Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Category:
Fandom:
Character:
Language:
English
Collections:
Peja's Wonderful World of Makebelieve Import
Stats:
Published:
2020-11-05
Words:
562
Chapters:
1/1
Kudos:
12
Hits:
970

Prompt fragment - Tammy

Summary:

a fragment in response to one of the 10 minute prompts...
the prompt was: He's not a bad person, he just...
closer to 15 minutes once you factor in the spell-check and punctuation adjustments.
original characters, not set anywhere particular - I guess they're in high school.
rated T for teen.

Work Text:

 

"He's not a bad person, he's just..." she trailed off, trying to find the right words.

Faye snorted, "He's just a jerk."

"No, he's not that bad!  He's under a lot of stress right now."

"Nobody's making him play football, Tam.  He get's benched if he can't keep a C average, that isn't a lot to ask.  He isn't in the hard classes, he's in Shop and geography and general math, for God's sake!  It's not like he's taking Trig and Chemistry."

"There's more to life than school, Faye," Tammy offered, rubbing at her wrist.  "You've seen his Dad at the games...  Can you imagine living with him?"

"Yeah, I've seen his parents.  And when I looked in the old yearbooks, his Dad looks a lot like he does now.  One of my uncles used to say that if you wanted to know what a girl would look like in
twenty years, take a look at her mother.  In twenty years, Paul's going to be just like his Dad is now.  And you're gong to be his mom all over again."

"I will not!  She's... mousy and boring and useless," Tammy glared at her friend.

"She's quiet and timid and afraid of her husband," Faye insisted. "She doesn't make big changes because he might not like them."

"I could never be like that," Tammy insisted.

"Why didn't you go to Todd's party last week?" Faye countered.

"Paul had practice, and I didn't want to go without him..." Tammy shrugged.  "It's no big deal.  Really.  There will be other parties."

"You went to parties without your boyfriend when you dated Scott, or Jack, or Ike.  Why not go without Paul?"  Faye leaned back, peeking at Tammy through her eyelashes while pretending to inspect her nails.

"That was different.  They knew..." Tammy stopped, and sighed. "It was just different, okay?  With Paul, everything's... It's just..."

"Like something out of a romance novel?" Faye offered.  "Intense, emotional, and full of arguments?"

"The make-up sex is great," Tammy whispered, her cheeks flushing. "The sex is always great."

"Great sex doesn't make up for the fact that he's a controlling jerk, just like all those horrible pushy guys in those romance novels that you've got hidden under your bed," Faye glared at her friend.

"It's really, really great sex," Tammy muttered.

"You deserve a better guy.  Someone who doesn't try to run your life for you.  Someone who isn't always accusing you of looking at other guys, who won't have a screaming fit if you go somewhere fun without him."

"But..." Tammy shook her head.  "How do I just... He won't just go away because I tell him to, he's...  stubborn.  And I'll throw off his performance for the big game!"

"He can suck up and deal.  Let him find someone else to push around, and we can find you someone else.  More guys than just him have to be good at sex, and we can find one who isn't a jerk.  I'll help fix things, I promise,"  Faye looked at Tammy.

"You won't let me get talked into giving him just one more chance to make things right?" Tammy asked in a small voice.

"I won't let you go back to him again." Faye promised.

"Okay."

 

end fragment