*Author's Note*

Thank you for all the follows, faves, and reviews.

Vera's face claim is Alicia Vikander (as always lol)

I know I should be working on a chapter for my other stories, but this one just wanted to be written.

Make Me Forget

Allie POV:

So far, my time with the Hatfields has been okay. They were nice people, despite how the history book made them out to be. I tended to spend a lot of time with the children and Levicy. I also helped cook a lot, but I didn't mind. When it came to the kids my age, I tended to spend more time talking with Johnse, well that is whenever he wasn't out chasing girls or drinking at the local tavern, since Will was a bit of a closed off bookworm. He still got under by skin at times, but he did let me borrow his books to read so that earned him a brownie point or two.

This afternoon I was down at the docks watching over the kids as they swam. Since bathing suits weren't invented yet (well actually they were, but only rich people wore them at the beaches) everyone was in their underpants and shifts. Their clothes were left piled up on the part of the dock near the bushes. I just sat on the dock with my feet dangling as the children splashed around in the water across from me.

I heard some footsteps running heavily on the dock. When I turned to see who it was that had come, I was met with the site of Cotton running over while Will was following behind him in a quick paced walk. With a smile I greeted the sweet, but slow minded light-haired Hatfield boy. "Hi, Cotton. Come here to join your cousins for a swim."

"Yea, Miss Allie, I did." He answered, stopping a few feet away from me.

"Pa and Uncle Ellison gave us the rest of the day off since we finished up with deliveries earlier then expected." Will explained the real reason why they were at the swimming hole as he came to a stop by his cousin.

"Oh, that's nice." I simply said, cause I didn't know what else to say, as Cotton and Cap yanked their shirts off. I turned my head around, going back to keeping an eye on everyone in the water, while Cap and Cotton stripped down to their long-john pants (which actually just looked like a pair of white joggers or lounge pants).

"Watch out below!" Cotton warned all of his cousins in the water before runnin' off the dock and cannon ballin' into the water, causin' waves to splash everywhere. Cap just let out a chuckle, sitting down next to me on the dock, as water splashed us. I didn't mind being splashed considering I've already gotten hit by a few sprays of water while watching all of the Hatfield kids swim and play. Cotton looked over to the dock, well actually at Will, while asking in the sweetest voice, "Will, ain't ya gonna swim?"

"Nah, Cottontop, I think I'm just gonna sit on the dock and talk wit' Allie for a bit." Will told his cousin while nudging me softly in the side with his elbow.

"Okie-dokie." Cotton nodded before joining his cousins in a game of Marco Polo.

Damn, that game was as old as time. It was easy to cheat when playing in a pool verses in a pond. I always cheated, used to climb out of the pool and run around it while shouting out polo. Eh, used to drive everyone nuts cause they couldn't catch me. I don't think anyone ever figured out I was cheating either.

"How long ya been out here for?" Will asked, looking between me and the sparkling blue water in front of us.

"Not long, maybe 10-15 minutes." I shrugged, picking at a fingernail.

"Ah…"

"So, why're you here instead of spending your day off wooing your girlfriend? I mean I think Levicy would've let Cotton come down here by himself so you don't have to be here."

"You're good with Cotton, I ain't here to babysit him." Will assured me before letting out a deep sigh and telling me in a down, but deep tone, "My best friend, Skunk Hair, told me his girl Vera saw Leona with Calvin McCoy the other day."

"Oh…so she's cheating on you?"

"Appears so." He snarled, the vein in his neck bulging a bit as he clenched his jaw angrily. Poor guy, he was hurt and pissed. I think he really thought he was building something with her.

"And she's a preacher's daughter?" I rhetorically asked, following it up with the blunt remark of, "Could've fooled me, what a whore."

"Allie…" Will sighed out warningly, cutting his eyes at me.

"Will, even tho she's the preacher's daughter she's cheating on you so that makes her skanky. Nice girls don't go two-timing on their man."

