Tough enough, Cherry thought to herself. Dallas said she was tough enough. What does that even mean? Or was that just him being cute? No, Dallas doesn't play cute, and he would never play games like that.

Cherry's nerves calmed down, and she waited as Dallas casually walked towards her. He swung his arm around her hip and continued walking, almost as if he were on his own path, snagging her along the way. He continued to smirk, and Cherry's eyes sneakily roamed Dallas up and down the side of his jacket as they walked hip to hip; his brown, heavy jacket that hung so recklessly upon himself. Cherry took a moment to stop overlooking the beautiful side profile view that she obtained while walking side by side with Dallas Winston, and she suddenly realized how fast she was moving. Not physically fast, like how she was walking, but more of how she began to think when with Dallas. Her thoughts, wandering like a fool's mind. I'm a fool, I'm such a fool, Cherry thought. She remained calm, looked straight ahead, and thought nothing.

Dallas and Cherry finally made it to the Dingo. At this point, it was about as dark as night outside. Dallas' hand, with his arm still implanted on Cherry's hip, slowly moved up as he reached for the entrance door. "Loosen up," he muttered towards her as he took another drag of his cigaret, while simultaneously squeezing her shoulder in a massaging-like motion. He began to chuckle lightly while walking in.

Cherry entered the Dingo right behind Dallas; he did not hold the door open for her. With her arms folded, she slowly walked in only inches behind him, keeping an eye out for Soc's. "Ay, Dallas fucking Winston," a man said at the corner booth. Dallas turned around to look, only to see it was a long-time friend that he hadn't seen in months.

"Unbelievable, man.." Dallas muttered with a smile while shaking his head, as he began walking over and completely ignoring Cherry's existence. This was the second time tonight that Cherry had been placed in an awkward third-wheel situation. Marcia ran off with her lover Two-Bit, and now Dallas was running off to his long-lost lover, whatever his name was. Cherry had never been used to this. Usually Cherry was the one who knew everyone surrounding her; after all, she was a fellow cheerleader at her school. She was Cherry Valence, the Soc girl, the beautiful girl; the girl who was tough enough. But not in this part of town.

Annoyed and, for some strange reason, nervously she slowly walked up to stand beside Dallas as he talked to his buddy at the booth. When Dallas saw his friend start eyeing Cherry mid-conversation, he jumped. "Oh, pardon me are my manners?" he smiled and looked back and fourth between Cherry and the man he was talking to.

"I'm Cherry," she reluctantly said to the man.

"Harvey. A real pleasure to meet you miss!" the man held out his hand. Cherry unfolded her arms and shook it.

Dallas began to slowly back away from the table, "Alright, look it's good to see you man."

Harvey nodded, "Great seein' you too." Dallas started to turn around as Cherry was finding her seat at another booth.

"Hey, Dally," Harvey added. Dallas turned back around.

"Looks like you spotted a nice one this time 'round." he smiled.

Dallas raised an eyebrow, not so much in his smart-ass attitude, more in a puzzled attitude. He muttered, "Yeah, yeah...See you later now."

Cherry finally sat down, and Dallas made his way over to her booth. As he sat across from her, he watched her eyes wander the restaurant, keeping watch of who walked in and out of the entrance. Dallas knew what was going on. He may have not been able to always read her like a book, but fear; Dallas always sensed fear. He could read the fear off Cherry's face like a picture book.

"What's wrong?" he asked. He began to exaggerate, looking up and down and around the corners of the booth as if he were keeping an eye out just as Cherry was doing.

"Too obvious? Maybe it's because I'm the only guy in here who's not wearing a sweater vest." he stated, pretending to act serious.

Cherry laughed, mostly because it was true. She turned to glance at a couple of guys with fresh white sweaters on, and then turned towards Dallas, "Sort of. To be truly honest though, I'm not into sweater vests," she giggled.

Dallas bit his lip just before he placed his arms on the table between them. He looked Cherry right in the eyes and said,

"Alright, Red. What are you into?"

Cherry paused to think about this. "I guess I don't really know."

"Nah, you know." he responded. This confused Cherry a bit.

