Porcelain

Chapter 53

"You stayin' for dinner, Steve?" Darry asked.

"Can't, not for long at least, I'm going to the drive in with Evie."

"You might want to stay that short while, I think Estelle and Dally have something to say," Two-Bit said impishly.

"Shut your trap, Keith," she said sarcastically.

"What? I'm just helping you ease into the topic."

"Badly!"

"I was just trying to help you out!"

"Yeah, well, you failed."

"Dinner's ready," Darry said loudly.

"Oh, thank you," she said, mock sweetly.

They all grabbed food and sat down, but it was clear everyone was waiting for her to speak, since it was obvious Dally wasn't going to.

"Shit, I gotta do this, don't I?" She grumbled. "The stomach bug excuse is wearing thin, so it was time I said this even if Darry and Two-Bit already know." She took a deep breath. "I'm fucking pregnant. Yes, it's Dally's kid. Yes, I'm sure. I'm due in around, eh, around four months now?"

For a moment, no one talked as they all put together the pieces.

"Well, I'm glad you're not sick," Sodapop said.

"Me too, I'm still fucking miserable though," she grumbled.

"Dally, you need to step up and help out, too. It's your child too," Darry said.

Estelle raised her eyebrows. She hadn't expected that Darry would call Dally out like that in front of the gang, but it wasn't really a bad thing.

Dally scowled, and he looked like he wanted a fight.

Estelle caught his eye, and shook her head the slightest bit. Fighting over little issues might have passed when they were younger, but they were stuck in this now. If you're having a baby, you can't be the baby.

"So are you two going to get married?" Two-Bit interrupted.

"No," they replied simultaneously.

"Marriage is a waste of my time, money, and freedom," she said, and Dally nodded in agreement.

Darry knitted his eyebrows together. "What are you planning to do? You two are going to need a more stable place to live."

She sighed. "I've been looking into it, but I can't really do much until Dally gets his shit together. But he doesn't have much time for that, I'm getting fatter by the minute."

Dally was getting more aggravated by the minute, and the only way he knew how to cope with emotions was violence. His fist was clenched so tight his knuckles were white. Estelle gently put her hand on his arm, hoping he didn't see her as a burden after their previous few exchanges being quite sour. He immediately smacked her hand off, but then sent her an apologetic look. Which strangely felt like a metaphor for their relationship at that point.

"Yeah, I don't want to have this conversation," she said abruptly. "I'm figuring shit out, Dally needs to be figuring shit out, and I'm gonna try and change my life as little as possible and still have this fucking semen demon."

Steve snickered, and Two-Bit laughed, while the others smirked, besides Darry.

"Estelle, quit being immature," he said disapprovingly.

"Well, sorry!" She shrugged. "I got a limited time left to do it, gotta make the best of my time."

_____
The gang slowly went their separate ways, some staying and others going off to who knows where. After Estelle helped Darry finish cleaning up after dinner, she tried and drag Dally out with her.

"No," he complained. "I feel like shit, I wanna go to sleep."

"Fine by me," she shrugged. "I'll probably go and find someone else to do shit with."

"No," Dally snarled. "You're pregnant, it ain't safe for you to be goin' out like that."

"Then come with me."

Dally paused, knowing he had lost the bickering. "Fine," he gave in, shrugging on his jacket, "just for a couple of hours. You got a blade on you?"

"No, but I got one. No, that one's too much. Hey Pony, can I borrow your blade?" She said, yelling the last bit.

He was distracted, but tossed the blade in her direction.

She snatched it out of the air. "Thank you, I'll return it later," she said, pocketing the knife.

"Why'd you borrow his?" Dally asked as they left the house.

"Cause the alternate is the hunting knife in the glove box, and while it's a beautiful knife, you can't really hide it all that good."

"What's wrong with it?"

"Were you not listening? You can't hide it. It's got a fixed blade, around nine inches. You just can't hide shit like that."

Dally whistled. "Where'd you pick up that one?"

"Coffee table drawer, back at the farmhouse."

"What is it with your family and knives?"

"Better prepared than not, knives can be used for more than cutting and stabbing."

Dally snorted. "I'll believe you when I see you do that."

She shoved him off the sidewalk, and he retaliated by going to push her into the grass.

"Oh, fuck you," she snarled. Thankfully she'd landed on her hands and knees, but Dally's carelessness could have lead to a fatal mistake.

Dally's eyes widened, and he immediately crouched and pulled her into his arms and up off the ground.

"Fuck, I'm sorry. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, but you can't do that shit anymore! Get it through that thick skull of yours that we can't be stupid no more! You being dumb can kill someone! And it's time we start acting like adults, both of us! We can't be doing careless shit, we're gonna be parents, someone's mommy and daddy, in less than half a year, dammit!" She said both to Dally and herself.

Dally's face was solemn, he was taking in her words, and the choices he'd made that got them there. Dallas Winston got what he wanted, and he had said this was what he wanted. So why was he doing everything that seemed to be working against them?