I do not own The Outsiders or Ace from The Body/Stand By Me.
Really long, probably should have split it up but I wanted to get
this part done in one chapter so I could really start the story.
. . .
The cool breeze hit Sharon's skin as soon as she walked out of the
looming, building. A powerful gust of wind sent the papers in her
hands flying in all directions, swirling around her petite figure.
She grabbed out to catch them blindly; half because of the cloudy
night sky; half because of the absent of her glasses.
Grunting as she stuffed the papers under one arm definely and brushed
her pencil skirt clear of dirt with the other, she walked to her car,
desperate to escape the cold. With each breath a cloud of vapor formed
around her mouth, lingering a second before vanishing.
Sharon quicken her pace as she walked down the road towards her parked
car. Silently she cursed herself for parking so far away, and at her
boss for keeping her so late. The only noise to be heard was that of
her high heels making contact with the ground in a light click every
second. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.
She fiddled with her keys as she reached her car, silence suddenly
ovecoming what may have been the town. Suddenly she stopped. Something
wasn't right- not wrong exactly but not quite right either. Just a
feeling in her gut.
She turned around so her back faced the car and took a few steps
forwards, looking around. "Hello?" she called, the only reply her echo.
She shook her head at her own antics causing her brown hair to fall
out from behind her ears and cup around her face. After one more quick
glance down each way of the road she turned around and got into her car.
The door shut behind her with a thud, blocking off the wind. She
sighed, her muscles relaxing as she leaned against the seat.
Suddenly she felt warm flesh press against her mouth and hold it
against the seat. Her eyes opened wide as she felt a prick on the side
of her neck.
Jerking her head in all directions she tried to break free but with no
adue. She was only dimly aware of the dark clouds that were slowly
covering her vision as she tried to fight of her attacker.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of you. . ."
. . .
"But I still don't get why I have to go."
"Because I promised Buck I'd help him out with his nephew, and your
the closest to his age I know." Darry repeated for the fifth time
during the short car trip to the train station.
Pony groaned. If Buck's nephew was anything like Buck he didn't want
to be near him, he never liked the cowboy. "Just 'cause we're close in
age don't mean we're gonna get along. 'sides, it'll be more like baby
sittin'"
"Common Pone, he's twelve. That's only two years younger. I mean you
and Johnny get along right fine, and youse are two years apart."
Pony sighed and looked back out the window. "Yeah, but that's not a
forced friendship," he muttered under his breath. It wasn't fair he
had to waste his summer entertaining some kid because of a promise
Darry made.
As they pulled into a parking space Darry nudged his shoulder.
"Common, I'll take you out to ice cream later."
Pony gave a sly grin. "Sorry, I don't go that way."
Darry's eyes widened as he looked at Pony. "No mouthing off!" Pony was
already out the the truck though, the thud blocking off Darry's
sentence much to the younger brother's happiness.
Darry did a light jog to catch up to his brother as he walked onto the
platform, hitting the auburned haired head on the way by gently.
Pony glared at his smirk and tentively touched the back of his head.
"Don't worry, your hair's fine." Pony bobbed his head up and down
gently, though continued on checking, not believing Darry until his
fingers finished the light circles over the back of his head, not
finding as much as a bump. Darry rolled his eyes.
Buck nodded to them as they joined his side. "Curtises,"
"Buck," Darry greeted, lightly thumping him on the arm.
A moment of silence passes spent watching people around; couples
hugging goodbye, a mother rocking a baby back and forth, men and women
preparing and checking over their lugage waiting for the train's
arrival.
"Hey, y'all know how much I appreciate youse helping me like this,
christ I don't know what I was thinking when I agreed to this." Buck
said softly not moving his gaze from straight ahead.
Pony laughed as he thought of Buck's wild parties, rodeos, language
and just his entire life style. How he was going to manage to care for
a kid for two months was a mystery.
"If I remember correctly, you were thinkin' how you didn't want your
big sister to come down here to Tulsa and beat yah up for disobeying
her," Darry laughed, bringing up a whole new wave of laughter.
"Damn straight," Buck finally said, straightening up his posture and
running a callused hand through his hair. "I remember back when we was
kids she used to pin me to the ground every spare minute she had.
Course I was only six, and she'd have been over fourteen at the time,
but still she was one tough broad."
