"Okay, we're here." Lori parked the car, got out, and shut her door. She gave an impatient look at the man sitting shotgun. "So, ya coming?"
Dallas glanced lazily in her direction. He pulled on the handle of the door, got out slowly, then slammed the door closed. He leaned against the car, then tilted his head to stare at Lori.
She rolled her eyes at him as she walked over to the store. Dal waited a few seconds, but knowing it was no use, he followed her in. The store was a tiny one compared to the two giants flanking it. It seemed quaint, but was obviously well-cared for and loved.
"What kind of a store is this?" he asked as they stepped inside.
"What's it look like?" she retorted.
Junk, was the thought that leapt to his mind, but he knew not to say it. The store was pretty enough with a rustic appearance and a nice, homely aroma. But it was filled with all sorts of things from books to what looked like vintage clothing, artwork to little rock figurines.
Lisa appeared in a doorway in the back. Gesturing to them she called out, "Hey, you're here. Good, y'all can get started right away." She turned back into the storeroom, Lori at her heels.
"Great," Dal muttered under his breath. He lazily got off the wall he had been leaning against and strolled after the pair.
"Okay, Dallas," Lisa shoved a box into his arms; he barely caught it. "Follow Lori over and she'll help you find the places for the items in here."
Dallas made his way over to where Lori was crouched next to her box. He set his down next to hers, then watched as she opened up her box. She pulled out some books, flipped through them, then straightened up.
"Books you place right over here," she stated as she walked over and placed the books on the shelf.
"Wow, I'd have never figured that out. Placing the books where all the other books are. Real ingenious." Dal rolled his eyes, his voice full of sarcasm.
"What is your problem, Dallas Winston?" Lori's green eyes flashed dangerously.
Dallas shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, my mom's paying you to be here so I think you should at least be a little cordial and help us work." She spun on her heel, her ponytail bouncing.
Dallas could have smacked himself. There he went again, alienating these people. If he kept at it, they could boot him right out the door, and he had to stay here. His ribs still ached from the fight with Jason. It was unrealistic to even think about walking back home, and he didn't want to steal a car; he was in enough trouble already. If he kept on their good side, maybe he could get a ride back.
He walked back over and picked up some items from the box. "Well, I could always use the money," he drawled out.
Lori glanced at him, biting her lip to keep from smiling, before returning her attention to the boxes. They went to work.
..........
"Well now, you two have done a great job." Lisa had just finished helping a customer and now she was admiring the work the two kids had been doing. All that morning, they had moved boxes of stuff from storage onto display in the store. They had carried off the old, unneeded items to the storage room, and then carried trash and broken things onto a truck to dump. It had been sweaty, tiring work, especially in the stuffy storage room, but finally they would get a break. It was lunch time.
"Okay, where do you want to go?" Lisa asked as the three made their way to Lori's car. "I was thinking some fast food?"
"Fine with me," Lori replied.
"You care where Dallas?" Lisa glanced at him through the rear view mirror.
Dallas slumped down in the back seat. "No," he said bluntly.
The two women exchanged glances. Lori just shrugged.
"Okay, Dallas, then we get to decide."
.......
"Dairy Queen?" he groaned as they waited in line.
"Hey, we gave you a chance to vote on where to go, so don't complain." Lori responded. They walked up to the register and gave their orders. Once they had their food, they found a booth and sat down.
"You know, Dallas, I wish all my employees were like you. You don't complain, don't gripe, you just do it." Lisa complimented him. "I wish I could sign you on as a regular."
"I'm going home," he said sharply and stabbed his spoon into his sundae. Inwardly, he groaned. This place was shaking him up a bit. The memories of Johnny and Ponyboy just before the fire kept coming to him. He wished they had gone to a different restaurant.
"I know Dallas, I was only joking. I know you want to go home."
Lori tucked a stray lock of brown hair back into her ponytail. "By the way, Dallas, where is your home?"
It's a regular question. Just act natural and no one will suspect. "Tulsa."
Lori's green eyes widened. "Tulsa? How'd you get all the way down here to McAlester?"
McAlester. So that's where he was. He put down his spoon and stared at Lori for a second. Then he shrugged his shoulders.
"You don't know how you got here?" She snorted in amusement. Lisa gave a smile very much like her daughter's and took a sip of her drink. "Come on," Lori coaxed.
Dal had found his excuse. "Well, my dad and I had an argument, about grades or something, I don't know." Like I'd go to school. "And I went for a drive to cool down. But I was pretty worked up, and it took a while to cool off, and somewhere along the way I busted my car; I don't remember how. So I walked on, looking for help and I guess I ended up here." The lies rolled easily off his tongue; after years of defending himself from the police they should.
Lisa looked at him thoughtfully. "So that's why you didn't want Brian to tell your dad where you were. You were afraid he'd be mad at you."
