Oh.My.God.

I paced the house frantically. I had to have checked every corner and crevice at least a dozen times by now. I've awoken before to find Owen passed out in the bathtub, the empty hot tub out back, the garage, in his closet....so I wouldn't put it past him to have crawled into some new spot when his body finally gave out. But I literally searched everywhere this time and he hadn't been home in three days, not to mention I found Audrey's head band on the floor of his room. Last I heard from him was yesterday morning when he was at some motel in Bixby. Owen didn't stay in motels, they were too cheap, he spends as much of our father's money as he can, the only reason he goes to motels is for dealing, and he's never been gone this long before. I called both of their phones about every ten seconds... straight to voice mail,dead. By this point I started to hyper-ventilate....maybe I'm just over reacting...but what if I'm not? I needed to call someone..I needed to call someone before I went insane and did something really crazy. The first name in my recent call list was Kitty.
"Hello?"
"Kitty!!! I need you to help me, I don't know where Owen is." I was nearly shouting.
"Did you check all the cupboards?" Kitty asked jokingly.
"No, Kit..." I felt hot tears spilling from my eyes, "I really can't find him...he hasn't been home since Wednesday, and no one knows where Audrey is either."
"Oh...ok I'm coming over." and she hung up.

"Rhyan, you gotta calm down honey....you're fogging up my windows." Kitty said, as we drove to the motel in Bixby where I last heard from Owen.
"You don't think he'd hurt her would you?" she asked.
"No...Owen wouldn't do that." I said, staring down at the floorboard.
"Man, I hope it snows." Kit said peering through the window up at the clouds.
I knew she was just trying to make me feel better, but it really wasn't helping. I needed Owen. I need him like I need air, and I don't think he realizes that. He's all I have left, besides a father that doesn't care if I'm dead or alive...the only way he knows is by the purchases on his credit cards. Owen looks so much like my mother, that dark hair...and his soft brown eyes, but he acts just like my dad..you think that would make me hate him, but as awful and stupid and careless as Owen may be...he was still my brother, and I still had hope for him.

"No.. they checked out a couple of hours later." The sassy, young blonde from behind the check-in counter said.
"Did they say where they were going?" I asked very forwardly.
"How many times do I have to tell you....NO." she returned to blowing her bubble gum and painting her fake fingernails.
"C'mon Rhy, we can get Hunter to trace his credit card...see where he last used it." Kitty started to pull me out the door, and since I was having no luck with the uptight snooty ho behind the counter, I decided to follow her, but just before stepping out the door I turned around,
"Your nose job sucks ass by the way." I said.
"Excuse me?" She gave me a dirty look and almost spilled nail polish all over her precious dollar store clothing.
"You heard me bitch!" Then I followed Kitty out the door.
"Picking fights with tramp-y blondes isn't gonna help us ya know!" Kit stated.
"Since when were you one to complain about picking a fight Kitty?" she thought for a minute.
"Good point!"

Hunter was skilled at computer hacking, so the gang went to him when we needed to do some dirty work..or in this case, some CSI work.
"I can't trace it....it was apparently cut-off because it was reported stolen." he said.
My heart sank..."Dammit!" I cursed. Then I started crying again, "and we can't call the cops...and no one has any fucking idea where they are..." I was shouting.
"I'm really sorry....maybe you should go home Rhy, take a hot bath, get some food..and sleep ..". Kitty laid her hand on my shoulder.
"NO! I don't want to fucking go home! My brother just kidnapped my best friend and no one knows where the hell they are!" I screamed and slammed the door on my way out.
I was angry, pissed, upset, confused, lost...I went to the only place I could think of...

