Down the Long Road

The last place Charlotte ever expected to see Dallas Winston is the very place she first sees him after a rumor hits town that after a week in the cooler, he's back out on the streets. As far as Charlotte knows Dallas is not in school but there he is in the parking lot, leaning against her car after the last bell rings. She watches him from afar, not sure what to do or even what to say to him when she walks over. Most of the people who walk by point and mummer as they take notice of him, wondering what he's doing, leaning against a car smoking a cig.

Dallas sticks out like a sore thumb. He doesn't belong, the school is not his hunting ground but he stands his ground and holds the air around him like he's always been here, like it's always been his. Charlotte shrugs her book bag to her right shoulder as she makes her way over to him. When he takes notice of her he pulls of his shades and blows a smoke ring in her face. Charlotte waves the smoke from her face and gives him a sharp look that does nothing useful.

"Why, from all the rumors in this town who would've thought this one true?" She pushes past him and unlocks the door ready to hop in but before she even gets the chance to open it, Dallas is knocking the keys from her hand and blocking her way. "What the hell, Dallas?"

He throws down his cigarette and blows one last puff of smoke in her face just to taunt her. "What did you do?"

Charlotte furrowed her brow, clearly confused at what he meant. "I've done a lot of different things this past week, Dallas. You'll have to be more specific."

Dallas just stares down at her for what seems like too long of a moment, as if he is already getting annoyed with her. "I should've done a month in the cooler and I got out in a week, princess. That just doesn't add up."

She looked at him in disbelief. "You're complaining that you got out sooner than you expected?"

"No, that's not what I'm sayin'. With my reputation, even with my charm, I'm not that lucky, doll. According to a few of the fuzz they said that I should be lucky that I managed to make friends with a lawyer to bail me out."

The honking of a car horn is the only thing that breaks the silence between the two them as Charlotte realizes what he's getting at. She looks away from him and huffs as she stares at the people passing by the two of them. "Oh, that. I just wanted to help. It wasn't a big deal."

"Yeah, well, I didn't ask for your help."

"And neither did I, thank you."

"I was helping Two-Bit, you just happened to be there and his friend." Dallas pulls out another smoke and places it between his lips but doesn't light it.

"Fine, then. I was helping Two-Bit. Because you happen to be his friend. "

Dallas gives her a sharp look that says everything that he doesn't need to. "Watch your mouth, kid."

Charlotte just shakes her head and resides with the fact that that was most likely the closest thing to a thank you she'd get from Dallas Winston or it wasn't even one at all. Dallas finally moves away from her car door so that she can get in. She stops before getting in. "Would you like a ride, Dallas?"

"Nah, I'll walk. See you around, doll." And he goes. He doesn't bother with pleasantries, but just walks away from the school to wherever he has planned.

Dallas is familiar, maybe it's the accent or the coldness in the way he carries himself or maybe it's none of those things at all but Charlotte knows better than to mess with boys like him. But she also knows boys like him are the only ones she's ever really known from outside the comfort of her home. She watches him leave until he is nothing more than a blimp in the distance, one blink away from disappearing. She looks away and leaves the school parking lot.

There's nothing left to sit around for.

There's nothing around town either, it would seem. Charlotte sighed heavily as she made another circle around the parts of town where she was told by a few girls in school that everyone hung out. Sure, it looked packed in some places but that didn't necessarily mean it was lively by any means. People came to these places because there was nowhere else to go and to spend their money on a weekday that wouldn't get them into some trouble. But this was it. It was either go home or find a way to avoid being bored every day after school and soon, the appending, slowly arising summer.

On a whim (and mostly because her stomach was growling) she decided to pull into the parking lot of what looked like to be a diner where all the greasers seemed to hang out. The diner might have not looked like much from the outside but she good smell the food from inside and it made her mouth water before she even made it to the door. Charlotte quickly maneuvered her way through the ground of boys, who all seemed a little too handsy for strangers and ignored their lewd comments. There was no place a girl could go without being called on in some way. It didn't matter if a girl was surrounded by greasers or Socs, all men seemed to have the same basic need, to harass the girl until they felt content with themselves.

The inside was just as old as the outside looked but it held a certain appeal to the eye. It wasn't as updated as most of the new diners around (or at least the ones back home) but the place still had a nice vibe. She sat down at one of the bar stools, a few chairs away from a rowdy group of boys, and grabbed one of the menus as she waited for a waitress to greet her. It didn't take long before Charlotte was face to face with a pretty brunette with freckles across her nose and cheeks and glossy pink lips. The girl smiled wide and propped herself up on the table with her elbows.

"Hey, I know you. You're Charlotte, right?" She asked as if she already knew the answer to the question.

Charlotte smiled in return and nodded her head while she fiddled with a straw wrapper. "Yeah, we have history together, don't we? Third period. You're Katherine if I remember correctly."

Her classmate grimaced. "Charlotte, darling, you don't ever have to call me that. My mother is the only one who does. Just call me Kathy, alright?"

"Of course." Charlotte laughed lightly. "I can do that as long as you never call me Lottie."

"Done and done." Kathy tossed open her little notepad and grabbed the pen from behind her ear. "You want anything to drink or eat, Charlotte? The shakes are pretty good if you have a sweet tooth."

"Alright, how about a strawberry shake and cheeseburger?"

"You sure you can eat all that?"

"I grew up with two older brothers, I've had to survive somehow."

Kathy wrote down her order in her bright, neon colored pen and grinned in agreement. "My older brother was never one to share food. It was every man for himself, my daddy would say."

Another group of boy barged in, just as rowdy as the others (if not more so), covered in gravel and few were sporting the first signs of soon to be black and blue bruises across the knuckles and cheeks. They all held their heads high, making it obvious who one whatever scuffle must've occurred. Kathy groaned lightly and met Charlotte's eyes. "Speaking of brothers…I'll be right back."