He was holding the edge of the dock with a white knuckled grip. "I know that, Allie, but I can't help thinkin' it's my fault." He snapped, his voice low and deep with distress.

I arched a brow curiously, "How so?"

"Last time we saw each other we got into a spat." Will reveled, causing me to silently nod and motion for him to go on if he wanted to expand on his remark. His ice-blue eyes locked onto the water as he reveled the topic of his fight with Leona. "She was upset cause me an' my family ain't devout; don't go to church services every Sunday. Felt I need to bring my family t'service more often, I didn't feel a need to."

"Okay, but what does that have to do with her seeing Calvin McCoy?" I asked since I didn't get why the Hatfields not going to church made her seek out another man, one that was a MCCoy too.

"McCoys are very devout and always attend church. Pa says them McCoys are bigoted religious zealots tho…but ya get what I'm sayin'?"

"Yea, she wants a church going man so she went behind your back to snag up the McCoy boy." What a whore. I don't like Leona, two-faced bitch. Eh, Will's better off without her.

"Mhm…maybe if I was different or changed-" Will began to say until I forcefully cut him off with my blunt words of, "No, don't you dare say if you were different or changed your ways maybe she wouldn't have cheated. It's not you, it's her. She would've done it no matter what. There's nothing you need to change about yourself, one day you'll find a nice girl that'll be fine with who you are."

Will just nodded, his eyes a bit downcast as what I told him sunk into his blonde shaggy haired head. A silent lull loomed over us for a while before he broke it by asking me, while looking at my profile since I was watching everyone swim, "You're speakin' from experience, ain't ya?"

Well, Will was a smart guy after all. He figured out that I was cheated on by my ex-Kevin, guess he won the big Double Jeopardy round question; thousand points to him. Looking at him, our icy and sapphire blue eyes meeting, I nodded while honestly sighing, "Yes. I got two-timed, his name was Kevin and it seems he got bored of me and decided to mess around with some girl I knew."

"I can't imagine why he'd get bored of ya. With how sassy ya are, ain't a borin' moment wit'cha." Will told me with a slightly low chuckle laced into his deep timbre. I let out a soft laugh, my cheeks flushing a tiny bit, as I shook my head and quickly went back to watching the kids plus Cotton splashing around in the water. A warm calloused hand resting on my bare shoulder made me whip my head around, my braid nearly whacking me in the fact too, and give Will a curious look. Uh, why was he touching me? "That ex-feller of yours was stupid two-timin' on ya. Even tho you're sassy you're a nice girl; any man'd consider himself lucky to be wit'cha."

Really? Did he really feel that way? Oh wow, that took me by surprise. I arched a brow up at him, causing him to return the gesture. It seemed like he was daring me to call him out on his remark. A dare that I took by blurting out, "Sure…bet I'm the bell of the ball too."

"Don't be sarcastic, not after I've been nice t'ya." Will scolded me, letting his calloused hand fall down my shoulder and coast down my arm until it hit the wooden dock. With how his deep voice rolled and rumbled I could tell that he was slightly insulted by me blowing off his compliment. Damn, he was something else.

I just rolled my eyes at him while scoffing, "And since when are you nice to me, Will? Eating meals together and letting me borrow a couple books don't count either." Whether I was being teasing or honest with him I wasn't sure. Hopefully I didn't come across as a total bitch to him.

A deep chuckle escaped Will's mouth as he gave me a sideways look. "Okay, got me there. I haven't been overly friendly wit'cha, just 'nough to be respectful since you're part o'the family." Oh, so he wasn't too insulted by my remark, good to know. Looking between me and the water that everyone was swimming in he suggested, "How 'bout I make an effort at bein' friendly wit'cha by takin' ya to a barn dance t'night? Skunk Hair and his girl Vera'll be there, you can befriend them an' get t'know others that are Hatfield friends."

