Fast Cars and Freedom

Chapter 10- Can't Help Falling In Love

Fast Cars And Freedom

Chapter 10: Can't Help Falling In Love

The Dingo was buzzing with energy as Sodapop and I passed through the Friday night crowd. Teens were gathered everywhere in the building; talking, laughing, or smoking cigarettes. Several people called out to Soda as we passed, probably recognizing him from rumbles, or the DX, or from the little time we spent at school.

On Friday nights the Dingo would set up a makeshift dance floor for teens to bop around as the jukebox played as loud as possible. However, most of the people would be doing a little more than dancing, if you know what I mean.

Soda and I found a booth in the corner, then ordered chocolate milkshakes, as per usual. It felt sort of strange to be out with Sodapop and not have any of the gang around, but I didn't put much thought into it. I vaguely noted that Soda seemed sort of jittery all night, almost excited or nervous, but I didn't think too much of that either. Soda's always naturally energetic.

We fell into conversation easily, telling jokes or stories and not doing much for a long while, until suddenly Soda jumped up out of his seat when a tune with a fast beat started playing.

"C'mon, Em, dance with me!" He swung over to my side of the table to drag me out of my seat and onto the dance floor. I giggled at his enthusiasm.

Mrs. Curtis had taught Soda and I to dance when we were eleven years old. Darry had been getting ready for his first school dance, so Mrs. Curtis decided to teach him all that she knew about dancing, much to Darry's embarrassment. Feeling left out, Soda and I insisted on learning, too, and Soda took to it naturally.

As the night passed by, we danced around the Dingo to every song that played. It was the most fun I'd had in a long time. We stopped moving, lacking air, as another song came to an end. Dancing can tire a person pretty quickly.

I stopped my joyful laughing when I heard the familiar notes of Elvis Presley's "Can't help falling in love with you" drift throughout the diner. I didn't know what to do. Slow dancing was not my forte. Many couples left the dance floor, but other couples began to slowly, closely sway together.

I looked over at Sodapop tentatively, thinking he would probably want to go back to the table. However, I was taken by surprise when Sodapop pulled me into his arms and started moving slowly to the music. It took me a few seconds to register what was happening and start to copy his movements. I was tensed up as we moved across the floor. I could count on one hand the number of times I'd slow-danced with anybody before then.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He didn't respond.

For a moment I worried that Soda could hear my heart beating crazily. My rapid heart beat wasn't just from the exercise, either. I tried to calm my breathing and focus on matching his movements. My hip and hand felt peculiarly warm where his hands were resting.

"Emily?" His voice sounded nervous, almost anxious.

"Yeah?" He didn't respond for a few seconds. I looked up at him when he stopped dancing. His hands were still on me and he was staring down at me as if trying to read the inside of my head. I mentally cursed at myself when my gaze momentarily flickered to his mouth as he licked his lips.

We must have looked like quite the pair as we stood in the center of the Dingo's dance floor, not dancing, just staring at each other. But I wasn't thinking of that then.

"Um, look, I, uh, I have been wanting to say something to you for, uh, a while now, and, uh," He cleared his throat. If my heart had been beating rapidly before, it was surely bound to beat right out of my chest at this point. "Would you, uh, maybe, you know, want to be my girl or something?"

I stared at him. He stared at me. I blinked, not totally registering what he said. His body was tense, just watching as I stared at him dumbly. A deep redness settled onto his face when I didn't respond after a while. His gaze dropped to the ground, his hold on me loosening.

"You want to go out with me?" My words sounded foreign to my ears. My mind felt dazed, as though I wasn't truly in reality.

A small smile crept onto my lips. I resisted the urge to cover my face with my hands as my cheeks grew hot. "Oh," That was my brilliant, heartfelt response. "I mean, um, yeah. Yes. I would like that." At this point my face was certainly the color of a stop sign.

I didn't even finish my sentence before I was being pulled into his arms and lifted off the ground. A wide smile formed on his face and my own face soon looked similar. We were attracting questioning gazes from all over the diner, but neither of us noticed. He let me down and soon we started dancing again, but this time we were much closer. I hadn't even realized that the slow music had ended a while ago only to be replaced with another upbeat pop song.

A goofy grin refused to leave my face as I kept thinking about what happened. I vaguely worried that I might wake up any minute and find that I was daydreaming at work or something. I looked up at Soda and, sure enough, he was actually there.

We danced for a while longer until it had gotten late and Soda remembered that he had promised Darry to be home by ten o'clock. He grabbed my hand to pull me through the crowd and out the door, but didn't let go when we reached the sidewalk. We walked closer than ever along the dark sidewalk, still hand in hand. The night air was warm and soothing, a sign of the season about to change.

I glanced over at Soda as we turned a corner to see half of his face faintly illuminated by a flickering street light. As if sensing my gaze, he turned to look at me as well with a small smile. Immediately I looked away, embarrassed.

"Hey," He caught my attention, causing me to look at him. His face was inches away and slowly coming closer. I didn't even realize that we had stopped walking.

Then, his lips were on mine and suddenly my brain stopped working. He didn't push it too far or try to make something out of it. It was just a kiss. A really awesome kiss.

His lips lingered on mine for a few more seconds before pulling back. I think I fell a little more in love with him right then and there. He grinned widely then wrapped an arm around me before slowly walking along the sidewalk again. My cheeks ached from all the smiling I had done that night, but I couldn't stop. My heart was beating frantically and in that moment I truly thought that nothing could ever feel better.