As soon as one of the older ladies behind the counter brought Charlotte her strawberry shake while she waited on the rest of her food another presence was soon right next to her, leaning over her and blocking the light. Charlotte looks up and for a moment her heart stills. The boy with curly hair from the party Two-Bit had brought her to was now standing right next to her. His face was still bruised, the splotches still have yet to fade into that familiar dark yellow and his bottom lip is scabbed over from where it was split open by Two-Bit's fist.

Curly looks much different in decent lighting and when booze doesn't seem to ooze from his every pore. Charlotte waits for him to say or do something but all he does is fidget slightly and drum his nails against the bar table. He opens his mouth to talk and Charlotte can see the chip in his tooth.

"Even for a Soc you must not be real smart to come around a place like this." He has that same cocky smirk from the night before.

Charlotte purses her lips and eyes him while she takes a long drink from her shake. "I thought by the fist in your face you'd believe Two-Bit about me not being a Soc by now."

"Two-Bit's not as smart as he likes to think he is."

"Look kid, I don't know you and you don't know me so let's just leave this alone."

Charlotte really isn't in the mood for this nonsense but appears Curly is and he had no intention of letting it go so easily. The Dingo's gone quieter than it was before. She can actually hear the jukebox now as crones out one Elvis' hits. The air is thick and there is something unspoken in the place that makes her feel uneasy. Fred had always said she had a knack for getting into trouble and it looked like once again, he might just be right. Charlotte didn't know much about Curly but she knew he was bad news and so was his brother. The Sheppard's weren't a gang you wanted to mess around with if you knew what was good for you, if the gossip around school was anything to go by. Two-Bit had only told her they were dangerous if you got on their bad side and she hadn't intended to, but it looked like she already had.

"You think because you've got some money you can just do whatever you want, huh?" Curly steps closer and his lip curls upward as if was going to snarl at her.

Against better judgement, Charlotte stands up and faces him. She sticks her chin out, squares back her shoulders and crosses her arms as she meets his eyes. "Listen up, kid. I am not about to be bullied by some punk kid who thinks their grown because they're in a gang and can throw a few punches."

"Who the hell-."

"I wasn't finished." Charlotte took a step closer to him. Curly took a step back. "I know stories and I know greasers that'll make you wet your bed and go running to your momma. You don't scare me one bit. You're just a little kid. I don't care if you don't like me because of what you think you know about me. Now, if you don't have anything better to say, get bent."

Before Curly could get another word out or take another step closer to Charlotte an older gentlemen came out from the back of the kitchen and cut in. His voice was gruff and his face was stern and full of hardness. "Curly, I thought I told you to watch it in here after the last time. If you start something don't think I won't get your brother on you."

Curly's nostrils flared and he clenched his fist tight until his knuckles were white. "I was just on my way out anyway."

No one says anything as Curly leaves and two of his buddies follow him out back into the street. The noise picks up again and the jukebox is now only a mummer compared to them once again. Charlotte hears Kathy snapping at someone before she can see her. Kathy places a hand on Charlotte's arm, drawing her attention only to see a very worried look on her face.

Kathy pulls her down to sit and looks nervously to the door and back to her periodically as she talks. "Are you alright, Charlotte? Curly Shepard has one mad temper on him."

"So I've heard." Charlotte just shakes her head in bewilderment and takes another sip of her shake.

"What on earth did you do to already get on a Shepard's bad side?"

"Two-Bit got into a fight with him the other in night of something particular about me and so I don't think I really got the chance to be on his 'good side' either."

Kathy rolls her eyes and purses her lips, annoyed. "Keith. I oughta known." She sighs before getting up and rubbing Charlotte's arm comfortingly. Another table is calling for her again. "Stay out of trouble."

"I'll try."

The older man from before is the one who brings out her burger. His stern eyes are focused on her and he had a look of sheer annoyance. "You look like a nice girl, missy, so I'm only going to say this once: I don't want any trouble inside my diner. Outside is fine. Just keep it to yourself, alright?"

He doesn't bother waiting for a response before leaving. Charlotte just watches as he goes and scoffs. Tulsa may be small but it certainly didn't lack in excitement area. It looked like the small town might actually be trouble from time to time. Speaking of trouble….

"You sure know how to pick a fight, don't you, doll?" Dallas Winston is sitting right next to her, grinning.

"What can I say? I was just born aching for a fight." She grabs a few fries from her plate and takes a bite. "New York does that to you."

"New York, huh? I thought you sounded familiar."

Charlotte's eyes light up and she raises her eyebrows in questioning. "You're from there?"

"Born and raised." Dallas swipes her burger off her plate and takes a large bite out, smirking as he chews at her look of bewilderment.

"Hey!" Charlotte makes to grab it from him only for Dallas to hold it high away from her reach.

He swallows his bite and actually 'tsks' at her. "Is that how you treat someone who kept you from a night in jail?"

"I thought you did that for Two-Bit?"

"You were there too." He takes another bite before putting it back and taking a handful of fries in exchange. Charlotte just scoffs and shakes her head as he watches it all down with her shake.

"You are certainly something, Dallas." She tells him taking her first bite out of her half eaten burger.

"I live to make an impression, doll."

After half an hour of snide comments and quick remarks Charlotte finished her meal and Dallas left for the bathroom. Charlotte waved goodbye to Kathy and made her way to her car. It was quite a shock, really. Her tires were slashed. All four of them were tattered to shreds, cut with must've been one sharp blade. The greasers that walked by whistled at the damage and one of them hollered from their car if she'd like a ride.

"Fuck me." Charlotte groaned as she assessed the damage.

"Most girls would like a date first."

She turns to face Dallas and glares.