they both seem to notice the other's pretty eyes at the same time. dallas's big brown eyes looking up at her with her soft doe-like eyes looking down at him. "what, no nicknames for me? thought i was special, babydoll."

she chuckles at the last sentence, her pen still ready to write in her hand. "no, the most you're getting is 'dally.' so, why don't you tell me what you want?" she tilts her head while looking at him, glancing back at her notepad.

he sighs dramatically, raising his arms a bit in mock defense and leaning against the booth. "just a coke, and i don't want that gross cherry coke shit." he says playfully, knowing she loves cherry coke.

she rolls her eyes playfully, writing down regular coke in her notepad. "boo. okay, will that be all, boys?"

johnny and ponyboy nod in response again, while dallas prefers to be outspoken. especially with her. he loves having her attention on him, even if he'd never admit it. "yeah, that'll be all. thanks, doll. you're not that bad at your job."

"thanks, dal." she responds with a small smile. he returns the smile before she turns around and heads to her coworkers. as she gets stuff ready, dallas tries to pry his eyes off of her.

"you love her." johnny teases gently. ponyboy snickers. although, dallas is not amused or entertained. he just rolls his eyes.

"i don't love nothin."

ponyboy pipes up. "yeah, you do, and it's the pretty waitress." ponyboy wasn't one to tease dallas due to slight fear and not liking him much, but this is acceptable. johnny chuckles and so does ponyboy.

dallas shushes them. "shut the fuck up, she could hear..."