"Rain, my mom wants to talk to you," Soda said and tapped my shoulder, "I bet you're in trouble cause she wants to talk to you in her and my dad's room." He smirked a bit at his observation that was also a joke. I stuck my tongue out at him then went to Mr. and Mrs. Curtis' room. I knocked on the door, opened it a bit and poked my head in, "You wanted to talk to me, Soda said?"

She smiled, nodded and patted the spot next to her on the edge of the bed for me to sit, "Come sit with me, Rain."

I hesitantly did as she asked. "Did I do something?"

Her smile changed but only into a motherly smile. "No, Rain. I just wanna talk."

I laughed, "Now I can rub that in Soda's face."

She knew that me and him were closer than the rest since I met him first when we were younger we were more like brother and sister than the rest and she laughed. "Anyway, now that you're fifteen I thought I'd tell you what my mother told me when I was your age about relationships. Now before you get nervous, this is not 'the talk' that nearly everyone dreads," she laughed, "I thought I'd tell you since you're like the daughter I never had… first of all, I think you can handle any boy personally, since you've dealt with these boys almost ten years now."

I laughed, "I don't know how, but somehow I survived."

She laughed again and nodded, "But anyway, there's a big difference between liking someone and loving someone. But love is what comes after like, but not all the time."

I gave a confused expression, "I don't get what you mean."

"Well, here's an example. Me and Mr. Curtis. We love each other, but when we first met, we only like each other. But we liked each other as more than friends."

"Well then when did you two know you loved each other?"

"For us it took about a year, but it takes different amounts of time for other people. It can take a longer time, or a shorter time, or even not at all for some couples."

"Ok, so when I get a boyfriend in the future, how will I know when I love him?"

She gave a soft smile, "Believe it or not, you'll just know. But not with your head, with your heart. And usually, when the guy feels the same way, that's when he'll propose to you, depending on how old you two are. Sometimes though, you'll think you love someone, but deep down, you really don't. Don't marry someone you're not absolutely sure that you love… speaking of that, wait here a second." She got up off the bed then went over to her closet. She pulled a large white box out from the bottom of the closet, brought it back to the bed, placed it down then took off the lid. When she did that, it revealed a white, puffy material. "This was my wedding dress when I married Mr. Curtis. When you're getting married in the future, if you like the dress, I want you to have it," she smiled and pulled the dress out of the box, holding it in front of her.

I stood up and admired the dress. It was a simple white, wedding dress with a bit of puffy material that started at the waist and ended to the bottom. It wasn't flashy, but it wasn't plain. "It's beautiful."

"Also in the future, I know my husband isn't you father, but since he considers you his daughter, when you reach that point in your life, he wants to be the one to hand you over to the man you're marrying. But if he's not around when that happens, Darry will take his place since he's the oldest. Or if I'm not around when that time happens, the boys will know where the dress is and they'll give it to you."

I smiled at her, "Thank you, Mrs. Curtis."

She smiled back, placed the dress on the bed, and pulled me into a hug, "Anything for you, sweetheart."

My eyes opened and I just laid in the dark staring at the ceiling till I realized the whole thing was a dream of what already happened two years earlier.

I couldn't fall back asleep and I looked at the clock… 4:35am… I got out of bed and to the dining room and sat down at the table. I couldn't fall back asleep. I had heard about people who reacted to death late by a few days or a week or something, but never a year and a half later. I mean even at they're funeral, of course all three brothers were devastated, but even the rest of the guys cried. I even saw Dallas with tears in his eyes, but he refused to let them roll down his cheeks. I had cried too, but I don't think it full registered in my mind what had actually happened. Now, I finally realized that they weren't there and never would be again. All the things I had talked about with Mrs. Curtis about the future, that's all the motherly advice I would ever have from her. Or all the things Mr. Curtis did to help me since he always said that since he didn't have a daughter of his own, he'd treat me like I was his only daughter. All the things I planned with the two of them, would never happen and I couldn't believe it took me this long to realize and accept it.

I sat at the kitchen table curious about the time, with my head rested in my hands. I heard the front door open and my head popped up to see who was there and what I saw was Steve sitting down on the couch. "Not to sound rude," I started, making him jump, "But why're you here so late?"

He shrugged, got up and joined me at the table, "You know how my ol' man can be… question is, what're you doing up so late?"

