Chapter 29.
Okay, so here's the thing, I am not really that good at confrontation. Sure, me and my brothers can fight all day and all night but that's just brothers being brothers. I can handle that. But actual confrontations with people whom I do not share blood with? Nah, can't be doing with those. Especially if it involves confronting a girl who has shown herself to have violent tendencies a few times and is known to blow very hot and cold on me depending on the day, with information I've gathered second hand from a biased party with an agenda who hates her and the feelings are mutual in return. Darcy is an enigma wrapped in a mystery wrapped in a riddle in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle whilst Georgia is straight up and says what she means. At least, I think she does? I don't know. Maybe it's better I just stop being so oddly invested in the lives and feud of these two women I've known for barely any time at all even if I had a fling with one of them and the other wants to have a fling with me, unrequited.
I've got more important things to focus on. Namely, Rosie. She arrives today and to tell you the truth I have kind of warmed to the idea of her staying. It'll be a nice distraction at least and if her social media is anything to go by she seems to have grown up quite a bit and is taking her new career in advertising very seriously. I've also started to take things in my life a bit more seriously. Namely, my Uni work. Charlie's nagging finally got through to me and I am officially caught up with all my work from the first few weeks of the new semester and am right back on track with my degree. It's amazing what can happen when you decide to cut out all the drama and focus on what's really important. Anyway, I'm currently walking back through town following a one night stand. I know, I know, bad Elijah but we were safe and it was consensual and we are both free agents so we're not really doing anything wrong at all. It's taken me longer than usual to walk back home because I took the long route around so to avoid any chance of bumping into Darcy as I passed Netherfield. Look, I'm not going to automatically condemn her for what Georgia's alleging she did. I don't even know if it's even true and if it is true, then I'm sure Darcy had her reasons for doing what she did. Experience has taught me that Georgia isn't always the most sensitive of people. It's perfectly likely she did something to piss Darcy off something rotten.
I arrive back home to find Kieran sitting alone in the car he'd recently been bought for his seventeenth birthday. He's playing some pretty heavy sounding music very loudly in there whilst sitting in the front seat looking blank, and very tired. His eyes are red raw.
"Kier, you good?" I ask as I climb into the passenger seat. No reply. "Mate, I'm gonna turn the music down and then I want you to talk to me, is that alright?"
Kieran nods. I turn the volume dial down to the point where the music is little more than a barely present whisper.
"Ariana broke up with me" he says with a sigh "Just out of the blue last night, she told me she didn't want to be with me anymore."
Heartbreak. We all know it well. Bloody Ariana.
"Mate, I'm sorry" I say sympathetically, giving him a pat on the shoulder "That was a really shitty thing for her to do so suddenly, you must feel awful"
Kieran doesn't say anything. He merely nods and fights back a few tears. It's taking a lot of strength for me not to put this car in drive and go and find Ariana. But that's not what my little brother needs right now. "I feel empty" he says "I know that sounds stupid. We were barely together five minutes but I just feel so fucking empty. What did I do? I didn't change, did I? She told me I wasn't paying her enough attention Eli but I just wanted to do well in school. It was hard to do both at the same time"
He's crying now. Not hysterically, he's not screwing up his face or struggling to get his words out through breaks in his breath. No. Tears are just rolling down my little brothers cheeks as he tells me about the worst night of his life. A night where he clearly needed me and I wasn't there for him.
"You have done nothing wrong" I tell him "Mate, she's an idiot. She wasn't able to see what an amazing catch she had, and that's on her. You are gonna find someone else pal, I promise you that, someone who'll treat you the way you deserve"
"What if I don't want someone else, what if I want her?" Kieran replies
"Then, I'm sorry, but it's probably not going to happen" I tell him, a bit firmer than I had been previously "If she's made her mind up then you gotta respect that. I don't really get why either mate but you can't be pestering her into getting back with you. If anything, don't degrade yourself that way. You deserve better than that"
Kieran smiles and nods. He takes a deep breath. There's a question on my mind that I need to ask.