Dallas picked up his spoon. "I still am." He dug in, pleased at how well he had dodged the questions.
Mrs. Mathews nodded her head in understanding. She unwound her tall, slender frame and got up. "Well, before we leave I am going to go to the ladies room. Don't miss me." She smiled and left.
Lori shook her head at her mother. "We won't Mom, don't worry." She picked up the trash on the table and threw it away
Dallas stared into his sundae. He kept seeing Johnny and Pony in here, shoving everything they could into their mouths. When he had gone to the church he hadn't seen them for about a week and he had secretly feared they might not have made it. But they had been there. They had gone to a Dairy Queen and Johnny and Pony both had acted like they hadn't eaten for months. Then they had gone to the church...
"How old are you?"
Does this girl ever be quiet?
"Why do you ask so many questions?" he shot back.
"I don't know. Curious, I guess." She grinned at him. "Come on now, how old are you?"
He shrugged his shoulders again. "What's it matter?" He was sick of answering questions.
She sipped her Coke before answering, "Nothing. I just wondered. I just turned twenty. I'm a sophomore in college.
"Good for you."
She ignored the sarcasm. "Let's see. You must be around seventeen, eighteen, or nineteen."
"Must be."
Lori shook her head in disbelief. "You're not going to give me a straight answer are you?"
"Nope."
She stared at him quizzically, but before she could respond, Lisa came out of the ladies room.
"All right, I'm ready. Let's get back to work."
...........
"Anybody here?" Jason sang out as he walked into the store, Carly in tow.
"Just a second," Lori's voice called from the back. She came out with some rags in her hand, greeting her sister with a hug.
"Where's Dallas?" Jason looked around, but didn't see him.
"He's in the back, organizing all the stuff. Evidently he didn't think mopping was manly work," Lori deepened her voice on 'manly.' "And I finally got him to organize. Just now we're going to dust this store off, and since you're here, you're going to help." She tossed a rag at Jason.
Dallas came out of the storeroom. "Okay, I'm done. What next?"
"We're dusting." Lori threw another rag at Dallas, then took Carly's hand and ran with her over to a shelf.
"Hey, I thought y'all would be behind the cash register, just helping customers and stuff. Not dusting." Jason made a face as he walked over to a shelf, Dallas on his heels.
"Well, we probably will tomorrow. Mom had just gotten a shipment in and so we dealt with that today. Mom went to throw away all the trash we collected." Lori replied absentmindedly; she was watching to make sure Carly didn't drop anything breakable.
They worked on the shelves in silence for a while. But after some time Lori threw her rag down.
"I could use some music. It's getting boring in here." She walked over to the radio and turned it on. Out came music known only too well to Dallas.
"Oh no, not Hank Williams," he covered his ears, "Not Hank Williams."
"What are you talking about? He's great!" Lori shouted over the music as she turned the volume up. She grabbed Carly and started to dance, singing the words.
"Hey, good lookin', whatcha got cookin', how's about cooking something up with me..."
Dallas groaned. Buck had played Hank Williams all the time at his place. It had driven Dallas insane. And now, here it was again.
Lori twirled Carly into Jason's waiting hands. The two of them spun off, Carly's long frame putting her just above Jason's waist. As they glided around the floor, Lori turned back to Dallas. She took one of his hands and tried to pull him onto the makeshift dance floor. Dallas didn't budge an inch.
"Come on, Dallas. Let's dance. I love this song." Her eyes sparkled in excitement, and strands of brown curls were splattered to her forehead with sweat.
"No," Dal refused.
"Come on, don't tell me you're afraid," she grinned at him.
"I'm not afraid," he replied simply. "I just don't want to dance. And especially not to this song."
"That's it? I'm supposed to believe it's the song?" Lori asked sarcastically. "I don't think so. I think you don't know how to dance."
Dallas narrowed his eyes at her. "Lady, I know how to dance. But I don't want to, so quit pestering me."
Lori stopped pulling on his arms. "Okay, okay, you can just watch. Let's go Jason." She walked over to Jason who was still whirling Carly about. Carly turned and ran over to Dallas.
She looked up at him with her hazel eyes pleading. "You and me can dance now, right?" She tugged on his sleeve.
Dallas avoided her gaze, his eyes wandering around the room, looking for a way to escape this new nuisance. Finally, not seeing one, he gave Carly a little push, and walked back over to the shelf he had been working on.
Carly gave a little pout, crossed her arms, and turned back to watch Lori and Jason dance. She wasn't left on the sidelines for very long, however, since Lori quickly switched to give Carly some more dance time.
When the song was over, they stopped and went back to work, albeit a little more flushed and tired than before the song. Lori gave a sigh as she walked back to finish her cleaning.
"Whew. I haven't heard that song in forever. Boy, it felt good to dance again. Despite what people think," she looked pointedly in Jason's direction, "college isn't a lot of fun and games. It's just study, study, study. That felt great."