I sighed and rubbed my hands over my face. "I had a dream of something that happened nearly two years ago and I couldn't fall back asleep."

"What was it?"

I gave a confused look. "Ok, not to sound like a jerk, but since when did you start caring about my problems?"

He shrugged a bit. "Since Two-Bit left for Vietnam… besides, if you stay at this table all night, you'll get bombarded with questions from Superman about why and what happened when he's up. SO it's either me or him. Take your pick."

"What about Marilyn, Suzie, Candy, Evie, Soda or Pony?"

He thought for a moment. "Well, Marilyn'll tell Darry so you'll get him that way. If you tell Soda, you'll get the same reaction as Darry, same thing if you tell Candy cause she'll tell Soda. Pony and Suzie it's the same deal, cause he'll tell his brothers. And if ya tell Evie, it'll get back to me anyway and then she'll tell the other girls and then we'll be back where we started. So I'm your best bet."

I couldn't help but laugh at his answer. "Fine, then I choose you."

He smirked a bit in victory. "Now spill."

I sighed again, "The dream I had was a conversation I had with Mrs. Curtis a few years back."

His face fell a bit at my answer. "What about?"

"Girl stuff that you can't know… anyway, do you remember their funeral?" My voice got quieter when I asked.

He nodded a bit. "Sometimes I wish I could forget."

I nodded. "Me too… when we were all there, I don't think I actually was able to get and understand what had actually happened, like my brain wouldn't let me. And I think cause of that dream, it just hit me with some of the things that she said that day. But, like, I was in some weird denial thing for a year and a half or something."

"You sure?"

I nodded and looked down. "Yeah… I mean, I know we all dealt with that and we were all devastated when it happened, but I just-"

"You miss them cause they were basically your parents cause your parents were complete assholes," he cut me off and finished. I looked up and when I did, his gaze was fixed on the ground. He continued, "Rain, I know how you feel. Your parents, no offense or nothin', but they were assholes and you know that. I get how that feels. My mom left when I was five, and my ol' man might as well get an award for asshole of the year…"

"Steve…" I tried to stop him but he continued.

"Look I know it's hard, but I promise ya it does get easier. Just takes a little while, ya know?"

I nodded and realized that he was helping me. I chuckled, "I think you're getting' soft on me, Randle."

He laughed, "Maybe just with you cause you've been through hell for a while."

I sucked on my teeth in a teasing way. "Geez and you were doing so well with sympathy till you said that."

"Shut up." He looked like he was trying to be serious but I could tell he was trying not to laugh at the same time. "I just didn't want ya to get interrogated like you were in the cooler or something cause you know Superman'll do that."

"Ya know, he doesn't like being called that."

He shrugged, "Hasn't done anything 'bout it yet to stop me."

Hiiiiiiii…. This chapter was really just to foreshadow something I'm doing in the story soon at the end- speaking of that, I'm almost done with this story I think. But, I'm working on a sequel that can also be a prequel that (if you're reading this on wattpad, I've mentioned her before) shanny02 suggested I do… it'll be posted both on fanfiction. net and wattpad where it's what life was like a little after Mr and Mrs Curtis died and it leads all the way to where this story began… so if you plan on reading it when this one is done, you don't have to, but I'm gonna call it "Before the Love" and will be posted probably the day after this one is done so I can make the cover and type it. This story though, will probably have about, five chapters left, which includes two what I'm gonna call "bonus chapters" cause, well you'll be able to tell what the end of the story is- then the one after that is what's gonna be the product of the last chapter, then the FINAL one of this story is just what happens to all the characters…. So yeah… but like I said, if you're now planning to read my sequel/prequel (they can be read in whatever order) I will say when it is gonna start when I start it… anyway!

Oh! By the way, there will be no posting tomorrow for this story or "Cherry Flavored Soda" cause as of now, me and my two closest friends are having a movie day at my house- our first since they read the outsiders cause we all wanted to watch it together so we'll be watching that, followed by an 80s day which will include (as far as we know) The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Rhinestone (if you like Sylvester Stallone or Dolly Parton, you'll know that movie- it's hard to find cause they didn't like how it turned out)

NOW ANYWAY!

(wattpad) peace from all the hippies of the world! =^-^= -RambosDaughter (aka: Sarah Fusaro)

(fanfiction) bye! =^-^= -sarahfusaro