"Did you sleep in the car?"
Kieran blushes. "I just couldn't face going inside, not without you there" he tells me "I didn't want to deal with the questions, the teasing, the hysterics from mother….I dunno, I just wanted some time on my own. Or with you. You always say the right thing"
"Believe me mate, I don't" I reply bitterly "But I am sorry I wasn't here for you. I'd say you can come and talk to me anytime but clearly that's not true or you'd have been able to talk to me last night"
"You have your own life Eli" Kierans says with a chuckle "I can't just expect you to drop everything for me. I needed you last night, yeah, but it's cool that you weren't around. You were at work….and then somewhere else, I gather. Those are yesterdays clothes."
I smile fondly at my younger brother. It's insane to me to think that more than a few months ago, he and I barely spoke or had anything to do with one another. He was just my vain, vapid, thick little brother and of course I loved him but we weren't what we are now. He's amazing. And fuck Ariana for treating him like that.
"Right, plan" I tell him, sounding as enthusiastic as I can muster at this early hour on a Sunday morning "You are going to head inside, show Mum that you're alive and then jump in the shower. I will be doing the same….though not at the same time, obviously. Then, you and I are going out for lunch and we can talk properly….sound good?"
"Don't you need to pick up Rosie?" Kieran asks "She gets in this afternoon"
"We can get her on our way back" I tell him "But before we go in Kieran, I just want you to know, I love you. Everyone does."
Kieran smiles and exits the car. I have a moment of peace which is almost instantly broken by my mother's delighted screams as a son she'd probably convinced herself was dead because he was out of her sight for thirty seconds appeared in the kitchen.
It must be quite a weird way to live one's life, really. Quite the emotional roller coaster.
Kieran tells me the full story over lunch, and it was about what you'd expect, and I can't lie that I didn't see it coming after Ariana had moaned to me the other night. I just didn' think it would have been this soon. What I don't get is that Ariana had moved her whole life up from London to be here with Kieran so they didn't have to have a long-term relationship. I had actually assumed her parents had moved up with her, but Kieran now tells me that she's been lodging a room with a girl from their year she befriended over the summer. Her family paying this family a hell of a lot of money to have Ariana stay with them. I had hoped that Ariana breaking up with Kieran so suddenly had meant she would be moving away and Kieran would be spared seeing her every day, but that's clearly not going to be the case. I just hope Kieran copes with the situation better than I coped when Jennifer and I broke up.
He'll be okay, I'm sure. He's hardly without friends or female admirers. I am sure that he'll bounce back in a few weeks. We're on our way to pick Rosie up from the train station and take her back to ours. Kieran's still quiet but that might just be because he's always been utterly scared of Rosie and seeing her again, today of all days, probably is the last thing he wants to do. I hate driving on Sundays. Town is always super busy for some reason. I thought this was meant to be the day of rest or whatever, yet every Tom Dick and Harry are out and about shopping as if it's a Saturday. Clogging up the streets with their cars. Rosie's train gets in in five minutes and we're still fifteen minutes away from the station due to some moron driving full pelt into some railings and flipping his car over. He's fine. I've seen him talking to the police on the side of the road looking worse for wear but conscious.
Twenty minutes later and we finally manage to pull into the station and run to go and fetch Rosie, who's no doubt fallen under another train or got bored and decided to go to Plymouth on a whim by now. I hope so anyway. Kieran lags behind as I run into the concords and spot my cousin sitting down on a bench with a Burger King meal placed in her lap. One thing I always forget about Rosie is how big of an eater the girl is – for such a petite little thing she doesn't half put it away – she knows we're taking her out for a meal tonight. Looking at her as I approach, I have to say, Rosie has changed a lot since I last saw her. She looks more refined, classy even, and despite the fact she's shoving a questionable burger down her throat at the present moment she's reasonably attractive nowadays. Frankly, I think I might share Mum's surprise in Rosie not having landed her self a boyfriend by now. You could probably describe her as a catch.