Darry nodded and turned back to the tracks. He knew what had happened
after that. His sister got pregnant with some low life at sixteen and
got the curb, so when it became apparent her boyfriend no longer
wanted her she took off, having nothing left to stay for. His eldest
brother Reginald eventually left aswell to track his baby sister down.
Buck grew up after that a only child, and moved out at the ripe age of
sixteen to Tulsa to escape his parents wrath.
Even though his siblings cut off all communications with their parents
they made sure to keep in touch with 'little Bucky'. Phone calls at
one in the morning and letters were made constantly. Now that he had
his own place they could talk during the day without him having to
hide out in the attic, but they were made less and less often until
eventually they only spoke once a year.
It's funny how that works, how you talk to people more if your not
supposed to be talking, and less if you are allowed.
"Where'd you say he was from again?"
"Castle Rock, Maine." Buck answered, taking a step forwards and
holding his hand over his eyes to shield him from the sun as he looked
down the tracks.
Darry whistled. "That must have been one long train trip."
"And expensive," Pony added, thinking that that he was no way in hell
going to befriend this kid if he was a snotty nosed brat that wiped
his ass with ten dollar bills.
Buck shrugged. "I dunno, Mary just said to be here to pick 'im up."
On cue the train rolled into the station; black smoke billowing into
the air, the brakes screeching in protest as the wheels slid along the
steel tracks.
Slowly the passengers exited it one by one, filtering through the
doors and down the stairs to be met by friends and families that
hugged and kissed them like it was the last time they would see them,
not like it was a hello; the beginning of seeing them for a length of
time.
Buck's eyes squinted in concentration as he studied each of the
passengers faces with deep thought, trying to find one that even
slightly represented his sister.
The last time he saw John was the last time he saw his sister, over a
decade ago during Christmas when his sister, Mary, came back in town
for a couple of days, with John of course. Fair blonde hair and
massive dark blue eyes, so dark they almost looked black, or at least
a dark purple. He spent every second he could at that motel she was
staying at, but eventually she left, as if she was never there, like
the dew on the grass in the morning. But that was years ago, and he
had serious doubts the kid looked the same.
Pony cocked his head to the side as the platform got busier and
busier. "What's he look like?" Darry finally asked, speaking Pony's
thoughts.
"How the hell do yah think I'd know? Last time I saw the bugger he was
barely out of diapers."
Darry remained quiet in respect for the other man's nervousness. He
knew Buck was irritable when he got nervous, it was just his way of
dealing with stress.
Buck inhaled sharply and looked over at the brothers. "He got blonde
hair last I saw him, maybe it darkened though. Other than that I don't
know. I figure he'd be thirteen, so maybe around Ponyboy's here size."
Another minute passed. Than another. Slowly the rush to escape the
train got slower until only one or two people exited per minute. A
ruckus by one of the doors caught Darry's eye. "How much do you
'figure' he'd be thirteen?"
Buck gave him a weird look. "What'd'ya mean? I'd say I'm about ninety-
nine percent sure. I saw him years ago, the tyke was only four then."
Still watching the scene Darry asked, "You positive?"
Buck shut his eyes in thought. "Yeah, the Christmas I saw-" A loud
shout inturrupted Buck, whose eyes flicked over to the same struggle
Darry had been eyeing the entire time.
Three men were fighting; two wearing uniforms desinating their
employment on the train, the third who was being restrained by the
others struggled tiredlessly. It was quite a sight, it seemed no
matter how much force the employees used the civilian managed to
escape their grasps and land a few good shots on them. Finally a third
uniformed man joined and they got the presumably freeloading passenger
off the train.
His back still turned to the crowd which had gathered, including Buck,
Darry and Pony themselves, he held his two middle fingers up to the
workers and shouted, "Thanks for the free ride, yah cock-knockers!"
Pony fought hard to keep control of his laugh, but let a small smile
slide onto his lips.
Giving him a disgusted look the three shut the doors after yelling
profanities back at him.
Pony watched him intrigued. He turned suddenly and didn't give the
crowd a second glance, as if he was accustomed to throngs of people
staring at him. Pushing through the crowd he walked away slowly, hands
hitched onto his belt loops.
For the first time Pony caught a glimpse of Buck's expression. "I
think. . .I think that was John."
Darry laughed for a second and slapped him on the back. "Good luck
with that."
Buck looked at him wildly. "You ain't thinkin' of leaving are yah?"
