Dallas pulled Buck's convertible into the Curtis' gravely driveway just as it was getting dark outside. Johnny Cade had fallen asleep with his head resting on the side of the seat and Ponyboy was looking off into the distance of the setting sun.

"Hey kid, what are you thinking about - you're far off right now man…" Dallas asked, as the car stopped in the driveway. He lit up a smoke and decided against waking Johnny up just yet, as he looked to Pony for a reply.

"I was just thinkin' about sunsets Dally," Ponyboy said and shook his head. He knew Dallas Winston would tease him for thinking about sunsets and he didn't elaborate.

"What about 'em?" Dallas asked, arching an eyebrow. He'd almost laughed at first but Ponyboy always seemed to be wiser than all of the rest of the gang, even though he was the youngest. And the blonde boy thought he might listen this time.

Ponyboy looked off into the golden sky again and then looked back to Dally. "Well you can see them everywhere can't ya? I mean, up on Jay Mountain they look the same as they look right here. And I figure they look same here as they do on the West Side."

Dallas looked confused but agreed, "I reckon' they do kid." He looked up then, at the setting sun, and the clouds were tinted gold and orange. He'd never quite looked at one before and the beauty of it almost gave him chills.

"I'm just sayin'," Ponyboy continued, "That if the sunsets are the same everywhere, then other things must be the same too. Like Greasers and Socs, it seems like there's such a barrier, but sunsets make me believe there ain't." Ponyboy gave Dallas a sad smile and a shrug, just as the lights came on at the Curtis' porch.

"Listen Ponyboy, I never thought about it like that. But I'm pretty sure we'll always be Greasers and they'll always be Socs, and we'll always be just as different as we are now," Dallas said as he nudged Johnny none to gently to wake him up. "Look kid, we're home." Dally was good at hiding emotions, to most he didn't even have any.

As the Curtis brothers rushed out to greet Ponyboy, he told Johnny that he should give it a night and then turn himself into the police the next day. Dallas said it would be easy to explain, that after killing a boy in self-defense you get a little shaken up and scared and you have to get away. Dallas cared for Johnny more than he cared for any other boy, and assured him that he would be at the trial and as helpful as he could.

With a quick wave goodbye to the rest of the gang, the towheaded boy headed out. He needed to get the car back to Buck's before the old drunkard knew it was missing and he didn't want any questions from Darry as to why he was bringing the kids back.

He was mildly assured that everything was going to go okay for Johnny and Ponyboy; the courts went easy on kids on their first offense anyways. And as he pulled into the little gravel lot in front of Buck's big old run down place, the sun had just set and Dallas gave some thought to what Ponyboy had said. The boy had remained hard and skeptical as Ponyboy explained that things might not be so different in the East and West sides, but he'd wanted to believe that it was true. If that was true, then maybe Cherry was looking at that same sunset, thinking about him the same way he was thinking about her.

Dallas waltzed into Buck's, with a nod to the man of the house sitting behind a bar table. Everyone there knew him, and even if they didn't, he gave off a lazy sense of familiarity that made people want to believe they did know him. Dallas always moved with fluidity and as he shrugged off his leather jacket, he grabbed a beer out of a nearby cooler.

Buck's house was pretty much an every night party. And although he wasn't often reminded, he was the youngest regular visitor to old rodeo star's festivities. That's why the gang looked up to him, Dallas just came off as older. He'd seen things, he knew things that kids never saw or knew. And for that reason, the kids around Tulsa's East Side respected him, as well the adults.

Sitting down in a chair a bit far off from the noise and the crowd, Dallas popped open the beer and took a long swig. The greaser looked just as tough as he was. He wanted some quiet, he wanted to relax, and then he wanted to go to sleep so that he could be prepared for the shit from the cops the next day about Johnny and Ponyboy. And just when he thought maybe he'd get that, he locked eyes with tall blonde on the other side of the room. Fuck, Dallas thought, as Sylvia started walking over, he'd hoped he'd never have to speak to that two-timing broad again. Just what he needed after a god-awful long day.

"Hey Dally, thought you were supposed to be in the cooler for a while longer," Said the over made up blonde, clearly pretty even under all of the dark makeup. "You look good," She added with a sugary smile, the kind that could even be interpreted as nice if you didn't know Sylvia already.

Dallas looked Sylvia up and down, his icy eyes were drawn to parts of her anatomy that were clearly defined by her tight top and jeans. "Good behavior," Was all he said, as he took another gulp of his beer. He didn't let on he was done with her yet, he wanted to give it a minute.

"Good behavior huh?" Sylvia asked, a dark grin flitting across her dark red lips. "Finally figured out that good behavior gets rewarded?" She asked suggestively, moving to run her black heel over the bottom of Dally's leg to be seductive. And he let her do it to, even savored it; it had been an awful long time since he'd gotten any female affection. "So what do you say Dal? You wanna go upstairs with me like old times?" The blonde asked hopefully.

Dallas just grinned then, nudged her foot off his, stood up, and grabbed her chin in his hand. "The old times when you weren't fuckin' with Tim Shepard? Listen, doll, I ain't about to go upstairs with such used goods as you, and hell my standards ain't that high in the beginning." He walked away without looking back and up the stairs to his normal room. Throwing off his boots, Dally laid down on the bed, ready to get some sleep before the commotion the next day would bring.

After he'd come back from the cooler before, he'd always taken Sylvia back, ignoring rumors that she'd two-timed him. In the past, Dallas didn't care about the honesty of a girl and least of all Sylvia – she was pretty and she was more than willing. But something in him just didn't think Sylvia was all that great anymore, especially after he'd been so close to Cherry Valance more than once in the past week.

"