Tuff Chaser (The Outsiders FF)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Seven
Tammy's POV

When I arrived at school the next day, everyone was surprisingly warm towards me. Marcia and Cherry were the ones being looked down upon, but they didn't seem to mind. A boy I vaguely recognized from my Art class sidled up next to me.

"Hey Tammy," he greeted casually.
"Hi."
"I bet you're glad this whole thing is over, huh?"
"Absolutely."
"I can't even begin to imagine how much that would affect you emotionally."
"Sure." I looked the other way and rolled my eyes. What was he rambling on about?
"Do you want to go out sometime?"
"I have a boyfriend, sorry." And then thinking about it, I added with a little smile, "He'd probably knock out your two front teeth."

It was safe to say that today was one of the dullest school days in my life. It was only second period and I was just about ready to tear my hair out. The door to the classroom opened and one of the office ladies stuck her head in. She spoke quietly to the teacher for a few seconds before looking at me.
"Tamsin Hicks," the teacher called. "Mrs McLeod would like a word with you." Finally! Escape.

I dragged myself out into the corridor where Mrs McLeod was leaning against the wall, waiting for me.
"Hello Tamsin," she smiled at me.
"Hi."
"I'm afraid that I have a piece of bad news for you. Your father called. Your grandmother has just passed."

I was rooted to the spot. Not my grandmother, who I knew inside out and back to front. She had been more of a caregiver than my mother had at times. I made a strangled sort of muffled cry in my throat, but it caught when I realized something.
My father didn't know where my grandmother was or basically anything about her. If anything, my mother would have been the one who called. My dad was probably still asleep at this hour.
"Are you sure it was my father who called?" I asked shakily.
"Yes, is there a problem?"
"No," I said, shaking my head quickly.
"He'll be coming soon to pick you up. Said y'all had some family business to take care of."
"Okay," I breathed. I wasn't quite sure what to make of the whole situation actually.

As soon as I reached the front gate, Buck's other car pulled up. I was puzzled; he hardly ever used that one. It wasn't until a figure in a trench coat and sunglasses stepped out to open the door for me that I realized what had happened. He pulled off the sunglasses and grinned from ear to ear.

"Dallas Winston, don't you ever do that again!" I yelled at him.
"What?" he replied smirking. "Please don't say you were actually enjoying your lesson."
I shook my head in wonder. "Don't trick me about my grandmother, alright?"
His eyebrows shot up. "They bought it?"
"Yeah, yeah. Why'd you get me?"
"We're not seeing each other for so long and there are better ways to spend your last day than in school," he stated matter-of-factly.
"Oh yeah?" I chewed my lip as we entered the business district. "Like what?"
"Like making out with me."
I rolled my eyes and looked out at the buildings on each side of the road.
"Where are we going?"
"Shopping. For you."
"Dally, I don't need clothes."
"I agree. You look better without them on."
"Keep your fantasies to yourself."
He pouted. "No fun. Remember what you called me when we first met?"
"What?"
"You said I was a rapist."
"Aren't you?"
"You wish. Besides, it's not rape if you like it."
I decided to shut up because he was never going to run out of comebacks.

He parked the car and led me into the huge mall. We sauntered past a toy store, a sushi stall and a bookshop until he pushed me into the lingerie store.
"Dally!" I whined.
"Hey, who said we're buying for you?"
I slapped his shoulder lightly. "You're ridiculous."
"You need one of those," he said, pointing at a red and black corset.
"No, I do not."
I turned my head around and planted a soft kiss on his lips.

The barbecue sandwich crinkled in its paper wrapper when I put it down. "Not hungry anymore?" Dally asked from his seat opposite me.
I shook my head and sipped on my milkshake.
He stood up and draped his arm around my shoulders, leading me back out to the car.
"What's the plan now?" I asked one we were both comfortably inside.
"You'll see."
He drove back towards the suburban areas and close to where the Curtis' lived. I hadn't really been on this side of town and most of the houses were rundown.
He pulled up in front of a small studio apartment and parked the car, motioning for me to get out.
"Welcome to my house," he announced.
"You have a house?"
"No, I just live at other people's houses. Different people each day, they're rostered," he told me sarcastically, then cracked a grin. "I'm only joking, babe."
I followed him in to the living room, which was twice as messy as Buck's bedroom.
"Sorry," he apologized, a sheepish smile creeping onto his face.
"Yeah, you ought to clean this up."
Apart from the trash everywhere, the room was rather bare. A lone sofa sat tattered in the middle of the carpet, and there was a doorway leading off presumably into another room. There were no bookshelves or coffee tables or anything to show that it was inhabited. It just looked like a dump to me.
"Wanna see my room?"
I grimaced. "Not particularly."
"Aw, come on." And with that, he slung me over his shoulder and carried me off into the hallway.
"Put me down!" I shrieked in his ear. His hand reached out to turn the doorknob and I closed my eyes, expecting the worst.
He laid me softly down on a mattress and I opened my eyes. The room was spotless. There was nothing except for a mirror on the wall, a chest of drawers and the white made up bed I was lying on.
"How come it's so tidy in here?" I asked, bemused.
He chuckled. "Turns out girls don't like having sex in a pigsty."
I tut tutted disapprovingly. "So this is where all the magic happens, huh?"
"Used to. Nothing's been going on for a few months now," he said, rolling over on top of me.
"And nothing's going to happen for a while."
"Are you one of those people who won't sleep with anyone until they get married?"
"Well, the price a girl puts on her body is her own choice. Mine just happens to be very high."
He thought about this for a while, then said, "Okay," before pulling me over to sit on his lap.
"Do you have to leave me for a week?" he asked.
He nipped gently at the lobe of my ear. "What will happen today is we're going out to eat."
"Great!"
"It's pretty formal, so I have to drop you at home to change."
"Exciting," I remarked.
"Totally."