Porcelain

Chapter 44

Dally was walking back to the Curtis house. He hoped Estelle was already there, he wanted to know that she was safe at all times now, especially when he couldn't be there to keep her safe.

What were they gonna do? They couldn't stay forever on the couch in the Curtis' living room, but neither of them really felt like going back into isolation in Arkansas.

And what about their futures? Neither of them really had much plan of course, especially Dally, but now any loose idea they had was now obliterated with the obligations of parenthood looming ahead.

And what about their relationship? Were they going to have to get married? He didn't think that he was ever going to get married, nor did he especially want to. He was fond of Estelle of course, and he didn't think he would cheat, especially now, but he didn't want to be tied down like that. He didn't give a damn about what "society" thought he should do, he'd given that up as a kid, but what about the gang? Even if he didn't want to admit it, he cared wnat they thought. What if they pressured them to get married?

He kicked a bottle in the road, watching in satisfaction as it shattered into small pieces, glittering dangerously in the street.

The future that was seemingly coming to him disgusted him. Living as a husband and a father, in a pretty little house with a pretty little family with a seemingly pretty little life. Tame. Boring.

Then again, he doubted Estelle would settle for that. After all, that was her childhood in a nutshell. And they both saw how that turned out.

Oh well, if they weren't in control of their lives anymore, they could at least fight to keep it from being boring.

_____
Estelle hoped that Dally was with the gang and out of trouble, because he was extremely unpredictable once his emotions got the better of him. She wasn't there to keep him in control of himself, so she hoped the others were.

She was thinking about where she was going to live, she didn't want to go back to Arkansas but she had no permanent plans for living in Tulsa. She technically still owned the house she grew up in, but she didn't want it. She didn't want to go back into it again. And if people knew the history of that house it would be very hard to sell.

A small part of her wanted to burn the whole house down, but that was counterproductive, not to mention illegal. But then again, her parents had insurance. If she burned it down, she could probably get some money to cover damages, and then buy a new house there in Tulsa. Not the worst idea she'd had, if she was being honest. Especially with the rumors surrounding the house, she was slightly surprised no one had already burned the house down.

She slammed the door open, making Ponyboy jump.

"Is Dally here?" She asked.

"Nope, thought he was with you," Ponyboy replied.

She shrugged. "He'll probably show up in a few minutes then. Y'all got any pickles?"

"Check the cabinet."

"Ah, thank you," she said as she grabbed a fork and started eating them straight out of the jar.

Ponyboy wrinkled his nose. "Not a pickles fan?" She asked.

"I like em' fine, just not right out the jar," he said.

"Doesn't mean you should think I'm gross for liking them then, if you understand that pickles are good," she argued.

"That's just gross, and now no one can eat from that jar now."

"Oops, guess I'll just have to eat this entire jar myself then."

Ponyboy started at her with a disgusted look on his face.

"Look kid, either stop staring at me like that, or I'm gonna use this fork for purposes other than eating."

"First of all, I'm not a fucking kid, and second of all, what are you gonna do?" He taunted. "You're a guest here. This is my house, stab me and Darry'll probably kick you out."

"I swear to god, I'll shove this fork so far up your ass you'll vomit it out if you don't let me eat my pickles-"

At that moment Dally walked in, looking just as pissed as she had a few minutes prior.

"Oh hi Dally, you want some pickles?" She asked, holding out the jar with an artificially large smile on her face.

He just looked at her with the same look of disgust Ponyboy had, and she scowled at them both.

"Y'all just have no taste. Pickles are delicious. And they're cucumbers, they're probably healthy, too."

The two boys continued staring at her in incredulous disgust as she ate half of the jar. She then set it to the side, burped loudly, and put on a professional face like nothing abnormal had just happened.

She cleared her throat. "Dally, I had an idea. What if we burned my old house down?"

"No," Ponyboy said immediately. "Don't you remember what happened last time a building burned down?"

"Yes. I do. I remember it too clearly, actually. But this is different. I want it gone. It does no one any good standing."

"What brought this on?" Dally asked, looking mildly amused.

"Insurance money. We can get a place around here instead of living on the couch." She broke her professional face. "And then I don't have to worry and I can go ahead and shove that fork-" she said, staring directly at Ponyboy.

"Off topic. What were you saying about burning your house down?" Dally asked, a malicious grin on his face.

"We burn it down. Simple as that. It's not close enough to any other houses to get them too. Then I dress as a girl, go to the bank or whatever and use the insurance money to buy a new property."

"Couldn't you just sell the house?" Ponyboy tried again.

"With all the rumors and the bloodstains? No. Saying that someone burned it down is honestly more believable."

"I say we do it at night in the next few days. That way we can set the rest of this plan into motion as fast as possible," Dally said, a smirk on his face.

"Excellent. Do we get the rest of the gang in on this?"

"Not unless Pony squeals. Or they find out. It's not like they can stop us anyways."

"Great. Pony? This stays here till after it's over. Got it?"

He gulped. "Yeah."

"Sorry to drag you into this. Didn't mean for that. But you're a big boy, you can handle it," she said, as an afterthought. "I'll be careful, I promise."

"Good," he murmured.