Take Me Back to Where We Started

I opened my eyes and looked around the room. I had no idea where the fuck I was, then I heard Dallas snoring and I remembered. I could smell coffee and heard a paper being ruffled. A few seconds later, someone walked out of the kitchen.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you." Darry said.

"No, you didn't. Thanks for uh, letting me sleep on your floor."

He smiled. "Yeah, no problem." He turned and started walking down the hallway.

"Hey, wait. I remember when you used to play football with my brother."

Darry turned around and leaned on the wall, taking a sip out of his mug. "Who's your brother?"

"Paul. Harris."

"You're kiddin! Nicole, right? I remember when you were, what, maybe 12, 13? I knew you looked familiar. How's Paul doin?"

I smiled, then sat up. "He's good! He's gonna be a Sooner next year. He got himself a football scholarship to The University of Oklahoma."

"Good for him. Tell him I said congratulations." He smiled, then walked down the hallway and turned into a room, disappearing from my sight.

"Why'd you say that?" I heard Dally say from beside me.

"Say what?"

"That your brother's playin' ball in college. That was Darry's dream. He had to give it all up when his parents died."

"I didn't know…sorry."

"Don't apologize to me." He sat up. "Didn't hurt my feelings none." He laid back down as quick as he sat up. "God damn't."

"You remember last night?" I asked him.

He reached up at his neck and took off his necklace, then handed it to me. "I remember that you were a bitch and turned me down."

"I wasn't being a bitch. I was just making sure you didn't do anything stupid."

"Yeah, thanks Mom. I knew what I was doin'."

I set the necklace in the palm of my hand and stared at for a few minutes. "I don't know if I really want this." I said, keeping my eyes focused on the necklace.

"What do you mean you don't know if you want it?"

I stretched my right arm back behind me and leaned back on it so I could see Dally, who was still laying down. "I mean, we've only known each other for, what, two weeks? If that? Don't get me wrong, I like you, but you wanna be in a relationship already?"

"Nah." He said as he snatched his necklace roughly from my hand before using it to light a match, which he then used to light his cigarette.

"That came out wrong, I guess. If you give me a little time…" The sound of his laughter caught me off guard, causing me to stop mid sentence. "What?" I asked him.

"I don't gotta give you shit, doll. You got a big fuckin' head, you know that? Actin' like I'm all torn up 'cause you turned me down. Get the fuck outta here." He smiled, then took a drag from his cigarette. "The doors over there, sweetheart."

"Yeah, thanks." I said as I got up to leave. Before I left the house, I noticed Dally's pants lying on the floor. I didn't remember him taking his pants off last night, but I'm sure those were his because both of the knees had dirt stains on them from when he tripped over the curb. I grabbed them then let out a "Ha" before walking out the door.

"Somethin' funn…are those my…ah shit." I could hear him say as I walked through the front door and onto the porch. Once I cleared the stairs I took off down the street until I figured I was far enough away from the Curtis's house.

"Something is funny!" I screamed back to Dally who was standing on the front porch."And it's your pale ass legs." I dropped his pants in the middle of the street and started walking home. I knew that there were three other guys in the house who Dallas could borrow pants from, but his wallet was in the pair of jeans that I left on the street and I was hoping some hood would go through the pockets and steal it.

I walked in the front door and turned left into the living room to find Paul on the couch eating a bowl of cereal. I plopped down next to him. "How was Randy's? I asked, taking his spoon from him. Before I could get the cereal into my mouth, he took the spoon back.

"It was good, from what I remember." He said with a mouth full of Cheerio's.

I nodded my head. "Sounds like a good night."

"How was…"he swallowed, "your friends or whatever? The studyin' thing?"

"It was alright. Pretty boring." He moved his head closer to me and started sniffing.

"You smell like…smoke and cheap cologne. You sure you're not lying to me again?"

I moved my nose to my shoulder to see if I really did smell like cigarettes and cologne, and I did. But I didn't think the cologne smelled cheap; I thought it smelled good.

"Yeah, well. The girls Dad is a smoker, and apparently, wears cheap cologne." I lied.

He turned his head and looked at me, mouth full of cereal. "What'd you do, fuck her father?"

I balled my right hand into a fist and reached across my body, attempting to give him a dead leg. After I hit him, I sprung up off of the couch knowing that he was going to give me an Indian Rug-Burn, but I didn't get away quick enough. He grabbed my left arm and put his cereal down on the end table next to the couch with his free hand.