Dallas bought Cherry her Coke. He didn't order anything, he just sat there, watching Cherry. As she sipped her drink, he couldn't help but notice the fear that remained in her eyes. What was she so afraid of? After all, she's the one that asked to come here in the first place.

But at the same time, he sort of enjoyed it. Dallas always craved dominance over others. Even though Cherry had a tough interior, she had just the right amount he wanted; nothing too heavy, but logical. She was smart. And she knew what she wanted. But he saw the way her hands were constantly doing something. He saw the look on her face changing every time their eyes met. Why was she afraid? Finally, he broke the silence. "You're a crazy broad, you know that?" Cherry stopped sipping her drink. What's that supposed to mean? she wondered. No matter how many times Cherry could make herself believe that Dallas was somewhat of a gentleman, he always came back with something ridiculously absurd to say. And one thing that separated Cherry from the rest was that she never took any of this type of talk from anyone, no matter how charming they may seem, or want to seem.

"Hey, don't call me 'broad.' I have a name. I call you Dallas, I don't call you grease." she snapped.

"Look, all I'm sayin' is that I don't get you. You hate my guts, and then you don't-"

"-Well maybe I like you."

Cherry immediately regretted saying this. Dallas smirked, and after a long pause, as Cherry used every muscle in her body to focus her attention completely on her hands, Dallas reached over and touched her forearm.

"You're crazy, Cherry. You know that?" he said.

He said my name, this was the first thought that came to Cherry's mind. She had never heard Dallas say her name before. It was always a switch back and fourth: Red, broad, Red, broad, "Hey broad," "Look, Red". But the way he said it; the way he said Cherry.

It blew her mind.

"Well, suppose I am crazy. That must make you crazy too." she sassed back.

"Oh yeah?" Dallas smiled. At this point, Cherry began to stand up and slowly walk out of the booth, hinting that the night was coming to an end. Dallas quickly scooted out of his seat and stood up right as Cherry attempted to pass him by. He stood, almost hovering over her, about six inches away. He spoke softer, "And how come?"

Cherry was back in her game, she began to talk like her natural, confident self again. "Well you'd have to be mad if you're dealing with a crazy girl like me."

Dallas lightly brushed his tongue against his lips, he wasn't prepared for Cherry to talk back to him like that. In fact, he never really expected her to ever talk to him like that. She walked right past him, and out the door. He followed closely behind.

Cherry felt like her head was spinning; she couldn't quite wrap her mind around the idea that she just flirted with Dallas Winston. She specifically made herself a promise not to do so. But was it really much of a big deal? Flirting is flirting, it happens every day. It is meaningless. She continued to walk, knowing that at some point she'd have to turn around to face him again in order to say goodbye.

She had just started to finally make visual contact of her car in the distance, under the street lamp about seven yards away. Then, his voice unexpectedly shot out of the empty air, "Ay, I'm not done with you yet," he softly spoke as he grabbed her by the arm and turned her around. Seeing him under the light, Cherry felt different. Who is this boy? she thought. Dallas looked so mean, but he had so much charm. The way he looked at Cherry gave her this unusual feeling; it was the feeling of protection and danger overlapping each other as one. For some odd reason Dallas gave her a reason to feel uncomfortable and afraid, but he also gave her a reason to feel safe again. She felt at home. Whether it meant she finally felt happiness after days of grieving over Bob, or if it was just a moment of weakness; Cherry felt something. A strange idea began to grow inside of her: the idea that she no longer wanted to prevent these feelings.

I'm not going to kiss you, Cherry thought. But Cherry was so caught off guard from Dallas touching her, she was almost convinced that she had said this aloud to him. She grew tense. She could heard him breathe, and it made her wonder if he could hear her, too. So calm and casual, Dallas finally spoke up. "What's the matter with you, huh?" Still keeping a grip on her, he allowed his fingers to stroke her arms.

