"Oh. My. God! Why couldn't anyone let me know we were coming to a horror flick?" I asked the gang, somewhere between anger, amusement, and still scared out of my mind. Scary movies and I do not mix well.

"And how would that be any fun for us?" Steve teased.

"Boy oh boy, Hazel, I never knew you could get so scared from one fake little movie," Ponyboy laughed. "Hey Soda, is your arm okay from Hazel's death grip?"

Soda, who had been rubbing his arm where I had grabbed on, smiled rather sheepishly and glanced over at me. "I survived."

I couldn't help but grin at that. I think Soda has that natural affect to make you smile no matter what's going on.

Before I knew it, me and Two-Bit were peeling off from the group and I was saying goodnight to Pony and Johnny, already half asleep. I gave everyone a hug, until I reached Dally. He looked down at me, his expression completely unreadable. Everyone else was too busy to pay any attention to us, so after a solid minute blankly watching Dal stare at me, his mouth crooked a bit, and I'm guessing it was some sort of smile, because he pulled me into a quick hug. The kind where our bodies didn't even touch and his arms were only around me for slightly over a second, before he pulled back out. And as he turned away, walking into the endless black pavement of secrets, he whispered, "Bye Mel." And he was swallowed by darkness. What did he mean by that? Was he just saying bye, like "goodnight" or did he actually mean bye? To me? Or just to Mel?? Damn, boys can be confusing sometimes.

I was still wondering about Dallas when Two-Bit rolled in next to me. He wrapped an arm around me and I used his chest as a pillow like always. I was ready to get some sleep, but he asked, quite suddenly, "You ready to tell me about Dally yet?"

I sighed, "Nope."

"So you don't want to tell me why Dal jumped up so fast to buy those drinks with you and gave you a hug tonight?" I sat up to see the always joking face of Two-Bit Mathews stony and serious. I've always wondered if the class clowns, you know, the people that go with the flow and don't seem to care about stuff. Well I wonder if they only do that because they're afraid to say what they truly really are feeling and decide the other way is easier. I wonder if Two-Bit's like that.

"Dally finally figured out it was me and wanted to talk about some stuff. Like why I was here. Me and Dally knew each other because I dated a friend of his in New York." He stayed silent, like he was waiting for me to say some more. "I'm not gonna say any more," I said. "I'm tired and don't feel like talking. Let's just go to bed."

He seemed able to leave it at that, muttering a "G'night Haze," although I sensed his disappointment. But I returned to curling up with my head on him and he rubbed my back. I knew he was still mad or sad or whatever that I wouldn't tell him; we're supposed to trust each other. But I really didn't care right then; I just wanted to sleep.