She spots me, I give her a wave and beckon her over. She smiles, waves back and puts her meal to one side before picking up her belongings and making her way over. She's not been walking for five seconds before she stumbled over her suitcase and went flying into the air, bringing her entire suitcase down on top of her with a dull thud. I cringe as Kieran falls about laughing behind me.
"Rose, you good?" I ask, offering her my hand up
"Yeah, I'm fine, this kind of thing happens to me all the time" she replies taking it and getting back on her feet "I've long since accepted that this is just going to be something that happens to me in my life whether I want it or not"
"Yeah, you always were clumsy" I reply, feeling it is now probably safe to laugh at the incident. Rosie gives me a kiss on the cheek before giving Kieran a big hug.
"Ooooh Kieran, you feel like you've got the weight of the world on your shoulders" she says as she gives his back a stroke "Later on, if you want me to give you a massage I could really relieve some of your tension in your back. It's in knots."
"I'm alright, thanks" Kieran replies awkwardly. I hold back a smirk. Of course Rosie thinks she's a message therapist. Why didn't any of us see that coming after the acupuncture craze of 2012 is beyond me.
"Love life trouble" I whisper to Rosie after Kieran has walked on with Rosie's suitcase in his arms, visibly struggling with the weight of it. My muscles are superior so by rights it should be me but Kieran insisted and Kieran gets what Kieran wants today. Instead, my arm is pre-occupied with Rosie linking hers through it as we walk towards the station car park.
"It's so nice to see you again" she says "I can't wait to see everyone else, and I have to say Elijah, the extra weight you're carrying suits you nicely"
Hang on?
What?
Is she calling me fat?
"Are you calling me fat?" I reply, genuinely offended "Because I'm not you know. The extra weight your feeling is muscle mass. I've still got a six pack, I'll take my shirt off right here right now and show you"
I begin to pull my shirt over my head but Rosie chuckles and stops me
"Oh Elijah, you never change" she says through a laugh "Honestly, it's nice to see you're still the same vain boy you always were. You're not remotely fat darling."
"Yeah…well, that was a cruel joke. I'm genuinely hurt!" I tell her "How would you feel if I told you that your buck teeth are receeding nicely"
"I'd know you were bullshitting because I had them surgically altered last year" Rosie replies, sticking her tongue at me, and I have to admit she's winning at this point. The girl has upped the banter stakes since I last saw her.
"Wow, and how did you manage to persuade the NHS to give you that one for free" I ask
"I didn't. I got them done privately" Rosie replies, sounding rather proud "Don't worry, with this new job, I can more than afford it. I'm on 75k per year plus bonuses and paid holiday. I owe it all to my boss Ms De Burgh – she's incredibly generous, the best boss I've ever worked for…..how's work at the Rugby club?"
"Alright, I guess, though it'd take me like ten years to earn what you do in one" I say, not managing to hide my jealousy at all "So…what do you want to do whilst you're here? Won't this amazing boss of yours be missing you?"
"I dare say she will" Rosie replies with a sigh "But Ms De Brugh insisted on me taking a paid holiday. She told me those who are invaluable are only so if they're not overworked and are appreciated. Mum and Dad are still in Finland – yeah, I don't know why either – so I decided to come and stay with you guys for a while"
"You know my Mum's planning on setting you up with someone whilst you're here" I tell her "In fact, she's rather insistent on it"
"Ahhh, I don't really have time for a love life these days, unfortunately" Rosie says, not sounding all that bothered by the fact "Romance is one of the three R's Ms De Burgh says need slashing in order to be succesful in business"
"What're the other two?" I ask out of genuine curiosity
"Religion and Rationality" Rosie replies "I guess it's kinda why it's the perfect job for me. I have no time for religion, I don't much care for the fact I'm single and I've never been the most rational of people"
"You can say that again" I reply without thinking. Rosie hits my arm. This has been all right so far, bar the falling over and calling me fat, she seems a lot more bareable than she used to be. Maybe Ms De Burgh has had a positive impact on her.
