I rolled over and noticed I was alone in the bed, I sat up and looked around the room, there was no one there. I got up and checked the bathroom, no one there either. I quickly shoved on my clothes and took off outside the room. It was the early hours of the morning, I guess I'd woken up when I realised Dallas was gone. It was still dark out with only the faintest glimmer of light on the horizon.

I ran around the back of the building to where we'd left the car last night, Dallas was leaning against the driver's door having a smoke, letting the engine warm up. He straightened up when he saw me coming, I'm sure he was ready to dive into the car.

"Where are ya goin'? Huh?"

"Outta here, it's better for ya."

I marched straight on over to him and punched him clear across the face as hard as I could. He took it and looked at me, kind of proud at the strength of my punch, but mostly pissed that I'd hit him.

"Bullshit. So all that last night was crap? So you could just fuck me and leave this mornin'? Leave me in the middle of nowhere with no money? You really are a jackass." I turned round to walk away, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

I tried to break free but I couldn't. He pushed me up against the car and stood in front of me so I couldn't leave.

"I'd never do that and you know it." I started crying, I hated doing it, but this wasn't working out right, I felt like everything he said last night was a lie, everything I'd felt was false. "Doll I promise."

"Fuck your promises." I elbowed him seeing as I couldn't move much.

"I'm only leavin' 'cause I don't reckon I can go back to Tulsa and I can't take ya away from your brothers. If I tried this when you were awake look what would happen. You're pretty pissed."

"Pretty pissed? I'll show ya pissed! You don't know nothin', you're just a user, piece of trash, hood." I knew that would hurt him. He loved the reputation he had, but he didn't like it being used against him.

He had hurt in his voice as he said, "Hey don't get wise." He looked at me ominously.

"If you weren't gunna stay with me then why say all that shit last night? Huh? Now I just feel like I'm some dumb broad who slept with ya at Buck's."

"You know that ain't it. I thought a lot last night after ya slept, I can't mess ya up I gotta go."

"Fine, then go. I fuckin' hate you." He let me break free of his grasp, I walked back towards the room, tears falling like rain.

I got back into the room and collapsed on the bed, what was I going to do now. I had no clue where we were other than we passed Bixby then continued for at least 2 hours, we were really out in the sticks. My brothers would be super pissed at having to come get me. And the worst thing was knowing that after this, I probably wouldn't see Dally again.

I know it was only early morning but I helped myself to the leftover beers that Dally had sat on the floor last night. They were warm, and tasted foul but I downed the first two as quick as I could. Gasping the third down between my sobs.

I was on my fifth when I noticed the sun starting to twinkle through the bottom of the blinds, this made me more depressed, I was halfway drunk, abandoned by the guy I thought I loved, he played me, broke my trust and the sun was only starting to rise. I knew I couldn't trust any guy, but I thought I could trust him. Now I felt like I couldn't even trust myself. Last night had been one of the best times I'd ever had, sleeping with a guy. I felt the most safe, most loved, even if he couldn't say it in words, I just felt it properly. Dallas was the only one I felt like that with, and last night had been the best. But I guess that was just his charm. I got sucked in, now it felt dirty, it felt like I was just another one of those trashy, Greaser broads that all the guys slept with. That's what I was. I went to parties and slept around. And now I could add Dallas Winston to that list of guys, a list most Greaser girls would kill to have. Only the trashiest of Greaser girls could say they had him on their list, like Sylvia.

I slurped down the sixth beer, imagining myself as a Sylvia mini-me, blonde, way trashier makeup than I wore with much trashier clothes, when I heard footsteps outside the room, I panicked slightly, realising I hadn't locked the door after I came in. I dashed over and slid the bolt through just as the person on the outside tried to open it.

I heard some muffled swearing before he knocked. "Cassidy it's me. Open up."

I looked over at the clock, he'd been gone an hour, and I'm sure I'd heard the car leaving not long after I shut the door. Guess he turned back.

"Fuck off."

"I ain't leavin'."

"Heard that one before."

"I know I told ya I couldn't promise nothin'. But I will promise ya that I won't leave now. I came back."

"Well you also told me that you liked me, that you couldn't lose me and that you were an idiot for tryin' to break up with me. So, I'm sorry if I don't believe a word that comes out of your mouth."

"Just let me in the room."

"Fuck you."

He paused for a moment. "Cassi, are you drunk?"

"Possibly." I let my head hit the door as I leant back against it and slid down.

"Even more reason to let me in."

"Ha. So you can take advantage again? I know I'm a slut but I won't make that mistake twice."

He punched the door. "You know I'd never do that! Now let me in before I break the door down."

I didn't want to piss him off any more; if I did he'd definitely bust the door in. So I got up and unbolted it, slouching back over to the bed, finishing off the can in my hand.

He came inside and moved over to sit on the bed next to me, trying to put his arm round my shoulder. I jerked away.

"Don't fuckin' touch me."

He looked kind of hurt at my response, but I didn't care. I usually spoke my mind, I never held back, but now that I was drunk I could feel the alcohol giving me the confidence to really speak my mind, I had no censor.

"Last night wasn't like that, you know it."

"I don't know anythin' any more Winston."

"This is such an over-reaction."

I glared at him, daggers flying from my eyes. "Really? An over-reaction? We made up last night, I looked after ya, you made me feel all this shit just so you could sleep with me, knowing full well you were gunna fuck off in the mornin' leavin' me by myself in some trashy highway motel in the middle of nowhere. So excuse me if I'm slightly upset. You're no better than Tim or any of those other guys who'd just sleep with me at a party and be happy to leave it at that. Actually you're worse, they never led me on with all this feelings crap." It wasn't until now that I realised how much I hated what I'd been doing over the past year or so. It wasn't till I felt like that with Dal that I knew how empty those other times were, how those guys had just used me for a good time.