Darry looked back as if he was a talking fish. "You'd be crazy if you
think I'd let Pony hang 'round him. Heck he ain't even s'posed to be
near yah."
"Common man, don't leave me like this. I think I'd have better luck if
he was a kid. How the hell am I supposed to deal with him all summer!"
He looked at Darry pleadingly. Finally Darry gave in.
"Fine, but just to get you started off. I ain't a professional or
somethin'."
Buck gave him a grin. "Free round of beers next time you pop by,
thanks man."
Darry laughed. "No problem."
The three found their target surprisingly easy, he didn't even leave
the station. He was just outside the buliding, leaning up against the
brick wall like he owned the place, sucking on a Winston and letting
the grey smoke fall over his bottom lip. Pony thought he looked real
tuff.
"John?" Buck said after a awkward grunt to clear his throat.
The boys dark eyes flicked over to him uninterested. "Ace."
Buck looked confused. "What?"
Pushing off against the wall he stepped over to the three. "Call me
John and I break you nose, it's Ace. And since you know me I'm
guessing you'd be Buck."
Buck nodded, choosing to ignore the previous comment. For some reason
he didn't have a doubt in his mind the kid would infact break his
nose. "Got that right. This here's Darry, he's a real good friend of
mine, and his lil' brother Pony."
Ace gave a nod, is dark eyes meeting each of theirs. "You taking me to
your place or do I gotta sleep on a bench." he finally said, looking
away from Pony's face.
"Yeah, uh. . car's over there," he said finally, motioning to the old
T-Bird parked near the building.
Without another word Ace began to walk to the car. Giving the Curtis
brothers a quick nod Buck followed the teen.
Once out of ear shot Darry turned to Pony. "So what do yah think 'bout
Ace?"
Pony finally removed his eyes from the bodies as they slid into the
car and looked over to his brother. "Reminds me of Dally, so I guess
Buck should handle him fine."
"If he ever calms down enough maybe he can, but I don't think this kid
is used to gettin' handled. Might be a lot of trouble."
Pony nodded in agreement as Buck turned the key in his ignition. It
sputtered a few times before dying. He shut his eyes and prayed to God
not to make his car break down now of all times. Twisting the key
again in the ignition the lips escaped from his lungs out of his lips.
"Dammit," he muttered under his breath as he turned the key again.
"Stupid, worthless, peice-a-sh-"
"Need a ride?"
Buck looked up thankfully to the window Darry who was leaning into.
"Man I cannot thank you enough." he said for what may have been the
tenth time that day. Darry shrugged. "It's fine, not outta my way."
Buck gave a grin and slid back out of the car and began walking
towards Darry's vehicle. As they all piled into the truck and peeled
out of the parking lot conversations was scarce and forced, not at all
natural, due to the uncomfortableness caused by Ace's presence.
Finally Buck turned to him. "So how's Mary?"
Ace looks away from the window back at him. He shrugged. "Pretty
shitty, but guess she's been worse."
Buck shuffled awkwardly. "Oh, why?"
Darry almost laughed at the sight of the loud partier stumbling over
his words. Darry couldn't believe how much effort he was putting into
making a good impression on his nephew, who obviously had already
judged all of them.
Ace's eyes darkened. "So where the hell do you live?" Buck kept his
gaze on him silently, staring him down. Finally he spoke.
"Just on the edge of town, almost there."
Ace nodded and the car settled back into the familiar silence.
. . .
Thank you guys soooooooo much for the reviews:
-Babydoll
-la camison negra (Thanks for all the advice and help!)
-Diehardoutsiderfan
-GREEKBLOOD
-Sethclearwaterforever
Important notes! (point form so shorter)
-Dallas and Johnny are alive because Dally will make things
interesting, and I can't keep him but kill Johnny. The book happened
so Johnny killed soc, got burned, no broken back and lived, therefore
Dallas lived too. (I'll touch up on that later on)
-Timeline: Stand By Me and Outsiders take place in two different
years, but I am making so it is 1969.
-Ace follows movie discription because Stephen King doesn't make a
clear description, and so does Dallas because well they already act
alike and I want them to look different. (haha as Babydoll said)
-To keep Ace in character language will have to be pretty bad, I read
The Body and well hopefully no one will be offended by it.
Please review!
A/N now that the awkward meeting is done, the story can really start :)