I woke up with a start that morning. Darry was sorting himself out for work and Pony was still asleep on the other sofa. I wasn't sure how long I'd been asleep for, but all I knew is that Dally hadn't come back last night. I made my way over to where Darry was in the kitchen.
"Mornin' Blue. Want some coffee?"
"Yeah, please." He set me down a cup. "Why didn't he come home last night? God, I'm so worried now."
"He'll turn up Blue, you know what he's like. And from what Soda told me Bob really set him off. He's probably just sleepin' off a hangover at Buck's."
"He promised me he'd come home." I took a sip of coffee, mulling things over in my mind. "He better not have gotten in any trouble."
"Well, that's the chance you gotta take with Dally. I told you that from the beginning, he's not exactly stable. Just don't let him drag you down with him."
"Ugh, I really don't need this discussion right now Dar." I took my coffee and made my way to my room, Darry was off to work now and Soda and I had work at 9am. It was currently 7:30am so I messed about for a bit and had a shower and got dressed for work. Seeing as it was still pretty cold I was wearing jeans with a tight, long sleeve jumper under my DX shirt. By 8am I figured I'd better get Soda up for work, so I knocked on his door and told him to move it. Steve would be coming over at 8:45am for us so he'd better get a move on.
I made my way back to the kitchen and made myself another coffee while I made some breakfast for Soda, Janet and Pony. This was going to be a long day.
xxxx xxxx
I'd called Angela when I got to work, she said Tim had explained what had happened last night when she got in this morning. Apparently Tim hadn't found Dally at any of his usual spots, but he said he'd bring Ange and come pick me up from work and we'd go for another look around.
The day went really slow, it was fairly steady but all day I was just expecting the person opening the door to be Dally, looking sorry for himself and worse for wear, but no sign. A couple of Greaser guys came through at various points but no one had seen him since last night. I knew he could look after himself usually, but last night he just seemed really out of it, I just didn't want him to do anything stupid.
I hadn't spoken to Steve since this morning, he'd tried giving me a lecture like Darry did, but I told him where to shove it. I don't know where he got off trying to talk to me like that and said to him he couldn't give me relationship advice until he told Evie the truth.
Eventually 5pm rolled around, luckily I'd brought a jumper with me, even though it was the start of spring the weather hadn't seemed to heat up too much and the watery sun just didn't put out enough heat.
Ange and Tim pulled up as we were locking up. Tim went through to speak to Soda and Steve while Ange came through to help me finish up in the shop.
"Sucks about Dally babe, but we'll find him." She gave me hug in greeting.
"That's ok, just worried he's gotten himself into trouble that's all." I put the broom back behind the counter. "Speaking of trouble, what did you get up to last night missy?"
Ange smirked, "Wouldn't you like to know."
"Yes, I would actually. Seemed to get pretty cosy with Two-Bit." I matched her grin.
"Well you could say that."
I laughed, "I knew it! So what now?"
"What do you mean? I dunno really. I don't know what to think, with the baby and all. But I've always kinda thought he was a bit of a doll."
"Ah I so knew it! He's a nice guy though Ange. He wouldn't mess ya about I'm sure."
"Have to see how we go I guess."
Just then Tim came through so we stopped giggling about it, I'm guessing Tim wouldn't be too happy about Two-Bit making a move on his already pregnant younger sister.
"Ready to go girls?"
"Yeah c'mon Blue."
"So you catch anything of him last night Tim?"
"Nah sorry Blue, but that's a good thing. Means he's not been out causin' trouble, otherwise I'd have heard 'bout it."
That was true I suppose. Our first stop was Buck's but Buck insisted he hadn't seen him so we made our way to the Dingo, Drive-In, a few other Greaser hang outs but no one hanging about had seen him.
