The dance was pretty much how he imagined any school dance. Flat soda, bad music, and horrible dancing. Except the bombshell on his arm, that was never something he thought possible. And from all the stares at their entrance it wasn't what anyone else expected to see either. She waved at Meg happily, who was standing alone with an anxious look on her face.
"She doesn't know it's Duncan." She told him, "I figured she'd like the surprise, she thought it was Caz." He chuckled at the look of distaste that crossed her face at the mention of the jock.
"You want some punch or something?" He asked for after a minute of awkward standing. He watched her scan the table and her eyes fall on the punch bowl with a frown.
"No, god knows what they've done to it." She said, and at his raised eyebrow she changed the topic, "Let's dance!" She exclaimed, grabbing his hand and pulling the hesitant biker towards the floor.
"I'm more of a salsa guy, I don't know how to dance to this." He told her and she stopped a glimmer in her eye.
"You can salsa?" She asked, excitement in her voice.
"Yeah," He nodded, "I can tango too, abuela had me and Chardo learn a long time ago." It was an attempt to get them into something besides motorcycles and cars.
"Then this should be a breeze." She told him, "Most of these guys are just standing anyway." That was true, most girls seemed to be using their boyfriends as grinding posts. At the first shake of her hips he was drawn in and let her pull him into the mob of dancing teens. She hooked an arm around her neck, and his hands gripped her waist as they began to move to the fast paced song.
He didn't know how many songs went by until one slow song hit, which he half expected her to take a break, but was happily surprised when she pulled him close and rested her head on his shoulder. "This is really nice." She said after a moment of them swaying amongst the couples, and Eli wondered if that's what they were: a couple.
"Yeah." He agreed, and it was. Surprisingly enough, Eli Navarro was having fun at a school event. No booze involved. The moment she looked up at him he knew he was going to kiss her, there in front of everybody. Except a drunken Echolls stumbled through to ruin the moment.
"Aww, it's like beauty in the beast. Or maybe the frog prince," Logan slurred, "Go ahead kiss him maybe he'll look better afterwards." Eli would have done something in retaliation, if Echolls had remained standing for the whole slur.
"He's wasted." Veronica muttered, shaking his head.
"Yeah, I see that." Eli nodded, looking at the still talking Logan, but not really paying attention to his drunken babble.
Veronica sighed, pondering over something, "I'm gonna call his sister, and have her come get him can you…" she hesitated and then motioned to Logan and then the door.
Eli groaned, "If he tries to take a swing at me, we're leaving his ass here." He told her, but Echolls had lost all fight in him before Eli even bent down to help him up. Veronica was on the phone while Eli led the drunken teen past the oblivious chaperones and towards the parking lot.
It wasn't long before a red headed girl arrived and whisked Logan away, leaving them to stand outside. Eli was about to ask if she wanted to go back in when her phone rang. "Hello?" She answered almost immediately, "Hello!" Her tone had more of a bite the second time, before she hung up.
"Who was that?" He asked.
"I don't know, I've been getting hang ups all week." She muttered, "I'm about to trace the call."
He raised an eyebrow at her, "Or you could *69 it." The look on her face was priceless, when she realized she hadn't come up with the simple solution.
She did so quickly, "Hello, who is this?" She demanded as soon as someone on the other line picked up, "Someone just called me from this number!" She exclaimed, and then fell silent at whatever the other person was saying. "A blonde woman? Where?" She hung up moments later, determination in her eyes. "We have to go."
"Go?" Eli echoed, starting towards the car regardless. "Go where?"
"Barstow."
"What's in Barstow?"
"My mom."
They stopped at his house first, two return the car and change. Eli was about to offer her some clothes his abuela had kept from his mother and aunts, but she pulled clothes from her messenger bag that she always carried. He wondered if that had meant she had already planned on not going home before she heard about her mom, if that meant she had planned to stay with him all night. He didn't get to ponder it long before they were back out the door and on his bike heading down the PCH.