"Shouldn't have done that." He squeezed my forearm with both of his hands and moved them in different directions.

"No!" I screamed in between laughs. "Okay, okay! Enough!" I twisted myself out of his grip and onto the floor. He threw himself on top of me and grabbed my wrist and started twisting it. "Say mercy." He said, smiling. This was a game that we played all of the time. I pursed my lips into a straight line and shook my head. He bent my wrist backwards. "Say it." I shook my head again. "I swear to God, I'll break it."

I narrowed my eyes. "You would not." He raised his eyebrows then bent it back further. I swore I felt it crack. "Fuck! Alright, enough!" He didn't let go. "Say IT."

"Mercy, mercy! Fuckin' mercy!" I screamed. He laughed then got off of me. Before he could push himself off of the ground, I kicked him in the chest and he fell backwards onto the glass coffee table, shattering it. I shot up off of the ground and stared at him. He was off of the ground before I was, probably in shock.

"Are you alright?" I asked him. He didn't answer for a few seconds, actually, he didn't answer at all. He looked at me, then stared laughing. "It's not funny, Paul! Dad's gonna kill me!" But as I looked down at the glass on the carpet, I couldn't help but laugh. "Well, what now?" I asked him.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Shit, I don't know. We don't even have a dog to blame this on like we used to."

I heard a car door outside. "Fuck." I started panicking. "We could…should we blame it on Mom? Or say that we got robbed or something?"

He smiled, then sat back down on the couch. "Stop worryin'. I'll just tell Dad me and my buddies were playin' two hand touch in here and things got outta control, and oops," he shrugged his shoulders, "the table broke. You weren't even here." He sat back down on the couch and reached for his cereal, which was thankfully not on the coffee table or else Mom would've had a fit that there was glass AND milk all over the carpet. I forgot about my wrist until I looked down and saw a bruise beginning to form. "You dick head. Look what you did."

"I did it with love." He said, his eyes not leaving the TV. Although Paul might have been a huge asshole to a lot of people, I thought he was a pretty good brother. He didn't mean to be an asshole, it's just how all of the guys over here were. They didn't know any better.

It had been almost two months since I've talked to Dally, or Two Bit, or anyone from that side of town. It was the end of the first semester and unfortunately, the end of the semesters were always the worst time of the school year. I hated everything about school in the first place, and finals week was like regular school, times ten. Thankfully, it was the last day of school before winter break and all of my finals were done. Randy was throwing an end of the semester blow out tonight to celebrate school being out for a few weeks, and hell, I was excited. As I was putting my books in my locker at the end of the day, I felt a hand grab my ass. I snapped my head around to see Dallas Winston walking by, winking at me. I scrunched my nose up, then looked around. "What the fuck?" I said to myself. After a month and a half of not even looking at me, he walks up to me and grabs my ass. I did miss the little bit of Dallas Winston that I got to know, which I didn't like admitting since he was a cocky hood, but I missed him. I thought about catching up with him and pretending to act like I was mad about what he just did, but I let him go.

I caught up with Caitlin walking out of school. "I'm having a guy problem…I guess." I said to her.

She smiled at me. "Well, what is it? And who is it? Is it Jack Cooper? I knew it! You guys have been flirting so much lately. You love him, don't you?"

I let out a short sigh in annoyance. "Yeah, sure. Jack Cooper. So we had a little bit of a thing like a month ago…" Caitlin cut me off.

"Like how little? Did you guys…ya know, do it?"

"What the fuck? No, Cailtin. We went on, I guess…" I tried thinking back to all of the times I hung out with Dallas. "Like five or six…dates? If you wanna call them that. We just hung out really. But he hasn't talked to me in a while and today, he just came up to me and grabbed my ass. Didn't say a word."

"You went on six dates with Jack? And I just saw you guys talking yesterday. It hasn't been that long. Don't exaggerate; guys don't like that kinda stuff. But he was probably just showing you that he's still interested, although I wouldn't take Jack as being the ass grabbing type, but I guess I don't know him all that well. Anyway, he'll be at Randy's tonight. Maybe a little more ass grabbing will take place tonight?" She smiled at herself as she got into the drivers seat of her car. Before I got in, I locked eyes with Dallas from across the parking lot. He nodded at me and smiled. I'm sure I looked as confused as I felt, which was probably why he was laughing. "Yeah, maybe there will be." I answered Caitlin's question as I got in the car. She was talking about Jack doing the ass grabbing, and I was not.

