Stay - Dallas Winston

14

"I'm sorry I pushed you, I don't even know why I did that." Dallas quickly blurted out. 

As soon as those words left his lips, an instant wave of relief flowed over his body. 

I stopped what I was doing for a second. 

Dallas Winston was never sorry for anything. 

"It's ok, Dal.  I'm sorry I punched you in the face." I replied, continuing to finish my makeup. 

"No, it's not ok!" Dallas voice began to rise, "I never in a million years would lay hands on a woman, especially you.  Now, that's gonna sit on my chest for the rest of my life."

"I'm fine, Dallas.  You didn't hurt me, and I shouldn't have punched you in response."

"I deserved it.  Man, you do have a mean punch." Dallas rubbed his face. 

Dallas sat silently, as he watched me do my makeup. 

Once I finished, I quickly changed into my clothes. 

Dallas even turned his head away. 

"You ready?" I asked him. 

Dallas gave me a little nod, and stood up.  

Our walk back to the curtis house was silent as well. 

The only thing you could hear was our shoes scraping the pavement as we walked.  

As we approached the front porch, Dallas handed me a lit cigarette. 

Dallas Winston stepped in front of me, stopping me in my tracks. 

"What, Dallas?" I asked him.

Dallas looked at me for a moment before he spoke.

"You know, it's not your fault, right? What he did to you, isn't your fault, man." Dallas spoke loudly, almost at a yell. 

I turned my head away from him, and swallowed hard.  

I couldn't bare to look Dallas in the eyes right now, I probably would cry. 

"Drop it, Dallas." I whispered, as Johnny came out on the porch. 

Dallas grabbed my face by my chin, and turned me to face him. 

"It's not your fault.  If he does it again, I'll kill him."

"Stop acting like you care.  You don't care about anything." I pushed his hands off of me, and turned the opposite direction. 

Johnny walked up to my side, and leaned against the railing, before lighting a cigarette for himself. 

"I do care.  I care about you, I care about Johnny-"

"Johnny doesn't count in this situation!" I yelled. 

"She's right.  You haven't seen me naked." Johnny chuckled. 

I couldn't help but let out a little laugh. 

Dallas came up to my other side, and leaned on the railing as well. 

"Your favorite color is green, dark green.  Your favorite soda is Pepsi." Dallas spoke. 

"Yeah, that's really hard to figure out." I scuffed, taking a long drag from my cigarette. 

"You like to wear big eyeliner, and red lipstick.  You like to wear dark clothes.  You like to party, and get drunk.  Every time you tie your shoes, you always tie the right one first.  Every morning when you drink one cup of coffee with a little cream in it, and you take it outside with so you can smoke." Dallas spoke slowly, as he rambled all the things off. 

I looked at him, then at Johnny, who had a little smirk on his face still. 

"You only know those things, because you have Johnny tell you them." I argued. 

"The first day I met you, you were wearing a little black tshirt and blue jeans.  You had your hair up in a ponytail.... and you weren't wearing any shoes.  Steve had thrown your shoes on the roof, because you drank the last beer in the fridge." Dallas smiled, as the memory played back in his mind. 

"I wear those clothes all the time." I argued back again. 

"That was the first time I had ever saw you.  What I wanted to say was, 'you are the prettiest damn thing I have ever seen'. But, the only thing that I managed to say was, 'hey, doll'. But needed to say something. I had to push something out of my mouth, because I just had to know what your voice sounded like."

"Right." I spoke plainly. 

I was trying everything to convince myself that Dallas Winston did not just recall that perfectly. 

As if he has watched us meet for an eternity over and over again. 

It's like he had it memorized. 

"It felt like such a... sin," Dallas spoke, trying to find the exact words he wanted to say, "to breathe the same air as such a Saint like you."

I didn't even know what to say at that point. 

I was truly impressed by how Dallas remembered that. 

I was honestly stunned that he called me a Saint. 

"You're weird... You know that, Dal?" I chuckled, as I put my cigarette out. 

Dallas gave me a little smile. 

It was almost a devilish grin. 

"What, now?" I shook my head, trying to hide that I was smiling. 

"I knew you weren't really that mad at me." Dallas replied. 

"Yeah? How do you figure that?" I quickly asked.

"Sweetheart, you're the one still wearing my ring." Dallas gave me a wink.

He quickly turned and walked into the curtis house, satisfied with himself. 

At that moment, Darry, Soda, and Steve came home from work. 

The three of them quickly pushed past Johnny and I, and ran into the house.

"You know what I'm gonna say." Johnny smiled.

"Oh, shut up, Johnny." I smirked, as I took a long drag from my cigarette.