Disclaimer: The Outsiders does not belong to me.

A/N: This is a long one, there is bound to be mistakes I missed, please if you see them point it out.

XXX

January 13, 1966

It was Angela's fifteenth birthday and she had convinced me to spend all day Friday with her to get ready. I didn't know why some girls needed hours to plan and get ready for a night out; maybe I was doing it wrong. But it was her birthday and I was her friend so I was stuck in her room trying to get her to pick something, anything, to wear. She had been through her wardrobe twice, which was much bigger than mine and was about to start on her third round. By this time I had no other choice but to flip through old magazines.

"Okay, what about this skirt?" she asked, turning away from the mirror to face me. I shrugged and kept flipping the pages of the magazine quickly.

"You look wonderful in everything Angela, just pick something," I told her. It was true enough; Angela was one of those girls all the girls were jealous of because she was pretty no matter what she did. No make-up and jeans and the girl would get more attention then most. But she wasn't the girl who knew she was pretty and strutted around like her shit didn't stink and I liked that about her. The only reason she strutted was because her last name was Shepard.

"It'd help if one of us had been to Buck's," she said, looking at me like it was my fault I hadn't been to the place. It wasn't like I wasn't interested in going because I was, everyone went, but my brother wasn't so keen on the idea. I was pretty sure it was because he didn't want me seeing him acting like guys did at places like Buck's. Since I was going to be sixteen next month, I figured he could say much.

"I'm sure if Tim or Curly catches you in there you won't even get a chance to have your clothes smelling like cigarette smoke and stale beer."

"Tim and Marty are out of the city for the night on business," she grinned. All I could think of right then was how much I'd hate for my brother to be out of the city so much. But that's what Tim did; he was bigger in this gang business then most people thought, it was probably more serious than even I thought it was.

"And if we happen to run into Curly, well I have you to distract him for me."

I stopped flipping the pages of the magazine and raised an eyebrow at her. I cleared my throat a little, ever since the night at The Nightly Double and actually having conversation that went beyond teasing each other, it was easy to see that Curly was a lot more then what people made him out to be.

"And you're okay with that?" I asked, doubtfully. Not only was Angela just as protective over her brothers as they were over her, she didn't think any girl was good enough for either of them. So not only was it weird that I didn't make a joke of what she said and tell her that would never happen but she was asking me to keep her brother distracted.

"I am when it's my birthday," she smirked again, finally picking out which skirt she was going to wear. "Since Tim's gone, he's harder to distract and you could distract any guy if ya really wanted to and he seems to have his eyes set on you. Besides it ain't like you like 'im back, right?"

I quickly glanced back down at the magazine and started flipping through the pages again. Seemed to me she had it all planned out, I wasn't there to celebrate; I was being used as a distraction. She sure had a way to make someone feel important.

"Right," I said when Angela turned towards me. "He's your brother," I assured her.

"Do my hair for me," she said, sitting down in the chair in front of her mirror. I shook my head a little and sighed before getting off of her bed, she was damn lucky it was her birthday.

"After, we can go back to your place, I wanna borrow your red shirt."

I was tempted to yank on her hair but nodded instead. I was such a good friend.

XXX

By the time we actually made it to Buck's it was already eleven o'clock. Angela strutted ahead of me as we made our way up the hill of the driveway. I could hear the bad music that everyone complained about from outside and hesitated even going inside.

I had only met Buck a handful of times when I went with Dallas to the Slash J. He was nice enough but I knew he knew who my brother was, even if Dallas was the only person that didn't introduce me as Two-Bit's sister; you'd have to be blind not to be able to tell I was a Mathews.

I didn't want to go in because wanted to avoid the embarrassment of the looks that said, "What the hell is she doing here", not being able to get a drink, or worse being kicked out. Maybe I was over analyzing everything because just by the look of the outside of the bar, I knew it had seen better days and by the way Dallas had talked about Buck, he wasn't the kind of guy who turned down any kind of business, it didn't matter age or who's kid sister you were. I decided to keep walking.

When I finally made it inside I tried looking for Angela through the big crowd of people and smoke. She was either with Sylvia or she was dancing; I was too clumsy to dance and Sylvia wasn't an option so I opted for the bar. If everyone came here, I was bound to find someone I knew. Squeezing past the crowd and making my way to the bar I was already annoyed by the noise, the crowd, and most of all Angela.

