Ashley Curtis... Ponyboy's sister...

Sleepover at the Curtis house! - chapter 4

When we got home from the movie, Darry offered if anyone wanted to sleep over. Everyone agreed except Johnny.

"I'll just stay in the lot." Johnny said, "Don't worry, I'll be fine."

We all begged him to stay over(except Dally, of course) and finally, he gave in.

"SLEEP OVER!!!" Two-bit yelled, grabbing a pillow and whacking Dallas over the head with it. Hell broke loose in the form of a pillow fight.

Sodapop and Steve were beating each other senseless until they both fell over. Johnny, Ponyboy, Darry, and Two-bit had teamed on Dally. And I couldn't help but laugh at them. They were acting like little kids and I loved it. I went in to help attack Dally.

After the pillow fight had calmed down, we were all so tired, that I swear, Ponyboy looked like a centaur and Dally kept asking Two-bit why there were three him. After a while, he just started calling him Three-bit.

"Okay." Darry announced. "Time for bed. Ponyboy, Sodapop, and Johnny can sleep in Ponyboy and Sodapop's room; Dally, Steve, and Two-bit can sleep with me in my room; and Ashley can have the couch all to herself. Everyone good?"

We all gave him the thumbs up and went to sleep. I laid down on the couch and looked up at the ceiling. I thought of Pony, Soda, and Darry, and what they did while I was gone. I thought about Dally and wondered why he cared so much about Johnny.(not that it was a bad thing) I thought about everything all at once.

Sooner or later, Darry came down stairs with a pillow and a blanket. He got me ready for bed and gave me a kiss on the forehead, goodnight.

I slept for an hour or two, but was then awakened by a bad dream. I didn't know what it was about. I just woke up, crying. It happens to me and Ponyboy every once in a while. I sat, awake, for a little while, when I heard someone walk down the stairs. I pretended to be asleep. It was Dally. He walked into the living room and went toward the kitchen. Right before he left the room, I sneezed, stopping him in his tracks. He turned toward me and grinned. It was a different grin. Not a flirty grin, but not quite a sincere one, either. It was somewhere in between the two. He came near me, but didn't sit down next to me. He pulled up a chair. "Look, I'm sorry about my first impression before. Can I try again?"

I didn't look at him. "Sure." I said, not smiling. "But if you try anything-"

"-Don't worry, I won't." he said, "So, my name is Dallas Winston, I like to have fun, and I like to steal things."

"That doesn't tell me much," I said, "I already knew all that. What else?"

"Um..." he said, "I don't know. What do you want to know?"

"Johnny told me that you have hit everyone, except him. Why?"

"I don't know. He's-he's just... Different. Ya know. He's less... Hurtable. He looks at me with those big brown eyes and I can't hit him. I just can't. Even if I wanted to." I have brown eyes. I always use the big brown eyes trick on my brothers. I never knew how it worked.

"Uh huh." I said, "And, can you tell me something about,... Your personality?"

"I'm cool." he said.

I rolled my eyes, "What else?"

"Okay,... I've never really told anyone,... But... Sometimes I find myself hitting on a girl for no reason. I realize when I look into the girls eyes and see no future with her. Even if I have a girlfriend, it happens by accident. That's... That's why I was bothering you earlier. I'm sorry."

"I forgive you." I said, "So,... do you have a girlfriend?"

"Nope." he said with a grin, "Single."

I still wouldn't smile. So, Dally pushed my hair out of my eyes, forcing me to look up at him. After lifting the hair out of my eyes, he left the room and went back upstairs, forgetting that he came downstairs to get something from the kitchen.

After that, I had no trouble sleeping, no bad dreams.