Eventually we made our way into town to see if we could find trace of him. All the shops had shut by now, but the bars were just opening and we figured that's where he'd be if anywhere. Tim went into a couple of their favourite hang outs, but no sign. The last place we checked had seen him last night but said he left around 2:30am. But the guy had no idea where he was headed unfortunately. The guy knew Dal fairly well and I think Dal had helped him out from time to time with stuff, so he hoped we found him soon.
We'd been driving about for a couple of hours now and we kind of gave up. We had no idea where to look any more. He'd obviously decided to drive somewhere as we hadn't seen his car either. I just hoped he wasn't too bombed when he left the bar last night. Tim decided to stop by the police station on the way back to ours, he checked to see if he'd been hauled in. But no sign, usually he would have called by now if he had been arrested.
Ange offered to stay the night at mine, so I accepted. It would be good to have some female company. Tim had some stuff to do but he promised he'd keep an eye out for any notice of Dal. He said he reckoned he most likely had just gone for a drive somewhere to get out of town and that he'd be back soon enough. But I wasn't so sure.
"Hey girls, we left ya some dinner up there if ya'll are hungry." Soda, Steve, Two-Bit, Pony and Johnny were all crowded around the television. Some movie was on and they were all focussed on it, although I did catch Two-Bit's wink to Ange as we made our way past, she answered him with a smile.
"Take it Darry's at the timber yard?" I got a nod in response from Soda, so I made sure I left a bit for Darry when he got home. It was just pasta, but I knew he'd be hungry when he got in.
Ange and grabbed a bowl each and sat down in the living room. Pony and Johnny, being the gentlemen they are, got up and insisted Ange and I sit on the sofa they had previously been occupying. When Soda and Steve realised they apologised for forgetting their manners. Now that Ange was 'with child' as they put it, they had been acting way more polite to her, and me, than they usually would.
"So no luck today then Blue?" Soda turned down the TV as he asked me.
"No, we checked everywhere, most we got was from Charlie's bar, he'd seen him last night but he left there around 2:30am. Tim reckons he's gone for a drive and would be back soon, but I dunno."
"He's probably in Windrixville." Johnny finally spoke up.
"What makes you say that Johnny? Where's Windrixville?" I'd heard the name before but didn't know how far away it was.
"Not far from here. Just into the country a bit. Remember when me n him disappeared for a week? When it all kicked off here? That's where we went. He's got a hideout there."
"Why didn't you tell me this morning?"
"I dunno, I figured he'd just be at Buck's, but I guess he was super pissed. He probably wants to be left alone."
"So? Johnny he can't just up and leave like this. I'm worried sick. It don't matter if he wants to be left alone, he can't just keep thinking' of himself like that. And you gotta start thinkin' about how what he does affects me too. Cos he clearly doesn't if that's where he's been this whole time. He must know how upset I'd be when he didn't turn up last night."
"Sorry Blue, just he promised me to never tell anyone where it was."
"Well I'm not just anyone Johnny, not to him, not any more."
I huffed now, I know Johnny was just looking out for Dally. They were the closest to each other, but surely by now Johnny would have the sense to realise that I wasn't just another one of the gang to Dally, I was his girlfriend, and by all accounts a pretty serious girlfriend by Dally's record. We'd been together since October and it was now February so it had been four months. I guess Johnny was still as oblivious with girls as ever. I wondered how on earth Diane was going to sort him out with this friend of hers. They'd double dated twice now but I dunno how they went really.
"Well you'll just have to direct us there tomorrow Johnny if he doesn't come back tonight. He can't pull shit like this."
He nodded in agreement and we went back to watching the film. After while I was getting pretty tired and I could tell Ange was too, even though her and Two-Bit, who was sitting opposite us in Darry's chair, kept looking at each other and smiling. The start of her pregnancy hadn't exactly been the best and it was starting to take its toll on her. She was getting tired a lot and really easily, I guess she was under a lot of stress. But she knew she could come to me with anything. Her mum hadn't exactly been much help. She didn't really give a shit about her kids, just herself and she would frequently just abandon them whenever her next meal ticket came along.
