Dallas, Texas

"You're not staying for dinner?" catching his youngest son as he walked down the hall purposefully, Jock Ewing shook his head at his response, "no, sorry daddy. I've got a date tonight", though his head shaking stopped as Bobby continued, "I'll be here tomorrow though, Sue Ellen tells me they're coming to visit?" He couldn't really tell Bobby he wanted him to stay home for family dinner instead of going out on a date, he had no problem with him dating, he was a free man, it was just that with the way things were in the family at present, he felt like things were falling apart around him and he hated it. He wasn't used to not being in control but now that's all he seemed to be at home; Ellie was constantly yammering on about his supposed failures, JR had moved out and much like Ellie had started playing the blame game, Lucy was a good girl but she wasn't his closest ally, and nobody seemed to be warming to Jack. Bobby and Jack were good men, they did what they were asked and told to, but just having their backing wasn't enough, he wanted to be back where he belonged, back at the top of the family, not somewhere on the side, where people only looked when they felt like it. Hearing that Sue Ellen had confirmed to Bobby that they would be coming to dinner the next night was a small comfort though, at least when everyone was together things seemed normal again.

"They are? Good. You don't mind if Jack comes do you?" looking at his watch as he spoke to his father, Bobby noted that he had to leave soon if he wanted to get to Pamela's home in time, so when his father continued the conversation, he felt rushed to answer. "No, go ahead, I barely know the guy, but I don't have any objections. I'm really sorry daddy, I've got to go now, I don't want to be late", patting his father on the shoulder, he then continued walking down the hallway toward the stairs. Seeing the time as he looked at his watch again as he got in his car, he was glad that he drove a sports car and lived in an area where you'd be unlucky to meet a traffic cop, but if you did, you were in luck with the name Ewing. Reversing and turning, he then drove down the long driveway, past the Southfork paddocks, past JR and Sue Ellen's home, and toward Braddock.

A few miles away, in a middleclass suburban neighbourhood far from the freedom of Southfork, Pamela Barnes brushed her hair and checked her dress for wrinkles or dust for about the millionth time that evening. She was nervous, but more than that she was excited; she knew she liked Bobby, she hadn't just said yes to him because she was young and there was nothing to lose, which in the past, ashamedly, she had done. This time everything was different, she had somewhat pursued Bobby and in a positive twist he had responded by asking her out, she was already involved in something with him, even if she didn't really know what it was, if anything.

She knew she was pretty, many men had told her so and too many girls had been needlessly catty to her, plus, she owned a mirror and she'd spoken to her retail store managers in the past, she knew what it was that people liked about her when they first saw her. Despite knowing she was conventionally physically attractive and that was why she was able to get ahead sometimes, it was still flattering when someone she actually wanted to be friends with or in this case, wanted to date, found her appealing; there was validation in acceptance and as shallow as it sounded, she liked it. All her life she had struggled in other areas, so it was comforting to have at least one thing that she was able to fall back on, even if it was shallow and predictable.

Cliff hadn't always been a lawyer, her father had always been more unreliable than reliable, and without a mother in her life and a woman in her brother and father's lives, she had had to take control of a lot of things early in her life, and that hadn't been particularly fun. In comparison to dull, difficult domestic chores and emotionally draining familial tasks, it was nice to just switch off and allow herself to be treated as the pretty girl every so often. If men wanted to date her, then she was open to that, and before she had started working in an office, if her manager at the clothing store had wanted to use her as a pretty mannequin, then she was ok with that too. She wasn't all false though, she liked people and she enjoyed spending time with them, plus, she wasn't a model or anything quite that glamorous, she was just an attractive girl who didn't mind using her appearance to her advantage, because in her life, there were times where that was the only way she could get nice things.

A few yards down the hall from Pamela's bedroom, Cliff Barnes sat leafing through various Chinese takeout menus, only stopping when he heard a knock at the door. Standing, he walked over to the door, muttering a few words about feeling like a butler with the amount of door answering he did for his sister's social life, and opening the door, he couldn't stop himself from saying exactly what came to mind, "who are you?" Looking the young man up and down, he had a feeling that he had seen him before, though he didn't know where, in any case though, he wasn't sure who he was or why he was there, he wasn't Pam's date Frank, and he wasn't the kind of person Digger associated with, so he was fresh out of ideas. "My name's Bobby, I have a date with Pamela. Do I have the wrong address?" Tilting his head, he took in the man's appearance again before nodding and showing him into the house; he could've sworn his sister was still dating Frank, but the appearance of Bobby said otherwise, and that told him that what Pam was always saying about him being spacey when it came to her life was likely true. He would have to work on paying more attention to his sister's life, otherwise he didn't know what loser she would attach herself to, and that only meant trouble. He and his father had already had to save her from a terribly planned marriage once, now she was out of high school, of legal age for just about everything, and no matter how much she liked to think she was mature, she was still just a young girl, she needed protecting.

"What happened to Frank?" turning toward the door as her brother walked into her bedroom, Pam didn't even bother reminding him to knock, she was too busy rolling her eyes and shaking her head at the confirmation that he hadn't heard anything she had told him the previous evening. Bobby had called twice and both times Cliff had interrupted the call, both times too she had mentioned that where he assumed she was speaking to Frank, she wasn't, because she and Frank weren't seeing each other anymore; clearly though, everything she had said had gone in one ear and out the other. "I told you yesterday, I broke it off. Is Bobby here? He's my date for this evening. You haven't met before, but I like him, more than I liked Frank, so please, be nice…" responding, she gave her brother a look to indicate that she was serious and she didn't want him to say something silly that would give Bobby the wrong impression. "Yeah, he's here. Where did you find him? You say we've never met but I'm not so sure, there's something familiar…" Hearing Cliff trail off into silence, likely continuing the conversation in his mind, she grabbed her purse, checked her hair one final time, and walked toward the door, "we met through a friend", answering her brother as she slipped past him.

"Bobby", looking up as he heard his name, Bobby's mouth grew dry, Pamela had looked pretty skating earlier in the week, but she looked gorgeous dressed up to go out. He was a lucky man and he was not going to let anything ruin his luck, "Pamela", grinning, he stood and walked toward her to greet her.

To be continued…