We were quiet for a few minutes. "I'm nothin' like Tim." He said darkly. "It's because I care about ya that I left. I didn't think about it that way. I told you I don't know what I'm doin'. In my mind leavin' ya here was the best idea, your brothers would come pick ya up and you'd get on with your life, and I'd be as far away as possible, not fuckin' ya around, not gettin' ya in trouble, nothin'."

"Last night was the safest I'd ever felt with a guy, with you is the safest I've ever felt. I know we ain't been goin' out that long but I felt like you really cared about me. Last night I felt like you loved me, even if ya couldn't say it. Then I wake up and you're runnin' out on me." I started crying harder, I don't even know why, I was angry at him. I didn't want to look so weak.

He stared at me in disbelief before getting up and fiddling in his pocket. I wondered what the hell he was doing, when he pulled out my chain with his St Christopher charm on it. My hand immediately went to my chest where it usually rested, but it wasn't there.

"It broke off when I was pulling you out of the church." He placed it in my hand. I stared at it for a moment. "I swear I won't go anywhere. I won't leave your side for the rest of your life if that's what you want. I didn't realise how much of a stupid mistake it was till I was halfway down the highway, but I just don't know how to deal with this stuff. No one's ever cared about me this much. I don't know what to do with it. I figured you'd be better off without me stuffin' everythin' up all the time."

I eyed him suspiciously. "Promise?"

"I promise. Really I do. I'll try my best to do what I need to. I might be a 'user, piece of trash, hood' but I ain't a coward."

I looked down. "Sorry, for sayin' that. But that's how I felt. I thought you'd used me and abandoned me."

"Don't be sorry. I'm a jackass."

I put my chain back on, which took a while in my drunken state, the beers were catching up to me.

"How 'bout we go for a bit more of a sleep. We'll figure this whole thing out when you're sober." He chuckled slightly at my current state. So I elbowed him, possibly harder than needed, he yelped kind of, I guess one of his ribs was bruised from the rumble.

"Sure." I lay down and he lay down next to me after he pulled his jacket and boots off. I looked over at his face and giggled.

"What?"

"Nice shiner ya got there." His other eye was starting to bruise up, thanks to my earlier punch.

"Ya got some hook on ya that's for sure."

"Deserved it."

He nodded and let me curl into him. I entwined my legs with his; just to be sure he wasn't going anywhere and hugged him tightly. He read my thoughts though.

"I've learnt my lesson, I ain't goin' nowhere. Promise."

xxxx xxxx

He kept his promise; I came to around 11:30am. He was awake, staring at the ceiling and playing with my hair slightly.

"Mornin'. Feelin' alright?"

I yawned. "Yeah." I sighed, "Sorry 'bout all that this mornin'."

"Me too. Who'd have thought I'd drive ya to drink before 6am." He chuckled slightly. "But for real, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have run out on ya like that. It was my stupid idea of the best plan."

I shrugged and got up to go to the toilet.

"So what's the plan?" I said after I'd freshened up.

"Figure we'd keep goin', head to Dallas like I planned."

"What's in Dallas?"

"Me!" He laughed his unique laugh.

"Sure, we'll need clothes first though. You need a t-shirt for a start. Who the hell decides to run away with just jeans and a denim jacket?"

He rolled his eyes. "Fine, we'll hit up a shop in town, should be open by now."

We rolled into Hugo about 45mins later. The guy at the roadhouse had held us back slightly; he wanted to make sure I was 100% alright. I guess he'd heard the commotion this morning.

There was a charity shop just off the main street so I dragged Dallas in there. The old lady behind the desk looked at us pityingly. She figured we were runaways, made us take a few things, free of charge. Dally left a few dollars on the bench when she wasn't looking though.

We each had a change of clothes, she also gave us a blanket, some food vouchers for the general store and a jacket for me. Although it was summer it was slightly chilly so I changed into my jeans and a jumper that she'd let me take, before we made our way into the store. We got our supplies from the general store and made our way back to the car, but we passed a phone box.

"I better call my brothers."

Dally handed me a couple of coins and took the stuff over to the car.

"Hello?"

"Soda? It's me Cassi."

"Oh thank god, Pony told us ya left with Dallas last night. He wasn't lookin' too good when we last saw him. How are ya?"

"We're good, he just needs some time away from Tulsa. I'm gunna calm him down before I bring him back."

"Sounds like a good idea. Where are ya?"

"Hugo, on our way to Dallas."

"Sure, just don't be away too long, he lookin' after ya?"

I paused for a second, "Yeah he is."

"You don't sound so sure. If he ain't you call me straight away, ya hear? I'll be down there."

"Don't worry Soda. It's all good, we're just workin' some stuff out. How's Johnny and Darry?"

"Johnny's stable, but he ain't the best, he's hangin' in there though. Darry ain't best pleased, but you'd figure that. He feels bad he ain't seen ya properly since he kicked ya out. He feels awful bad."

"Tell him not to worry, I'm doin' ok."

"Yeah he's just worried about ya bein' away with Dallas is all. He knows he saved ya though so he's kinda happy. But just don't drag this trip out."

"I'll try." I looked over at Dally, leaning against the car, smoke in mouth, looking cool as ever leaning against our stolen car in his new t-shirt and jeans. "Anyway I gotta go, but I'll call ya soon."

"Sure, just look after yourself, ya hear?"

"I will."

"And look after Dally, he needs it."

"I'll try."

Soda laughed before hanging up.