Curly freezes when he hears the voice. One that's all too familiar, he could never forget the tone of her voice, how she spoke so light and it flowed off her tongue so easily.
"Well, well, well." the voice says.
Curly spins in his seat at the bar and comes face to face with Connie Winston. She looks the same as always, beautiful yet dangerous. Her hair looks to be freshly bleached and her eyeliner is straight, just like a true greaser girl.
"Winston."
Connie lets out a laugh. The sound of it is chilling and gives Curly memories, ones that he had forgotten a long time ago. He would prefer it stayed that way, but Connie had a way of digging to get what she wanted. Connie pulls the stool out at the bar and sits next to Curly, her eyes looking him over a few times. Almost like she's examining him.
"That's a little too formal don't you think, Charlie?"
He winces at the nickname. She always thought it was amusing to call him that, even though they hadn't been together long enough to develop pet names for each other. There was nothing affectionate about their agreement, just hateful sex when the other needed it,
"What can I help you with, Connie?" Curly asks before he finishes his pop bottle.
"I see you ain't having your usual beer...that's different."
"Its been months since we've seen each other. Sorry to burst your bubble but I ain't a 15 year old alcoholic no more."
Curly had an unspoken depression and drinking beer was his go to, to ease him of his problems. Beer comforted him for the time being, that is until Angela found out and snitched to Tim, crying about how he'd fuck his liver up just like the Old Man.
He watches her cautiously as she orders herself a beer and sips a tiny bit off the top. She was pretty that was undeniable, and their was something about her icy blue eyes that always intrigued him, bringing him in closer than he'd like.
"You always have been the goofy Shepard." She comments.
"The fuck do you want, Connie?"
"And the emotional one." She added. "I reckon I heard about that speed Brumley gave you."
Curly's shoulders immediately begin to tense up. No one had known about the deal other than him and the Junior Brumley Gang. He takes in a light breath before she notices.
"I dunno what you're talking about."
Connie lets out another laugh, seductive and girly. At one point in time he thought it was hot, now it was highly annoying.
"I ain't snitching to Tim. 'Sides, Dally don't even know about it... I wanted to ask you for a favor."
"What kind of favor?"
"I wanna sell it with you. Speed can sell for a lot and I know how to get rid of it quick." She begins.
"How the fuck do you know about it, Connie?!" Curly asks.
The anger spreads through Curly quickly. He's close to lashing out at Connie, especially with the stress he had been going through with the speed. He could already see her messing it up as they sold it, Connie wasn't like Dallas, she wasn't smart enough to pull it off.
Brumley had already been on his case since Tuesday asking him what he did with the dust. He bet they thought he flushed it down the toilet, which seemed like a better idea than to keep it but he couldn't risk messing up the ties between Shepard and Brumley Gang, they were too valuable to risk losing.
"I heard from a Brumley kid. He told me...no one knows." She says quickly. "What do you say, partners?"
He shakes his head, as if he didn't have enough on his plate, now he needed to confront the Brumley kid. Curly takes a look at Connie and let's out a harsh laugh. The last time they tried to do business it ended in flames.
"Fuck you Connie."
"You already did!" She sasses as he walks away.
Curly pushes passed the drunken crowd to stand on the other side of Buck's. He was looking for a distraction, to ease his mind over what just happened, and a nice looking girl would do the trick. That is, until the Johnson girl walked into Bucks.
Daisy looked nervous as her eyes scanned the crowd. He figured any person would be if they weren't exposed to bars and sloppy drunk people. She clutched her purse close to her stomach and her hair had been tied up in a ponytail, and judging by the uniform she had on he figured her shift recently ended.
Of all places, Bucks bar was the last place he would expect her to be at. And by the looks of it she wasn't itching to be there. Curly sighed and walked over towards her, grabbing her arm before anyone else could get their hands on her. It wasn't likely for her to go unnoticed, not the way she innocently stood there and not to mention the fact that she was black.
"What're you doing here Daisy?" Curly asks.
Curly notices his hand is still on her arm. He quickly pulls it off and looks down at Daisy, who looks highly embarrassed. She has an awkward smile stuck on her face that makes him wonder if she had even been touched before.
She lets out a light sigh and smiles brightly at him. Curly felt his stomach twinge at the sight. He was always in some sort of awe when he saw her. It was obvious she wore makeup, her lips were always painted a dark pink but she didn't seem to put much time into her appearance, not like the girls he knew. That went for greasers and socs.
"I've been uh... Have you seen Willy? He was supposed to walk me home after my shift." She explains.
"Naw, sorry. I mean..I got my brother's car, we could circle around town a few times." he suggests.