The place was a seedy bar and Eli almost stopped her from going in. No doubt her mom was in there, drunk. He remembered when his abuela kept tracking down his mother, bar after bar, flop house after flop house, whenever his mom would call. She'd go pick her up, clean her up, and then his mom would be gone again. Until Abuela finally stopped running to her rescue, and in return his mom stopped calling.
There was no stopping it though, it was something every child of an alcoholic has to learn on their own. That their parents can only save themselves, and more likely than not they weren't going to. Veronica was at the bar and by her mother's side before Eli was all the way in the door.
"Mom!" She greeted, but the woman did not react how he thought she would.
"Veronica?" She gasped in disbelief, "No! No no no," she groaned, as Eli came up behind Veronica, "You can't be here."
"V, maybe we should—" he tried to say softly but Veronica either didn't hear or chose to ignore him.
"I'm getting you out of here." She said, trying to help her mother out of the stool, who ended up almost stumbling to the floor before Eli caught her.
"You can't be here." Her mom repeated, "They'll hurt you." Eli was on high alert as soon as the statement left her mouth.
"I know who it is, it's okay!" She tried to soothe her mother as Eli scanned the room for any possible threat. His eyes narrowed in on a middle aged black man who was staring at them from the corner. "I know who's black mailing us, you're safe!" The man got up and headed for the door. Veronica saw him too, and gasped with recognition. Eli went to follow after the man, when Veronica grabbed his wrist. "Don't!" She nearly squeaked. "Let him go."
Eli did as he was told, and instead had the bartender call a cab for Veronica's mom. Once they got a cup of coffee in her, Veronica's mom calmed down and went with Veronica in the cab, while Eli followed them to a nearby motel on his bike. He didn't know what was said during the cab ride, but Veronica had tears streaked down her face when they got out.
Eli helped her mom inside, while Veronica got a room, and then nearly carried the woman up the stairs to the second floor. Veronica ushered her mom towards the bathroom, where she promptly started puking into the tub instead of the toilet. It wasn't until Veronica closed the door to give her mom privacy he asked.
"What's the plan here, V?" He didn't want to burst whatever bubble had formed in her head.
"She's going to go to rehab, I'm going to take her to one."
"Usually takes a couple weeks for insurance to go through for that."
"I've got enough in savings to get her into one tomorrow." She shrugged.
Eli's eyes bulged nearly out of his head, "You cannot be serious."
"She'll pay me back once she gets on her feet." Veronica tried to reassure, but Eli wasn't having it.
"Yeah I'm sure that's what she promised." Eli responded, "That's what tuition?" At her shrug he knew he was right, "You can't gamble with that, V."
"It's not a gamble!" She hissed, "You don't understand, she's only like this because of those pictures!" She tried to tell him, "She can't handle the blackmail."
"That's an excuse Veronica!" He snapped, "I saw her before those pictures were even taken, what was her excuse then?" She didn't respond, "Don't do this, V."
"What am I supposed to do?" She nearly whispered, her eyes welling up with tears.
"Honestly?" He asked, and at her nod he handed her his phone, "Call your dad."
Sheriff Mars didn't ask a lot of questions, just listened as Veronica rambled on a skeleton of a tale, all the major details, like who what and where, but nothing about the blackmail photos or the man in the bar that had obviously spooked her. After a minute of her talking she hesitated before holding out the phone. "He wants to talk to you." Eli figured that this would be his first and last date with Veronica.
"Hello?" He asked awkwardly, unsure of what to expect.
"Hello Eli." The Sheriff sighed over the other end, "Can you please bring my daughter home?"
"Yes, sir." He said automatically.
"Is my wife conscious?" The question was laced with bitterness. Eli took that time to peak in on Lianne, who was passed out on the bathroom floor.
"She's…sleeping." He tried to put delicately, but the bark of humorless laughter on the other end was no stranger to what was happening.
"I'm leaving now, so I'll be there soon enough." Sheriff Mars told him, "Just make sure she's on her side when you leave her."
"Yes, sir." Still waiting for whatever shouting was coming his way. About leaving the dance. About how he took her all the way to Barstow.
"And Eli?" Here it comes. "Thank you for having her call me."