Dallas rolled his eyes at Lori's fervency. He did know how to dance, but he didn't think it was that big of a deal. It was just walking with a little swaying in between the steps. Whoopee.
All of them worked silently again, listening to some more songs on the radio. Then it switched to the news and they had to listen to how unbearable the heat was becoming in McAlester.
Finally Jason threw his rag in the air with a whoop. "I'm finished here."
Lori wiped a hand across her brow. "Well, Mom's busy with a customer. You think we can sneak out of here without her seeing?"
Jason turned to Dallas. "You ready to go?"
But Dallas didn't seem to hear him. He just stood, staring transfixed at the radio. It wasn't possible. It couldn't be saying what he thought it was saying.
"A couple of the schoolchildren had a few minor burns. But the three boys who saved these kids from the burning church in Windrixeville suffered worse. In fact one of the boys, Johnny Cade, died in a hospital a few days later from very severe burns across his body. Johnny Cade was just sixteen years old, that's not much time to have lived, but he'll always be remembered. The kids he saved and their parents will never be able to forget him."
"How sad," Lori murmured.
Dallas slowly walked towards the radio, taking in every word the reporter said. Jason and Lori both looked puzzled at his actions.
The reporter went on: "Ponyboy Curtis, fourteen, was another of the boys that went into the church. Curtis suffered only minor burns, but he's still laid up sick in bed, and nothing has been said as to whether or not he is in danger of dying."
Ponyboy sick? Dallas couldn't believe it. In danger of dying? He had to be okay, though. He had to be. Ponyboy was never sick. He couldn't be now. He couldn't.
"And the third of our heroic trio has-"
Dallas quickly flicked the radio off. He took a deep, steadying breath. His emotions became masked again. He knew he had already made a big mistake allowing them to see his emotions during the radio announcement. And now he had almost let the radio say his name. Big mistake.
He whirled around, glaring at Jason and Lori. "Well, we're done, aren't we? Let's get out of this stupid store." He brushed past them, heading to the car.
Lori stared after him. "What was that about?"
Okay, this chapter is finally up. Now, a little news. I will be gone from August 1st to August 8th. I will for the most part not have access to a computer, so this will probably the last update for a bit, at least until I get back. I will work on the next chapters while I'm there, so don't worry about that.
sully- First of all, thanks for being the first one to review. I'm sorry you don't like cliffhangars. I actually kind of enjoy them (even when I'm reading another's story). It lets your imagination take control for a bit, and you can visualize whatever you think will happen or whatever you want to happen. But cliffhangars are annoying if the author doesn't update quickly. So sorry for the long wait. =)
CiCi- Thanks for that kind review. It's so fun to see new people reviewing. That always makes my day. I love Carly and Dally too. They're cute together. I hope you liked this chapter, and please review again even if you don't. =)
MissLKid- I'm glad you think so. Here's wishing it continues to be different than others. Yeah, Dallas had one hectic day. His nerves had to have been fried at the end of it. Thanks for your review, hope you liked this one!
Beth- Man, I love your reviews! So long, it's icing on top of the cake for me. I am delighted you liked that chapter. It did bring out more of Dal's personality. Don't worry; I think you'll get a lot more of Jason and Carly moments. You're right about Mr. and Mrs. Mathews; they are great role models. But whether they rub off on Dallas, I am not saying. Thanks for the compliment on that paragraph. Thanks for all the compliments. They're so inspiring.
Cinderbrat- You crack me up! But your point is well taken, so here you go. When Lisa got home, she started checking through the sales account book she had brought from the store. A bunch of the sales were missing so those three guys came over with their own sales account books. They searched through every one of them and finally found the sales. Someone had written the sales in the wrong spot. Okay, how's that? Books instead of computers. But I'm glad you still liked the chapter. Thanks for the review and the critique!
EPS- Thanks for reviewing. I'm thrilled you enjoyed that! And I hope you liked this one!
Tensleep- Wow, I love that you loved it! Thanks for those compliments! They mean so much. I think Dallas would be upset after trying to kill himself, so much so that he would shake. I'm glad you found that paragraph about Dallas straightening up to eat moving. I'm ecstatic that you found that chapter so enjoyable! Hopefully you like this one, too.
steves-girl- Cool! Mine was the first story you read when you got back! That means so much to me! Glad your holidays went well! Thanks for reviewing! (Man, I put every sentence in exclamation points.) = )
Jessie13- Another new reviewer. I'm so honored. I'm also honored that it moved you enough to make you cry. ( I hope this was soon enough for you. But next update will be a little longer in coming, since I'll be gone. Thanks for the review!
Well, as usual, please read and review! It's great to hear from you. Whether you like it or hate it please review, your input can only make this story better! Thanks and have a great day!