take on me, e.williams

fourteen

TW!
THERE WILL BE A SHORT SCENE DEPICTING AN ALMOST SA!

—you're still
a traitor—

———tommy walked odessa to a small clutter of houses, pointing to an older one. it had gray paint chipping off the sides, as well as the navy blue paint around the window shutters.

                "you'll be stayin' right here, across from maria and i." he gestured to the tan colored house across the street. odessa nodded. "your friend ellie should be inside, maria's across the street." tommy gave his daughter a nod.

                    "where are you going?" odessa raised a suspicious eyebrow, tommy let out a soft sigh.

                      "to the bar with joel, don't you worry." tommy gave odessa an awkward pat on the shoulder before back tracking to the town. odessa waited till he was out of sight before stalking after him. she was desperate to keep him in her sights, and curious to hear the conversation between her uncle and her father. the miller girl slipped in through the back door of the bar, like tommy had. but she opted to stay hidden in the back.

                      "yeah, i can't come." tommy began. odessa listened intently to catch up on the conversation.

                       "i made it across the country, the two of us can make it to colorado." joel said to tommy. tommy looked over at joel with hesitant brown eyes. "what, 'cause your wife won't let you?" joel quipped sharply, odessa scoffed.

                        "joel..." tommy warned.

                       "she the one who kept you off the radio? is that why you stopped messaging me back?" joel interrogated him, odessa frowned. she had no idea joel and tommy had been speaking at any point. odessa felt a pang in her heart, upset joel had kept this from her.

                        "after i ditched the fireflies and dropped o off, maria and her crew found me." tommy tried to explain. "they're good people." he added. "they didn't have to take me in but they did. all they asked was that i followed their rules."

                    "i'm your brother. i also happened to raise your kid for you." joel was clearly getting angry, and odessa was starting to feel she chose the wrong choice to forgive her father so easily.

                       "thank you for pointing that out, joel. i'm aware." tommy snapped back. joel could've he heard odessa say something similar to him once. "they're very protective of this place and for good fuckin' reason. folks find out we're up here—"

                   "no, i heard. wrong people might show up. so is that what i am? am i the wrong people?" joel questioned, leaning down to tommy.

                    "joel—"

                      "those things i did, tommy, those things you judge me for, i did those things to keep us alive. you, jade, ellen, odin, and odessa." joel continued, odessa wasn't sure how much longer she wanted to stay.

                       "those things, weren't just 'things'. we killed people. and i don't judge you for it. we survived the only way we knew how." tommy sighed deeply. "but there were other ways..."