turnedahero:
“ow, FUCK.” the kick to the shin makes him flinch, dropping the fork, clanging against the glass and then rolling into the floor. grinding his jaw at the left over stinging from her freakin’ foot kicking him, involuntarily kicking the table back, thudding underneath them before deciding or not if he should take this chance to really blow things all to pieces. it’s a perfect opportunity, a damn perfect one as he angrily bores through heather. glancing to the kid looking like he’s on the verge of freaking out, something by staring at him at last second tells him to withdraw from going that far. on the tip of his tongue to say no, no it wasn’t a fucking joke. but he goes the opposite route, miraculously, considering he really wants to do better at pissing heather off and ruin her entire fucking week. “it was a joke. just a joke.” but it doesn’t stop him from shoving the food out of his face, standing up and storming off through the kitchen, through the living room and shoving the front door open before letting the screen door slam back shut. fuck the food and fuck heather. plopping down on the front porch steps, digging into the front pockets of his jeans for the box of marlboros and a lighter crammed into them. he’ll stick not one but two cigarettes between his teeth, lighting them both.
Even when relief hit her the moment Billy seemed to let go of the joke, Heather’s stomach still sank to her stomach when the mood seemed to change once again around the table. Dark clouds kept spreading and spreading, no matter how many rays of sunshine she stubbornly tried to maintain, and that time even Nikki seemed to notice. Less scared about his mom finding out and more concerned and confused about why his newfound source of admiration was MAD all of a sudden, the kid nodded and remained quiet, eyes focused on the food as Billy disappeared out of the door. “Did... did I do something wrong, miss Heather?” Guilt making his eyes watery and his cheeks the wrong kind of red, Heather was fast to shake her head and explain that, no, it was just a bad day for Billy. She didn’t mention that, if anything, she should’ve been the one feeling bad for surprising him with a kid the worst day of the year. At least Nikki seemed to believe her, even saying something like “Would a cookie make him feel better?” as he moved on with dinner. It took him no longer than five more minutes to clean the plate and move to dessert, which Heather gave him permission to eat on the couch as she went check on her boyfriend. The smell of smoke immediately making her nostrils ITCH once she stepped out of the house, she sat down at some distance from him. Giving him space, but hugging her knees like she had no intention to stand up. This time, she didn’t say anything, just handed him the cookie she had indeed brought from the kitchen, and stole one of the two cigarettes for herself. She took a drag and held back a cough, then patiently waited for him to speak. Or sit in silence.