So, a barn dance is considered to be the big night on the town in the 1800s then. Okay, seems like that's the only fun thing I'm going to be doing around here since there's literally nothing to do. Nodding my light blonde head, I simply squeaked out, "Okay, we'll go to the barn dance."

What you see in old western movies about barn dances is completely different then how they are in real life. Hot damn, these 19th century people can party. A barn dance was basically more or less like a dance club or something in how it felt. Hay bales were stacked up against the walls for people to sit on (and make out on cause there was a lot of that going on) while tables were set up with food platters and punch bowls. A band, which was made up of Lias Hatfield and a couple other guys, sat propped up near the main barn beam. I noticed the instruments being played were a banjo, ukulele, and a spoon.

Yes, a spoon! A fricking spoon bouncing on a knee was actually a thing. I always thought it was just a stereotype, but hillbillies really do slap spoons to make music with.

Lias was the one jamming on the ukulele, sitting in the middle of the banjo and spoon guys. His long salt and pepper hair bounced around his shoulders as he strummed on his mini-guitar, belting out lyrics to some old hillbilly folk song. Actually, he would've made a good head man in an '80s hair metal band by how he was jamming so intensely.

I noticed that couples were running up and down the ladder of the hayloft. Hell, guess rolling in the hay isn't just an innuendo, but an actual thing. Damn, guess a lot of babies are getting made up in that hay loft.

Yea, like I said this barn dance was just the old time equivalent of a club. Dancing, drinking, food, places to sit and make out at, and a place to run off to hook up at. Damn, guess young people always partied no matter the century. Hmm, wonder if the Amish ever has these kind of barn dances or if they're boring.

Will nudged my shoulder, causing me to look at him, as we were slowly walking around the barn floor. Pointing ahead to a lanky guy with a white streak in his dark hair and a slender brunette he loudly told me over the music, "There's Skunk Hair and Vera."

"He's your best friend?" I asked, a bit skeptical since Skunk Hair looked a bit older then Will by a good decade, as he began to lead us over to his friends.

"Yea. We've been best friends since we was lil." He confirmed as we walked towards a wall lined with hay bales.

"But he's-" I began to say only to be cut off by Will sharply telling me, "A few years older than me, I know." I just quirked a brow at him, causing him to give me a deep-toned explanation of, "His pa worked loggin' for mine 'fore he passed years 'go." His lips upturned into a grin like line as he revealed, "He's like a big brother t'me, always been 'round."

"Oh, okay." I simply told Will, accepting his explanation, as we got closer to the hay bales Skunk Hair and Vera were sitting on.

"Hey, Will, who's she's?" Skunk Hair asked, pointing his flask towards me, as we came to a stop in front of him and Vera, who was a slender brunette that looked my age give or take a few years.

"This is Allie, that girl Sully found an' we took in." Will simply answered his friend while guiding me to sit on an open hay bale near Vera.

"Nice meetin' ya, Allie." Skunk Hair smiled before pointing between himself and his girlfriend while making introductions of, "I'm Tom, but friends call me Skunk Hair, and this pretty thing is my girl Vera."

"Hi." I simply waved at the couple while Will took a seat next to me, sandwiching me between him and Vera.

"Have you met anybody 'round here yet? Made any friends?" Vera asked me with a pearly white smile while her boyfriend took a swig from his glass flask.

"Not really, but know Will and his siblings tho." I honestly told her which just earned me a nod from the girl.

"Why I brung her here, so she can meet people." Will said over the sound of his uncle's band playing. I haven't actually met anybody yet, just Skunk Hair and Vera so… Smiling at Vera he told her, "Figured ya'd make her a good friend too, Vera."

"Johnse comin' t'sell his shine?" Skunk Hair asked after taking a sip off his flask.

"I dunno." Will shrugged, snatching the flask right out of his best friend's hand. He took a swig and then passed me over the flask while remarking, "He was still home when we left."

Grabbing the glass flask from Will I blurted out, "I didn't know that Johnse was a shiner."

