They Are There For Me (book 3 of Running Towards Home series)

CHAPTER 14

KIRA'S POV:

I've been dating Soda for almost two months now. We finally told the gang, and they haven't let us hear the end of it. I'm going on a date with him right now at the Dingo. We're sitting and sipping our milkshakes. He's talking about a car he can't seem to fix, and I'm trying to give him a solution. We do this sometimes. We talk about problems and work together to solve them. It's nice. I'm thinking over an idea when I hear the door open. I look over. A guy walks in and takes a seat, immediately putting the menu in front of his face. I can still see his blonde hair. Soda notices him too. "Is that...?" He asks. I nod.

I walk over and push the menu down. Dally stares back at me, grimacing. "Dally, what are you doing?" I ask him. "Just came to get some food." He says. I can tell he's lying. "Then why are you hiding behind a menu like some sort of spy?" I ask him. He just frowns at me. "Fine, I came to keep an eye on you two. You happy?" he says. I roll my eyes. "Leave, Dal." I tell him, pointing to the door. He grumbles and gets up. "I'm watching you, Curtis!" he yells at Soda. Soda just waves at him. People are watching now.

I slide into the booth again. Soda is chuckling. "He wasn't kidding when he said he'd keep an eye on us." Soda laughs. "I don't know what to do with him." I sigh, taking a sip of my milkshake. "Um... Kira?" Soda says, glancing towards the window. I look over and Dally is standing there, watching us through the window. "Go away! Shoo!" I yell at him through the window. He doesn't move. I pull my fist back and punch it towards his face, stopping just before I hit the glass. He grimaces, and I shoot him a glare. He seems to get the message and walks away. "Sorry about that." I tell Soda.

"Eh, don't worry about it. He's just trying to look out for ya." He says. I'm glad he gets it. Any other guy would hightail it out of here. "You're brave to risk the wrath of Dallas Winston." I joke. Soda smirks at me. "You're worth the risk," he says. I lean in to kiss him. He smiles into the kiss. I love this boy.

"What do you say we get out of here?" He asks. I nod, and he leaves money for the check. We walk out, and start to head back to Soda's house. We chat the whole way. We never seem to run out of things to talk about. We walk into the house and see Pony sitting on the couch with Sam's head in his lap. "Hello, you two." I say. They wave. They're both reading books. They seem so happy together. They really are a great couple.

"Want something to drink?" Soda asks me. "Yes," Pony replies. "I'm good, but thanks." I tell him. He goes to the kitchen to get Pony's drink. He gets back and hands it to Pony. We sit on the floor together. "How was the date?" Sam asks. "Good. Except for the fact that Dally was spying on us the whole time." I tell her. She snickers a bit. "I knew he wouldn't be able to let you guys be alone." She says. "You owe me five bucks." She tells Pony. He reaches into his pocket and hands her a five dollar bill. "You bet on that?" Soda says loudly. "Yup." Pony says, popping the p. They go back to reading their books.

"You two are unbearable." I say, crossing my arms, smiling. I love these kids to death, but they can be so annoying sometimes. They just smirk at us. "Pony, you have to read this when I'm done." Sam says. "We'll trade books." Pony tells her. "How can you two possibly enjoy reading?" Soda asks. I agree. I can't read a book to save my life.

"It's fun." Pony states. Sam voices her agreement. These two. "You two nerds are perfect for each other." Soda jokes. "And you two dorks are perfect for ea chother." Sam retorts, and Pony high fives her. "Yes we are." I say, kissing Soda. We are perfect for each other.