People Don't Change (Dally Winston)

Chapter 22

It was the night of the school dance. Dally and I weren't going. Instead, he had told me to meet him at Buck Merrill's place for some party. I didn't even bother to dress up. I just threw on a t shirt and a pair of jeans.

~~~

"Hey, babe," Dally said when I arrived. He was leaning against the hood of an old, beat-up car. I walked over and kissed him, before I noticed that he was wearing a suit. What was going on?

"Dally, what's with the suit," I asked.

"Oh, well, I thought we could go to that dance," he chuckled, "I know you wanted to go."

"I thought you said school dances were stupid," I said, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing along his jawline.

"They are, but you want to go," he said as lightly he kissed the top of my head.

"But I'm not dressed up," I protested.

"You look beautiful." Dally took my hand and led me to the passenger side door of the car. He opened it and I crawled in.

"Are you sure you're okay with going?" I asked a bit nervously.

"Yeah, as long as I'm with you it'll be fun," he answered.

~~~

I leaned against him as we walked into the overly crowded school gymnasium. Students stared at us as we walked by, but I tried to ignore them. I was here with Dally, and that's all that mattered.

He led me to the edge of the dance floor and then pulled me close. I leaned into him as we slowly swayed and spun in time to the music. All too soon, the song ended and was replaced by a more upbeat one.

"Do you want to get something to eat?" Dally asked, trying to make his question heard over the loud music.

"Sure." We walked over to the snack table. None of the food looked appetizing, honestly.

We spent the rest of the night talking and occasionally dancing. I enjoyed every moment of it, but I was still worried that Dallas hadn't had a good time.

~~~

He drove me back to Buck's place with him. It had been a long night, and I already felt like I was going to crash. At some point during the car ride, I fell asleep.

I woke up halfway up the stairs. He carried me the rest of the way up and paused in front of a door. He carefully opened it and set me down on a creaky bed before lying next to me. I snuggled into his chest.

"I love you," he whispered right before I drifted off to sleep again.