#tulipo

Now maybe not all of Texas was bad. Maybe there was some good parts in the state, like, oh Dallas maybe, but out here, in the middle of nowhere Texas? “I’ll get on out of here someday,” You’d tell the other girls who worked with you in the house. You weren’t one of the ‘working’ girls so to speak but you helped in the area of refreshments and cleaning. Wasn’t much but it was a living.

“Let’s just get up and fuckin’ go,” Tulip O’Hare said to you one day after hustling some of the regular johns around here. “I’m sick of hearing you talking about leaving here and never doing shit. Don’t make Annville your fuckin life, y/n.” She gave you a smile that showed both disdain for the town but - somehow, a faith in you. Subtle, but it was there.

“I ain’t got the money yet,” You admitted. “I almost did but then I took a fall and had to go to the Doctor, cleaned me right out. Maybe I should just flee up to Canada. Get some of that free healthcare they’re always bragging about there.”

“Well I dunno shit about Canada but we’re heading out to New Orleans I think, if you wanna come. Jesse, Cass and I,” She offered, shoving the money in her pocket. “And we ain’t planning on coming back so this is now or never.”

Tulip wasn’t a trusting sort of person. When it came down to it, she barely trusted Jesse, especially after his big turn around into religion after a life of crime. There was something about you though, something that made you different from Jesse and Cass. She watched as you tied Jesse down into a chair with a piece of rope you found, got Cass to sit in his lap, and started to spoon mashed potatoes into his mouth because ever since he started on this God crap, he’s barely been eating. Hell, other than junk food, none of them have been eating well until you came along and decided that you were actually going to help them in your own way. “What’d we do to deserve this?” Tulip asked, looking at the plate of healthy food that actually smelled good. Her body was crying out for the nutrients so she dug in.

You blinked a couple of times, and then laughed sitting down to your own plate now that Cassidy was playing ‘airplane’ with Jesse and the food much to everyone’s amusement, but the preacher’s of course. Your fork was slightly trembling in your hands, Tulip noticed.

Finally, you put it down and grabbed your napkin - cloth, not just a paper towel. The fancy stuff. “Because you are doing more for the world than you know, Tulip O’Hare.” You told her, neglecting that she had said we and not just her.