Cadaverous Love

Chapter Thirty-Seven

In an effort to raise spirits and break the tension, Dallas pops up and off of the bed, "I'll be right back," he says and disappears down the hallway, his feet fumbling messily under him.

An upbeat rhythm flows through the walls of the house, the loud strums of the guitar making way for a slight warmth in my chest. Then an inviting voice begins as Dallas leans in the doorway.

"Don't know much about history. Don't know much biology" Dal mouths the words, trying to draw my attention from the pain pressing down on my heart, "Don't know much about a science book. Don't know much about the French I took" he shrugs his shoulders playfully as I recognize the song to be Wonderful World by Sam Cooke, an old favorite of mine.

Now, as Dallas moves his shoulders some more, being a complete dork, I feel as if the lyrics are really coming from him, "But I do know that I love you and I know that if you love me too, what a wonderful world this would be" he winks and moves his feet slightly, his 'unperfected grace' showing through in the rosy embarrassment on his cheeks. "Don't know much about geography. Don't know much trigonometry"

"-Hell," Dallas buts in, trying hard to keep a smile for my sake, "I hardly even know what that is." I almost laugh.

"But I do know one and one is two" he holds up two fingers, "and if this one could be with you," he points at me, "what a wonderful world this would be." My heart longs to stand and make fool of myself with him, but my body keeps me weighed down like an anchor. "Now, I don't claim to be an A student, but I'm trying to be. For maybe by being an A student baby, I can win your love for me"

The song continues to play as Dallas walks over and holds out his hand, "come on," he says, "you know you wanna dance."

I shake my head, "I don't know what you're doing, Dal, but it isn't dancing." He stops moving and glares, a laugh forms inside of me but doesn't push its way out, "plus my legs hurt too bad."

His hand drops back to his side as he looks past me and sticks his tongue out slightly like he's thinking hard about something. He turns around quickly, "be right back."

"Where are you going now?" The house drops back into silence and I can only assume he took the needle off of the record. I hear his footsteps carry him downstairs, then there's the sound of a door being slammed and what I guess is Dallas bounding back up.

"Here," he steps back into the room and holds out his hand to reveal two small, white circle pills.

"What are they?" I take them in my hand and fold them over in my palm, examining the two small pills.

"A pain reliever," he pauses for a moment, "like Tylenol."

"I don't know about this, Dallas. I'm not too accustom to taking unidentified pills."

"Do you trust me?" Dal responds, his voice flecked with a sort of attitude that would lure you into saying yes without even thinking about it.

"Yes," I nod, meaning it.

"Then what's the issue?"

"Dally, sweet heart... It's not that I don't trust you, it's that I don't trust pills when I'm not too sure of what they actually are."

"I told you, it's uh pain reliever."

"Hmm," I search my mind for a valid argument, "is it illegal?"

"Just take the thing, ya stick in the mud. It's not gunna hurt you." With hesitation, I swallow the pills. "Now, we just gotta wait for that to kick in." Dallas says, entertained, as he plops down on the bed.