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7 ~ Dirty Laundry

"Where were you last night?" Jessie asked as she and Eli drove towards their mother's house.

"I was at Corrie's house."

"Oh." Jessie bit her lip, "You've been staying at her house a lot haven't you."

Eli frowned, "This is none of your business Jess."

"I was only asking a question. You're never around anymore."

"What do you care? You've always got Katie over at the house, up in your room doing God knows what. You wouldn't even notice if I was around."

"Shut up Eli!" Jessie cried. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Am I missing something?"

"No. I'm just – I think –," she sputtered nervously. "I just think that you're never around anymore. You're always hanging out with Corrie. I know you stayed with mom while she was recovering and all that. But she's better now. I just think that when we're supposed to be staying at Dad's house, that you should actually stay at his place."

He sighed and waited impatiently for a stoplight to change colour. "You know Jess, I'm not always going to be around."

"What do you mean?"

"Sooner or later I have to move out and live on my own. I'm not a little kid anymore."

"You just want to move out so you can be with your girlfriend," she argued.

Eli looked from the road to Jessie and back to the road, "What is your problem today? Don't you like Corrie?"

"Corrie's fine. It's you I can't stand right now." She ignored him for the rest of the drive and acted civil with him for the rest of the night in front of their mother.

~

It was another Friday night and Eli was supposed to be staying at Rick and Lilly's house. Ever since Jessie had blown up at him they had barely spoken to each other.

"Lilly we really have to get going," Rick shouted as he pulled on a sport coat in the front hall. He and Lilly were going out for dinner with Judy's new boyfriend and as usual they were running late. "You've seen this guy before at the store right?" Rick asked Eli. "What's he like?"

Eli leaned against the wall, "He seems all right. I think you'll like him."

"Good. Judy certainly has interesting taste in men. I never know what's going to happen when we meet her boyfriends."

"What are you saying about my sister?" Lilly asked teasingly as she came down the stairs, dressed to go out.

"Only good things," Rick replied. "What are you doing tonight Eli?"

"I don't know, I might just stick around here," he looked in to the living room where Jessie, Katie and Zoe were watching the television.

Rick and Lilly hustled towards the door, "There's money for pizza on the table. Call soon because they'll take forever to deliver tonight. Bye everybody," Lilly called just before the front door closed.

Eli went to the kitchen and found Grace staring in to the fridge. "Unbelievable," she whined. "They go out for dinner and leave us to fend for ourselves."

He smiled and pointed to the money on the counter, "You want to call for pizza or shall I?"

"Oh." She blushed with embarrassment, "I will. You always order wrong."

"Are we getting pizza?" Zoe asked as she ran in to the room. Nobody said anything in that house without her hearing it. "I don't want any olives."

"Fine Zoe," Grace dialed a number in to the cordless phone.

"And no peppers. Or onions!" Zoe shouted as she tried to get Grace's attention. "Get some garlic bread though, with the cheese on top."

Grace shot her sister a look and Zoe went back to the other room. Eli got himself a glass of water and watched as Grace ordered the food. She sounded much older than her age as she gave the address to whoever was taking their order. It was a stark contrast to the high-pitched, exasperated tone she tended to use with her little sister.

"Aren't you going out tonight?" Grace asked when she had hung up the phone.

Eli shrugged, "Aren't you?"

"Why does everyone love to point out that I have no social life?" she cried, immediately going in to drama queen mode. "Just because I don't go to the movies every weekend or hangout with friends all the time, it doesn't mean I'm a freak or anything. God. I'm not going to turn in to the next Unibomber or anything like that."

"Chill out Grace. I didn't mean it like that."

"Whatever. Will you answer the door when the pizza guy gets here?" she didn't bother waiting for his answer, she stormed in to the other room.

Eli shook his head and sat on the counter for a little while, debating whether or not to try and make some plans. Corrie was working until close at BookLovers so she wouldn't be available until much later. He considered calling Tyler but he would only want to play pool at the pub and Eli didn't feel like it.

"What are you guys watching?" Eli asked as he came in to the living room. Jessie, Katie and Zoe were sprawled on the couch, leaving Grace to the loveseat and only an armchair empty for Eli.

"An old Friends show," Zoe replied since none of the others had. It appeared that Jessie was now giving him the silent treatment, Katie was of course on her side and now Grace was upset with him as well. It was going to be a long, uncomfortable night if he stuck around.

~

"Man I have got to get the hell out of my mom's house," Tyler said as he and Eli drove through town in Tyler's noisy truck. Eli had given up on spending the night at home and convinced Tyler to go somewhere other than Charlie's Pub.

"Why's that?"

"Do you remember Laura Gregory? She was in our grade."

"Yea I know who she is," Eli answered waiting impatiently for Tyler to begin whatever story he was hinting at.

Tyler wiggled his eyebrows and turned down his stereo, stalling to peak Eli's curiosity. "She's working for a year instead of going to school. I ran in to her last weekend when I went bar hopping with my cousin, and we totally hit it off."

"How drunk was she?"

"Shut up man," Tyler replied. "She wasn't that drunk. Anyway, she gave me her number! So I called her up and we went out and after she said she wanted to come back to my place."

"Big surprise. This is Laura Gregory we're talking about."

"So she came over and everything was cool." Eli rolled his eyes at the hand gestures his friend was using. "But my mom was looking for dirty laundry and she found Laura's bra."

"Your mom still does your laundry?"

Tyler laughed, "Yea. Seriously though, I have to get out of the house. Laura wants to go out with me again and there's no way I can hold on to a girl like her if I'm living at my parents house."

"I know what you mean."

"We should get an apartment together. A buddy of mine from work is getting married and he has to sell his place. It's a two bedroom, in a big building. It's actually a few minutes from here. Let's go by, I'll show you."

"Hey, hold on a second. Can we even afford something like that?" Eli asked getting excited about the possibility of moving out of his parents' houses.