Dallas (Time for Tammy Book 1)

Chapter 7: The LaVernie-Nator Four

I stayed the weekend with my parents in their hotel room on the beach. The beautiful view barely made up for the prospect of living in tight quarters with my twin and sleeping on a cot while she got a queen bed to herself. At least she had the prudence to take my dad's cell phone out of the room when Kellen called it. Still, it was a relief to get off campus and live in the "real world," and eat non-cafeteria food, if only for a few days.

I also managed to focus on non-Eckhart related things—such as hearing about my brothers latest antics and how Dad's medical practice was going—but as soon as I got back to campus Sunday night, I inquired about Dallas. He was supposed to call to discuss the details of putting LaVerne's bike on the roof but neither Jane nor Linda had heard from him.

He finally he called my room the next Friday, a week after he said he would call. Through speakerphone, we settled for doing the prank the following night, when most people would be out getting drunk. "Aren't you one of those people?" Jane asked Dallas when he finally arrived at our dorm Saturday evening.

"Yeah. I'll probably end up going out later," he replied, missing the sarcastic cue in Jane's voice. "There's a party over at Kennedy." The Kennedy boys, the only all male dorm on campus, were Eckhart's closest thing to a fraternity.

Jane rolled her eyes at me. She must have also taken note of the fact that Dallas didn't invite either of us to the Kennedy Party.

I followed Jane and Dallas up Gandhi's outside stairs. We paused at the landing, eyes raised to the roof, trying to get an idea of exactly how we were going to get LaVerne's bike up there.

"I say we put it up on Gershwin's roof," Dallas said.

"Why?" I asked.

"So we don't incriminate ourselves. Who else knows you guys hang out on top of Gandhi?"

"Probably everyone by now," Jane said, referencing the fact that her roommate Pam caught us on our way up there the other night.

"Exactly. So if we put it on Gershwin, they won't immediately implicate you guys."

"Who says they're going to implicate us at all?" Jane inquired.

"And aren't you forgetting something?" I asked. "How do we get onto Gershwin's roof? We can only get up on Gandhi because they leave the storage door unlocked. I'm sure Gershwin's is locked up tight."

Dallas looked up at the space between the two dorms, nodding to himself. "I think I can jump it."

"Are you crazy?"

Jane backed up next to Dallas, one hand above her lip. "He's right. It's not that far."

I rolled my eyes. "It's your life."

Dallas leaned over the banister to look at the deserted complex below us. "Not much goes on around here, huh?"

"That's why they call it 'Alpha Lame,'" I replied.

"Well, it's better for us anyway. Are you sure none of your dormmates are around?"

"They all went out for ice cream. Or else they're locked in their rooms studying. On a Saturday night." Maybe because no one invites them to parties, I added to myself.

"Right." Dallas headed up the rest of the stairs and then waited for Jane to punch in the code and open the door. He strode purposefully into the dorm, but waited again for us to show him how to get up to the attic.

"This is so great!" Dallas exclaimed as soon as we were on the roof. "How are you not up here every night?"

"We practically are," I told him. Too bad you're always at Volleyball.