Young Blood ⏤ Ponyboy Curtis | ✓

26 | together

Tim and Angela are waiting for Billie when she gets home.

She feels like a deer in headlights when she steps inside the house, closing the door behind her and has two pair of blue eyes staring at her.

She stands in the doorway, frozen.

"Don't just stand there!" Angela cries out exasperatedly. "Tell us what happened!"

"You both want to know what happened?" Billie asks.

Tim rolls his eyes, "obviously, otherwise I would be sleeping right now."

"Tim just wants to know whether he needs to kick Ponyboy's ass or not," Angela informs Billie.

Billie knows that's not true. Tim's always liked Ponyboy and has wished that Curly spend more time with him, so that his behaviour rubbed up on Curly.

"Now come on! Sit down, I want to hear everything." Angela gestures for Billie to sit on the sofa, shuffling to make room for Billie beside her.

"Not everything," Tim adds with a disgusted look on his face as Billie sits down. "There are some things a brother doesn't need to know about his sister."

"So, where did you go?" Angela asks Billie, looking intently at her. Despite Tim's nonchalant appearance, he's staring at her too, paying attention. She's never had the full attention of her siblings before and she would be lying if she said it didn't feel good. Like she wasn't a bystander in her own life for once.

"We went to the Nightly Double," Billie answers as Angela squeals in delight and Tim groans simultaneously.

"The drive-in? Curtis has no class," Tim says.

Angela snorts and looks at Tim incredulously. "And you're full of class, Romeo?"

"Romeo?" Tim repeats, crinkling his nose as he frowns. "Who the hell is that? My name is Tim, dumbass."

Billie couldn't help the peal of laughter that came out her as a result of Tim's response. She doubled over on the couch in a fit of laughter.

"What are you laughing at?" Tim asks, frowning deeper.

"Have you never heard of Romeo and Juliet?" Angela cries out.

"Who the hell are they?"

Billie is still laughing, as Tim's most recent response has caused her to break out into another fit of laughter.

"It's a play!" Angela exclaims. "Written by William Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet are the main characters."

"Why the fuck are you calling me Romeo then?" Tim questions, nose still crinkled.

"I'm making fun of you, doofus!" Angela replies. She sighs and lies back on the sofa. "It's not funny now that I have to explain it to you."

"Romeo is this romantic guy who has a way with words. The funny thing is that it's the opposite of you," Billie informs her brother, stifling her giggles at Tim's affronted look.

"Of course I'm not romantic! The last girl I was with gave me this!" He pointed to the long scar from his temple down to his chin. Whenever he's angry or frowning (which was majority of the time), Tim's scar ripples, almost as though it was mirroring his mood. It was a mean scar; deep and jagged. It needed countless stitches to fix the skin. Billie remembers Tim sitting in the chair, trying not to flinch as the nurse took out the glass remains and patched him up. She remembers how furious their mother had been; Gail Shepard was shaking with fury at having to take her son to the hospital. She had told Tim to stop acting like wimp while the nurse put the stitches in and muttered under her breath how she'd birthed a complete moron of a child.