𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒏'//𝑫𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒔 𝑾𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒏×𝑶𝑪

💥|SIXTEEN|💥

MY HAIR FEATHERS lightly around me as the wind tugs and twists it around. The air in the country was so much better. I could smell more than gasoline, cigarettes, and fast food. It was nice. It was no more than nice; it was amazing.

Johnny, Ponyboy, and Dally were outside. I could watch them roughhouse from my spot at the very top of the church. The view from the top of the church is breathtaking. I could see trees and green for miles and I could hear the birds singing their songs to each other.

I huff as I look back down at my math homework. I had come up here to clear my head and hopefully catch up on some of my schoolwork. Everything for all my classes was finished. Except math.

I hate math.

"Boo!"

I screech as a pair of calloused hands grip my shoulders, jumping out of my skin as my heart pounds in my ears. I sneer as I hear the booming laugh of none other than Dally. I hadn't even heard him come up the ladder to get up here.

"Jesus fuck Dallas." I breathe out as he sits beside me, still snickering.

"I've never seen you so jumpy." He teases.

"Fuck you, I was caught off guard." I fire back, he snorts, letting his legs dangle off the edge as he looks down at my work.

"You're seriously doing schoolwork when you have all this nature around you?" He asks as he pulls a cigarette from his pocket, lighting it.

"Like you care for nature, and I need to get it done. It's hard." I reply. Dally holds his lit cigarette out for me. As I take it he snatches my notebook. "Hey!" I exclaim, attempting to grab it from him.

He holds it far out in his opposite hand as his other holds me back. "I wouldn't do that." He warns as I reach over him.

I scoff. "And why no—" A shriek cuts me off as Dally rolls me over so my upper body hangs off the ledge. "D—Dallas pull me back up," I demand, trying to keep my voice from shaking as my eyes squeeze shut.

"Hold on just calm down—"

"Don't tell me to calm down!" I bark back.

I hear Dallas let out a breathy laugh. He's laughing?! The nerve of this prick. "Listen, Ange, I've got a hold on you, and I'm not gonna let go. Just open your eyes. Trust me." Dally says, his voice calm, almost gentle.

I wanted to bark out a laugh. Trust him. Dallas Winston was not trustworthy. As if he read my thoughts, Dally speaks up, "Angie, just shut your mind off for one damn second and trust me."

I suck in a breath. If Dally was going to drop me, he would've done it already. I knew that. So, I trusted him and slowly opened my eyes.

A soft gasp falls from my mouth. My body dangled off the ledge, swaying lightly. I could feel Dally's tight hold on my waist, securing me so I wouldn't fall. My heart still hammered in my chest.

Everything was turned upside down and I didn't understand what the hell Dally wanted me to see. "I don't get it." I call to him from above.

"Just shush and listen." He tells me, "Let your mind go blank, and all your senses work their magic."

Again I listen, clearing my mind and letting my body go completely limp.

I hear birds and the soft rustle of the leaves in the trees; I see an open field of wildflowers, and I smell the thick pine and lingering smell of the cigarette that I held and dropped when I thought I was going to fall.

Now I understood. Dally didn't want to show me anything. He wanted to open my mind. Just as my head started to feel heavy from all the blood rushing to it, Dally gently pulled me up, and I landed on his lap, breathing softly, feeling completely and utterly at ease.