"Hey I reckon I might head off to bed. If Dally doesn't come home tonight we'll make an early start tomorrow to go lookin' for him."
We were met with a chorus of goodnights as Ange and I made our way to the bedroom. Two-Bit got up and followed us to my room.
"I'll take you two tomorrow if you need. But I'm sure he'll be back tonight."
"Thanks Two-Bit." I grabbed my pyjamas and gave them to Ange to wear, I got a pair of sweat pants and one of Dal's shirts to wear and made my way to the bathroom to get ready for bed, and give Ange and Two-Bit a few moments in private. By the time I had my shower, got ready for bed and shoved my work uniform in the laundry hamper, Two-Bit had made his way back to the sofa. Ange had changed and hopped into bed. I climbed in beside her, glad she'd warmed up the bed slightly, and set myself up to sleep. Although I was worried sick still about Dally, and every possible scenario as to where he was, was playing out in my head, I was very tired. However I could feel Ange being restless beside me.
"What's wrong Ange?"
She was silent for a moment, before turning to face me.
"Two-Bit just told me he liked me."
I could feel the smile cracking on my face, "Really? That's awesome!"
"Not so much."
"Why not? I thought you liked him?"
"Yeah I do, but I'm not exactly in the best situation, am I?"
"Well what did he say?"
"He said he didn't care, he'd liked me for ages. But I don't think he gets what impact the baby is gunna make."
"That's probably right, but you can only try can't ya? What have ya got to lose?"
"Hmmm. I dunno, I guess we'll see. Tim won't exactly like it."
"You might be surprised. In his mind, at least you'll have someone else lookin' after ya."
"True. Well, I dunno. I'll talk to him again tomorrow, see how we go. Dally'll turn up. He always does. Ya can't get rid of him, he's like a bad smell."
I giggled slightly. Eventually we managed to get to sleep.
xxxx xxxx
We woke next morning to the smell of pancakes and a lot of commotion coming from the kitchen. I noted Ange's stirring presence next to mine, remembering that Dally was not here. I checked my clock, it had just gone 8:30am. Man, we managed to sleep a fair whack last night. Guess we were both more tired than we thought. I was annoyed at myself though, I had hoped on getting an early start looking for Dally today.
Two-Bit, as he promised, was on the sofa this morning. Soda wasn't up yet, but everyone else was, so once Ange and I were up we started on breakfast. As we were eating the phone began to ring. Unusual for us on a Sunday morning, although it may have been Darry's work calling him in. The roofing had been slow over winter, so he mainly had Sundays off recently, but he always expected a call from his boss for emergency jobs.
"Hello… yes this is Darrel… Not a problem… yes I know him… what?... where?... I see… well, yes… ok, I'll see you soon… thanks ma'am." He hung up, I had a bad feeling about this.
"Darry what's going on?" I was first to ask, everyone had stopped eating and Soda had made his way through from his bedroom, confused as to what was going on.
"That was someone from the hospital in Oklahoma City. They have Dallas, he was in a car accident and found early yesterday morning."
"Oh no! Is he ok? What happened?" Ange rubbed my back as I was close to tears.
"Well he's ok, pretty bashed up, and under a lot of painkillers and not making much sense so they didn't know who he was. So they asked the police to find out who he was and had to wait to hear back from them, they eventually gave the hospital my details. Seems like he'd been heading for Dallas, Texas."
Now I was kind of angry. He promised me he'd come home, and ok he was angry, but going to Dallas? That was pretty far away, ok if you had a car, but not for me. What was he playing at?! I calmed myself down enough to ask "So we're going to see him?"
"Yeah finish breakfast and get yourself ready, we'll make our way down there. It'll take about 2 hours to get there."
I hurried up and got myself dressed, the others were going to stay here and Ange said she would find Tim and let him know what happened and to stop looking.
As worried as I was about Dallas' condition, I knew one thing, as soon as he was better I was gunna kill him, for pulling a stunt like this.
