Tamed and Free

Chapter 5: Both

The girl from the feed shop was carrying bags from her Jeep to the cooler. She was dressed in a beautiful olive dress, but to Deacon, she would make a paper sack look like couture. And her dog right behind her was matching her.

"And Deacon, this is Gatlin." Takoda greeted as he sat the extra firewood down.

Gatlin brushed some of her hair behind her shoulder, "Hey. Oh! We met earlier today. I just didn't catch your name." She held out her hand.

"That's right. You were getting dog food for, I guess, this little guy." He bent down to pet the down jumping up.

"Yeah." She giggled. "That's Beau. So, Takoda told me you were the McAnisters' nephew from Scotland? That's amazing! I love learning a lot about history. And Scotland has a lot of it right?"

Deacon smiled a huge smile. Takoda comes out of the tipi after he turned the stereo up to some traditional flute music, "Alright! Lets get this party started!"

They all laughed and cut up. The gang took turns making roasted weenies and smores. They made jokes at each others expense and about life. They spent the whole fire joking and laughing.

When they fire burned down enough, they headed into the tipi. "So tell me Gatlin," Takoda questioned, "What do you claim to be?"

"Excuse me?" Gatlin said as she entered the tipi.

The other two were on separate couches with Beau on the floor. Takoda sat down beside Merida and put his arm around her, "Like I'm Cherokee, Merida here is Mexican. There's no doubt Deacon is from Scotland. So what are you?"

Merida nudged him a little to try to stop him before cuddling up.

Gatlin sat beside Deacon, "I'm me." she announced, "I'm a mutt. But I'm lucky."

"How so?" Takoda was intrigued. They all were.

"Because I get to experience multiple heritages to where you only get to experience one. I look Cherokee enough to celebrate your traditions. I also look enough German to celebrate Oktoberfest. And so on." Gatlin ended it with a smile.

"I guess you're white, I mean right." Takoda agreed.

Gatlin also spoke up, "The only thing I don't get is an amazing accent. You get the awesome Native accent, Merida the Spanish, and even Deacon the Scottish. But I don't get one."

"No but I love your accent." Deacon muttered under his breath. Then he looked up to Takoda in a happy shock.

"I think Deacon has a crush on Gatlin." Takoda was childish when it came to things like this, but his heart is pure and meaningful.

"Koda, let him be." Merida said while trying to pull his arms around her.

"Well then. My lady awaits. Gat, do with that information with what you like. Deacon, she's a tough nut. But you might can succeed." Takoda led Merida to another 'room' of the tipi, which was just a make shift room with a sheet. But with the music up, you cant hear anything.

"Want to go back outside?" Deacon asked Gatlin, to which she nodded yes.

Deacon started another fire while Gatlin grabbed drinks for them. They sat and talked about Beau and life.

"So why did you move from Scotland?" Gatlin asked.

"Ah. That." Deacon finished his coke. "You don't want to hear about it."

"I do."

"It's stupid."

"Try me."

Deacon looked up at her. Her eyes filled with playfulness and wonder. But behind them there was something familiar to him.

"Okay." He finally said, "I got into a fight."

She smirked, "A fight?"

"Yes. But it led to a guy becoming paralyzed." His voice choked up.

Gatlin pulled her arm around him and laid her head on his shoulder. "You don't have to finish if you don't want to."

He looked at her and it gave him strength, he continued, "I wasn't a good kid growing up. I got into fight after fight. I was friends with some bad kids. We used the plaid on our skirts, which we call tartans, as gang flags. I met with a group of kids with a different tartan than me and we both pulled out knives. His went into my leg, mine went into his back by his spine. I left with a bandage, he can no longer use his legs. So I started drinking to where it became a problem to get rid of the memories of him screaming and the visuals and the doctors and police. My mom thought it was best if I came to live with her brother and his wife. So here I am."

"I didn't mean to pry." Gatlin shuddered. "I'm sorry."

"No worries." Deacon said as they untangled themselves. He leaned back, "So tell me about how you got stuck with those two?" He brushed some hair behind her ear.

"Ah." She slugged back into her chair as well, "That is a story no one wants to hear."

"Oh, Come on now. You heard mine." 

"Fine." Gatlin stirred in her seat, "I grew up on the opposite side of town. In the outskirts. Just my mama and sister and me. I was this little country thing while they were more of southern belles. When I was twelve, My mom got married to the most amazing step dad. I was a daddy's girl. My sister, mama's girl. I started going fishing with him every Saturday and hunting on Fridays. He taught me all the ins and outs of that Jeep. He gifted me Beau. He told me to always be true to yourself and never worry about others. So I kept being my natural self, who I was the happiest to be. And my friends got into makeup and boys. They left me in the dust and I saw Merida's hand to pull me up. And then a year later, Takoda transferred out of the reservation school and he joined us."

Deacon smiled. "You must have a great dad."

Just as Gatlin was about to answer, Takoda and Merida came out the tipi. "What's up guys?" Takoda yelled, grabbing a coke on his way to his chair. His hair was pulled in a bun and he lost his shirt.

"Nothing you didn't just ruin." Deacon joked. 

Takoda spilled a little bit of his coke on his abs, "Well, you were taking to long and this brown stallion wanted a coke and to see his friends."

Merida's hair was also pulled back and her shirt was stretched. "He's annoying. Y'all are allowed to say that. But it is two in the morning and my family is Catholic. So I will be going. Bye guys." She kissed Takoda and hugged Gatlin. "Bye Deacon."

"Bye." He said as she climbed into her Cherokee and drove home.

Takoda leaned back, "And now then there was three."