ANNALISE | Dallas Winston

twenty-six

—

soda shuts my door, and we sit on my bed. he stares at the floor, and i lie on my back, staring at the ceiling.

i let out a quivered breath "i hate fighting with him, soda."

he looks over at me with a sad face, putting his hand on my leg. he doesn't know what to say.

i sit up and rest my head on his arm. "we used to get along just fine, before mom and dad died. now he thinks he has control over my whole life."

he sighs "i know, annie. it's real tough, but he only wants to keep you safe. he doesn't want us getting split up, and if you start doing the things dal does, you might get us separated.."

"i won't, i promise. dal and i haven't even done anything bad enough..he surprised me with a date today, it was real sweet" i say, looking back at today. it was so fun. i wish i never had come back home.

he talks to me for a bit, telling me to be careful and that i should talk to darry, calmly.

i listen and tell him that i will, then he finally leaves. once he does, i grab dallas' necklace that fell on my floor.

i put it on, letting it sit out, not caring who sees it anymore. i just wanna take a warm shower. i walk to the bathroom and strip from my damp clothes and hop in.

—

after my shower, i get dressed in a pair of black sweats and a navy blue cropped tank-top. the necklace sits on my chest, and i wear it proudly.

i sit on my bed, grabbing my sketching book from my nightstand. i begin drawing dallas, and how he looked with his wet hair sprawled out on his face.

i cant seem to capture how beautiful he really looked in the moment.

i sigh and set it to the side. i rest my hands on my stomach, closing my eyes and focusing on my breathing.

i decide to go talk to darry, and try to apologize. hopeful that it'll go smoothly. i'm too tired to argue.

i walk out of my door and sit on the couch, darry looking over at me. i cross one leg over the other, bouncing it nervously. he stares at the chain around my neck.

"we need to talk," i say, finally piping up. he looks up at me with his eyes narrowed, very obviously upset about dallys chain.

"to start off, dal and i are together... and nothing you say is gonna change that."

he doesn't say anything, he just lets me keep talking.

i take a deep breath, not knowing how to explain this to him. "dal is really sweet, honestly. he doesn't act like it around all of you but- he is, truly."

he takes in a deep breath "i just don't want you to make the wrong choices and end up getting yourself hurt..if dallas is who you wanna take a chance with, go for it."

i get up with a smile and thank him, going in for a hug. "but if i find out you're skipping again, i'm gonna kill ya, you hear me?" he says with a bit of a sarcastic tone; but also kinda serious.

of course he wouldn't kill me but- you know.

i walk back to my room, jumping when i see dallas lying on my bed. i close the door hurriedly "how the hell did you get in here?!"

"don't know, kind of just messed with the window til it came unlocked" he answers, eyeing me with a smile.

i walk over to my window and look at it "you fucking idiot, you broke it!" i whisper-shout. i'm not sure if darry grounded me longer or not, but i know hed be pissed if he found out dal was in my room.

"come on, i barely even messed with it that bad" he says, laughing about it. i walk over to my bed and lie next to him.

he eyes me up and down, trailing his fingers on my arm, sending shivers down my spine. he trails them up, all the way to my neck and down my chest a little, grabbing his christopher.

"you're wearin it out now?" he asks, smiling. i nod.

"yeah, i told darry about us, actually..so i guess i can wear it whenever now."

"oh, yeah? how'd that go?" he asks as he continues to trail his finger down my body, drawing circles around my stomach.

i take a quivered breath in, knowing what he's trying to do. "i announced it accidentally after you had left, but i just talked to him about it more calmly."

i bite my lower lip and he travels down further, just above my pant line. "what happened the first time?" he asks innocently, just to get to me. he knows exactly what he's doing.

"i uh- i had yelled and hit him.." suddenly, it hits me about how darry must've felt when i did that. none of us ever lay hands on eachother. the only other night we had was when bob died. darrel had pushed pony.

"can we stop?" i ask suddenly, sitting up.

"yeah, of course, sorry.." he says awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head.

i sigh, knowing i has ruined the moment. "it's okay, i just..feel really bad for laying my hands on darry."

he bites his lip and puts his arm around me, pulling me closer to him. "i'm sure he doesn't mind, i bet he understands.."

"i know but- i've never- none of us really have..only one other time and it ended horribly."

he looks at me with sadness in his eyes, then pulls me in against his chest. "nothing like that will ever happen again" he says, stroking his hands through my hair.

tears begin my filling my eyes. i hate crying in front of people, but sometimes i cant help it.

"i cant lose anyone else" i whisper.

he plants a kiss on my forehead "we won't, i promise."