The reunion with my family actually went pretty well. Mum didn't embarrass herself, Aidan was polite (for Aiden, which meant he looked up from his phone and grunted), Dad didn't make any offensive ethnic jokes that Rosie felt she had to awkwardly laugh at, even Marcus came down to say hello. Rosie's going to be staying in the guest bedroom which in all honesty is pretty much always been just for her, most overnight guests we have in this house normally share a bed with one of its occupants. Normally, me. So the guest bedroom hasn't really been used since the last time Rosie came to stay which explains why it took Mum nearly a week to get it ready for her. We're headed out for dinner at Alessandro's later on – Rosie insisted on paying and greedy financial cretins that we are we all agreed – but first we've brought Rosie to the club for a drink and so she can meet Charlotte in person.
It turns out, Darcy's away again for a while. Her brothers having more issues. It's a shame that Rosie and Darcy won't meet as that would've been a very interesting meeting and I was kind of looking forward to seeing Darcy take down Rosie in a icy cold one-liner. But it's probably a blessing in disguise. Darcy always makes situations ten times more tense than they need to be and I'm still not sure how I feel or what I'm going to do about Georgina's revelation the other week. I'm probably just going to stick my head in the sand until there comes a time where I actively have to deal with it.
"Oh, they've done it out a bit since I was last here" Rosie says as she looks around, impressed by the sights "New equipment, new bar….ooh they've even done out the swimming pool a bit. We'll all have to come for a family swim or something"
Kieran blushes. Bless him.
"Don't get ahead of yourself Rose, you know Mum's not been in water in seventeen years" Jack replies with a laugh "You've got more chance of extracting blood from a stone than getting her in water"
"Ms De Burgh says never assume something is impossible, you never know what's just around the corner" Rosie snaps back in a know-it-all manner
"Yeah, if I pushed Mum in the pool then she'd have no choice but to swim" Aiden pipes up, contributing to the conversation for the first time since his grunt at Rosie about two hours ago. "Rosie, d'you reckon you could drive me to school next week?"
"I guess" Rosie replies, sounding confused.
Oh my god.
No.
No.
This is literally the best thing to have ever happened to me. Aiden fancies Rosie. Oh my god. I should have realized. He never normally shuts the fuck up when there's someone like Rosie around who can mock but he's….being nice to her.
Is Aiden…..human?
As everyone else walks on as Marcus continues to give Rosie a self-appointed tour, I grab Jack and pull him to one side
"Ouch Eli, you're nipping me. What?" he asks
"Aiden fancies Charlotte" I tell him gleefully
"Oh don't be so ridiculous Eli, they're cousins, he's not going to fancy her" Jack says, sounding exasperated.
"Rosie fancied you and me for years. She's adopted. We're not blood related, Aiden's 15 and horny and she's a pretty girl who's being nice to him" I reply, counting the evidence on my fingers as I go on "He just asked her to drive him to school. That means he wants to be seen with her. Jack, mate, open your eyes."
"It would explain why he's been so chirpy today" Jack replies, sounding as if he's piecing the final pieces of a puzzle together "Like he couldn't do enough for Mum this morning. He helped clean out the bedroom, he even hoovered. I thought he was just trying to cover up for something he did wrong but this makes more sense now I think"
"Yeah, he's got it bad for Rosie. Oh my good. I needed this" I can't contain my glee "Oh I am going to give him so much shit for this, just you wait-"
Jack grabs my arm and pulls me back as I attempt to catch up with the group
"D'you really think that's the best idea" he asks, sounding unimpressed "Aiden's a teenager. He's probably feeling a bit insecure and a bit confused over all of this. Maybe even a little embarassed. Whatever you wanna say about blood relations Eli, she still grew up with us as our cousin"
"So, what, I should be sensitive to him?" I ask incredulously "Aiden is a sociopathic little twat Jack. He doesn't feel things"
"You just said you think he has it bad for her" Jack replies "Mate, I know it's fun for you to mess around with your little brothers, but leave this one be eh? If anything to spare Rosie of the embarassment"
"Yeah, I guess you're right, that probably wouldn't be very fair" I sigh "But if he puts one toe out of line, I am outing his weird incestual fetish. Comprende?"