I found myself sitting on the dock overlooking the lake that sat out past the train tracks. Some of the gang would come here when they needed to get away...or sometimes we'd all go swimming. I simply didn't want to go home...to sit in my house alone and ponder is Audrey was okay, or how I wish my brother would just sometimes grow-up. I heard a noise behind me, thinking one of the gang found me in my depressing hot-mess stupor, I spun around to find no one. Deciding it was probably a squirrel, I turned my gaze back to the water which now had sparkling snowflakes dancing on top of it. I shivered, just realizing how cold it was and glanced at my phone that said the temperature was quickly reaching thirty degrees. I was trailing my fingers through the snowflakes on the dock when I felt something jerk me to my feet. I was spun around to become face-to-face with Randy. I shoved him off me.
"What do you want Adderson?' I asked, not really wanting to know the answer.
"Oh, you know Rhyan....we were bored and just huntin for some action." he answered.
"Well I'm not really in the mood to provide any action so why don't you just fuck off."
"Oh...well that's okay...we can provide all the action little greaser." He grabbed my wrist and twisted it in a direction that it was not made to be twisted, forcing me to my knees...I reached up with my free hand and punched him in the junk.....he didn't like that too well.
One of the other guys came at me, pinning my hands to my sides while another socked me one good on my left cheekbone...this sent me flying backwards off the dock and into the ice cold water below. I was half-conscious and floating along the top of the water that was just starting to coat over with ice, when I heard a car pull up. There were sounds of a fight, the flipping of a switch blade, and then someone else jumped in the water.

I was wrapped in a jacket and was being carried by someone, but I was too cold to move to find out who. In an instant I was lying on a couch and the fireplace was going. Someone was removing the wet strands of hair that clung to my face and whispering my name...telling me to wake up.
"Owen?" I asked, blinking the water out of my eyes.
"No..." they answered.
I looked up to find Dallas Winston leaning over me.
"Dal?" I was confused. "How did you.."
"You were lucky kid....I was just coming by for a smoke...maybe a drink.." He pulled a bottle of beer from his jacket pocket, which laid over the back of the couch to dry, where I also noticed my jacket and a white t-shirt...
It took me a moment to realize that he had his arms around me, and I was pressed up against his bare chest under a blanket. I almost started hyperventilating, for the second time today, but this time for a different reason.
"Thanks for saving me..." I said and pressed my cheek against his chest because it ached and his cold skin soothed it.
"Well duh." He smiled. Oh how I love that half smile.. "you're in the gang...we got you covered."
We just sat there for a moment..when I also realized that he didn't bother to turn any lights on.
"Rhyan..can I ask you something?" He said unexpectedly.
I was caught off guard, and shook a nervous "sure" between my lips.
"How come you ignore me? You don't ignore any of the other guys in the gang? Are you afraid of me or sumptin?"
What would happen if he knew the truth? Would be like those guys in California? The assholes?
"What do you mean?" I played it off.
"Well like...the other girls like to goof around ya know...and at parties, I've asked if you wanted to dance plenty of times and you always said no, but later you'd be dancing with Pony or TwoBit or someone else...Do you just not like me?" He was really searching for an answer here....buy why did it matter so much to him?
"No Dal.......honestly....I'm crazy about you." You know that moment right after you say something that could completely change the atmosphere....that could change your life, and you hold your breath and don't move until someone else responds? Well this would be one of those moments.
"Then why avoid me?" he looked puzzled.
I took a deep breath... "Because I'm tired of dating jerks..and I'm tired of just being used, and of trying to be perfect and I need someone who will..." something stopped my rambling....it wasn't another mention of words..or the tears I was holding back...it was lips...a kiss, a very passionate kiss that led to even more kissing. What was I getting myself into? Just another relationship full of broken promises? I was well on my way to finding out.
I straddled him on the couch and realized I was only wearing underwear and my sweater, my wet jeans had been earlier removed. He stood up and I wrapped my legs around him as we moved through the house and into my room. The remaining clothes were gone in seconds, and there was definitely no coldness left in my body. His skin became instantly warm against mine adding friction between us. I couldn't stop it now, even if I had wanted to...what I had wanted for over a year...was it really happening? Or was I in some stage of delusional hypothermia? My heart raced, and I loved the way his hands explored my skin, the way his body felt against mine. Something about it just felt.....right. It felt real...and for now, that's all that mattered. In that moment, his touch, his kiss, his breath on my skin, our hips moving against each other... was all I wanted.

I awoke to the sun peering in through my window, warming my skin....my..bare skin? And then I felt the arms that were wrapped around me. I rolled over and found a sleepy, naked, Dallas in my bed.
Oh.My.God. I slept with Dallas Winston!