Eli bent down and peered deeper into the fridge.

Orange juice, yoghurt, milk, left over casserole, sausages for tonight, carrot.

Eli reached in and grabbed the yoghurt, closing the fridge door he turned around and fumbled in a draw, pulling out a spoon.

"Rick?"

Eli turned around, just as Lily entered the kitchen.

"He's over at my place doing some work" Eli said bluntly, and walked over to take a seat at the kitchen table.

Lily nodded "what time did he leave?" she asked tentatively.

Eli glanced down at his watch; 8:15; "he left here at about 6:00, he wont be back for a while" Eli said, and spooned some yoghurt into his mouth.

"Oh" Lily said, and slowly walked toward the coffee pot, pulling out a mug from a cupboard and pouring herself some.

LILY I feel incredibly guilty. I turned into the stepmother from hell. And I know Eli hates me, he has every right to!

"Eli-" Lily breathed, and Eli lifted his head to look at her.

But just as she went to open her mouth, the phone rang, and she looked at him sympathetically as she darted across to answer it.

"Hello?" she said, and paused for a moment "oh, hi honey" she said sweetly.

Eli felt his stomach knot; she must be talking to Grace.

"Everything ok over there? You working hard at the restaurant?"

Eli felt his entire body stiffen as Lily talked sweetly with her daughter. But as she turned around, about to lean against the kitchen table, she saw Eli- wide eyed and mouth hanging open, and she turned her back to him- and started whispering.

"Yes, really? Ok, well Eli is moving into his new place in a few days- and you can come home-"

Eli looked back down at his yoghurt, he wanted to jump up and snatch the phone from Lily's hand- but he restrained himself.

"- Where is his place?" Lily repeated the words with a hint of worry in her tone, and Eli's heart did a twist "- somewhere on the other side of town-" Lily said vaguely, and Eli felt like strangling her! "-Yes well anyway, Zoë and Jessie really miss you! And everybody else is fine"

Eli clenched his fists, is he 'everybody else'?

"-Well I might stop by later today and see how your doing" Lily said "-Ok, bye bye sweety" and she hung up the phone, turning on her heel she was met with a stony glare from Eli.

She went to open her mouth, but decided instead to grab her coffee and head back to her room; to get changed.

Eli suddenly had no appetite; he rose from his chair and dropped the yoghurt in the bin.

"Hey! I would have eaten that!" Jessie entered the kitchen just in time to see Eli drop his yoghurt in the bin.

"Sorry" he mumbled as he walked past her.

JESSIE I guess It's hard to tell your mind to stop loving someone when your heart still does...

She watched as Eli plonked himself on the couch, and began channel surfing impatiently.

ELI Love makes life SO confusing (scratches his head nervously) but without love, who would want to live?

Eli flicked through the channels, not really watching the images as they skidded by; he was only thinking about Grace- really, he was trying to not think about Grace-, which only made him think about her more…..


Grace looked down at her blank page, and then glanced back at the maths question.

Who cares what 16x – 8 + 78x equals? I mean, seriously!

"Maths-" Grace looked up to see Damien peering over her shoulder "-I hate that subject" he said.

Grace smiled, and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear "Yeah, me too" she said.

Damien nodded, and turned around, heading back to the kitchen.

The restaurant wasn't going to open for another hour, but everything needed to get se up; and Grace thought that she could sneak away and fit in some homework, instead of helping out everyone else with the tables and chairs.

Damien entered the kitchen to find a dozen or so waitresses and bus boys sitting down and leaning against the large work tables, chatting amongst themselves.

"Damien! Got a smoke?" Somebody asked, and Damien shook his head- walking to sit in between Elle, the raven haired perky (and nosy) waitress and Michael, the dopey brown haired, acne faced bus boy she was trying to chat up.

"So, you like- stuff?" she asked sweetly, annoyed that Damien had come and sat between her and Michael.

"Yeah" Michael responded; he was craving a cigarette and couldn't concentrate!

