Trouble |The Outsiders|

19. Can't Take It Back

"There were two of you home all day, and the kitchen is still a fucking mess."

It was like a stampede of horses running over her body, their hooves clicking continuously against her bones and skull. Everything was sore, particularly her head and ankles, and her ears would not stop ringing. She managed to sit up and push the old blanket off before rising to her feet and following the voice into the kitchen.

Seeing Tim without any hair grease was like seeing a teacher outside of school, or like Eddy with a smile on his face when he came home at the end of the day. It was just something that never happened. A cup sat off to the side of the sink as he washed the dishes, Abigail watched the steam rise from the cup before disappearing. Carefully, she took a step forwards and grabbed a dishtowel that was hanging on the oven. Without saying anything, she took the bowl Tim had washed and polished it dry.

"When'd you wake up?" He asked without looking at her. Abigail shrugged, biting back a yawn. She had managed to sleep through the night, but woke up an hour or two previously and downed the water left on the table. She woke up again whenever Tim came downstairs. "When you started yellin' about the kitchen."

He scoffed and passed her another bowl before taking a sip of his coffee. "There's still some water in the kettle," Tim mentioned casually. With a nod and the hint of a smile, he grabbed a coffee mug from the pile of clean dishes and filled it with water. Then Tim stirred in the coffee grounds and passed it to her. "Milk's in the fridge, sugar's in the pantry."

Abigail nodded in response and brushed the hair back from her face, waiting for Tim to pass her the knife he was rinsing. There was a second of silence before he said, "go have your coffee, I don't trust you with knives."

She dropped the towel onto the counter with a scoff before turning to the fridge behind her. "What, scared I'll stab you?"

"You'll end up stabbing yourself."

"Jesus," Abigail huffed while stirring in the sugar after putting the milk away, "I'm hungover, not stupid."

"That's debatable," he mumbled. "Besides, when's the last time you had a hangover?"

Abigail smiled into her coffee as she leaned against the counter and glanced down at her dress. The night was mostly a blur, but she stunk of booze, cigarettes, hairspray and something else she couldn't name. "What happened last night?"

"Answer my question first."

She rolled her eyes and swallowed a sip of her drink before speaking. "I was fourteen. Had a sleepover at Sylvia's and she stole her mom's wine." Abigail dropped her gaze to her bare feet and smiled sadly at the memory. "Boy, was Eddy pissed when I came home."

Tim's cold blue eyes locked with Abigail's for a second before he raised an eyebrow expectantly. 

"He threw a plate at me an' said if I was gonna do stupid shit like that, not to come back."

Tim didn't say anything. Instead, he dropped his eyes back to the dishes in his hand and the warm water running over them.

"If Danny wasn't so young, I probably would've left. But he would never forgive me for it if I did."

"You're still a bit buzzed, aren't you?" Tim asked with a smirk. Abigail nodded her head again, a smile pulling at her lips as she raised her mug. "Uh-huh. There's no way I could talk to you this long sober."

"You look like Curly when you smile," she added quickly.

Abigail could definitely see why Tim combed his hair back so much. No one in Tulsa ever figured the mysterious gang leader would have curly hair, but it was obvious now that they weren't slicked back with grease. A few locks hung down on his forehead, covering his eyebrows while he scoffed. Another comparison was their smile. He clearly didn't smile much, only the right side of his lips twitched. "I'm serious," Abigail defended, "you have the same smirk."