Dallas and Cherry had continued on with their lives, both living happily with each other's company. Dallas would occasionally bring Ponyboy and Johnny to Cherry's football games to watch her perform her routines, however he mostly could not stay for the whole event. Cherry had still appreciated the effort that Dallas had brought into their relationship, she knew how impossibly hard it was for anyone to get such commitment out of him as much as she had.

"So how is this going to end up happening, hm?" Marcia asked Cherry while putting her earrings on. The two girls were heading over to a party down the street, and they were to go with Dallas and Two-Bit. Cherry shouted from her closet, "Don't worry, my parents think I'm sleeping at your house. That's okay, right?"

"Yeah, sure, why not." Marcia replied. Cherry's parents had always had no problem with allowing her to attend parties, but she had wanted them to be out of her hair for the entire night, just in case she had planned to stay with Dallas that evening.

When the girls had arrived at the party, they were amazed of how many people had actually been showing up. Cherry looked around, observing the house she had just walked into. To her left, a group of guys trying to outdrink each other. To her right, about three different couples getting frisky on a couch. And just ahead of her, tons and tons of small circles of people, talking to one another, each person with a beer in hand. Cherry looked at Marcia, and Marcia smiled back. The girls knew that they were there to have fun, but where were the boys?

"Ladies…" Two-Bit scrambled behind the two, stroking Marcia's back. Marcia giggled, "Well, hello!". Cherry smiled, she had always loved Two-Bit's humor. She wondered where Dallas was. After all, Two-Bit and Dallas were supposed to go together to the party. Finally, she had spotted him grabbing a few beers from the cooler. He made his way back over towards Two-Bit and the girls. He finally approached them.

Holding beers in both hands he nodded towards Marcia and leaned in for her to hug him. "Ay, how are you gorgeous." he asked her in a casually and jokingly manner. Marcia laughed, "Hey Dally!"

He then looked at Cherry and smiled, "Hey, sweetheart." and then leaned in to kiss her. It had always given Cherry the chills every time Dallas had said that, the way his New York accent heavily took over the words. It practically memorized her. She kissed his lips, and she could smell a slight scent of beer on his breath. Dallas, however, was not drunk. He handled his drinking very well.

"Ay, you wanna come with me for a sec? I got somebody who wants to meet ya." Dallas wrapped his arm around Cherry.

"Yeah, sure. Marcia?" Cherry looked back at her. Marcia nodded, and walked off with Two-Bit to talk to some other girls.

Cherry loved the way that Dallas was dressed that very night. Something looked new, she just couldn't quite figure out what it was that made him look so different. He wore a basic white t-shirt, loosely fitted, along with straight-legged, black jeans. And for the first time in a while, he had worn sneakers instead of boots.

Cherry did have a few drinks that night, but she was never the heavy drinker. It wasn't until later that night she had realized that something may have gone wrong. "You okay, Cherry?" one of the girls asked that she had been talking to. Cherry began to look ill. Her face was pale, and her eyes kept staring straight ahead of her, not moving. "Cherry?" the girl continued to ask.

"Yeah, yeah I just feel a little sick." she finally responded. The girl lightly grabbed her arm and lifted her up until she stood up out of her chair. Guiding Cherry to a bathroom slowly, she asked, "Did you have a little too much to drink?". Cherry shook her head. That was what had confused her so much, she had barely drank anything at all. Only a few sips of this and that, but she had done so much worse before. What was happening to her? There was no way that she had drank anything too heavy, or at least she didn't know it.

Cherry let go of the girl's arm and ran towards the bathroom, she couldn't hold it much longer. Making it just in time, she lifted up the toilet seat and regurgitated. The girl immediately ran up behind her and stood in the doorway. Her face looked slightly panicked, and Cherry's vision became blurred. All that she could visually make out was the girl walking out of the door way. Then suddenly, she began to notice that the girl was now talking to Dallas.

The girl Cherry had been talking to, her name was Victoria. She had been telling Dallas that Cherry may have had too much to drink, and that chances were, someone had probably spiked her drink. In other words, Cherry may have possibly been drinking something way more powerful than she had expected. Dallas ran to the bathroom and saw Cherry sitting on the floor, looking as sickly as can be.