I had just finished putting on mascara when my brother walked into my room. "I'm leaving for Randy's in like five minutes and what are you wearing?" He eyed me up and down.

I put the lid back on the mascara and put it down on my desk. "What?" I said looking over at him.

"Jeans? You're wearing jeans?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah, Paul. It's fucking cold. Am I not allowed to wear jeans?" I asked him, annoyed.

He shook his head. "Nope, wear jeans. But let's go. I have to stop and get a few bottles for the party and Cynthia is downstairs" He said as he tapped my wall, then left my room. I shut my light off and followed him down the stairs. I could already hear my Mom talking to her.

"That dress is so cute! And your hair!" She exclaimed from the kitchen.

"Alright, we're all ready to go on our double date." Paul said, putting an arm around Cynthia's waist.

"Is that anyway to dress for a date?" My Mom asked me, looking me up and down.

I looked over at my brother, who widened his eyes. He forgot to fill me in on the lie we were telling my parents this time. "No, I guess not. But it's cold and I have a …rash on my legs?" I said, questioning myself as the words came out of my mouth. Luckily, my mother ignored that.

"Well, you should let your brothers girlfriend take you shopping some day she really…" I leaned my head to the left and started banging my head against the wall, until my mother gasped.

"Knock that off, young lady. Or you'll go right back up those stairs and you'll stay there all night."

I couldn't help but smile. You couldn't take my Mom seriously. My Dad on the other hand, well, most people took him seriously, but I don't have to worry about him saying anything but "I'm disappointed in you," because lately, that's all he says. Apparently, "he doesn't know how to get over things and he's still mad over the Dally thing," according to my Mom.

"Double date?" I asked Paul as we pulled into the liquor store.

"Yep. Now, who do you want as your date; Jack Daniels or Jim Beam?" He asked as he got out of the car.

"They both sound like great guys. Surprise me." Paul wasn't 21, but he had a fake ID and even if he didn't, no one questions a well dressed boy with a nice car, anyway.

Three hours into the party and I was still trying to match Paul and his friends shot for shot. We were at 13, and saying I was wasted was an understatement. I hadn't eaten much that day, which only made it worse.

"I only got a few more in me." I said to Paul, leaning my arm on his shoulder.

"Told you you couldn't hang, kid." Paul replied, ruffling my hair. I sloppily tried to move his hand off of my head, but instead I just ended up resting my hand on top of his.

I took two more shots, then decided to try to pace myself the rest of the night. I finally decided to pour myself another shot, but instead of pouring it into the shot glass, I knocked the bottle of tequila on the floor. Everyone turned and stared at me, then started waving their arms, saying "flagged." Paul and Randy came over to me.

"Why are you takin' another shot, babe? You can't even walk." Randy said, laughing at himself.

"Shut the fuck up." I said annoyed. "I can too walk." I reached for a bottle, but Paul pushed my arm down.

"Nah, Nicole. You're done."

"I'm fine! I don't need you to babysit me. Go watch your girlfriend, or go fuckin'…I don't know. But do something and do it away from me." I looked over at Randy. "Seriously, I'm fine. I promise."

"No more." He said smiling, touching my nose with his finger, which I immediately slapped away from my face.

"I'm not a fucking kid, Randy." I walked away from the table with the alcohol on it, which Randy and Paul were hovering over. "I'm going to the bathroom." I turned around and faced them. "Either of you like to come with me? Ya know, incase I can't wipe my own ass." I yelled over the music. I saw Paul shaking his head and slapping Randy on the back before I turned back around. No body tried to babysit me when I went to that party with Two Bit, or the one with Dally. Dally! I smiled at the thought of his name. Dally would definitely let me drink more, I thought to myself. I walked over to Caitlin, who was talking to some guy.

"If anyone asks," I moved closer to Caitlin's ear so she could hear me, "and by anyone, I mean Paul and Randy, tell them that I went back to your house because I didn't feel good and your parents weren't home so you said I could crash on your couch, or somethin' like that."

She started laughing, then hugged me. "Yeah, yeah! Sure! You're my best friend." Normally, I'm not one for hugging, but I was wasted and so was she, so I hugged her back and told her that I loved her. I found a bottle of whiskey that was half empty and pushed my way through the crowd of Soc's. I made my way out of the house and started off for Bucks.