"Jane, right?" I heard someone say in a deep southern drawl from behind the bar, I looked up to see Buck handing out a couple beers. I nodded and held back the urge to yell at the people walking by shoving me, making me touch the disgusting sticky bar.

"You ain't gonna start a tab an' never pay it off like that brother of yours, are ya?" he asked with a lopsided grin. It was a serious question, even though he was smiling. It just proved that everyone loved my brother; he could even talk his way out of paying the cheapest guy in town what he owes. I shook my head and pull out a few coins as if I need to prove myself.

"Well kiddo, what can I get for ya?" he asked as he scooped up the coins I left on the bar; something I found quite impressive for how sticky it was.

I fought the urge to tell him not to call me a kid. I was probably the one thing that got on my nerves the most but seeing as he was letting me actually order a drink and he was probably almost ten years older than I was, I let it go.

"She'll have a rum and Coke, Buck," a voice I'd recognize anywhere said from behind me.

I didn't drink much at all, I had only been drunk once and that was the night of the Curtis parents funeral when Keith had brought back Steve, Dallas and Johnny because they knew their friends needed the space and time alone. That was a little over a month ago and I had already sworn off drinking. I didn't know why but once people found out you had never been drunk it was their mission to have you throwing up by the end of the night. Mission accomplished.

Dallas shoved a few people out of the way before standing beside me. I didn't know how or when we had learned each other's favourites, for as long as I remember being friends with Dallas he had always known how I liked my coffee or what my favourite colour was. It was nice to know someone knew those things; it was why I considered him to be one of my good friends. People were convinced Dallas didn't care about anything, he was a good for nothing, cold hearted, kid. Those were the people who didn't know him all too well, all a person had to do was get to know the guy and they'd see that that reputation was an illusion to keep out all the people who didn't care enough to look deeper. If he were that guy there is no way the Curtis boys would even let him in their house. Dallas was loyal and honest, sometimes blatantly so, he was a good friend. Misunderstood, and I think because I cared enough to realize that was why we were as good of friends as we were.

"I need your help," he said as he turned me around by my shoulder. He was sloshed; I could smell the whiskey on him.

"It's between that broad in the blue," he pointed to a pretty brunette playing pool. I rolled my eyes as I grabbed his hand and put it back down beside him when the girl started to stare at Dallas pointing.

"Or that broad in the… blue," he said, not realizing they both were wearing blue; he lifted his hand again and pointed to a different girl standing over by the door.

"I don't think it's possible to make a girl like Sylvia jealous," I said turning back around and picking up the drink that was left for me. I heard Dallas groan and mumble under his breath as he turned to face me.

This was classic Dallas and Sylvia post break-up. Sylvia would start casually seeing the guy she left Dallas for, I think it pissed him off more then made him jealous because he knew she'd always come crawling back to him. So, as a retaliation of a sort Dallas would pick up girls far prettier then Sylvia, and bring them back up to his room. It almost never failed.

"This ain't about Sylvia. I'm done with her fucking head games, besides she bores the hell outta me. This, this is about getting laid," he told me, slurring a little. I scrunched my nose and took a sip of my drink.

Even though he was drunk I could tell he was being serious. Once Dallas got bored, there was no shot in hell. I had to say though, Sylvia did last much longer then I thought she was going to.

"Hey," he said shaking my shoulder, making my drink spill and drip onto my hand. I sighed and put my drink down before looking up at him, he turned me back around.

"Just… just give the advice your brother would give me," he grinned again. He was drunk; I'd've cuffed him upside the head if he wasn't.

"Fine," I rolled my eyes as I wiped the drink off of my hand onto the sleeve of his jacket. The only way to make a drunk person shut up was to just do what they were asking and I was already to annoyed by everything else to have Dallas ask me which girl did I think was easier over and over again.

I slouched down into the same shitty posture my brother had and looked between the two girls as if I was actually contemplating which one he could score with first.

"Go for both, man," I said, mimicking my brother's laugh as I slapped Dallas on the back.

Before I could turn back around to my drink, Dallas was roaring. I shook my head a little and smirked, it wasn't too often he laughed like that.

