"Wow, thanks." I smiled slightly, trying to contain myself.

"Don't mention it, Curtis." He looked at the sky and grinned.

"So, what happens now?" I asked.

He looked back down at me, "I'm not real sure. But for starters, why don't you go back inside before you get a cold or your brothers know you're missin'."

I cracked another smile and nodded slowly. I turned my back to him and took a step towards the front door. Before I could get another one in, he grabbed my wrist and whirled me around to face him again. He pressed his lips against mine once again and I melted. My arms resumed their positions around his neck and he pulled my hips into his. I felt him deepen the kiss and our tongues intertwined. His hands began to roam around my lower back. My lack of disapproval must have signaled a green light in his mind because his palms moved upward toward my scantily clad chest. I smirked into our kiss and pulled away. "Don't think giving me a dog tag will get you to second base just like that." I snapped my fingers.

"Damn," He whispered.

I laughed and started my walk towards the door again, "And next time, come around during the daylight."

"Oh, so you think there's going to be a next time?" He joked.

"Well, you're best friends live here. And from what you said earlier, I think there will be." I said cockily.

He let out a silent laugh, "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll be back in a couple hours." He looked at his watch, and took off towards Buck's place.

I shook my head at his blatant statement. That was Dally for ya. I exhaled and thought about the past couple of minutes. Dally had given me his necklace, and kissed me. I mean really kissed me. I was on Cloud 9 as I shut the front door behind me quietly.

I heard someone clear their throat. "Excuse me, missy, but what were you doing out there?" I heard Darry say.

I winced at the sound of his voice. I slowly turned around to be confronted by him and I saw his humorless face staring back at me. "I just th-thought I heard a noise outside of my window and went to check it out."

"And it took you-" He checked his watch, "15 minutes to check out whatever it was that was out there?"

"I wanted to be thorough in my search." I responded.

Darry sighed at my attitude. "Listen, Jill, I heard you talking to someone when you were in your room. You seem to forget that the walls in this house are paper thin. So just tell me who it was out there." He tried to reason with me. I looked nervously between Johnny, who was still sitting on the couch, and Darry, who was waiting for an answer. He sighed again, "I know I told you that you could start dating when you were 16, but I didn't expect you to start the day you turned 16. Just tell me who was out there. Is it your boyfriend? Is he a good kid? How long has he been your boyfriend? What's his name? How old is he?" Darry's questions came faster and faster, he was freaking out at the thought of his baby sister being in a relationship.

"Darry-" I started.

"Just tell me!" He shouted.

I waited a few beats and Johnny gave me an encouraging nod, "It was Dally."

He sighed once again, but this time in relief. "Oh, good. So you don't have a boyfriend."

I pulled at the chain that has weighing heavily around my neck and looked at my feet. Darry quickly realized what it was. "What?! No. No, no, no, no!" He yelled and fell back on the couch next to Johnny. All his yelling had made Pony and Soda come into the living room, both rubbing the sleep out of their eyes.

"What's goin' on in here. There are people tryin' to sleep!" Soda scolded.

"You will never believe who our baby sister was talking to outside in the middle of the night." Darry said, exasperated.

Soda stood up completely straight, "Is someone botherin' you, Jill? Do I need to kick some ass?"

I laughed, "No one's botherin' me. Calm down."

"Then what's happenin'?" Pony questioned, looking from me to Darry and back.

Darry laughed, like he didn't believe what he was about to say. "The one and only Dallas Winston is goin' after our little Jilly Bean."

Pony gave his first input of the night, "What? There's no way in hell that we're gonna let her do that, is there?" Darry responded with something about starting shifts so they could watch me at all times. Soda gave me a sly smile and winked at me. He gave me a small thumbs up and nodded in approval. I laughed and Darry glared at me.

"What's so funny?" He demanded.

"Nothing, I just don't see the big deal in this. It's not like we were outside having sex!"

Darry made a horrendous noise, "How do you know what sex is?! You're only 16! Did Dally teach you what it is?!"

"Calm down, Darry! Can I please explain my side of the story before you send out a team to lynch Dally?"

Darry threw his hand up in the air and motioned for me to continue. I recapped what had happened tonight, excluding all the lip-locking that had gone down.

Soda spoke up when my story was finished. "It seems like Jilly here has domesticated ol' Dal and made a real man out of him."

"Oh, God. Please don't phrase it like that!" Pony whined.

"And how do we know he isn't just gonna take advantage of ya and then leave. It's what he's done to every girl before!" Darry accused.

"But he's never given a girl his chain!" Soda defended.

"I don't feel right about this." Pony interjected.

They all looked very uncomfortable. "Are you guys done yet?" I asked, they all nodded. "It's 1 o'clock in the morning. How about you let me go out with this guy? You've all taught me well enough to know what not to do. And if it ends badly, you get to tell me you told me so, but I would like the chance to make my own mistakes. Plus, you all know how long I've waited for this moment. Don't ruin it for me."

They looked at each other. Soda spoke up in my favor, "I think we should let her go. She has a point. We've told her the dangers of guys, and she's been around Dally for most of her life. She knows how to handle him."

Pony yawned, "Go ahead Jilly, just be careful." He stood up and ruffled my hair, going back to his room.

I looked expectantly at Darry. "Fine," He said, "But I get to talk to him before you guys even lay eyes on each other again!"

"Thanks, guys!" I kissed Darry's cheek, and gave a thumbs up to Soda.