Runaway ✔

014 • Dana

Dana took a sip of the bottle, hoping the alcohol would loosen her tongue. A little shy she glanced at Juice. Again he smiled when their eyes met. Not that that was meaning something. He was just friendly.

"So tonight will be your first SAMCRO birthday." He smirked. "That will be a night you'll remember."

"Only if you don't drink too much." Kip started to laugh. Apparently, he was done kissing. "Am I right, Juice? You know all 'bout that. Wait, got a nice vid." Chuckling he got his cell out of his pocket.

"Ah, come on..." Juice's eyes went wide, his cheeks got rosy.

The sight of it elicited a smile. Dana stretched her neck a little so that she could look at the screen of Kip's phone. His finger scrolled down. A moment later he handed Dana the cell, and she took it out and pressed the play button.

"Oh my..." Laughing she covered her mouth with her hand. Juice was laying in someone's front yard, totally absent, between the weeds. Except for his boots and a diaper, he was wearing nothing. There was a binky in his mouth and a piece of cardboard was stapled to his chest. Slightly retarded child. Please adopt me, was written on it with a black marker. In the back sounded the laughter of his friends.

The way he was studying his beer bottle showed that he felt embarrassed. Still, a smirk played on his lips. In the end, he shook his head and looked at her. "Don't get black-out drunk tonight. Cuz shit like this will happen."

Dana didn't share her thoughts: that they wouldn't do this to everyone. She could hardly imagine Clay or Opie lying there.

"Well, I wasn't aware of anything." He looked up again, still smirking. "The fun part was the next day when I was woken up by a cop and had to walk the whole fucking way home."

Again Dana grinned. Her eyes started to tear. Not because it was so hilarious, but because the fact that this place still felt like a home for him, despite the way they'd messed with him, touched her. The love that he – and the others – felt for the club, went unbelievable deep and she still felt honored she got the chance to get a glimpse of it. She wished she'd visited her brother and met all those heartwarming people years ago. She gave Kip his phone back. He emptied his bottle and put it on the bar.

"We won't waste your time any longer." He hit Juice on the shoulder. "Let's clean out the rest of the car."

Dana only realized that she was following them with her eyes when Cherry nudged her, moving her eyebrows up and down. "Havin' a little crush?"

Dana felt her cheeks glow. "Not at all," she muttered.

Her friend chuckled. "Very convincing. I already had my suspicions, but it's clear now. Well, make your move. As far as I know, he's single."

Dana picked up a new balloon. "Don't want a boyfriend."

Someone else might be dreaming of walking hand in hand, of a first kiss, of steamy sex. But all she saw were nightmarish images. A dead body, a closed coffin. A tombstone in the pouring rain.

Cherry shrugged. "He doesn't need to be your boyfriend to... do things with him." She chuckled. "You can't convince me that's not what you want."

Dana sighed. "What I want, is that he stays alive. And as long as Maddox isn't permanently out of my life, I can't commit myself to anyone."

Cherry looked at her, pensively. She seemed to understand. "You don't really want to skip all little sleep-overs, do you?"

"At least the ones with Juice," she mumbled. "Maybe I want something easy, now and then. Just a lil' fun. But what I feel for him, is already going way too far."

"Hmm." Cherry shrugged and opened a pack of streamers. "You would now best. But it's a pity. He's cute."

Yeah. That's the whole point.

Dana started to blow up the next balloon.