Name: Conversation Between Strangers
Characters: Sean. Mrs. Nash.
Word Count: 500
Author's Notes: I never ever post short things here. But... I for whatever reason, am posting this. I wrote this last night in half an hour just in time to enter it in DB's oneshot contest. I've had this idea in my head for awhile, and I really wanted to do it as a drabble. 500 words exact. So here it is. It's hard trying to contain yourself to a certain amount of words and still capture the moment correctly - so I'm just crossing my fingers that I did. Oh yeah, and I entered the fanfiction100... ha. As always, constructive criticism is always sexy, you know this already.
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He could see her from the side of his eye. She looked a bit different. Fresh. Relaxed. Calmer. He wasn't quite sure what it was. Not that he'd been with her so many time to judge, but there was something about her that wasn't the same.
Looking over he wasn't sure what to say. Would a "hello" suffice for greeting an ex-girlfriend's mother? Especially if he hadn't spoken to that ex-girlfriend since his return?
"Sean!" exclaims the older woman who walks over to him, with coffee in hand. "What a surprise running into you here."
"Mrs. Nash. Hi, how are you?"
"Good," Leslie smiles at him. "And sober." She leans over and laughs a bit when she says this. Part of him is glad that she can joke about it to an extent. "What about you? Ellie didn't mention your coming back."
That's when it stung him a bit. He'd barely spoken to the redhead in two years. And despite the fact they they'd been at the same place at the same time on several occasions, they'd avoided each other.
"Actually, Ellie and I haven't spoken since…" Sean couldn't look her in the eyes; saying it brought him a certain sense of guilt.
"She's doing well… Ellie. She's enjoying university, and is living with Marco and Paige over at—"
"I- I'd heard." He cut her off, almost not wanting to hear about how much better things may be going on her end as apposed to with his. "I'm happy for her."
"And she is, happy I mean," Mrs. Nash explains. She seemed a bit nervous and unsure around him, the boy that'd meant so much to her daughter.
They pause for a minute, not quite sure what to say to each other.
"Um, I guess I better…" He motions towards the door, somewhat embarrassed that he wasn't much for conversation, which factored in with his inability to find the right words.
"Sean wait—what a minute." She smiles a bit, one that resembled that of Ellie's. It surprised him how much it got to him. "I just want to thank you."
He's unsure where this is coming from, and questions, "for what?"
"For everything. For being there for my daughter when I couldn't. For taking care of her. For giving her the home she deserved… "
"Mrs. Nash, I—"
"No. You deserve to hear this. I'm sorry for the way I treated you—the way I treated Ellie, back then. She really loved you, a lot. Unfortunately I took out my anger over having her father constantly leaving us out on you, and you two didn't deserve that." She looks him in the eyes before placing her hand on his shoulder. "You were really good to her."
Sean's head drops, as the words somehow bruise him.
"Mom, dad said you…" He knew that voice all to well. Before he knew it he'd locked eyes with the girl that was making the conversation all the more difficult. "Sean?"
"Ellie…"
end .
