Disclaimer: I don't own the Outsiders or Be Still by the Fray, which the story was named after.

Thursday, October 27, 1965

"A seven year anniversary in Tulsa. What should we do to celebrate? Maybe I could get dad to cook? Connie, wouldn't you like that? You always have loved daddy's cooking."

Her mother's high pitched voice rang in her ear, the words spinning around recklessly in her head. They banged like drums, causing a sudden migraine. It had felt like ages since she'd heard her voice, even though it'd probably only been a week, but little things like that had a tendency to stay with her for the longest amounts of time. Why her mother even had the nerve to pretend like they were getting along well was a complete mystery to her because they sure as heck weren't...at least, not for the past year and a half. So, it really surprised her this morning when she did.

There were so many reasons they didn't get along but Connie figured that the main one had to do with her choice in men, or, as her mother saw it, boys. Ok, so maybe she was only 17, and what she preferred to call men still acted like boys, but that gave her mother no right to disapprove of them at first sight. In her years of boyfriends and dating, she'd only really had one or two serious boyfriends, which, not to her surprise, her mother disliked tremendously.

Boys weren't the only thing they disagreed on but clothes, music, heck, even politics. Connie viewed herself as a democrat, her mother as a republican. Connie liked the khaki pants she recently saw Jackie O sporting. Her mother almost cursed out loud when she saw a woman wearing pants on the cover of some gardening magazine she subscribed too. Connie liked Elvis, the Contours, Jimi Hendrix, and anything else Motown. Her mother favored classical music.

"And Dave, you can make Connie pasta, right? I hope it's still her favorite...I can go out and buy some today, if you want. Connie dear, is that alright with you?"

Just replaying the words in her mind made her scowl at her mother's unconvincing attempt to apologize for their unfriendly interactions.

"And Evelyn; was it? Oh, do stay for dinner. We're celebrating our seventh year anniversary in Tulsa. We moved from Chicago seven years ago and I thought it might be a nice idea. We're making pasta. It's Connie's favorite, isn't it, Connie?"

Connie was sure the grimace on her face was obvious enough, but it seemed like her mother couldn't take the hint for her life.

Evie offered Lily a small smile. "Thanks for the invitation, Mrs. Jackson, I really appreciate it, but I've got plans with someone tonight. It's my two year anniversary with my boyfriend and he's been plannin' somethin' kinda special." She paused there and shrugged. "At least, I think that's what he's been doing."

"Oh, no worries. You know, correct me if I'm wrong darling," she halted, glancing at her daughter and then at Evie, "but you just had your two year anniversary with Eddie, didn't you?"

Connie scowled at her mother.

"Actually, we broke up."

Lily pursed her lips and rested a hand on her hip with wide eyes. "Well is that so?"

"Yea, about a month ago."

It was times like this that Connie was most embarrassed of her mother. Since she had made it a top priority to keep as many things as she could from her mom, Lily was hardly filled in on her life which was the way Connie liked things, but on occasions like these, she wished Lily took the hint. Connie didn't want her knowing everything, but the woman honestly seemed blind at times. Like when she came back from school a month ago and spent two days in her bedroom crying her eyes out, or when she stopped bringing Eddie over after school, or when she stopped wearing that damn necklace he gave her.

Her mother let out a small huff and nodded briskly. "Well then, I'm sorry you couldn't join us for dinner tonight Evelyn. Maybe another time."

Evie opened her mouth to speak, but by the time she had, her mother had left the room without a trace of her existence. The only thing that would've implied that she'd been in the room at the time was the scowl on Connie's face. She never frowned like that unless her mother had put her in a bad mood.

"Hey, you can't blame her much, Con. You don't talk to her. How was she supposed to know about you and Eddie?" Evie asked as she twirled a loose dark curl around her finger and stared at it intently. "I mean, you can't just ignore her, she's your mom."

Connie rolled her eyes a little. "She might be my mom, but she sure as hell isn't my friend."

"Hey, my momma ain't my friend but at least I make an effort to try and talk with her every now and then."

"And how's that going for you?"

"Not so great, thanks for askin', Con."

Connie chuckled.

"Hey," Evie started, quickly locating her backpack and stuffing her books into it. "Steve said he'd be here at six and it's six. Usually I wouldn't leave so early...but uh, I think the whole Johnny Cade and Dallas Winston thing hit him hard, ya know, and I feel bad for him...so anyways, I'll see ya at school tomorrow, ok?"

Connie nodded and stood up, following Evie towards the door. It felt almost strange having someone other than Colleen and Jo come over, but she knew she should be getting used to it if she wanted to ace this project they were doing.

"There he is," Evie said as she pointed him out.

Connie peered through the window of his car and tried to find a clue that might help her pick out where she knew him from. She knew for sure he was a junior because she'd seen him around multiple times and she was pretty sure he as in her American Lit class.

"Thanks again, Connie," Evie yelled from across the street as she got into Steve's car.

Connie smiled and waved to Evie then pivoted on her heel until she heard another voice, this time, belonging to a male.

"Nice house ya got there, Connie."

She turned around and saw him smirking through his open window. Now that she had a better look at him, she recognized that he had always worked at that gas station ten minutes from her house. She waved him off and propped herself down on her porch swing.