"He's in the beginnin' stages, but yea he's a shiner." Will chuckled while the other two nodded as I took a quick sip off the flask. Damn, the backhills homemade hooch kinda burned going down. I let out a tiny cough and nodded, offering the flask to Vera. She took it while Will smacked my back and asked me, "Ya a'ight there, darlin'?"

"I'm fine. Just haven't drank whiskey in a while." I lamely used as an excuse for me choking on moonshine. Damn, shine and Jack are too different things. I mean I've had shots of Jack and sips of Peach Schnapps at parties and bonfires before, but nothing compares to the burning strength of moonshine.

Will nodded, accepting my answer, as Vera passed the flask to Skunk Hair after taking a sip from it. Seems like we were going to be passing the bottle and talking tonight.

We were all laughing at something Will had just said when suddenly Skunk Hair straighten his back and pointed towards the entrance of the barn dance. Tipping the half empty flask, he sneered, "Tolbert just walked in."

"Prolly just here to sell his whiskey." Will shook his head, snatching the flask from his best friend. So, Tolbert McCoy was a shiner too. Hmm, maybe him kidnapping and trying to kill Johnse and everything else isn't just about Roseanna, but about eliminating competition.

"I don't think so, he's got a girl with 'im." Skunk Hair flatly pointed out, his tone level and serious.

"Who'd want his ass?" Will asked, whether seriously or rhetorically I wasn't too sure, while passing the flask to me.

"She's pretty, poor thing must be desperate." Vera sighed slightly gesturing her head to the other side of the barn as I took the flask, quickly sipping on it.

I looked at the direction everyone was trained on only to be met with the sight of Tolbert McCoy walking with none other than my best friend, Jessa. Oh my god, I couldn't believe this. Of all the people to get found by she got found by those crazy McCoys. Without thinking I shoved the flask into Will's chest while jumping down off the haybale, determined to walk across the room and see my friend, who I feared had drowned a week or so ago.

I didn't get anywhere tho cause Will grabbed my upper arm. "Where the hell ya goin'? Not over t'em I hope?" He asked in a deep snap, tilting his black Stetson covered head into the direction Tolbert and Jessa were in.

"The girl with Tolbert's my best friend, Jessa. I gotta get her away from him." I explained, my words quickly crashing into each other with how fast I was talking.

"Allie…" Will sighed out warningly while Skunk Hair and Vera just looked at us with curious and intrigued looks.

"You said yourself he's desperate for a girlfriend. I don't want her to get tricked by him." I told Will, looking at him with worry in my sapphire eyes. I had to see Jessa, get her to come back to the Hatfields with me or something.

"No, Allie, don't make a scene." Vera pleaded, clearly wanting me to stay with the group instead of racing off to save my friend.

"Tolbert's a rough drunk; he'll get nasty wit'cha cause ya be seen with us, with Hatfields." Skunk Hair told me, snatching the flask from Will's loose hold on it.

"Hey, I know she's your best friend, but just let it be." I didn't want to relent, but the worry lines appearing on Will's usually stoic and cold-hardened face got to me. He really seemed a bit worried about my well-being, as if he thought that Tolbert would go off on me and he'd get stuck intervening or having to protect me or something. I knew from what I read that Tolbert was a cruel man, I also knew that Will hated him and vice versa, so it wasn't a stretch to think that he'd flip his shit on me approaching Jessa since I was hanging out with the Hatfields. I was struggling internally with what to do, but in the end my gut instinct took over. "This night's shot t'hell." I heard Will mumble under his breath as I wrung my arm out of his hold, making up my mind that I was going to confront Jessa and try to free her from the clutches of Tolbert McCoy.

Quickly, I marched over to the side of the room they were at. Oh god, seeing her smiling and blushing at that monster as he told her something was sickening. Didn't she read the small bio on him like I did? Tolbert's not a nice person, he's cruel and crazy.