She shakes her head as she looks around the bar a few times. He wonders what she's thinking, he can't tell. It looks like her mind runs with thousands of thoughts.
"Alright." She says softly.
Daisy follows Curly outside and sits on the passenger side of Tim's car. It's an old car, one that barely ran but Tim was convinced to keep pushing it until it finally died. He put a lot of work into the car.
"Thanks for taking me, I ain't mean to get you away from the party and all."
Curly shrugs as he starts the car, he reckons it was a good thing be taken away from the party. The night probably would've ended in regret, with Angela and Tim dragging him home.
"It's better that I left..a gal like you shouldn't be at Buck's anyway." he says casually.
She snorts in response as he circles around the Downtown streets, so far he hasn't seen anyone from Brumley.
"God, you sound like Willy."
"I take it that you and Willy are close, especially because he's the reason you can't get a coke with me." he teases.
Daisy looks flustered once Curly mentions getting a coke. She fiddles with her fingers and looks out the window, eyes squinting to maybe get a glance of Willy. But he thinks it's mostly to avoid looking at him.
"My brother is protective, he doesn't like me being around gangs."
"Your brothers in a gang."
Daisy shrugs and looks back over at him. He manages to catch a small glimpse of her face, her eyes looking at him intently and curiously.
"To better protect me I reckon." Daisy says. "There's good people in gangs, a lot of people join for their families sake."
Curlys mind races back to Tim and why he decided to go through with the gang. His father had a small one, his Tios were more involved and had much larger connects. He figured it was for protection and a way to take care of the family.
"So, what if Willy was fine with you getting a coke with me? Would you?"
Daisy laughs a tiny bit before tucking a stray hair behind her ears. "Why do you want a coke with me anyway? This how you pick up your chicks?"
Curly circles around Susies Diner and there's no sight of any Brumley or Willy. It's likely he decided to go home afterward anyway. He could imagine she was worried, Angela would stay up all night looking for him if he never came home.
"I dig your style." Curly says.
He parks the car outside of Susies and looks over at Daisy. Her legs are exposed from her work uniform and the sight of them gets his thoughts running. There was a lot he was thinking about doing to them. He quickly looks away and stares out the window.
"Well we damn near circled all of Tulsa and there's no sight of Willy."
Daisy sighs with a bit of disappointment.
"Alright. Do you mind taking me home?"
Curly's lips formed into a smirk as he pulled out of the driveway and in the direction of her house. There was an uneasy silence in the car and he could tell she had something on her mind.
"Are you alright?" Curly asks.
"I just worry for him y'know? He's out and about with the gang and I ain't dumb, I know he's probably out there fighting." She says quietly.
"I'm sure Willy's a smart guy. I don't know him that much but Brumley's pretty safe when it comes to violence."
They were always cautious, similar to the Shepard Gang which is probably why they were allies. He wonders if she knows about the cocaine deal between him and Brumley, it doesn't seem like she likes talking about drugs.
"Are you alright? I noticed you were a bit off."
The question throws him off guard, the way she says it is like the sweetest thing on earth. He wasn't used to people asking how he was and they genuinely meant it. Her eyes looked at him attentively, like she knew something was up. His eyes meet hers for a brief second, like they always did whenever he saw her in public, but this time it was him who looked away. He looked down at her cross necklace, shining from the street lights and then back onto the road.
"I..I'm fine." Curly mumbles. "I got myself into a sticky situation I guess."
"Yeah? Is it..bad? I mean, you don't have to tell me."
Curly barely even told his best friend things about his personal life so he would never tell some random chick about his dumb mistake. He wanted to though, just the thought of coming clean to someone made him feel better. Like pressure would be off his shoulders.
"I fucked up. I dunno how it'll turn out but you gotta do what you gotta do, right?"
Curly pulls the car up front outside her house, there's no lights on and he's surprised when she stays in the car. He's relieved that she stayed, it felt good to not have a person abandon you.
"Life is tough, 'specially for poor people like us. But you keep pushing and focus on the good in life." She says. "And if you ever need a person to speak to, you can talk to me."
Daisy flashes him a crooked smile and like always, she's contagious, and he finds himself smiling too. It isn't a grin but just a light smile. To show that he's content..
She turns to get out of the car but stops halfway and turns to face him.
"I would get that coke with you, by the way." She smiles.
Curly doesn't say anything, he just grins at her instead as she walks up the steps to her house and disappears behind the door. There was just something about that Daisy Johnson and he knew he had to have her. He needed some sort of light in his world of darkness.
Please comment, anonymous comments too? Thank you for reading!!! I've been looking for fanfiction, if you have any The Outsiders stories that you're working on I'd love to read them!