"This is why we are friends," he said, still laughing. I took a sip of my drink; I didn't even think it was that funny but apparently my imitation of my brother was all aces according to Dallas.

"Jane," I heard Angela shriek from behind us. I sighed and turned around, she obviously wanted something because it was the only reason she'd be there. I giggled as Dallas face scrunched up.

"Ah," Dallas shouted. "Christ, you could wake the fucking dead with a voice like that. And the first person I'd feed them is you," Dallas laughed to himself. I smacked him the shoulder, he could be a real dick if he wanted. Actually, most of the time he was, especially when he thought he was being funny.

Angela gave Dallas a timid wave followed by a small smile. I smirked to myself, if she acted like this around him all the time I'd have to think about keeping Dallas close by more often. Angela was a loud mouth know it all but when it came to Dallas Winston… he could call her every name in the book and she'd still swoon over the guy.

Angela quickly grabbed my wrist and took me off the to the side, still blushing and watching over my shoulder, hoping for another glance from Dallas. I rolled my eyes at her and yanked my wrist from her hand to get her attention again.

"Curly's here," she said, pointing her thumb behind her towards the back entrance of the building. If I wasn't actually looking forward to seeing Curly I'd have probably told her to fuck right off just for the way she's been treating me. I looked toward the door and saw a head full of greased curly black hair through the crowd.

"You owe me," I told her.

"Get me a date with Dallas and I'll owe you," she grinned half seriously. I laughed by an accident, a little too loudly. She glared at me and I bit my lip to keep from laughing in her face again.

"Dallas don't do dates Angela," I snorted as I patted her shoulder and moved through the crowd.

XXX

"Have you seen my sister?" Curly asked, popping out of nowhere. I had spent the last ten minutes trying to find him through the growing crowd and had no luck. Seemed to me he had learned a few tricks from his brother, only being found when he wanted to be.

"You wouldn't be asking if you thought the answer was no," I grinned, looking up at him. I had no idea what I was doing; I had probably flirted with a total of two guys in my life. I figured as long as distracted him by being a smartass it'd work just the same.

"Wouldn't I?" he smirked that sly smirk of his that only a couple of weeks ago I thought was repulsive. I felt the back of my neck get hot and I was silently praying I wasn't turning that pink colour my mom said was adorable.

"You're the responsible Shepard now, you wouldn't waste your time," I shrugged, not knowing what else to say. Curly smirked as if he tricked me into telling him what he wanted to know, my guess was not too many people knew Tim was out of town.

"I think you might be giving me more credit than I deserve," Curly said looking over my shoulder for Angela. I was definitely glad I had one brother, I was even more glad that my brother wasn't half as motivated as either Tim or Curly.

"Nah," I grinned, standing on my tiptoes to get his attention on me instead of the crowd. I played with the hem of his leather jacket and bit my bottom lip; maybe I could pull off the flirting thing because it sure caught his attention.

"You're just not used to being credited."

He looked down at me and put his hands on my hips, the back of my neck was starting to heat up again as I could see him weighing his options. He sighed heavily through his nose before shaking his head a little.

"Come on," he said as he slightly pulled me towards the back door. I was frozen, just because Curly had pretty blue eyes that made him seem all sweet didn't mean he could be trusted. What if I was put into a situation I couldn't get out of? Then again, it was Curly. I had been in all of his classes since kindergarten; I had no reason not to give him chance and it wasn't like he was going to burry me in his backyard or something.

"Where we going?"

"Come on," he said again, smirking. Before I could hesitate anymore my fingers were laced with his and my feet were following him out the door. I had a feeling that smirk of his would get me in more trouble than I wanted to be a part of.

"What about Angela?"

What about Angela? Why the fuck was I bringing up Angela? Wasn't that the opposite of what I was supposed to be doing? It was times like this I understood why my brother always told me I had to think before I spoke because eventually it'd get me into a heap of shit; and no one liked smelling like shit… my brother the advice giver.

"It's her birthday," Curly shrugged as we made our way through the crowd.

XXX

Reviews will make epic Curly and Jane time come faster.

A/N: I wasn't going to cut the chapter off where I did but it was becoming far too long and I tend to keep chapter below 3000 words because long chapters bore me when I read them and I end up skimming them. I don't want that to happen here.