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J U L Y
The desert of Nevada fell away from the two teenagers, palm trees suddenly took their place, as did the smell of the ocean and, before she knew it, Tana found herself not too far off from the coast of California. Santa Monica was a lot different than Las Vegas; they were both very touristy places, but LA seemed a lot more open than Vegas. In Vegas, it was easy for people to become stuck in casinos, gambling away all their money. Out here on the West coast, everyone was outside enjoying the Californian sun and the salty sea spray.
As Dallas drove down the street, Tana held her head out the window, her hair swaying and her blue eyes wide. This was where she'd always dreamed of going. She always fantasized about the day she'd be in California and away from Oklahoma.
"I have something for you."
"Huh?" Tana asked, sitting back in the car and turning her attention fully on the greaser. "You have something for me?"
"Yeah."
"Well, what is it?" Tana looked around, seemingly looking for a bag or something, thinking maybe he'd bought her something without realizing it.
"I haven't bought it yet. But I will be. We have to drive a little ways to go and get it."
"Where are we going?"
"It's close." Dallas didn't say anything further and Tana knew he wouldn't until they pulled up to wherever they were going. They drove for another ten or fifteen minutes before Dallas turned down a side street. He gazed out the window, looking for where they were going. Tana tried to follow his gaze to see if she could figure it out, too, but she couldn't. Dally kept driving, turned a corner and finally found somewhere to park. He dropped a couple quarters into a parking meter.
The couple got out of the car and Tana made her way around to Dallas. She took his hand in hers-- the one not holding Sunny's leash-- making him whip his head around to look at her.
"Whadya doin'?"
"Holding your hand. What's it look like I'm doing?" Dallas gave her a weird look. "What? You never hold hands with a girl before?"
"No," he replied bluntly. "Sometimes I held their ass cheeks."
Tana rolled her eyes. She dropped his hand, seeing how uncomfortable it seemed to make him.
Dallas stuffed his hand in his pocket and, with his other hand, pulled a cigarette out of the Kools carton in his opposite pocket. He lit one up and seemed to relax a little.
The two made their way back up the street. Just as Dally was finishing up his cig, he stopped. He stubbed the cherry out on the sidewalk and turned to face the door of a shop. When Tana looked up, she was confused to see it was a tattoo shop.