"I doubt I could stop you" is all Jack replies with before heading off to catch up with the rest of the group, who are now by the swimming pool. Jack's probably right about not teasing Aiden though it's going to be very hard if he continues to act so gloriously out of character whenever Rosie's around. Even now, he's politely showing her where the towel room is.
"Eli!" Charlotte's voice rings out behind me. I turn and give her a smile as she quickly kisses me on the cheek "Your cousin arrived OK?"
"Yeah, she's over there with boy wonder" I reply, nodding my head towards Aiden and Rosie, who are now by the jacuzzi. Aiden looks to be about a second away from stripping his clothes off and inviting her in. "We think he has a crush on her"
"Awww, cute" Charlotte says with a smile "Jack told me about Kieran and Ariana. Is he okay? He's such a sweetie, I wouldn't like to think of him being sad"
"He'll be fine" I tell her "I mean, he's got me looking after him and I am the single greatest influence in the entire Universe"
Charlotte laughs and hits my arm. "Darcy's so right about you" she says "You really are arrogant but in a nice way"
"She said that about me?"
"Well, she didn't say it as nicely as that" Charlotte says, rolling her eyes "More along the lines of 'he's a complete and total arrogant prat whose arrogance sometimes paints him in an annoyingly positive light'"
I have to say, Charlotte's impression of Darcy is dead on. Jack should really keep her around if only for her mimicking abilities.
I've ended up being wedged between Marcus and Aiden at dinner, and what's worse is that means I'm opposite my mother. I don't know how I got separated from the two people at this table I actually wanted to sit with but hey ho, things happen. Alessandro's is the fanciest place in town so being opposite my mother as she breathes in the fact she's here is not the worst thing in the world. She's wearing faux fox fur because "it's the done thing Elijah" even though since we've been here, literally no one else is wearing it and we've had more funny looks than admiring once since we were seated. Rosie's at the head of the table with Jack and Kieran on either side of her. Next to me, Aiden looks just as pissed off as I am to be sitting where we are. No doubt he wanted to be near Rosie but Dad – as sharp as I am – steered him down towards me.
"This dinner sucks" Aiden grumbled
"Oh dear, do hush, this is the best food in town" Mum says, as her plate of oysters arrive. She doesn't even like oysters. She just ordered them to boast. Rosie gulps as she sees the plates arrive, clearly it's now dawning on her just how much this meal is going to cost. I shoot her a sympatehtic smile as she rolls her eyes.
Aiden has ordered chicken nuggets and chips from the kids menu. I hate to sound like my mother but he really does have no sense of class. Mum, now, she has way too much but I don't think it's wrong to try and show some pride and dignity every now and again. How does Aiden expect to bone his adopted cousin with this kind of attitude anyway? He's already at a loss considering Rosie still thought he was twelve until Marcus corrected her. Kieran looks glum. I keep having to remind myself that this is just day one of his post-Ariana world and I can't keep expecting to look over and see him suddenly light up.
"Eli, can you get me a proper drink?" Aiden pipes up all of a sudden in a whisper. Marcus is transfixed on Mum trying to swallow her oysters to notice us.
"Be good and maybe" I whisper back "And maybe start eing a bit more grateful that Rosie's taken us all out here. It's going to cost her a lot of money."
