Stay Gold

Still weary about going somewhere alone with Dally, I begged and pleaded for someone else to join us. Or the whole gang, either works. Ponyboy and Johnny didn’t look old enough to get into where we were going, so they opted to stay back for a bit.

“Elaine, we’ll be fine. You go have fun,” Ponyboy smiled, reassuringly.

“Yeah, it’s your birthday anyway, you don’t wanna be stuck with a couple of kids,” Johnny added.

I didn’t mind though, that was the thing. I’d rather have them come along than have anyone else. Sure, Two-Bit was cool, weird maybe, but still cool, I didn’t trust him as much as I did Johnny or Pony. Sodapop didn’t drink, so there was no point in him going with us. I wasn’t sure about his old lady or not.

Soda pulled me aside, “If it makes you feel any safer, Sandy and I will go with you and Dally. I won’t let him do nothin’ to ya.” I hoped that he meant all that he said. Soda had my trust because I lived with him, and even shared a bed with him for heaven’s sake. I prayed he wouldn’t do nothing to lose my trust and respect, especially in the presence of Sandy.

The five of us said goodbye to Pony and Johnny and were off into the bar. I couldn’t help but feel bad that I was ditching them.

“Dally!” A bartender called out; The same one that served me my first night in Tulsa. “How’ve you been, man? Where’s your old lady?”

“We broke up,” Dally said casually, “this time for good, little broad was two-timin’ me while I was up in New York.”

“That’s a shame, she was a looker, too. Who’s this?” He asked, his eyes narrowing toward me. I stood there like a deer in headlights. Who was I? What was my name? I panicked.

“This is my sister,” Soda called out, “Babydoll Curtis.” My name to anyone outside of the gang, I remembered. The bartender gave Soda an unsure look.

“I never knew there was another Curtis around here, where’ve you been girly?” He asked, directing his question at me. I stood there for a minute pretending like I didn’t hear him, when really I was just tryin’ to come up with an excuse.

“I lived down south with my aunt,” I blurted out, “I lived there since I was a little girl because our folks couldn’t take care of all of us.”

Even I couldn’t believe the horseshit that just came out of my mouth. How could anyone else believe it?

The bartender, a chubby, older guy with greasy hair, looked me up and down, “Weren’t you here about two months ago? You were hurt real bad.”

“I got into a car wreck on my way up here, totaled my car.”

“Yeah, thought that was you. I see it now, you and Sodapop look identical. Look at the two of ya.”

Apparently, this guy was stupider than he looked, because he fell for my little white lie. What I wondered was how he thought Soda and I even looked remotely alike? That was way beyond my knowledge.

Dally and the bartender chatted it up for a good half an hour, looking at me every now and then. I sat over at a table with Soda, Sandy and Two-Bit, downing every drink that was thrown my way. Ol’ Two-Bit sure got a kick out of how much I was able to drink, cracking jokes left and right. I stumbled over to the bar, falling onto Dally.

“What the fuck are you doing, Elaine?” There we go, my cover was blown. All because Dallas Winston had to call me by my actual name. Tom, the bartender, happened to catch that.


“I thought you said your name was Babydoll?” He said, scratching his head.

“I-It is,” I said reassuringly, gulping down a shot of whiskey, “Elaine was my great aunt’s name. My aunt always called me it because I a-acted like her so much. Just kinda stuck, I guess.” I was slurin’ my words like all hell, worse than Dally was.

“Elaine’s a pretty name, must be made for a pretty girl like you,” Tom added, “Dally’s a lucky guy.” Dally’s a lucky guy? What in god’s name was that supposed to mean?

“Excuse you?” I snapped, cocking an eyebrow over at Dally, “What are you implying?”

“Ain’t you two goin’ together?”

“We went to a BAR together, we’re sure as hell not an item...” I paused, “I don’t even fucking like him! Let it be known that Dallas Winston is the scum of the earth!” The amount of booze I drank had finally caught up to my small body frame. I was blitzed. All I wanted to do was be an asshole like Dally. So, I did.

“What the hell did you just say about me?” Dally said, getting in my face. He was mad pissed at everything coming out of my mouth, I could tell that much.

“Did I stutter?” I threw what was left in my class, over Dally’s head. A mixture of cranberry juice and tequila dripping down his face. “Now if ya’ll will excuse me, I’m goin’ out for a smoke.” I bolted out the door, falling down a few times along the way. It was getting chilly out, and I wasn’t smart enough to bring a jacket. I lit up a cigarette and started taking long drags. Everything was spinning. I hadn’t realized Dally had followed me outside.

“So what’s with you hatin’ me so bad?” He started me, I jumped and immediately swung a fist at him. Lucky for him, he blocked my blow and grabbed me. I was spinning even more and fell into him again.

“For fuck’s sake, you’re a wreck right now,” Dally groaned. He reeked of booze, but I did too.

“Sorry ‘bout all this, Dal,” I giggled, taking another drag of my cigarette. He sat me on the ground, making sure I didn’t hurt myself. “This has been a grreeeeat birthday.”

He laughed and took the cigarette out of my hand, “Glad you’re having fun.” I looked up at Dally. He looked even more gorgeous than I had remembered. Everything about him was flawless. Hell, I even dug his personality, which I thought I liked the most about him. The way he looked at me, it drove me insane in ways I couldn’t even describe.

“Anything else you wanna do?” He asked, helping me up from the ground. I fell into him again, but grabbed him by his neck.

“Well, actually...” I paused, something had grabbed ahold of me. I planted a kiss on him. It wasn’t just a regular kiss. This one was passionate, sexy. I thought Dally would pull away, but he did just the opposite. He kissed me back, grabbing different parts of my body.

“Let’s go back to my place,” He said, with a devilish smile.

The two of us stumbled back to his apartment that he shared with a guy from the rodeo. He threw me onto his bed, kissing me all over, touching me in different places.

“Do your worst,” I moaned.

And he did just that, starting by ripping my clothes off.