Maybe tomorrow, she'd asked Evie if he had a brother.

XXX

"You alright?"

"Yeah, fine, Eves."

"You know Connie?"

"Yeah, she's in my American Lit and math class."

"Isn't she nice?"

Steve shrugged. "Haven't really talked to her, Eves."

Evie picked at the dirt in her nails and chewed on her gum quietly. She knew Steve hated it when he was driving and heard her mouth over the engine.

"Well she's real nice."

Steve smirked. "She's got a real nice house."

She shoved his shoulder and rolled her eyes. "What the hell, Steve?"

"What?" he asked, chuckling slightly. "I was just sayin'."

Evie shook her head and looked away. She knew he was only messin' around with her, but she got uncomfortable when brought up the nice houses situation, which meant money, which meant he wasn't happy with his paycheck.

"C'mon Eves, it was a stupid comment, alright? I didn't mean nothin' to it."

She continued to ignore his constant pleads until he stopped in her driveway and leaned in to give her a kiss. Before he could though, she raced out of his car and into her house. Knowin' her, she'd come around by tomorrow or somethin'. She always did.

XXX

Her feet swung as she rocked aimlessly on the dusty swing porch chair, sweat building up on the insides of her legs from heat of the day. Her curly blonde hair met her shoulders as she swung and a soft sigh escaped her lips when she saw her brother exiting his girlfriend's car.

Connie liked Denise. She was good for Charlie but she wasn't the girl she expected her brother to go for.

Charlie was handsome all right. Charming too...at least that's what Denise said. She hadn't heard it from Lorraine or Gwen or Mary or Meredith or the hundred other girls he had slept with, but she supposed he'd changed since then...at least towards his girls. Maybe after deep consideration, he decided to convince everyone that the nickname "Humpty Dumpty" wasn't for him anymore...but to Connie, he was still the same ass he'd always been.

"Hey there blondie," he greeted with a cool snicker as he passed by her on the porch, making sure to ruffle the head of her hair. "Tryin' to watch me sneak a kiss?" He paused and smirked again, taking the empty spot next to her. "I get it, I get it, you never kissed a guy before...but do ya really think spyin' on me and D is the best way to learn? Hell, you're not even really experiencin' it...unless it turns ya on or somethin', I guess I should feel flattered or somethi-"

"Shut up, Charlie."

"I mean, you're alright lookin', but you ain't Evie Stevens or anythin'."

"Charlie!"

He put his hands up in defense and simply grinned at his younger sister. "She's the one givin' me the little smiles in the hall, alright? I ain't doin' nothin'."

"She's got a boyfriend, Charlie, and you've got a girlfriend."

"That Steve kid is shit to me."

Connie frowned at him and made a mental note to mention the topic of Evie the next time Denise came over for dinner just to piss Charlie off.

"You're shit to me," she retorted, instantly regretting it when Charlie gave her a sly smirk and pinched her cheeks hard until she squirmed free of his grip, then hitting his arm harshly. He sneered again and simply shook his head at her as he made his way inside.

Connie rubbed the spot on her cheek where he had squeezed the life out of it and scowled. She knew it was safe to say that he was truly the biggest asshole she'd ever met in her life, and hell, she'd known plenty of assholes. There was just something about him that ticked her off every time they were alone together. She had just come to the quick conclusion that they were complete opposites, but her youngest brother, J.M., insisted that they were just both too stubborn to admit the fact that they had more than a few things in common.

She'd had to admit, at the time, it sounded like a legitimate possibility, but every day, she found herself considering it less than the one before.

"Hi."

She was completely caught off guard by his presence, but somehow managed to not flinch an inch at his appearance.

"Hi J.M."

"So...I'm not tryin' to bother you or pester into your business or anything, but uh, ya know, you had someone over today," he paused and adjusted his glasses, then took a seat in the open space next to her. "Charlie said her name was Ev- I, I mean, I wasn't listenin' in on your conversation, I just kinda heard while I was doin' stuff, and then I heard she was datin' Steve Randle."

Connie nodded, a little bored with her younger brother's stalling, but let him continue anyway.

"Well, I just uh, thought I'd tell you to tell her because I know from a friend that he's not always the nicest guy."

She chuckled. "J.M., if this is one of your stupid attempts to get an older girl, I'd cut it out now. You don't honestly think you can get her, do you?"

He rolled his eyes in frustration. "Connie, I'm not joking."

"Yeah, and I'm not either."

"Connie I'm dead serious."

"Steve's a decent guy, I know that well," she said. "Now where the hell are you trying to go with this?"

"Nowhere. Just forget it."

Author's Note: I know it was a bit short, but it was a bit of introduction, so next chapter will be longer, I promise. Anyways, I had a story up a while ago, White Flag, and being the idiot that I am, deleted the story of FF net and backed up no documents, so I took a hiatus. Until a couple of weeks ago, this idea had just popped into my head and I fell back in love with fanfiction and I'm going to give this a try. Every review and visit to the story is greatly appreciated. Next chapter will be up in about two weeks...I leave for Kentucky on Friday for a week without a computer (I don't know how I'll do it) so do keep an eye out for that. Ok this is getting way too long, so thanks to Taylor for looking this over and being patient with me.

-Nadia