I don't own the things you recognize, and I didn't proof read this to the fullest that I could have sorry about that just was eager to get it posted for some reason.

The nice thing about the Curtis household was that even if you didn't know exactly where the house was you could find it based off the playful commotion from inside. I went up to the door and knocked loudly, getting a come in yelled to me through the door. I went inside to see the oldest Curtis brother taking a shirt out of the laundry basket to put on, allowing me to catch a glimpse at the most built of the group.

Guess I was right about seeing all the brothers half dressed in no time at all. The horn dog in me kept staring and finally my brain kicked in and started talking so that my continuous looking in his direction wasn't as creepy, "You struck me as the stay at home type Darrel."

Soda stood up from the couch as he spoke, walking towards his now clothed brother to toss his arm around his shoulder, "He is! Turning into an old man!"

Darry gave him a stern look, "This old man can still whip your butt little man" They started laughing as Darry wrapped his younger sibling into a headlock, starting another round of playful fighting.

Getting out of the way I plopped down on the couch next to Johnny and Ponyboy until Two bit and Steve walked in the house minutes later with a case of beer, laughing as they cheered and whooped the fight on. Steve handed me a drink as he leaned against the arm rest, eyes focusing on the TV behind the wrestling match.

I wasn't much of a drinker, especially since I hadn't really been to too many parties in my 16 years, but I wanted to feel a little loosened up if I was going to go into a big group of people later, plus a small part of me didn't want to be the new girl who was no fun.

I turned to Johnny, figuring he would be easy to talk quietly to, "Are they always this rowdy?"

Instead of answering, Pony beat him to it, "pretty much, one time Steve and Soda broke our side table, if you look close you can see where it's all glued back together."

My eyes widened at the thought of that happening, as well as how normal it seemed to be for them, "How?"

Ponyboy laughed at my reaction, "Steve took Sodas cola"

Johnny finally spoke up, clearly trying to make me relax a bit more unlike Ponyboy who seemed to like the shock value, "they were just playin', no one got hurt. If you want to see a real fight watch Dally, no one hits harder than him."

I nodded as I remembered the vibe Dally gave off, I could see that being true, "Yeah, he seems tough."

"Who's tough?" Steve asked, hearing the end of our conversation as he looked away from the television set and in our direction.

"Dallas, apparently"

"Speaking of ol' Dal, where is he? I'm ready to go!" Two bit added from across the room.

Darry answered, "He's meeting us there"

"He livin' there now?" Johhny asked

"Think so"

Two bit was done with the conversation; he was bouncing off the walls ready to go to the point where he opened the door and ran to the truck yelling shotgun as Steve shouted the same and ran after him. I shook my head at their excitement before waving goodbye to Ponyboy and Johnny as Sodapop and Darry gave their brother hugs.

Soda hopped into the bed of the truck and offered me a hand and Darry stood by waiting to close the back after us, "You going to be alright back here?"

"Yeah, just try not to swerve off the road laughing when you look back and see my terrified expression"

Laughing at my half joke he patted me on the back before heading into the driver's seat and taking off.

It wasn't too bad; I had never ridden in the bed of a truck before so I was expecting much worse, I relaxed and got comfortable against the wall of the truck. Before I could make conversation with Soda the truck turned a sharp corner, causing me to quickly clutch onto the side so I didn't go flying across the bed.

Sodapop laughed at me, clearly amused, "You're lucky Darrys drivin', else you would fly right outta here."

"Yeah, I can picture it now: me shooting into the night sky as Two-bit goes over a speed bump at 70 miles per hour" I let go, now that the ride seemed to be going smoother even around turns.

Soda's smile was ear to ear, which gave me a swelling feeling in my chest that I was able to make him grin like that, as he was about to reply to my joke Darry slammed on the breaks. My body flew forward, landing painfully onto the handsome boys lap.

"You guys aright?" Darry called from the front as Sodapop rubbed the back of his head.

"They look more than alright!" TwoBit howled in laughter at his own suggestive joke, causing me to realize where I was and bolt upright in response. Instead of getting away from the awkward position, the back of my head slammed into what felt like Sodas chin, causing my face to fall right back into his lap. Giving up I rolled off of him while holding my head, never wanting to sit up or look at the boys again. My head was throbbing and my face was burning up, not a good start to the night.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to slam my head into you twice" I tried to apologize sincerely, only for Two bit to laugh even harder because of the sexual way my comment could be twisted.

Sodapop was polite and didn't acknowledge the pervy comments being made around us, "Don't worry about it, thick skull" he went to knock lightly on his head in a playful way, only to wince at the contact.