"Whatever" Aiden shrugs before slouching back down in his seat and pulling out his phone, no doubt to text his friends about how lame and boring I am.
"Aiden, put that phone away whilst we're eating" Dad orders him from the end of the table opposite to Rosie "Honestly, you are so anti-social, your brothers were never this way. Look at Eli. He's always been the life and soul of the party"
"Being the biggest slag of the lot does not equal being social" Aiden bites back before huffing and leaving the table to head to the bathroom
"Nice try Dad" I say, raising my glass of red wine to me. He does the same and shoots me a wink before returning his attention to my mother who after ten minutes is still only one oyster in.
Aiden returns and the meal soon gets back to normal. Everyone eats and chats. Mum decides to order a side salad and give up on her oysters, everything is going well until a little chink on a glass disturbs the flow. Rosie is now standing up and clearly about to make some kind of big announcement.
"Hey, so, if I could just get everybody's attention for a few minutes" she announces "Thanks, I just first of all wanted to say thanks to you guys for letting me come and stay with you over the Christmas period. I'm really happy to be back with my cousins and my aunt and uncle, you all know, I love you-"
Aiden's drooling
"Now, I do have to confess that I do have something of an ulterior motive for coming here to stay for a while-"
Interesting. Maybe she's homeless
"Well, you see, my company has a new job opening and if I fill it then…well, I get part commission and a bit of a bonus" Rosie continues on "So, I was thinking to myself, where the heck do I know two intelligent dynamic guys over the age of eighteen who are looking for permenant work. And, I thought, my cousins of course!"
"So, you came all this way to offer Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Twat a job" Aiden barks, looking very pissed off.
"In essence, yes" Rosie replies happily "I mean, not formally or anything, but if Eli or Jack are interested in the position then I can get them an interview with Ms De Burgh and they could start as early as the 4th of January"
Work in advertising? Me? Well, I guess it wouldn't be too bad. If it was going wrong I could always just resort to exploiting my body to whomever I'm trying to pitch too in order to get us the win. Can't say I've ever thought about.
"So, this job would be down in London?" Jack asks, looking at Charlotte who gives him a smile and a shrug
"Interested Jackie?" Rosie asks, sounding hopeful
"I'll have to give it some thought" he replies. She nods then looks to me just as I'm about to take a large sip of red wine.
"Same" I say "I'll have a think over the next few days and get back to you. Sorry, but it is a lot to land on our laps this quickly"
"Don't worry, totes understand" says Rosie sitting back down "I just thought one of you earning the wage I'm on might help you out of the frankly dire financial state your family is in"
Dad coughs loudly as myself, my brothers and my mother all turn to him with confused expressions on our faces. Dad shoots Rosie a furious glare and she blushes as she realizes she's said something she really wasn't meant too.
"What does she mean?" Mum asks sternly
"We'll talk about it at home" Dad replies
"We'll talk about it now" Mum yells. Everyone is a bit taken aback. Rosie looks utterly mortified at the situation "Now, I will ask again. What did Rosie mean?"
"We're struggling, you know that" Dad says with a laugh. I put my head in my hands. I always know when Dad's trying to underplay something really serious. There is a very tense mood in the air all of a sudden. "It's just a cash flow problem, dear, nothing to worry about. We need the boys to be in good jobs – you know this"
"Yes, but I'm wondering what our niece knows that I don't" Mum is really not backing down on this one "Why is she more in the picture than your wife?"
"You need to tell them" Rosie states plainly from the other end of the table. Jack and I briefly make eye contact when I turn to look at Rosie, both of us clearly thinking the same thing.
Dad's defaulted on the mortgage payments. We're going to lose the house.
"Dad, just tell us, are we going to be out on the streets?" Jack asks simply
"No" Dad replies firmly "No, we are not. I've sorted it."
"Sorted it. How have you sorted it?" Mum asks venemously. "Oh I don't believe this, the bank of big brother saves the day again, how much for this time?"
