Porcelain

Chapter 55

Estelle walked in the door as if she'd just had an especially wonderful evening, while Dally dragged behind her, pinching his nose and trying to stop the bleeding.

Darry turned his disapproving glare from her to Dally. "Estelle, what happened?"

"You might wanna sit down and get comfortable, this is gonna take a while to explain."

She plopped herself down on the couch while Dally staggered off, probably to the bathroom to clean his wounds. Hopefully.

"So we went out, and I originally wanted to go to Buck's, but then I remembered I can't drink, so that's no fucking fun. We went to the drive-in instead, but before we got there, we were acting stupid and I shoved Dally, then he shoved me in response. I know how to land, and it was fine. So we went on. But people were whispering when we got into the theater, and Dally made me tell him the stupid rumors, and then he got pissed at Tim. So we end up going to Buck's, where Dally beats the shit outta Tim, then he gets kicked out, and here we are now."

She noticed that a vein was popping in Darry's face after she explained what happened.

Darry took a deep breath, and calmed himself a bit.

"You already know what I want to tell you two."

"Yeah, that we're being dumbasses and we need to stop acting like kids. But I can't immediately break habits. I promise I'm tryin' but this isn't an overnight thing."

Darry pursed his lips. "Is this what you want?"

"What?"

"This life. A house, and a kid. To be a mom, and to live like that with Dally I presume?"

She paused. She slowly shook her head no. "No, no. It's not. I don't want to do this, but I don't think I have another choice," she whispered.

"Yes you do, you don't have to go through with this if you don't want to."

She shook her head again. "I don't think so. I'm gonna have to. It's too late to back put now, I'm not gonna be able to live with myself if I make another choice."

"Are you going to be able to live with this choice?"

"I will."

She started to cry, and then her face crumpled more because she was mad at herself for crying, and mad at herself for crying in front of Darry.

"It's okay, so you want a hug?" Darry said gently.

She nodded, and allowed herself to be enveloped in Darry's arms. She felt safe, in the way she used to with her uncle as a child.

She heard an irritated scoff, and saw Dally glaring at her.

"Replacing me, are you?" He said snidely.

"Yeah, replacing the double L with double R," she drawled in response.

She peeled herself away from Darry, and held her arms out to Dally. "Here."

He leaned away from her.

"See, stop being a baby bitch, if you won't give me a little hug when I want one."

He glared at her, before stiffly wrapping his arms around her. She grabbed his arms and readjusted them, and leaned into his embrace, while Darry stood like a proud dad.

____
A few days later, Estelle burst into the Curtis house one morning, slamming the door as most people did, but this time she slammed it louder and with more gusto than usual. And she was wearing a dress and makeup. That was strange.

"Is Dally here?"

"Not yet," Ponyboy said, quite surprised at her random enthusiasm.

"Dammit, guess I'll eat then," she said, grabbing a plate and serving herself some eggs.

"What happened to make you this happy this early?" He asked.

"I bought a house, and that fixes over an eighth of my problems," she said, beaming.

"Estelle, do you know how much an eighth is?" Ponyboy asked.

"I tell you I bought a house, and what you focus on is whether or not I know basic math? Yes I know how much an eighth is, I went to school up through like seventh grade, and then some after that. Anyways, I still gotta tell Dally and buy some shit for it, but I'm about to have privacy again!"

"How'd you get all the paperwork and bank stuff worked out so fast?"

"I haven't gotten it all finalized yet, but money isn't an issue, I get financial compensation because the other house burned. I had to go get dresses and act like Estelle is supposed to, like I came back to town to get this figured out. But it's a fairly good cover too."

"We, why'd you talk about yourself in third person like that?"

"I dunno, I guess cause the Estelle I am and Estelle I'm supposed to be are pretty different."

"You are the Estelle you're supposed to be, the other is just what you think others want to see. But would you please stop talking about yourself like that? It's creeping me out," Ponyboy said.

"Yeah, sorry. But that's good advice, thanks Pony."

"You're welcome, now go find Dally and tell him the news before you explode."

"Oh right, thanks. Bye!"