"Are you cold?" he asked. Cherry, slightly startled on what to say, shook her head 'no.' There was a pause for about ten whole seconds. The night turned so quiet, so dark and dim, so frail. During the pause, Dallas looked at Cherry up and down, and he felt her familiar tenseness reoccurring. Cherry tried to take her mind off of what was happening. She thought of Marcia, she thought of what she could have been doing right at this moment. She tried to think of the stories she'd be hearing from her tomorrow, all about how Two-Bit said the funniest things, or how she fell in love.

Finally, Dallas asked, "...Are you scared?"

Cherry nodded.

She didn't know why she nodded. Normally she never let anyone grab hold of her feelings like that, especially if it meant that her fear would become exposed. "I mean, no," Cherry responded, "I mean, I'm not sure. I just don't move this fast very often. And you're..."

Cherry finally gathered up the courage to look him in the eyes. She was surprised to see that Dallas wasn't smirking, or looking at her funny, or anything at all. He just listened. With his arm around her, the same orderly fashion as when they entered the Dingo, they both walked side by side to Cherry's car. "You're just you. And that, alone, is a whole different concept to me that takes some getting used to."she explained.

Dallas already knew that Cherry thought this. But the truth was, Dallas already knew he had been falling for Cherry ever since that night at the drive-in. He knew, not only because he'd normally never put up with any other girl who spoke like she did to him, but also because he had to actually make an effort to hide his feelings in front of her. He wanted to tell her not to be scared, but he didn't. He wanted to smile at her, but he didn't. He wished that she didn't drive her stupid car over here, that way he would have been able to take her home.

"Look, Red, you should probably get home. You're makin' me nervous with you talkin' like that."

Cherry laughed, an nodded in agreement. Who was she kidding, she and Dallas both knew that this would never work out.

After about five seconds of silence, she continued to open her car door and place her purse on the floor below her seat. She turned around once more and, with her hard and yet petite voice, said "Thanks, Dally."

And just like that, Dallas lost it.

Just before she leaned into her car to sit down, Dallas grabbed her and leaned towards her. As he leaned in, with Cherry's back pressed against her car and Dallas' waist pressed against hers, he kissed her.

But the way he kissed, it was unordinary. With his hand pressed against her back, cradling her into position, he pressed his lips gently onto hers; allowing his face to lean inward, fitting into hers like a puzzle. When he felt her becoming tense, he let her breathe in between kisses. He felt his fingers stroking Cherry's soft, red curls. Cherry couldn't even stop once he had started. She couldn't even think, she just felt. She felt Dallas being gentle, and she loved that. She loved the idea that she was the one thing that Dallas couldn't hurt.

After his last kiss, he placed his hands onto her car, one on each side of Cherry, and leaned in towards her ear.

After a short pause, he backed away and looked at her. Cherry smiled, and without neither of them saying a word, she stepped into her car and shut the door. As she rolled down her window, Dallas casually leaned over to rest his arms on the the window's edge.

"So will I be seein' you around anytime soon?" he asked.

As Cherry started up the car, she asked, "What are you doing Saturday?"

Still leaned over, Dallas grew a small grin. He bit his lip and shrugged, "Whatever you're doin' I guess."

Cherry smiled. "Marcia was thinking of asking Two-Bit to come out on Saturday, if you wanted to tag along."

Dallas began to light up a cigaret. "Only if that means you'll be tagging along, sweetheart."

She laughed, "We'll probably be meeting at Westford, so make sure to come along, got it?"

He nodded, and Cherry went on her way.

As Dallas walked towards the other lot to pick up his car, he began to think. Jesus Christ, I've gone soft. Dallas hated the idea of going soft on people. That's not how he was raised, and that's not how he ever wanted to be raised. The thing that confused him most, was what made him pounce on the poor girl like he did. Was it her voice? Was it the way she said "Dally?" And that was it; Dallas figured it out. It wasn't like Cherry to call Dallas Winston by his nickname. Perhaps it was the idea of her loosening up to him that made him lose his mind.

That's the funny thing about names. A name could mean so much, or so little. Cherry nearly lost it once Dallas finally had the manners to call her by her full nickname. He stepped out of his comfort zone. Dallas completely lost it once Cherry gave into his nickname. So was it necessarily the names that caused the released tension between the two? Or was it merely the idea of opposites mingling with one another's lifestyles?