Porcelain

Chapter 49

Estelle snapped awake when she heard the door open. She turned to see Darry tiredly walk in after a long day of work, but all that registered to her was her anger from that morning.

"You!" She screeched, whipping around to face him.

Darry looked at her, a surprised look on his face. "How did your doctor's appointment go?"

She growled lowly, and leapt off the couch and ran towards him. She roughly shoved him in the chest, taking Darry by surprise.

"That's for making that goddamn appointment without telling me!"

She brought her fist back and collided it with Darry's jaw.

"And that's for making me go through that!" She screamed, her already unstable composure cracking even more, and tears welling up in her big blue eyes.

Steve and Sodapop leapt into action, Sodapop pushing her away from her brother as Steve pulled her away, pinning her arms behind her back as she struggled.

"What is wrong with you?" Steve barked harshly.

She broke Steve's grip on her arms and swung her elbow into his gut.

"Fuck you! Fuck you for that, Steve Randle!" She screamed, tears starting to fall.

Sodapop pulled Steve away before he hit her back, and Darry grabbed her by the arms and pushed her away from the other gang members.

"Stop," he said sternly. "I know you may be mad at me, but that doesn't give you an excuse to hit Steve. Or me, for that matter. I understand you may be upset, but you need to say what's wrong instead of taking it out on us."

The way he phrased his words made it sound to her like he was isolating her from the group. She was well aware that she was an outsider to the group, but he didn't need to tell her that.

She clenched her jaw and gritted her teeth, trying to stop her tears so she would stop looking like such a pathetic crybaby.

"I'm tired of people making choices for me. "It'll be good for you." "It's for your own good." Bullshit. Just let me live my own goddamn life! You already have brothers to make choices for, fuck off and get out of my life!" She yelled at Darry impulsively.

She immediately knew she'd overstepped and acted impulsively and stupidly.

Darry's eyes blazed. "Estelle, I've enjoyed having you here, but you are a guest in my home. I just want to remind you that, so I would suggest you don't say anything you shouldn't about me or my family."

"I'm sorry, Darry, Soda, I overstepped. I shouldn't have said that, and I shouldn't have hit you. Or Steve," she said turning to the other Greaser. "I know you didn't mean to wrong me, Darry," she said, walking towards the door.

She hastily pulled on her boots and swung out the door, slamming it as she left.

_____
She hurriedly walked around, trying to think of where Dally could be. She knew he probably wouldn't be far. She checked the places they frequently went, but he was none of those places.

She eventually figured he might be hanging around the drive-in, it was a popular enough location and he would go and tease and flirt. She didn't really care, he usually ended up getting slapped by Soc girls while their boyfriend's tried and intimidate him. It was entertaining.

She came up to the fence she used to jump to get in, and hoisted herself up. She scanned the crowd for his bright blonde hair, eventually spotting him a little ways away from her with some of the Shepard gang.

She knew he would ignore her if she called for him, so she marched over to him and smacked him in the back of the head.

He whipped around, ready to attack, but calmed when he saw it was her.

"Oh, hey. Want to watch the movie with us?" He asked casually.

"Not especially, but Darry needs us back at the house," she lied smoothly.

She carried herself with the same prideful swagger she always did as if she hadn't been sobbing a few minutes prior, and hoped that the relative darkness disguised the makeup smeared on her face and her puffy eyes.

Dally hopped up after her, and they walked back towards the fence.

"What does he need?" He asked as they walked.

She didn't reply, she just buried her face into his chest and let her tears fall.

"What's wrong?" He asked immediately. He knew that she would never normally act like that, something had to be seriously wrong for that to happen.

They made it to a secluded spot, and she started to talk.

"Darry, he, he made me that doctors appointment for this morning. And it was for the doctor that deals with pregnancy, I knew that. And I was pissed, but I went cause' I knew it was for the best of whatever. Well, the people were glarin' at me cause' I'm young, and I was there alone. And then the doctor, he said stuff to make me feel bad that I was there alone, then he said he had to examine me manually. And I tried to back out, but I knew I couldn't or I would be called a horrible person or a bad parent. So I let him. I had to, Dally."

He knew where she was going with her story, and his grip on her hand started to get stronger, and his jaw clenched angrily.

"He touched me, and put his fingers in me, and the whole time he was talking about me, sometimes it was small talk, sometimes it was about my choices, or about my body as he touched me. It felt so wrong. I kept wanting him to stop, but the way he was grabbing my legs I would have had to really try and get away from him. And I know he did that partially cause I'm young and I was alone, and I just know. He didn't have to touch me like that, it wouldn't help him learn anything. And the whole time, I was tryin' not to scream and cry, cause' I remembered those times before."

Dally looked ready to kill someone, but she wasn't done talking yet.

"I was mad when I got back. Mostly at Darry, for making me go through that. I know it wasn't really his fault, but I needed to blame someone, and he was the obvious choice. So when he got home, I shoved him and punched him real good, and Steve and Sodapop had to pull me back. Then Steve said "what's wrong with you?" And that just made me so man, I jabbed him in the gut, and screamed at Darry some more. He reminded me that, I was a guest in his house, and an outsider to the group and pretty much not to overstay my welcome. And I apologized, he was right, but Dally, I was just so mad about it all, I'm tired of having to play something I'm not and have people take advantage of me," she word-vomited.

Dally was shaking with rage, and let go of her hand. "Come on," he growled, springing up.

He started off towards the Curtis house, as Estelle matched his pace.