Snapshot // Sodapop and Dallas

Chapter 16

Dally and I left the diner and head down to the police station. This was my bright idea. Dally's her brother and if he reports a missing person, we'll have police help. We walked in, Dally leading and me slowly following behind.

"Can I help you?" A blonde lady asked at the front desk.

"Yeah I'm here to report a missing person." She raised her eyebrows in slight shock and then nodded.

"You'll need to speak to officer Hanson. Give me one moment." She walked away and left us to wait.

"You nervous?" I asked.

"No, why would I be?"

"I don't know, maybe because you haven't seen Austin in forever." I replied. He just shrugged his shoulders. "Do y'all look a lot a like?" I asked.

"Not much. At least we didn't when we last saw each other. She looks like my mom. Honestly, she looks kinda like Sodapop." He replied.

"Well isn't the gang gonna find that a little weird?"

He sighed. "I know I have to tell them. I know this is complicated I just don't know how to handle and of this, man." He was getting upset and I realized this so I grabbed his hand.

"It's okay." I said as reassuring as I could. He held my hand and we stood waiting for the lady and Officer Hanson to return. Soon we saw her walking back around the corner with a tall and lean man.

"Hello," he greeted. "I'm officer Hanson. Sarah tells me you have a missing person to report?"

"Yes, my sister." Dally replied.

"Alright come with me." We followed him to a private room where he asked us questions.

"Please state your sisters full name."

"Austin Anne Winston." He replied. The officer wrote her name down.

"How long has she been missing?"

"Well, that's kind of the problem. I don't know." Dally answers honestly. Hanson looked up confused. "Look, we both had an abusive father so we ran away. But we got separated a few years ago. But she told me she always wanted to come here." Dallas replied.

"Look," Hanson said politely. "I'd love to help, but if you don't currently live with your sister and aren't sure that she's even a resident in Austin, there's nothing I can do." Dallas got upset and stormed out.

"He's just upset, thank you for your help sir." I shook his hand and he smiled kindly at me.

"I hope you find her, miss." He said. I went after Dallas and found him leaned up against bucks car waiting on me.

"This ain't even worth it, man. Let's just go back." He said.

"Dallas," I started.

"No!" He interrupted. I flinched slightly when he yelled. "I'm done!"

I didn't say anything. I just grabbed his hand again. He turned and looked at me like he was going to yell but I just grabbed him and hugged him. He just stood there for a second and finally hugged me back.

"It's late," I said pulling away. "Let's a get a hotel and then we will try again tomorrow." He just nodded along.

We drove down the road until we found a small hotel. It was nice but it didn't appear to be too expensive. I mean, we're greasers so we can't afford to stay anywhere real nice. We walked in and they gave us a good deal. We took our bags up to the room and noticed immediately it was only one bed.

"I can sleep on the sofa." He offered.

"Don't be silly Dally. It's not a big deal."

He chucked. "Sodapop would ring my neck of he found out I slept in the same bed as you."

"I'm not with Sodapop anymore. Remember?" I hadn't thought about Soda. It hurt to think about him. For a second I thought about his sweet smile and the way his hands felt on my skin. God, everything about him felt right. He was my soulmate. And that was that.

"Sorry." Dal said interrupting my thoughts. I guess he could tell it hurt.

"It's ok." I replied softly. He sat next to me on the bed.

"You really do love him huh?" He asked looking at me. I nodded. I did.

"You ever been in love Dally?" I asked. A few days ago I wouldn't have thought Dallas was capable of love. But he's different than I thought. He most definitely is.

"Yeah." He said in one breath. "Yeah I have."

"Who was she?" I questioned wondering if it was anyone I knew. He looked at me for a second and then back down at the ground.

"Don't worry about it, man. Doesn't matter. I'm gonna take a shower and you can have it after if you want." He said real quick getting up and leaving. I watched him walk away and something was odd. I didn't want him to walk away. I wanted to take his picture again so I could have it forever. I don't know why I felt this way. But I did.