[h3] Duke [/h3]

Duke opened the door of the house in a huff, grass clippings still stuck to his sweaty chest and back as he walked straight to the kitchen without saying anything. Esme seemed to be preoccupied anyway. He opened the door of the fridge with shaky hands, and grabbed a beer from the top shelf, turning to glance out the kitchen window. Dean was still laying on the ground, but he was now laying on his back, his arm over his face, just defusing himself. Duke shook his head, watching as Dean stood up ranting out loud to himself and began gathering things like Duke had asked him.

With a sigh, Duke walked toward the living room, picking pieces of grass off his chest as he walked. He cracked his beer open, and took a long drink, before looking down and picking at the grass again. As he stepped into the living room, he looked up and Esme had ended her call, her turn to him causing him to flinch. Duke didn’t really know the answer to her question. He had put a stop to Dean’s blame game, for the moment, but whether or not they had worked anything out was up in the air.

Duke stepped over to Bobby’s desk and grabbed a chair, spinning it on one leg to turn it with the back toward Esme. He straddled the chair and reached up to pick a piece of grass from his hair that was sticking out of the front of his cowboy hat.

“Um. It seems that way.” He spoke up, taking another long drink of his beer. He then slung both his arms over the back of the chair, his shoulder muscles flexing with the tension that he still held there, and he tilted his head to the side, “He seemed a little more calm when I left him. So, he’s all yours. I’m gonna go out for a bit, after I go grab a shirt. Maybe it will help you two loosen up…”

Duke was upset, but he was mostly just frustrated and the buzzing in his brain that told him it was probably time to get away from everyone for a while was ever present. He took a final long drink from the beer bottle, and then reached across to Bobby’s trash can, tossing it in. He tapped his toes, letting the living room fall into a bit of silence and then nodded his head, awkwardly picking at a couple of pieces of grass that were still stuck to his arm.

“I’ll be back…” He said suddenly, standing from the chair. He didn’t make eye contact, afraid that she would be the one to talk him into staying, this time. He barely knew this woman, and yet she had his brain in a bit of a chokehold. The need to get to know her, to find out everything he could about her, and to just spend time with her was overwhelming. He had to go. He pushed the chair back to Bobby’s desk and stepped off, a shudder of regret causing him to crack his neck as he walked toward the kitchen.