"Jessa, what're you doing here with him?" I bluntly asked my best friend, whose indigo eyes were wide with shock as she looked at me, while coming to a stop in front of her and Tolbert. The man of the hour had his arm looped into hers too, as if he was keeping her tied to him like a ball and chain.

Tolbert scowled at her as she curtly told me, "I'm spendin' some time with Tolbert. We're meetin' his cousins here." Oh, it seems like he doesn't even want her looking at me. I arched a brow, whether at her or him I'm not too sure. Hmm, maybe at both of them. Quickly, her eyes drifted to the floor as she ordered in a slight tremble, "You need to get back to the Hatfields and leave me alone."

"What?" Rolled out of my mouth, my eyes turning into the size of saucers. She couldn't really want me to leave, it had to be Tolbert's presence making her say that. "Jessa, you can't be serious. We're best friends."

"Ya heard her, go on an' get." Tolbert gruffy spat. He looked at me with his storm-filled eyes like I was something dirty and disgusting.

Even tho the smart thing to do would be to leave, I stood my ground. Holding my chin up I declared, "I'm not leaving until I get some answers from her."

"No, yer goin' right now." Tolbert growled, puffing out his chest as he got into my face. Oh no, now I felt like a spider that's about to get squashed in the shower. Uh-oh, I made the crazy guy made. Hell, he goes from 0 to 100 in 2.5 secs. Not cool.

"Back 'way from her, Tolbert." Will ordered from right behind me, quickly pushing the crazy ginger away from me. Hmm, I wasn't even aware that he followed me, but apparently, he did.

Tolbert's nostril's flared angrily, making him resemble a bull, as Jessa just stared at us with a leery look on her face. Will looked right at Jessa, his eyes meeting hers, as he told her, "Look, Jessa, I know that you an' Allie's been best friends since ya were lil. You can come with us an' leave the McCoys or not. Choice's yours, but once we turn our backs t'ya the offer's no good no more."

"I'm stayin' with the McCoys." She announced, wrapping her arm tighter around Tolbert's while literally gluing herself to his side.

"Ya heard her, so leave us 'lone ya filthy Hatfields."

"You're lucky I got a lady wit' me, cause if I was alone I'd call ya out for speakin' t'me like that. Them be fightin' words an' ya know it."

"Jessa, please come with us. Tolbert's crazy, he's just usin' you cause he's desperate to find somebody. Please, don't stay with the McCoys. They're not good people." I pleaded, desperate not to lose my best friend. She had to know that she was being stupid right now. I don't care how good-looking Tolbert was, he wasn't a good guy at all.

"No, Allie, you're the one that's staying with the bad people, not me." Jessa's remark worked just like a slap to the face, it startled me and drained a part of my soul from me. I couldn't believe it, she thought I was with the bad people. How could she? We both know how this feud goes…

"Let's go, there's nothin' more we can do for her now." Will told me, wrapping an arm over my shoulders. I didn't have any words, I was too shocked. Nodding, I silently let him know that I was ready to go back across the room to our hay bales and our friends that were watching and waiting with baited breath.

Jessa POV:

I felt like I was drowning in a pool of misery as I watched Allie walk away with Cap Hatfield, who still had both of his eyes. She knew how horrible those people were, but she willingly chose them. Maybe Mr. Sullivan told her some kind of lie to make his family seem less dangerous then they were? I read the unit in our history book, I knew how heartless those Hatfields turned out to be. And Cap, hell he becomes one of the worst in the feud. Blood thirsty and his daddy's right-hand man. Damn it, Allie's thing for bad boys must be why she was with him. She knows what happens between the Hatfields and the McCoys, we both do, and she choses to remain with the Hatfields knowing that I'm on the McCoys side. It was a lot to take in.

"Ya did the right thing in pushin' her 'way, darlin'." Tolbert assured me with a ghost of a smile.

