Chapter 5 – Phone Calls

Dally's POV

'Ring- Ring-'

I awoke with a start. I made a grab at the phone, missed, and fell over. I tried again, this time with success. I turned to look at Alex. She was still asleep. She was always a heavy sleeper, but especially after we- Well, you know.

"Hello?" I mumbled, my voice croaking.

"Dallas? Is that you? Is Alex there?" It was Darry. He sounded kind of frantic.

"Yeah. Yeah, she's here." I glanced over at her again.

"Oh... Good. I was kind of worried when she didn't come home, but then I though she was probably with you."

"Yeah... She, uh, fell asleep on the couch when we were watching TV."

"Oh come on. Don't lie to me Dallas; I know what you two were doing. I don't really approve, but there's nothing I can do about it. Just... Just take care of her, okay?"

"Of course Darry. Do you want me to bring her home?"

"No, it's okay. I just wanted to make sure she was alright."

"Well she's fine..."

"Okay, I'll uh, see you guys tomorrow."

"Okay. Later Darry"

"Bye."

I reached over and hung up the phone. I was kind of jealous sometimes. No one ever phoned in the middle of the night to make sure I was all right. Even though it sometimes got annoying, Alex really was lucky to have Darry. He cared so much about her. It had always been that way, even before their parents had died, Darry was a very protective big brother.

I lay down next to her and propped my head up on my hand. She looked so peaceful when she slept. The gentle rise and fall of her chest as she breathed, the soft expression on her face. She looked almost childlike, so innocent. I snorted. That was a laugh. None of us, not even Alex was innocent. We'd seen too much. I sighed; Darry's phone call reminded me of how we first came to be together.

I was out skulking around the neighbourhood one night. I had just turned a corner only to be bowled over by a tearful Alex. I helped her to her feet and she looked up at me. A look of recognition dawned on her face.

"Dallas!" She cried. Tears continued to stream down her face.

"Whoa, Alex... What's wrong?" She couldn't seem to stop crying long enough to say anything. "It's okay," I said softly. I wasn't sure what to do. I couldn't even deal with my own emotions, let alone someone else's. 'I could take her home' I thought. No, wait, she had come running from that direction. Maybe something had happened there. 'I'll take her back to my place,' I decided. I put my arm around her and slowly led her back to my house.

Once we reached the house Alex had calmed down a bit. We went inside and luckily my Dad wasn't home. We sat down on the couch and I put my arms around her, she leaned into me. I sighed, mmm she smelt really good.

I looked down at her. I didn't want to press her, but something was clearly wrong.

"Alex?" I whispered softly. She looked up at me, her face tearstained.

"Yeah?" She swallowed, barely audible.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Oh Dallas!" She burst out. "When I came home today the cops were there and, and, and they told me that our parents are d- d- dead!" She sobbed.

"Oh no, Alex, I'm so sorry..." I felt so bad. "I had no idea..."

I scooped her up and carried her to my bedroom. I lay her down on my bed and wrapped her in my arms and we lay there all night. Sometimes she would sob uncontrollably into my chest and at others times she was deathly still and I wondered if she'd fallen asleep, but I could always seen the moonlight glinting off her eyes.

By the time the sun had rose she had finally fallen asleep. That's when the phone rang. I hadn't slept all night but I struggled to reach it.

"Hello?"

"Dallas? It's Darry. Have you seen Alex by any chance? She ran off last night after she heard, well... There's something I have to tell you -"

"I know," I broke in. "Alex is here, she told me. She just fell asleep, I bring her home later, when she wakes up."

"Okay... and Dally?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"My pleasure."

More to come soon. Please R/R!