Elle sighed, she wasn't getting anywhere with him!

She looked down slyly at Damien, a smile creeping onto her face.

"So, you into the boss's daughter, eh?" She said wickedly, and Damien turned to look at her.

"Maybe" he replied, knowing Elle couldn't wait to dig her claws into him; despite the fact that she had great legs, nice ass and huge tits; she was a mega bitch!

"So what?" he said, and turned away, pretending to listen into Andrea's conversation with the trainee cook.

"Oh! Poor Damien! Haven't you heard?" Elle smiled wider, she now had everyone's attention by the way she'd exaggerated her words.

"Piss of Elle" Damien said, trying to act uninterested.

Andrea lifted her head, and Elle gave her a crooked, knowing smile.

"She's taken" Elle said coldly, annoyed that Damien didn't take the same interest in her like the other bus boys did.

Damien didn't say anything, but let her go on.

"Yeah, she's got a thing going on-" she paused, knowing everyone was listening to her "- for her step brother". As she said the words everyone started muttering and whispering, a few gasps were let out and Elle smiled wider than ever as Damien looked up at her, wide eyed.

"Your full of-" Damien began, but Andrea interrupted him "No, it is totally true Damien!" she said, and the whispers started up again; Andrea was 21, a real nice girl- she would never tell a lie!

Damien swallowed, remembering the conversation he'd had with Grace last night; and how she'd told him she was single.

"And, she WAS pregnant with his KID!" Elle added, and a few laughs were let out.

"No way! " Damien turned his body to face her, and she nodded honestly "I heard Mr. Sammler talking to his ex about it" she said, and the whispers and chuckles were louder than ever.

"This is goddam sick!" Damien said, disgusted.

Elle laughed bitterly "yeah, and YOU were hitting on her!" a few people laughed, and Damien blushed.

"No, she was coming onto me!" Damien lied "I wasn't interested at all" a few more people laughed and he felt his face redden.

Just as the laughs were at their highest, Jake walked in, and everyone died down.

"Lets get to work people!" he said, and watched as everybody filed out of the kitchen and walked out to the front of the restaurant.

Everybody shot a glance at Grace, and a few more people whispered as they set up and tables and chairs.

Grace smiled as she saw Damien walk past her, but he looked at her blankly.

"Damien?" she said, and he turned to look at her.

"Yeah?" he said quietly.

Grace got off the stool and walked towards him, nervously tucking a piece of hair behind her ear "I was just wondering if you-" she began, but Damien began to panic.

"No, I really don't think it would be a good idea if I dated the boss's daughter" Damien said nervously, and Grace smiled at his twitching face.

"Actually-" she began "I was going to ask if you could switch times with me" she said, and Damien felt his face blush.

"I was looking at you're roster, and I wanted to know if I could work at 4:00 and you take my place at 7:00?" she said, and Damien felt his face really burn up.

"Oh, err, sorry- yeah I guess so," he said, and Grace smiled "thanks" she said, and turned- walking back to the bar.

GRACE It would be wrong of my to flirt- or even consider dating when my heart still…..kinda…..belongs to someone else.


AUTHORS NOTE

Are we liking the story? I don't know if I'm gonna give it a happy ending….maybe I'll be very Shakespearian and turn it into a tragedy (Romeo an Juliet!) Happily ever after's are grossly over-rated.

Hmmm, but I am LOVING all the reviews I have received. Thankyou so much to all of you who have posted reviews on this fic.

I would really appreciate more! I just love getting em!

Continue reading, PLEASE! The next chapter is already in the making, I hope I'm not posting them too quickly; but my holidays are turning out to be a bit of a bummer, and being the little fan fic geek that I am, I cant help pouring myself into this fic (which is turning out to be one of my favourites!)

Okay, I doubt anyone is reading this author's note (I know I cant be stuffed reading them when other people post them in their fics) So I'll shut up and get back to writing the next chapter…..have a god one, and keep reading!