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

It's a date... I like the sound of that. - chapter 14

Curly left. He seemed distant after that. As he left, Dally came back in.

Dallas closed the door. "You set him straight!"

"Huh?" I said. "I did what?" I acted confused, jokingly.

"Ya told him to back off my- you." Dallas looked away before the word "you".

"I did no such thing." I said with a smirk, messing with him.

"Okay," he said, "Don't listen to me..." he said, turning away, jokingly. With his back turned toward me , he continued, "So,... Wanna come with me to a party at Buck's tonight."

Buck was the jerk of the town... Why was Dally going to his party?

"Can't." I said. "I'm not allowed to go to parties with out Darry or Soda. Unless you can get one of them to go,..."

I didn't want to go to that party. I hate Buck and he hates me. He was a jerk. I was at least somewhat sophisticated. I was not going to that party.

"Well," he said, looking down. "That's too bad." He looked me in the eyes, "I guess I'll just have to hang out with you and skip the party." He smiled wider than ever.

"I wish." I said, sincerely upset. "My brothers,... They don't exactly trust you."

"Yeah, so?" he said with a wild, thievish grin.

"So, I can't leave the house with you or I'll get busted."

Dally thought about it for a while, looking up at the ceiling. He looked at me, then. He had an idea. That was never good.

"I got it!" he said, adding that maniacal grin of his. "Darry! He said that he was working late tonight, right?"

"Yeah."

"And Sodapop and Ponyboy are probably going over Two-bit's house till real late."

"What are you getting at, Dallas?"

"We'll stay here and do something. Watch a movie, maybe."

"But-" I was cut off by Dally putting his hand over my mouth. He looked into my big brown eyes.

"Just trust me." He said. I did... I trusted Dallas Winston. I shouldn't have, but I did. I nodded and we walked to the phone. With out having to be told what to do, I picked up the phone and dialed the number on the paper that Dally handed me. Darry picked up. "Hello?" he said.

"Hey, Darry." I said, twirling my hair. "How's work?"

"I think I busted a muscle in my back, but I'm fine."

"How?" I asked. I was scared. Once, when Darry first got his job roofing houses, he hurt his back real bad. It hurt him so bad that he could barely pry his eyes open. They were clenched closed by the pain. He could barely talk, either. We were scared that it was serious. Soda called an ambulance and the three of us stayed in the ambulance with Darry, saying, "You'll be okay, bud." and "Stay strong, tuff guy." We tried to calm him down. No,... We tried to calm ourselves down so we wouldn't scare Darry.

"Don't worry, kid." he said, trying to calm me down. "I didn't hurt it that bad. Just was carrying to much junk. Ya know?"

"I thought we told you not to do that." I said, as Dally silently told me to get to the point.

"So," I said, getting to the point. "How late ya staying at work till, tonight?"

"Why?" he asked, "You thinkin' of invitin' some boy over?" (I hate it when he mocked me about that) I looked at Dallas. He must have heard what Darrel had said because he was blushing like crazy.

"No!" I yelled defensively, making him giggle. "I was just wondering how many people I should cook for. If you're not back in time for dinner, I'll leave you some left overs in the fridge."

"I'm gonna be back real late." he said, "Like 11:30, tonight. Plus, I thought everyone was going over to the drive in. Aren't you goin'?"

"Nah." I said, "I'm kinda tired of all the excitement. I think I'll stay home..." I looked at Dallas, who was still blushing. "Watch a movie, maybe."

"Sure, kid." he said, "Just one rule: NO BOYS!"

I had a bad feeling at the pit of my stomach. I hate to lie to my brothers. I only lie if I have to.

"Sure, Darry." I said, "No problem." I hung up.

I looked at Dally with a smile. "It's a date." He grabbed my hand.

I guess I had to lie. 'Cause I only lie if I have to... I'm ashamed.