Vampire - Dallas Winston

Five

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"Now I'm getting in the car wrecking all my plans I know I should stop—but I can't."
- bad idea right?

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The week dragged on slowly. Darry grounded me after leaving with Dallas, and I was dreading the moment he would find out about the car. I had called Dallas to come pick it up while Darry was at work, and he did, taking it back to Buck's until I was ready to talk to my brother about it.

I took the bus to school and I walked home after practice. There and back. Nowhere else.

On Friday, I didn't have practice and I saw that familiar car in the parking lot after school. I walked to it and got in the passenger seat, digging through the glovebox for a cigarette.

"Good day?" Dallas asked, leaning over to light my cigarette on his medal.

"Fine," I replied, "you?"

I hadn't spoken to or seen him all week, none of us had. I'd told him on the phone that Darry would be mad at him, so I figured he was keeping his distance for that reason.

"Told Pony I would get him too," he said, tapping his thumb on the steering wheel. "Johnny not at school today?" He asked. I shook my head.

"He wasn't on the bus. Haven't seen him since Wednesday night," I answered, remembering sitting in the lot with Johnny and Ponyboy after dinner.

"I'll catch him later," Dallas said quietly, pulling out of the parking lot.

He had a different way about him today, more quiet, reserved. Like everything he said was carefully thought out, which wasn't normal. I looked over at him, he was still tapping his fingers on the wheel almost nervously.

I knew I shouldn't say anything, but god I wanted the silence to be broken.

"Will you teach me to drive?" I asked. He glanced at me through his sunglasses, he was hard to read when he was like this.

"Didn't you drive home from my place last week?" he replied.

"Yeah, but I didn't even get up to the speed limit. I went around full blocks so I didn't have to make left turns. You seem like you know what you're doing," I said, turning slightly in my seat so I was facing him more, resting my elbow on the back of his seat.

"Okay," he nodded, "but you've got to tell your big brother about this car. Buck is gonna start charging me for parking pretty soon."

"I'll tell him."

"Okay."

The silence returned and stayed even after we picked up Ponyboy. He sat in the back seat staring out the window the whole way home. He got out of the car first, which gave Dallas and I a minute to figure out how I was going to tell Darry about it.

"Tell him I built it," he said, chewing on his nails as I looked through the living room window. Darry was in his chair, his glasses on and a newspaper in his hands.

"He'll believe you bought it before he'll believe that you built it," I replied. I opened my car door and got out, my backpack on one shoulder as Dallas followed me into the house.

I untied my shoes and kicked them off once we were inside. Dallas kept his on and perched on the arm of the couch while Darry finished reading his page.

"Good day?" He asked me. "You're home earlier than usual."

"We drove," I said, he looked up. "In the car that Dallas got me." He set down the newspaper and stood up, walking to the window.

"The car that–" he looked down at Dally, who seemed almost nervous. "You got her that? Where? From who? With what money? Why?"

"Relax, Dar, it's a birthday gift. Friend of mine was getting rid of it, I gave him a bit of cash for it and he fixed it up. It'll get her to and from school safely." Dallas was doing his best to act casual about it, to keep him calm.

"Which friend?" Darry crossed his arms and stepped back from the window.

"You wouldn't know him."

"She doesn't know how to drive."

"I'll teach her," Dallas glanced at me, I nodded.

"You don't know how to drive."

"I'll figure it out."

The conversation went on for a while longer, with Darry asking a million questions and Dallas answering all of them as best he could. He stayed for dinner and a lecture about the various dangers of driving, and how I would learn from Darry, not from him.

-

Dally left at nine after I had gone to my room for the night. He snuck around the side and helped me out the window, and we took the car to an empty lot. We switched seats so I was driving, and he lit a cigarette.

"Ready?" He asked. I took the cigarette from him and took a drag, then handed it back. I shifted into drive and let off the break. "Okay, drive to the end of the lot, turn around, and come back."

I drove to the end, ignoring his laughter as I rolled at 15 miles an hour. I made the turn, then returned to our original spot.

"Great, now get out of this lot and drive me around a bit," he said, pulling one of his feet up on the seat.

"On the road?" I asked, my foot heavy on the break at the exit of the parking lot.

"On the grass. Yes on the road, stupid," he laughed, pointing to the street he wanted me to go on.

We drove around the neighborhood for twenty minutes, and I was starting to get used to it. Dallas was completely relaxed in the passenger seat, his life in my hands and a cigarette in his. After a while, I started to see a car trailing behind us. He didn't seem to notice, or maybe he did and wasn't worried.

I was driving back towards our street when the car picked up speed and came barrelling towards us.

"Christ!" Dallas shouted, grabbing the wheel and swerving us nearly off the road. I slammed on the breaks and we lurched forward. "Damn socs, follow them," he said, I looked over at him.

"Are you crazy? I'm not following them. They just tried to run us off the road!" I exclaimed.

"Maybe if you were going a little faster they wouldn't have," he said, flicking his cigarette butt out the window.

"Oh, it's my fault?" I glared at him.

"Forget it. Just take us back to your place."

The silence was thick the whole way back. I parked down the block so Darry wouldn't know I was out. I said goodbye to Dallas who was already walking the other way, and climbed back in my bedroom window.

I tied back my hair and changed into pajamas, then brushed my teeth and went to bed. It took me a while to fall asleep, I was still thinking about Dally. I couldn't tell if he was in a bad mood or if I had put him in one. He seemed fine after dinner, but he also seemed weird when he was picking us up from school.

I drifted off thinking about him, and when I woke up, it was still dark and there was noise in the living room. I pulled a blanket off my bed and around my body as I left my room to see what was going on.

My brothers were standing around the couch, Dallas was knelt beside it, and as Sodapop stepped away and turned to look at me, I saw him.

Johnny, bruised and bleeding, passed out on the couch.