Change of Heart

The next morning, I walked out into the living room, still half asleep. It always took me a few minutes to wake up, even though I usually got right out of bed.

"Hey, babe," a voice greeted smoothly.

Immediately, I screamed, scared completely out of my mind. Eventually, it registered that the person who spoke was only Dally. Breathing heavily, I put a hand to my chest.

"Did I scare you?" he asked, a smirk still on his face.

"Oh, you think?" I snapped sarcastically. "What are you doing, sitting on the couch anyway? Trying to give innocent people heart attacks?"

"No, though that was pretty fun." I rolled my eyes at him and kept walking into the kitchen. "I just slept on the couch last night."

"Don't you have a home or something?" I snapped, walking through to the bathroom.

"No." His answer was so blunt, I hesitated for a second.

"Oh, sorry," I mumbled, walking into the bathroom and shutting the door behind me. When I came out, Dally was leaning against the wall.

"Don't worry about it. I haven't had a home for a long time."

I almost retorted with a, 'Stinks to be you, huh?' but refrained, since that was kind of mean. "Sorry to hear about that."

"I said don't worry about it, didn't I? You know, I'm not the kind of person you feel sorry for."

"That so?" As I was talking, I was busying myself making breakfast for everyone. Really, I was only listening to Dally with half of my brain.

"Yeah. I grew up in New York and got arrested when I was ten."

"You rape someone?" I snickered, figuring it was the number one thing that Dally would do. I was such a nice and caring person, really.

"No! Robbed a store. I got a record a mile long: Stealing, Breaking and Entering, Vandalism..."

"Is this supposed to be turning me on or something?" I turned around and fired at him.

He raised his eyebrows. "Dunno...is it?"

"Not at all."

"Damn." He smiled and shrugged, leaning against the counters. "I thought I was getting somewhere."

"Nope. You're talking to a girl who's going to Stanford, so being a criminal isn't all that attractive." Rolling my eyes, I threw the eggs into the frying pan, hearing them sizzle.

"Oh, someone up?" Soda's voice called out.

"In here!" I called, starting to get the cake ready. Soda walked into the kitchen, his hair sticking in every direction.

"Tuff hair," Dally commented, holding back a laughter.

"Shit," Soda muttered, running into the bathroom. Oh, wah, wah. I swear, those boys cared more about their hair than I cared about mine, and I was a girl. There was something wrong there.

"So are you gonna make me breakfast?" Dally asked, smiling at me.

"You think you're charming, don't you?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"A little bit, yeah." He reached over and stuck his finger in the bowl of cake batter, licking off his finger.

"That was gross," I commented, scrunching up my nose slightly. "Don't do that again."

He winked at me and said, "I could finish baking, if you want."

"I wouldn't trust you," I scoffed, hip-checking him out of the way of the oven. "Ugh, you're getting in my way."

"You like it," he snickered.

"No, I don't. Leave me alone."

"Does my hair look better?!" Soda exclaimed, walking back into the kitchen. "Well, does it?"

"It looks good," I assured him. "Relax."

"Okay. I'm going to go change for work now." He darted to his room.

Shaking my head, I wondered aloud, "God...that boy has his priorities mixed up. 'Oh, now that my hair is all did, I can get ready for my job.'" I mimicked Soda by using the deepest voice I could muster.

"I HEARD THAT!" Soda screamed.

"STINKS TO BE YOU!" I yelled back.

Darry walked out then, giving me a disapproving look. "It's seven thirty in the morning. Can you two calm down a little bit?"

"God, what am I even doing up at seven thirty in the morning?" I whined.

"Actually, you were up at fifteen past," Dally intervened.

"Do you want me to beat you with this spoon?" I threatened, lifting up the wooden spoon in my hand.

"Would you?" he replied suggestively.

Instead, I backhanded his arm. "Stop being gross. You're seriously starting to piss me off."

Dally opened his mouth to say something else, but Darry shot him a look. Sometimes, it worked to have Darry on my side.

After breakfast finished cooking, I put it all on plates, making sure that I gave Dally almost no egg and the teeniest, tiniest sliver of a piece of cake.

"I got gypped," he expressed as Darry and Soda were basically inhaling their breakfasts to get to work on time.

"Cry about it," Soda told him through a full mouth, so it sounded all garbled.

Soon enough, they were out the door. "So, what do you want to do now?" Dally questioned, turning to me. His dark eyes were very intense.

Pray for Ponyboy to get up already. "I dunno," I responded, going and flopping on the couch. Dally went up next to me and put his arm around me.

I stood up immediately, glaring down at him. His face had mischievous written all over it. "I would really love if you left right now."

"Fine," Dally agreed, standing up and walking out the door. "I'll be back later."

The door shut behind him, and I put my face in my hands. There was just no stopping that guy. The worst thing was, I realized as I bit my lip, I actually liked him hassling me. What the hell was wrong with me?