"I know, it just hurts that she picked them over me. She knows we can't be friends if she stays with them." I sighed, holding back the dam of tears that wanted to break. I just felt horrible, I lost my best friend all because she insists on being with the Hatfields.

"She ain't leavin' 'em Hatfields any time soon." I gave Tolbert an odd look, wondering why he even made that remark. He tilted his head at me while telling me in a smooth, but know it all tone, "Not wit' how Will was wit' her. Nah, she's gonna be takin' up with 'im an' usin' the Hatfield name soon 'nough." I was afraid of that. I mean Allie thought Cap was a bad ass when we were reading our history book, so… I just nodded, a sad look taking over my face. Tolbert's stormy blues softened as he told me in his velvet-like timbre, "What she told ya was a lie. I ain't usin' ya for nothin'."

"I know." I simply told him. I didn't need him to tell me that, I just knew. After spending so much time with Tolbert day after day, whether it be working or just hanging out, think I had a good enough feel of him to know that he was a good man, even tho he was a hot head.

"If ya wanna be more then friends that's up t'ya, but I think it'd be best t'wait til ya been here for a while tho." Tolbert was a gentleman, wasn't trying to rush me or force me into something I wasn't ready for since we barely knew each other. How could Allie assume that he was trying to hook up with me just cause we're at a dance together?

I can only imagine what bullshit lie Cap, well Will since he hasn't had his eye accident yet, told her about Tolbert and the McCoys. Tolbert's never told me a lie about the Hatfields, everything he's told me's been the truth and I can verify that by what I remember reading in my history book.

Patting my hand and then pointing towards the left, Tolbert told me, "Look, there's Jefferson and Nancy." Giving me a lined, but warm, smile he suggested, "Let's go see 'em; have some fun."

"Okay." I nodded, giving him a forced smile as we started to walk off to the left side of the room.

It didn't take long for us to reach the siblings, Jefferson and Nancy. Jefferson was dancing, well more so swaying, while holding a flask in his hand while Nancy just stood by her brother with her arms folded over her chest, shaking her head at him. I got the impression that she was always looking after him; playing mother hen to her brother.

"Jefferson, Nancy, this is Jessa." Tolbert introduced me to his cousins, dropping my arm and letting it go.

"How y'do?" Jefferson asked, sticking his hand out for a shake.

"I'm good." I politely shook his hand.

Nancy gave me an overly sweet smile while Tolbert pried Jefferson's shine bottle from his hand. "Hello Jessa, it's nice to meet you."

"Nice to you too." I told Nancy with a thin, but forced smile. It wasn't that I didn't want to meet her, but that I was feeling iffy cause of what just went down with Allie.

"Talk 'round town's that Tolbert found ya in bad shape after your entire wagon train perished." Nancy told me, her eyes floating between me and her cousin as if she was studying us.

"Yea."

Nancy sweetly smiled while telling me, "Well, dear, don't worry, Tolbert was smart in bringin' ya over to meet me. I'm good friends with Roseanna and I'm sure we'll become good friends too."

Tolbert took a swig from the shine bottle he was sharing with Jefferson before smirking at me. So, seems like even tho I lost a friend I'm gaining a lot of new ones. Ones I hope'll be good and help me forget the pain I feel in having to give up on my friendship with Allie, who Tolbert feels will become Allie Hatfield sooner rather then later.

Allie POV:

It was late at night and everyone was asleep, but I was tossing and turning in bed. Yes, I actually had a real bed now and it was in the girls' room. I couldn't sleep, my mind was reeling from what happened at the barn dance with Jessa. I was still in disbelief about what happened, how Jessa picked Tolbert and the McCoys over me. Once me and Will got back to Skunk Hair and Vera the rest of the night for us was a bit tense. Of course, my new friends tried to cheer me up, hell Will even drug me out onto the dance floor to try and make me feel better. It sorta worked, but I'm still a bit melancholy.

