Change of Heart

The phone rang not too long later. "Hello?" I answered, leaning against the wall.

"Hey, baby. Miss me?" Dally's voice was smooth on the other end of the line.

"No. God, what were you thinking, breaking the windows of the school? Are you stupid?"

"I guess I was bored." I could almost hear his eyes rolling in his head. "Anyway, can you get Darry and just come to bail me out?"

Sighing loudly, I replied, "Fine. Be there in a little bit."

"Thanks, babe."

After slamming the phone back on the hook, I journeyed to Darry's room. On the way there, I couldn't help but seethe a little bit. Why did Dally have to use stupid pet names for me? Ugh...he irritated me so damn much sometimes.

Once I reached Darry's room, I rapped on the door lightly a couple of times.

There was movement on the other side of the door until the door finally opened, showing Darry.

"Dally called. We going to go get him?"

Darry paused before saying, "My wallet's on the table. Just take it and go yourself."

"You don't want to go too?"

"I've bailed out Dally enough times for ten lifetimes. You can handle it."

"Okay, if you're sure."

The door shut in my face, leaving me isolated in the hallway. That was nice of him. Maybe he woke up on the wrong side of the bed... Yeah, let's pretend that's a true saying.

Doing as Darry told me, I ran to the table and tucked his wallet into my pocket before setting out to the police station. I could have sworn the gang said something about not walking alone on the streets, but whatever. If I got killed or something, it'd be Darry's fault, not mine.

A while later, I made it to the station and processed everything with the officer at the front desk. It took a while, but they finally sent a guard to get Dally out of his cell.

"Hopefully, this'll teach him," the officer expressed as I was waiting for the criminal to be let out. "It's good that the people at the school aren't making him stay here. Honestly, I think the charges will probably be dropped by the time the scheduled court date comes around."

I snickered slightly as I responded, "Nothing'll teach Dally. How many times have you seen him walk through those doors in cuffs?"

He laughed as he realized, "More times than I can count."

"And he'll be back to visit before you'll miss him," I promised.

Then, Dally was brought into the lobby. He grinned when he saw me, and we walked outside.

"So where's Darry?"

"He didn't want to come," I informed. "He said he had enough of getting you out of jail."

"Ouch. But you didn't mind comin' down to get me."

"I was the only one home. Pony, Soda, and Sammy went out for ice cream a while ago."

"They're still gone?"

"Sure. They were eating there, and maybe they went for a walk around after."

Dally shrugged. "Guess that's possible."

There was a silence. "So have you decided yet?"

"About what?" I turned just enough so he could see that I was cocking an eyebrow at him.

"Whether I'm bad or not." His smile was only visible to me out of the corner of my eye, since I was avoiding as much as I could to keep from making eye contact.

"Oh, you're bad, I know that. You're a hood."

"But you like that." He wrapped his arm around my waist and kissed my temple. "Want me yet?"

I gulped, but refused to answer him. Just keep walking... just keep walking...

Then, out of nowhere, he stepped in front of me, keeping me from taking another step. Taking my face in his hands, he leaned down and kissed me. His lips were soft and rough on mine, making my heart race. That was hard to hide.

After a minute, he leaned back. "You didn't pull away."

"Nope."

Not wanting to elaborate anymore than that, another silence settled between us. After all, I didn't want to be just another girl that Dally got. He'd had more girls than I was sure I wanted to know. He had a reputation as a womanizer of sorts. I didn't just want to be another tally on the end of that list.

But that kiss did feel really good...

"So, whataya say?" Dally questioned, a corner of his lip turned up slightly.

Instead of answering, I brushed by him to continue toward the Curtis house. I heard his footsteps behind me, but he didn't say anything else. We both knew what the answer was.