"You want to sit upfront kid? We'll kick Twobit here to the back"

Smiling at Darry's kindness as well as Twobit's whines of protest I replied, "No that's okay; I learned my lesson about not clinging to the side."

We started driving again, this time with my hands firmly on the side of the truck, glad that the wind was cooling my still warm face even if it was messing up my hair a bit.

When we had pulled up to what looked more like a rundown hotel then it did a home the boys wasted no time jumping out and rushing inside, I tried to keep up but once inside a blast of smoke and noise made me pause to look around as the music and sound of voices battled for dominance. It was easy to lose track of someone in the fog of the smoke, adding an extra haze to the already dimly lit room.

I stood, feeling somewhat lost as I hadn't noticed where any of the boys went. Party number two in this town that I've gone to and already a similar situation of me being left to stand awkwardly.

I tensed up as an arm slung around my shoulder, relaxing slightly as I recognized the nickname before I even had a chance to look over, "Lookin' a little lost, Red"

Although Dallas was the most intimidating of the group I couldn't help but to be excited that it was him rather than a drunken stranger, "Glad you found me, whose place is this?"

Removing the weight of his arm from my back he handed me the beer that he had and spoke before walking into the crowd, "I'll take ya to'em"

After making our way through the densest parts of the crowd, going around dancers and couples in deep lip lock we came to clearing with a circle of men playing cards. A man who looked to be in his mid or late 20's was leaning over, laughing with his friends when he looked our way and nodded his head in our direction before walking over. The way his posture changed from slack to straight caused me to think of bears that stand on their hind legs to look more intimidating, as I watched his paw reach out to shake with Dally's hand they spoke to one another, "New lady?"

"Nah, should dump her though, always runnin' around, but what do I care." He shrugged, while looking around the room, paying sharp attention to what was going on around them rather than focusing fully on who he was talking to even as his friend responded, "a fucks a fuck"

The bear was then turning his attention to me, extending his hand towards mine in introduction, "Buck"

"Catalina"

"Whatcha doing here with this dog?" He smirked over at dally, clearly wanting him to react to his playful jab.

"So far, taking his drinks and, Holy shit!" my random exclamation turned Dally's attention back to us, slight amusement on his face from a curse word flying from my mouth. While talking I had let my eyes wander past Buck's shoulder, noticing a pool table in the distance, brown eyes gleaming with excitement I forgot the whole previous conversation, "You have a pool table!"

Buck grinned, "Wannna play?"

Dallas cut in, "she doesn't need to leave here broke"

Buck laughed; "cut the leash man, let'er run free." He nodded at someone in the distance and patted Dallas on the shoulder before moving past us. I smiled at Dallas before heading forward towards the table, practically skipping towards them and calling dibs on the next free game right away.

I looked around as I leaned against an open spot on the wall noticing that Dallas wasn't following like I had thought. I couldn't help but to be a little bummed that everyone who wanted me to come so badly had kept disappearing on me tonight, but that stab of unhappiness faded quickly as my attention was brought back to the game at hand, my good mood returning full force as the end of the round neared. The loser handed over the stick as I walked over to help roll the balls back down the other side of the table where the winner was racking them up, "You playing for dough?" he asked.

"That depends, how much and by ball or game?"

He looked up, noticing who his opponent would be and smiled sweetly, "Game, stakes being low though since I don't want to take too much from my next date" He winked, his smile wide as his face would allow, his joy was contagious, causing my own mouth to form into a grin even though my eyes were rolling at his poor pick up line, "Just break, Casanova".

He broke, resulting in two solids falling into holes leading to him being able to take another shot in which he gained a third solid, at this I got a kick of nervousness, dreading the game being over too quickly if he was this good, but luckily he missed after that allowing me a chance to catch up. As the game went on I noticed Dallas had returned with a new drink in hand as well as Darrel, I smiled widely at them before looking back at the table for what could be the final shot.

I had one ball left on the table and all he had to do was get the 8ball in, but luck was on my side as right after the 8ball went in the white ball followed, leaving me to be the victor by dumb luck since he had scratched. I threw my arms in the air and excitedly yell out a "Ha, I win!" never having been a classy winner. Casanova walked over, handing me the few dollars that had been on the line.

"Sorry for the screaming, I get over excited when I win" I apologized for being a poor victor.

He just laughed as if I hadn't been rude by rubbing his loss in and explained that he would have been worse, "I probably would have ran over and kissed you if I won, besides I like a girl who isn't afraid to make some noise."

I blushed, my luck continuing as I didn't have to respond because the next player in line walked up and interrupted, saying he wasn't going to go easy on me and because of that wanted to up the stakes. After wiping the smug smile off his face by beating him easily, a crowd had gathered, among them I could now see Two-bit and Steve with a pretty girl on his arm. Waving to them I didn't notice as Dallas and Darrel stepped up next to me until I got a nudge. I smiled at Darrel, excited that the familiar faces I came with were all being found.