"Jesus Christ," Dallas muttered, "aw, Cherry baby. Come here, sit up." He kneeled down beside her and pulled her torso slightly upward, so her hair wouldn't fall into the toilet. He began to rub her back gently while saying, "It's alright. Sometimes these things happen, fuckin'…these assholes don't know how to get their shit together, man. Putting shit in people's drinks, man. I'm sorry Cherry."

Cherry regurgitated once again. As Dallas held her hair back, he couldn't help but feel terrible for allowing such a terrible thing to happen to his girl. She was his girl, and he was responsible for her. He chose to protect her, but once again, he had failed to do so.

Once Cherry had stopped vomiting, Dallas lifted her off the ground and helped her to his car. He opened up the car door, led her into the passenger's seat, and then closed it. Once he climbed into the driver's seat, he took a moment to think. He had already been drinking, but he didn't want to risk Cherry becoming more sick at the party. It was time for her to go home.

"I'm not drunk, I just feel sick." Cherry suddenly brought up, while clenching her hands around her stomach. Dallas was already driving at this point, staring straight ahead of him. "I know," he said, "That's why I need to take you away from this place. You're not safe there."

Cherry didn't want to be sick at the party, but there was absolutely no way she had wanted to go home. Her parents were home, and if they had seen her vomiting, they would throw a fit.

"No, Dally I can't go home! Please don't take me-"

"Cherry, I'm not taking you home!" he interrupted her. She began to notice that he was pulling into a dark alley. It was the alley right across from where he had lived. He parked his car and said, "You're coming home, with me."

Cherry and Dallas had finally made it upstairs, to where Dallas' room was held. Dallas took her purse and placed it on his dresser. He led her to his bed and sat her down. He quickly took off her jacket for her while saying, "Here, get comfortable will ya? Need a change a' clothes?" Without waiting for an answer, Dallas walked over to his dresser. He had come to realize while rummaging through that all he had were a few t-shirts, pants, underwear, and jackets. Nothing too special. "Uhhh…" he mumbled to himself while digging through. "Here," he said while finally pulling one shirt out of the drawer. "I don't know, you feel comfortable in this? It's all I got."

Cherry nodded, then rushed to the bathroom. What was wrong with her? It was almost like her heart was falling out of her stomach. When Cherry came back out, she smiled when seeing that Dallas had made the bed ready for her. His t-shirt was laid out, and the sheets and comforters were opened up, ready for her to climb on in. Cherry had slowly started feeling better as she walked towards his bed slowly. Dallas walked back into his room as Cherry began changing into his shirt. He had come to bring her a glass of water. Seeing that she was occupied, he set the glass down on the night stand beside his bed.

"I'm sorry if I ruined this for you," Cherry apologized as she had finished changing, "I don't know what is happening to me, but I'm fine now. I can do fine on my own tonight.". Dallas ignored her as he walked right past her, pulling the bed sheets further to the side, waiting for Cherry to lay onto the bed. She looked at Dallas confusingly, then slowly sat down. She began to continue to slowly and steadily move her legs onto the bed one by one, and then finally laid down. She couldn't tell what was on Dallas' mind. Without saying a word, Dallas folded the sheets back over Cherry once she had laid down. What was he doing, tucking her in?

"So are you heading on back to the party?" Cherry asked. Dallas sunk his eyebrows.

"Nah, party was lame as hell. Besides, not with you like this." he responded as he tucked Cherry's hair behind her ears. Cherry had found Dallas' actions to be a bit unusual, but she liked it a lot. She found it sort of amusing and cute, the way he cared for her.

He continued to ask, "You need anything?"

Cherry shook her head. Her face was still pale. Dallas could sense that something was on Cherry's mind. He knew that she had wanted something, something more.

"You want me to stay." he said. And before Cherry could say anything, he leaned closer, lightly running his fingers through her soft hair, "Cherry, if you want, you can always ask me. I'll stay."

Cherry finally nodded, and Dallas climbed right into bed with her. Laying beside her, he wrapped his arm around her hip, letting his face sink into the back of her neck. And suddenly, just like that, Cherry felt better already. Just knowing that she was safe again, it made her feel at home.