Deciding that I had enough of tossing and turning, I flung the blankets off of me and sat up in bed. With a soft sigh I got out of bed and walked out of the room. My feet padded across the wooden floor as I made my way to the front door, my mind made up to go sit on the front porch in order to stargaze and try to declutter my mind.

Whenever I opened the door my eyes landed on Will, who was leaning against a porch post by the stairs. As I shut the door behind me, he looked over his shoulder as a cloud of smoke floated out of his nostrils. "Can't sleep either?" He asked, the moonlight shining on his bare torso, as I slowly made my way over to him.

"Nope." I popped my tongue, crossing my arms over my chest as I came to a stop next to him.

"Smoke?" Will simply asked, holding his smoldering cigarette out for me to take.

"Thanks." I took the offered smoke, looking at it's glowing orange end for a second before bringing it up to my mouth.

"You're weighed down by what happened tonight with your friend, ain't ya?" He asked, his icy eyes looking right thru me, as I took a long calming drag of the cigarette.

"Yea, I am." I nodded, letting a waft of smoke exhale out of my lungs. "Why're you up?"

"Really, I dunno. Just can't sleep, I reckon."

"Oh…" I trailed off, taking another drag off the cigarette Will was sharing with me.

"I know we ain't that friendly, but after what happened t'night I think I can lend an ear if ya wanna get anythin' off your chest."

Passing the cigarette over to Will I let out a long sigh of, "I feel like she chose him over me." He took the cigarette from me as I sadly shook my head, "Threw our friendship away."

"Allie, darlin', what she did to ya regardin' ya'lls friendship was wrong." Will firmly told me, taking a long drag off the cigarette. Smoke barreled out of his mouth and nostrils as he remarked in a deep and curt tone, "She knows Hatfields and McCoys are enemies. I'm sure Tolbert, Randall, and the lot o'em told her so just like we Hatfields told you."

"I just don't get why she'd pick him, that crazy ginger, over me. Me, her best friend since we were like 5-years old."

"He seems to have quite the hold over her." Will sighed, passing the cigarette to me. I took it from him, nodding to indicate that I agreed with his remark. While I smoked, he looked between me and the starry sky, letting out a lengthy deep-toned remark of, "Whether it's cause she feels attached t'him cause he's part of the family that took her in or if she's sweet on him, I dunno, but she's made her pick an' unless ya run 'cross the river and denounce us she's lost t'ya."

I took another drag off the shared smoke before firmly telling Will, "I like it here; I'm not turnin' my back on your family."

Nodding he wrapped an arm around me shoulders. Giving me a look that was both hard and sympathetic, his deep wave of a voice rumbled out over the still humid night air with, "Then I advise ya to get your grief over losin' your friend out t'night, then t'morrow carry on as if nothin' happened. Mourn her now, then move on wit' your life. Don't let her poor choices et ya up."

"Hmm, now who's givin' out the good, but deep advice?" I asked, a bit playfully, as I looked up at Will. My sapphire blues met his icy ones and he just shook his head, biting back a smile.

"Yea, I know, I can give it, but ain't too good at takin' it or usin' it myself." Will told me, snatching the smoke right out of my hand. "I got the day off today, how 'bout we do somethin' wit' Cotton?" He suggested, dragging on his cigarette. Letting a waft of smoke billow out of his mouth he added, "That'll cheer ya up, make his day too."

"Okay." I simply said, a light smile threatening to form on my lips.

Will just rubbed my shoulder soothingly, passing the cigarette back to me. We fell into a comfortable silence, standing together and smoking while stargazing. Once the cigarette was finished, he walked me inside and we went off to our bedrooms. I was glad that Will had distracted me from my thoughts and made me feel better. Hopefully our day with Cotton'll cheer me up, make me forget that I had just lost my best friend forever.

AN:

Yea, talk bout a heavy chapter huh. The girls are cemented with their families. Allie with the Hatfields and Jessa with the McCoys, so no going back now.