ALEX'S P.O.V.
"No offense to your hot aunt Laney, but she has no idea how to tend to a broken or twisted ankle."
"And you do?!"
"I have some experience from back when I lived in New York."
I rolled my eyes. Right. "You're ridiculous!" I threw my hands up and landed them back on my lap. "Is this your big apology plan? " I yelled. "To kidnap me?"
"Awe hell!" He looked at me from the corner of his eyes with a scowl. "You know I ain't kidnapping you! Don't play that card on me!"
"Stop the car!" I exclaimed bluntly. Dally did nothing but keep driving. "Stop the damn car, Dallas!"
"Why?!"
"Dammit Dal' I'm gonna scream if you don't stop this car right now!"
He slammed on the breaks causing his car to skid on the road. I lurched forward along with him. When it stopped, I opened the door and got out into the warm night air. The sound of crickets and a far away train occupied the air. "What the hell are you doing?" He yelled through the open window. I decided not to answer because I was too busy trying not to scream with all the pain I felt in my foot from walking. I clenched my fists. "Get back in the car!"
I didn't answer again as he started to drive to keep up with me. "You don't even know where we are." He reasoned.
"I'll find out." I shot back along with a glare.
"You're a stubborn and stupid broad." He laughed, hitting the dashboard.
"Yup, that's the way to get me to forgive you, call me names." I laughed angrily.
He let out another bark of laughter. The pain began to move up my leg like a fire. I started to sweat and my walk began to falter into a hopping limp. Through my now blurry vision, I didn't even notice him stop the car and get out. He got in front of me. "It's kinda hard to engage in a high-speed chase when the person you're chasing is barely moving forward, doll." He looked at me with half concerned, and half amused eyes. Both made me mad.
He put his hands on my shoulders trying to help me back to the car, and though I didn't want to give into his act, I just wanted to get off my foot. Dally was half right, I was stubborn, but I wasn't stupid. When we were both back in the car, I pressed my head up to the warm glass of the now rolled up window. It didn't take long to get to his house. But it wasn't much of a house at that.
His house resembled the Curtis' in many ways but looked more beaten down. The front window was cracked and all the paint was chipped and old. The lawn was overgrown and the roof looked like it had been cheaply patched so every square foot was a different material.
Dally scooped me into his arms and slammed the car door with his foot. The night air was the same night air that made me and Two-Bit restless and want to go out in the first place. Now it just made me tired.
His house smelled old but in a comforting kind of way. I looked around as he flicked on a light switch. It lit up a small front room with a couch and an armchair placed lazily on the wood floor that looked untouched. He laid me down on the couch. "Put your foot up here on the arm of the couch to keep it elevated." I did as he said and he walked out of the room.
I looked around at the mostly empty room. What caught and held my attention was the polished fireplace on the back wall. It looked like the only thing that had been really cleaned in a while. It had one single picture frame on it with a little boy. His smile was bright and his freckles were brighter. His dark hair was combed, but messy in the back. What stood out most beside the dark freckles were the little boy's bright, lively green eyes. It didn't even cross my mind who it was until Dallas came back into the room.
He placed an ice pack under my foot and began to wrap it up. I looked closely at his face and for the first time notice the smallest, faded freckles dotted on his nose. They were almost invisible if you weren't looking. It almost seemed like his tuff reputation and hard, cold, uninterested attitude covered up every detail of him. Every little mark, scar, freckle, or the way you could faintly see him flinch when he flipped out a blade. All details of Dallas Winston were overlooked; hidden by his reputation. He was just Dally. A small smirk tugged at the side of my lips, and I couldn't help but show it. Dally glanced at me from the corner of his eyes. "What?" His voice was cold and reserved as usual, but had a hint of a thaw in it.
I bit the side of my cheeks to try and hide the smile, but it didn't work much. Dally lifted my foot and sent a pain through my calf. I winced and chewed on my lip.
"Sorry." He drew in a breath between his teeth.
I shook my head. "It's fine." I squeezed my eyes close once, then opened them to see him wrapping a second layer around my ankle. I needed something to take my mind off the pain. I inhaled sharply as my foot stung. "What color eyes do you have?" I blurted.
He laughed once. "Is that the best small talk you could come up with?" I shrugged, keeping my eyes on his expression. "Brown." He said bluntly.
I squinted, mind suddenly a little taken away from the pain. "Have they always been brown?"
"Yup."
"Liar." I giggled.
He smirked and looked at me through his eyelashes with his head still faced down. "Why would I lie about my eye color?"
I shrugged. "You tell me Mr. Tall, dark, and green-eyed." I jut my chin over to the picture frame.
He glanced over at the frame. He stared at if for a while, and then began to nod slightly. "Ya caught me. Happy?"
"Very content." I smiled as he set my foot back down on the arm of the couch.
"They changed to brown I guess."
"Eyes don't just change color one day. You were like ten in that photo."
"Cross my heart." He threw his hands back in defense and crossed his chest with his finger.
"Hmmm." I laid my head back and sighed. "Don't believe you," I mumbled.
"Oh really?" He laughed out loud, causing me to giggle.
Before I knew it, he sat down on the edge of the couch right next to me. I leaned back a little in surprise about how close we were all of a sudden. I hadn't noticed how nice he smelled until now. He smelled like nice cologne and leather. I gulped. "How bout you tell me what color my eyes are." His voice hushed and husky.
I clenched my jaw and steadied my breathing. My heart was racing a million miles an hour as I leaned forward a little to see his eyes in the dim lighting. I focused on his eyes to see they were amazing. They were green closer to the middle, but then slowly faded into a dark brown. Within the inner circle of green, were little specks of brown. I was mesmerized by every string of green that flowed and bloomed through his eyes. I hadn't realized how close we had gotten now. Our face just inches away from each other. I could feel his breath on my cheeks. Being so close to him excited me, and made me feel like I could jump up and fly. I could tell we were both slowly moving forward like we were being drawn together.
We were so close, and I could feel the hair stand up on my arm from his hand hovering over it. Just as we were about to bring our lips together, I made an impulse decision and slowly jerked my head to the left, and looked down, away from him. I cleared my throat. "Yup, yeah, you're right they're for sure brown."
His mouth hung open slightly, in shock of my denial. He then shut it and stood up. He cleared his throat. "I'll call your house and tell them you're staying the night..." He trailed off and wrung his hands. "See you in the morning, Alex."He then flicked off the light.
Before my eyes could adjust to the darkness, I heard his footsteps leave the room, go down a hall, open a door, walk in, and shut it. I closed my eyes to myself. I threw myself back onto the couch. Why the hell did you do that? I thought. Why didn't you kiss him? It was perfect. All perfect.
I tossed and turned that night, coming to the conclusion that I made the right decision by not kissing him. Dallas was a player, and not right for me. I kept telling myself that. And through the night I got almost no sleep. Soon, sleep found me, but it did not bring any answers along with it. I don't know why I let myself almost kiss him, and I don't know why I didn't kiss him.
I don't have a crush on Dally. Definitely not. Totally not. A strong no. He's a hood. A greaser; just like the ones I avoided at school. He makes trouble. He makes mischief. He makes everyone insane. He curses, he's crazy, he's spontaneous, he's unpredictable, he's not the kind of guy my mom would want for me. He's one of a kind. He's a time bomb waiting to go off.
I kinda like that, though...