Midnight Rain; Cordell Walker

v. celisa

Abeline was after her. She was convinced that this was Abeline's way of punishing them both for the chaos they caused during dinner.

I owe her a muffin basket.

After Lourdes finished with her "you were being incredibly dramatic" speech, Celisa bid a goodnight to the Walkers and an apology to Abeline for letting the bicker get as far as offending her in her home, but Abeline assured her that she was forgiven and would talk to Cordell when he got back from dropping her off. She also told her to come in whenever she came for her car for coffee and then let her leave. She doesn't say anything to Catalina when she leaves, ignoring her sister's comments as she walks out of the house with Cordell on her heels.

Celisa went to her own car first, grabbing the bag she takes to school as well as her little crate of work to grade over the weekend and her lunchbox from earlier that day. She places the crate on the ground before opening the back door to Cordell's truck and lifts the crate onto the seat. It was heavy, even for her. It was that time of the quarter where everyone is rushing to turn in whatever they can to push their grade up a letter or two because of progress reports. Why her school specifically spent so long to do the conferences, she'll never understand, but she does what she has to and more if it'll help her make her rent on time.

Her mother was right about one thing. Teaching wouldn't help her financial situation. Celisa was hanging on as much as she could, especially since her father's passing and the left over money from her years at NAU, but it was hard to make ends meet every couple months if she wanted to live comfortably with her and her dog.

She's grateful for the Walkers for their help, though. During school breaks, Bonham would offer her small jobs at the ranch for extra money, so those little jobs helped her when school was out. And when she would go visit her extended families, they also kept her busy with a little extra cash for her.

She doesn't notice Cordell's eyes watching her as she puts her crate of work in the backseat until she closes the door and goes to the passenger's seat. She huffs as she sits, mentally thanking Emily for making him get a footstep on his truck. She locks her car from her key and sits back.

"You sure take your time," Cordell comments, putting the key into the ignition and turning on the engine.

"Go cry about it," Celisa remarks, clicking her seatbelt into place.

"Can't believe Momma made me do this," he mutters to himself, pulling out of his family home.

Celisa scoffs, looking out of the windshield. "At least we could agree on one thing," she retorts, putting her hands in her lap. "I could've driven myself home. I didn't need a ride."

"And have my mom kick my ass when you crash? No way."

"I'll have you know, I was perfectly capable to drive home," Celisa tells him, looking over at him.

She sees Cordell roll his eyes, but still kept his gaze trained on the road ahead of him as he drives out of the ranch. "Mhm, sure," he mocked. "You look half dead, but sure, perfectly capable."

"God, you sound like my mother," Celisa mutters, looking back out of the windshield. "Don't you have anything else to say other than saying I look half dead? I work five days a week, each day with more and more to grade with break coming up. Cut me some slack."

"Fine," Cordell huffs defeatedly.

"Fine," Celisa finishes, getting the final word to their short bicker. Frankly, this was probably the shortest bicker they'd ever had.

The atmosphere is tense, but neither of them say anything to the other. The only sound around them was the rumble of Cordell's truck and the occasional deep breaths that Cordell would take.