"So, how about a round?" I didn't care who had called next, I wanted to play against Darry, watch him loosen up a bit more. So I grinned excitedly, knowing when I used a certain smile my eyes would gleam and make anyone want to agree until he smiled and shook his head, grabbing the pool stick from my hands, "I'm breaking though."

Minutes later I realized that I had made a mistake as every ball was shot in by my opponent, not even giving me a chance to try to make a comeback. Now I see why he wanted to break. At least he didn't play around letting me think I could win before crushing me, right from the start he never let up. And at least as he handed his stick off to the next person he didn't look at me with a smug smile, instead he looked genuinely happy that he had gotten to play, making up for my complete loss, "Good game Darrel."

"I would say the same but I didn't really get to see what you've got" He chuckled

Before I could respond Two-Bit's arm slung around my shoulder, "So Kitten, does it hurt? If so I can rub it for ya"

I stared at him with a look of confusion, my one eyebrow felt as if it was raised all the way up to my hairline, "what?"

He cracked up laughing, slapping his knee before he even told his reasoning, "Your ass just got a whooping, I bet it's sore"

I lightly pushed him away laughing at his stupidity, "You're such a brat."

Steve spoke up, complementing my game before my round with Darry, "nice shootin', we should take ya to the pool house, find us some suckers."

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah I'm sure it'll be worth it even as the beat us up for scamming them."

Two bit laughed, "how bout' it Eve, you still gonna kiss this face when its swollen three times its size?" His hand reached out to touch Steve's face, only to get slapped away, if it wasn't for his arm being wrapped around Eve I was sure the playful slap would have turned into another wrestling match.

Eve wrapped both her arms around Steve, turning his face towards her and patting it as she answered, "wouldn't be nothin' new." I almost corrected her grammar, the snob in me wanting to point out the error.

Eve turned her attention back to the rest of us instead of Steve, "where's Sylvia tonight Dal?"

"Who cares", his tone and facial expression showing how annoyed he was with people asking about her. He pulled out a cigarette for himself and went to light it, catching my eyes as he looked up over the flame. "What's the matter Red, afraid of cancer?" he asked, noticing how my nose crinkled up in disgust.

"The smell bothers me is all, makes me feel like my insides are burning just being around it." The second I completed my sentence the sound of shouting and cheering erupted from nearby making the room sound like an audience at a professional wrestling match. Steve and Two-bit took off headed towards the fight, acting as bulldozers for the rest of us to follow behind to get us to the front of the action. I didn't want to see anyone get hurt, but I had never seen a fist fight break out and couldn't help but to be curious. The boys on the other hand though were ready to see a good fight, clearly excited until we got in view, finding Soda facing off with a much larger, muscular man. I was surprised since he doesn't seem like the type to go looking for a fight, but then again I had just met these boys the other day so what did I know.

"What the heck, is he drunk?"

"Soda doesn't drink" Darrel replied, standing stiff watching closely as the fight continued, by the look of the other guys face I would say Sodapop had fought pretty well, but things were taking a turn for the worse as the large man got a few head punches in, leaving soda on the ground. Before the man could kick him after he was down the oldest Curtis came to the rescue, I guess brotherly love trumps the man code of letting a fight play out. After helping him to his feet he pushed him towards the door, being respectful enough of his image to not drag him out by the ear like a parent would and being respectful enough not to start nagging him right in the middle of the crowd.

"What in the hell do you think you're doin?" even when he wasn't raising his voice, Darry held a tone of command, a type of voice that could make you feel small.

Soda didn't snap back or get defensive, he spoke calmly, explaining himself instead of turning it into a fight, "He kept hitting on Sandy, wouldn't leave her alone."

A voice came from right behind me, causing me to turn and see a very pretty blonde haired girl, "He really was being a huge pig Darry, and he even tried to reach for me." For a second I caught myself feeling a bit bummed that Sodapop had a beautiful girlfriend, but then had to laugh internally at the crazy notion that a boy with a face like that wouldn't have a girlfriend. The disappointed feeling faded quickly though and was replaced with a sense of alertness as the pig from the fight walked outside with equally large friends. Surprisingly all they did was stand staring in our direction for a few minutes; I guess they didn't want to take on the whole group.

"I think it's time to call it a night" Darry spoke as the boys walked off the porch.

"It's only midnight!" Two bit exclaimed followed by back up from Steve, "come on, don't let some oaf ruin the night." Darry looked hard at the boys before letting his expression soften, signaling that it was not yet time to go home.