I couldn't respond to my cousin's harsh voice. It had been at least two months since I hit the road from our New York loft. An extra inch of hair had grown from her wavy electric blonde hair, and her fingernails and grown from bitten to long and menacing.

"Flick!" I repeated. "What are you doing here?" She put her hands on her hips impatiently.

"What do you think, dumbass? I'm bringing you home."

"Hey dipshit! This is her home!" Tim Shepard crossed over to stand beside me. Flick pulled out her blade faster than Tim could get his footing.

"I say her home is back up in New York!" She lifted his chin up with the flat of the knife. "Don't you agree?"

"What the hell…?" Curly came to stand behind Tim. "Who's this clown?" Flick brought her blade up to Curly.

"Oh, can't you see the resemblance?" Flick put her head next to mine in mock affection.

"No, I don't bitch. You're in our territory now. Do you know what we do to people who come into our territory?" More members of the Shepard gang came lurking out from behind cars, circling Flick with hungry eyes.

"Shepard, lay off." I mumbled. Tim whipped around.

"What? What did you day to me?" I drew myself up to my biggest height, and yet I felt small next to Tim Shepard.

"I said lay off! Do you really want to hurt Dally's cousin?" Flick was still holding her breath, looking from me to Tim with slit green eyes. Tim have a sharp cut through t the air with his hands and the boys reluctantly slinked off.

"So you know this chick?"

"Yeah, she's my cousin, like I said before." I took a step closer to the blonde that still held the blade in her hands.

"Really…" Tim took a step towards her and leaned down.

"I wouldn't do that…" Too late. As soon as Tim entangled his fingers in Flicks hair, she gave him a sharp punch in the gut.

"You son of bitch! Never touch me again! If my cousin didn't come chasing after that guy…" That guy. Ponyboy.

"Shit!" I forgot about the meeting with him in the park. "I gotta jam."

"Oh no you don't!" Flick reached for my arm but I dodged it easily.

"Yeah I do!" Her face turned red with fury as I ran back to Buck's car and hopped into it with ease. Quickly I sped off, ignoring the irritated screams of threats coming from the drive in.

"Oh, shit Pony, sorry." I fell down next to the hunched figure with red brown hair curling at the neck.

"It's okay. Where were you?" Flick's face flashed in my mind.

"A friend from New York popped in." Ponyboy raised his eyebrows.

"Who?" I shook my head to dismiss it.

"No one." Before he could protest I locked my lips on his. At first they where hard and unresponsive, but then molded to form around mine.

"Dusty…" I rested my chin on his chest.

"Mmm." I rested my lips on his neck.

"Why do you do that?"

"What?" I slowly moved my lips up to his ear.

"Why do you go out of your way to make me want you when you know you can't have me?" I snapped up, but kept tension by straddling his waist.

"Who said?" I kissed him. He didn't protest. I dragged him to the car. He didn't say anything. I drove him to the sunset cliff that Mark had shone me. Mark. The last time I saw him was a distant memory, as if it happened years ago. But the first time I saw Ponyboy's eyes where clear, as if it were happening at that moment, right as his present eyes went wide at the sight of me with no clothes. Still no protest. I would of stopped if he told me to. I would of yanked on my jeans and driven him to the DX, and would of gone with Flick back to my old life in New York.

But he didn't say anything. Not a word.