I woke up on the rough couch late into the afternoon. It was a no brainer that I'd oversleep, I managed to get in the house by three o' clock. It hadn't been worth it and I wished that I would've stayed home anyway because like always, nothing went according to plan. I sat up and wrapped the scratchy blanket around my arms, noticing there was a glass of water sitting on the table for me. It was most likely Pat, the lady I lived with. It sure as hell wasn't Dallas, he made it pretty clear to me he didn't want anything to do with me. I just got back in Tulsa after skipping over to the next town. I would admit, it was a pretty pathetic last ditch effort for me trying to get Dallas to chase after me. Obviously it didn't work, because here I was now, back in Tulsa to try to make him proud. I was pretty pathetic.

"You got in late last night, didn't even make it to your room." Pat said as she made her way into my room.

I blew out a breath and tucked my hair behind my ear and sat back on the couch, pulling my knees to my chest. "Yeah, sorry about that... thanks for the water."

Pat smiled warmly at me and I could barely muster to smile back at her. "Have you talked to your brother?"

I shook my head quickly. I hadn't talk to anyone since I had been back in town. I was going to make a surprise to everyone and show up at a birthday party. I didn't know whose party it was but it wouldn't make sense if I didn't show my face. I was hoping to maybe catch Curly or Angela at the party. Curly and I had history but he also had a pretty good reputation in the drug world, which could work miracles for me. I was in need of cash and fast. I needed to pay Pat my share. She was nice but not that nice and I'm sure she wouldn't have a problem finding another roommate. Me and Pat had to have been around the same age, give or take a few years. I didn't know much about her, except that she had fucked my brother a long time ago and wanted to do me a favor. It was probably her way of getting over Dallas. He had a way of making people feel that way. The Dallas curse. He'd make people yearn for his attention and he'd just leave like you were worthless to him. He wasn't that handsome. Our parents were average people. He inherited Dad's platinum hair, I had a dirty blonde that I bleached to match his. We both had Dad's cold and scary eyes. But other than that, I guess people didn't care much about his looks. It was more so his personality, and as crappy as it was, there was something about him always wanting to be on edge that made you want his respect.

Dallas didn't respect many people. Maybe that kid Johnny and Tim Shepard. I wonder if I would've slept with Tim instead of Curly, Dallas would be more interested in me. I could remember our relationship being this way ever since we were kids. I loved Dallas and he never wanted to be around me. I was just some pest who wouldn't go away.

"Naw. We haven't had the time to talk." I reply.

I move to sit up and stretch and walk in my room. It was a plain old room with a bed and a dresser. Not that I needed anything fancy, I was the one who ran away from home in the first place. I dug around to find my clothes for the day and to fix my makeup. I didn't know what to do today, I was too nervous to let anyone know I was home.

I found myself walking around the warm streets of Tulsa, passing by kids I didn't know all that well. The only person I actually recognized was Andrew Brown from the Shepard Gang, I never liked him all that much but I guessed he wasn't that bad to be around. He always had odd jobs for me when I needed it.

"Andrew!" I call out to him.

He looks towards me, not real shocked to see me or anything. Like I was just another thing passing by in his daily life.

"Hey, there." I say to him.

"What's hanging, Connie? I gotta meet up real quick with Tim so let's make it quick." He says.

I push my eyebrows together and turn my face up at him. I had a bad temper and everyone knew that. I was a Winston after all.

"I need work. You got anything for me?"

Andrew laughs slightly before shaking his head. "Not right now."

"Oh come on!" I say.

I was thinking about all that money I needed to pay Pat. I couldn't be living on the streets and Dallas definitely didn't want me staying with him. I'd be messing with his life. I couldn't intrude on him anyway, it would lead to an argument and I couldn't have him turning his back on me already.

"I'll see what I can do, yeah? You going to that birthday party?"

"Yeah."

He nods as he looks me over. "Alright, before you go, meet me at Susie's. I should have something by then."

I nod just as he's moving to turn away but I quickly call out to him so he won't leave yet.

"How's uh.. how's Curly?" I ask calmly.

Andrew laughs roughly as he looks me over and I feel stupid to have even asked. Everyone knew about us, it wasn't a secret but I fucked up one of his jobs by telling my brother and it got back to the gang he was stealing from. It was a lot that they missed out on and they had rumbles for weeks. He cursed me out pretty good and told me to fuck off and I got a good one from Tim too.

"How should I know?" Andrew shrugs before digging in his pocket, grabbing a cigarette and walking away. I stood there in the warm air, damn I had a lot of work to do.