"Nothing. I don't owe Charles anything" Dad sighs "Well, I do, but I've been paying it off monthly for a while. The tune of a grand or so a month"
"So, how much are you paying back in monthly installments Dad?" Jack asks
"It's not payback installments" Rosie pipes up as Dad's lip quavers "It's rent. My dad bought your house. He owns it now, technically, you're all just his tenants"
I down the glass of red wine. Mum looks heartbroken and has tears in her eyes. Though they're clearly tears born of anger than sadness.
"How could you not tell me?" she asks Dad. He looks ashamed of himself and merely looks down at his own lap.
We settle up and head out to the cars. Dad walks home. I feel like someone should go with him but right now I don't want it to be me. Rosie keeps on apologizing and Mum for once in her life is utterly silent, the first in the car she has merely just been sitting in the front seat looking out at nothing. Aiden and Kieran volunteer to walk home with Dad, I think neither of them has quite grasped the seriousness of the situation, but I'm glad that they're doing it all the same. I don't want anything bad to happen to the old fool even if he's acted monumentally stupidly and insensitively. Jack's clearly furious and Marcus is just confused.
I don't really know how I feel. I'm furious with Dad but I also feel a little bit guilty because, to tell you the truth, I saw this coming. Not to this extent but Dad tells me things he doesn't even tell the others, not even Mum, so maybe I should have done more to find out what was going on. Not that I could have done much.
"Mate, if it's alright, I'm gonna go back to Charlotte's tonight" Jack says awkwardly as he approaches me "I just can't be around Dad right now"
"Right, so you're just going to leave me to deal with all this?" I snap back at him. Of all the times for Jack to chose to be selfish. "Cheers"
"I'm sorry, I'll be back in the morning I just need to calm down" Jack goes on, acting like he's not throwing me in the deep end
"Fine. Do want you want" I say sharply before opening the car door. Just going to pretend I'm not driving after 3 glasses of red wine
"Oh plese Eli, it's for the best" Charlotte chimes in "Just until everyone calms down, we don't need anymore fighting"
"I suspect this is really interesting for you Charlotte" I snap "Seeing a family actually have to worry about money for once. No doubt you'll be straight on the phone to Darcy, dishing about how unfortunate we all are"
Charlotte looks hurt and I know I'm a twat. This has nothing to do with her. Jack looks even more furious and painfully pins me against the car door.
"Don't you ever talk to her again like that in front of me again" he says angrily "D'you understand me? Not ever"
I push Jack off of me as Marcus and Mum's attention is drawn to Jack and myself. I feel so angry right now that nothing would give me more pleasure than smashing Jack's face in
"Fine Jack. You go" I tell him "But don't think you are ever going to be able pretend that you're the nice and strong one that's always here for all of us anymore. Because all you are is a people pleaser and coward. Run away. Go and live with Charlotte for all I care. At least you'll have somewhere to go if we do get chucked out onto the streets"
Mum lets out a sob upon hearing those words, Marcus puts a comforting arm around her and Charlotte leads a speechless Jack away.
Fucking coward.
Author's Notes:
Hey, hey, hey. We're just going to pretend like the 21 months since I last updated this story didn't happen and that I just uploaded this the day after I uploaded C28.
For real though, SO sorry for the intolerably long absence. Life got wayyyyy on top of me. Since my last update I graduated Uni, spent a Summer in America working as a counsellor and am now working as a Teaching Assistant. Busy life. But I do actually have more time on my hands now. TA's pretty much just seem to turn up, help and then leave which gives me a lot of free time to write. Expect more updates, I got a real bug for writing for Elijah again.
PLEASE feel free to drop a review however long or short. I need to know whether I managed to re-capture the tone and the characters after so long away.
Promise it won't be as long next time, and hey, maybe someone will discover this story for the very first time and get a straight 29 chapters without the wait. Who knows?
Many thanks,
Jess
