She takes a deep breath, looks around at all the boys, and then down at her drink. She slowly shakes her head.
"They're gone," she whispers.
"What?" Marty demands. He turns to Tim. "Tim, what the hell is she talking about?"
"The cops started sniffing around," Faye Louise says. "This whole business with Curly getting shot, and then Mack up and disappearing without a trace. Hell, maybe one of my neighbors finally tipped them off about the pot. But it got where it was too risky. So Tim an' I boarded up the basement like we talked about."
She sighs and shakes her head again. "Finally got to go in and check on 'em this morning. They're dead; all of them. But I knew they would be. You know how finicky they are. That long without heat and light … they didn't stand a chance."
"Shit," Hall says under his breath. Then, louder, "shit! Fuck!"
He punches the table, causing all of their glasses to shake and the other people in the bar to stare at them.
"Take it easy, Hall," Tim says, even though he internally had the same reaction. "We'll figure somethin' out."
"Seems like there ain't much else to do in this town," he replies. "We lost our moonshine, Tim's plan to sell stolen car parts was a bust, and now we don't have the plants any more. The hell we supposed to do now?"
"Could go back to Moonshinin'," Duncan says. "It don't make as much money as the plants did, but it's somethin' at least."
"I've got some connections. I could see about buyin' another plant or two off somebody," Faye says. "But even then, it'll be a long time before they're producing the amount of bud we're used to. Hell, could even take a year or more."
"Mack was sayin' somethin' about a guy with heroin before he disappeared," Hall says. "Sure the guy won't be hard to find. We could try and get in with him."
"Way too many people. The big gangs always get busted up first; it's too risky," Tim says.
"'Sides, if we're pushin' heroin, I'm out," Faye Louise says. "Pot's one thing; it's damn near harmless. But heroin? People die from that shit. I won't be part of it."
"I hate to break it to you, Faye Louise, but you never really was a part of this," Hall says.
"Excuse me? I believe I was solely responsible for the plants. I provided the thing that made ya'll money. You're really gonna' sit there and tell me I ain't a part of it?"
"You weren't out there pushin', fightin' the turf wars, worryin' about gettin' jumped. Only reason we're lettin' you play leader with Tim is 'cause Walt's in jail. You ain't one of us, Faye Louise. Your only job was to grow the plants."
He pauses, and then smirks. "Well, grow the plants an' keep all us guys satisfied."
Curly stares at Faye Louise. Her face goes white, and then her cheeks turn red.
"Fuck you, Hall," she says.
"Believe you already did that."
"Asshole. Fuck you, you can go straight to hell."
She stands up and stomps toward the door. Curly slowly stands up and starts hobbling after her.
Tim also stands up, and before any of them can process what's going on, Tim has Hall by the collar of his shirt.
"What the hell was that?" he snarls.
He doesn't wait for an answer. He just punches Hall in the face, breaking his nose.
XXX
Faye Louise knows the sound of Curly's limping gait, but she doesn't look up when she hears him getting close. She can't handle it. She saw the look on his face for a split-second before she ran out of the bar, and the shock and pain in his eyes broke her heart. She knows that she broke his heart, too.
She keeps her eyes glued to her feet as Curly leans against the rickety porch railing. There's a minute of silence between them.
"Is it true?" he finally asks.
She weakly nods her head. "It only happened once. It was before we were … what we are now. It didn't mean anything, me and him. I was scared and he was there and it just … happened. It was stupid. A stupid mistake."
"When? When did this happen?"
She sighs. "God, Curly, I'm sorry."
"I didn't ask if you were sorry. I asked when it happened."
She chews on her bottom lip for a few seconds. "Few weeks ago. When you were in the hospital."
"So, I was in the hospital after being fucking shot, and you're just out sleeping around?"
"It wasn't like that. I was scared and he was there and … shit."
"I wanted to tell you," she says after a short pause. "I wanted to tell you right when it happened and say I was sorry, and hope that you'd forgive me. But Tim told me to keep it a secret. Said it'd break your heart."
For the first time that night, Faye Louise looks up at Curly. He isn't crying, but his eyes are shiny with unshed tears.
"He was right," he says. His voice cracks on the last word.
"I only did it 'cause I felt like I was… 'Cause you said…"
"I said I thought I loved you, and the first thing you did was go bang another guy?"
"The last guy who said he loved me tried to whore me out to repay his gambling debt. You've gotta understand, I was a little freaked out."
He silently stares at her.
"And you sayin' that, it made me realize that I … that I felt the same way."
"You sure do have a fucked up way of showin' it," he bites.
She wipes away a tear before it has a chance to roll down her face.
"I really messed up with Hall. I know that," she says. "But these past couple weeks with you just…"
She sighs a long, shaking sigh. She knows what she wants to say; what he needs to hear. But she freezes, and the words die on her tongue.
"Please forgive me."
He wants to. He wants nothing more than to hug her and tell her that it's all right, and then go back to her house, or even upstairs to a room at Buck's, and make out until they fall asleep in each others' arms.
But he can't. He remembers Tim's lecture like it was yesterday. "Once a cheater, always a cheater. If she's run around on you once, she's going to do it again. Guaranteed."
He shakes his head, turns around, and starts limping back toward the door.
"Curly, wait."
He opens the door and turns to look at her. He can feel his heart shatter into a million tiny pieces.
"I can't." He hates how his voice comes out hoarse and strained. She'll know that he's about to cry.
She doesn't follow him inside. He limps toward the staircase, manages to drag himself up the stairs, and stumbles into the first empty room he finds.
He locks the door behind him, falls down on the bed, and the tears start instantly. He stays there, wailing into the pillow, his whole body shaking with sobs, until he falls into a light, fitful sleep.
I'm a terrible, horrible person. Reviews?