Lillian was insufferable. The second day of her visit, after she was finished with her meeting (very early in the afternoon) she spent every second annoying whatever member of the Bennett family she could. As soon as Jacob got back from work, she would not leave his side, constantly talking. Jacob endured her politely, until late in the night Michael and Kevin started discussing Chloe, at which point she started losing interest.
From that moment on, Eli became the object of her attention. She spent the rest of the night talking to him, and the next two days, every minute he was home, she would follow him into any room. Every time he dared make eye contact with her, she would suddenly smile and run her fingers through her hair.
On the fourth day, Thursday, it was Eli's day off, and the first day Lillian had free. Desperate to avoid Lillian's company, he invited Chase over. The two set up in the living room playing Call of Duty, but this was no deterrent for her.
"Well, good morning sunshine," she said, strutting as best she could through the living room, squeezing herself in between the two. "I've got the whole day free, and I hope you will help keep it occupied."
"Don't worry about it," said Chase, who had Dorito crumbs strewn on his beard.
"I'm trying to concentrate right now," said Eli, as Lillian rested her head on his shoulder. "And guess what, I've got a surprise. I was talking this morning to my boss, Caleb Anderson, and he said I asked if I could get one of my vacation weeks off earlier than scheduled. Well, it looks like I get to stay here an extra few days – right until next Friday! Isn't it wonderful?"
Chase made up for Eli's lost for words. "Wow, you work for Caleb Anderson?"
"Yes. An amazing man. Really."
"Hey guys," said Michael, who entered the room along with Kevin, both of them dressed up in their best. "We're going to the mall."
"Wanna come along?" said Kevin. Michael elbowed him in the ribs, but it was too late.
"Oh no, I'm fine here. Me and Eli will keep each other entertained."
"Um, you know what, I'd love to join you guys," said Eli. "Come on Chase, we can finish the game later."
"Oh, wonderful, a trip to the mall!" smiled Lillian. Eli's relief was not fully dashed, it would be easier to get away from her there, after all.
"Are you going to the mall?" James' head appeared from round the hallway door. Eli did not realize he had been standing there. "Can I come too?" The other Bennetts looked at him in disbelief, but not wanting to discourage his sudden desire to willingly leave the house, nobody said anything.
With the six of them all going, they thought they might as well invite Jacob too, since he wasn't working until the evening. They piled into the Bennetts' minivan. Eli, quite motivated, ran to the car fast enough to grab shotgun. With Kevin and Michael taking the middle row, this left James and Chase to entertain Lillian's conversation in the back of the van.
"Oh, I so love this place," said Lillian, when they had arrived at Square One. "It's really wonderful. It's almost as nice as the malls back home."
"You don't say?" said James. Well, at least he finds her interesting, thought Eli.
"Yo, what up," Michael shouted into his cell phone. "So me and my bros are just cruisin' around the place, where you want that we should meet you?"
"Right ahead of you, maybe?" Michael looked up, and there was Sofia, along with a group of equally dumb looking girls.
"Ah."
"Hey all, nice to see you," she said. "Come on, I want to get some coffees. My friend works at this coffee shop down the hall, sometimes she'll even give me free stuff if there's no one around. Let's go."
The gang almost filled the entire small café, they took up all but one table. Eli sat with Jacob at a small table right by the mall entrance. Then he noticed the waitress. She had light-brown, wavy hair that ran along her back, and smooth complexion, lush full lips, and striking green eyes. He saw her approach the table, and almost forgot where he was. She smiled, but it was a huge plastered-on smile like he had endured so much from Lillian these last few days. It was subtle, but beautiful. Without realizing he found he was smiling back at her. She was staring so intently into his eyes, he could feel it.
"May I have you order, sir?"
"Oh, guys, this is my friend I was telling you about," said Sofia. "Can you get us free stuff?"
"Hi, I'm Eli Bennett. It's nice to meet you."
"Genesis Williams. It's nice to meet you too." She took down everyone's orders, and when she returned with his, he asked,
"So, how long have you worked here?"
"Not long. I just started. I'm kind of new in town."
"Oh really? Why'd you move here?"
"It was somewhere new. I don't tend to stay in the same place very long."
"Well that's too bad to hear. Why is that?"
"I hate to go on about myself, but if you really want to know…"
"I do. You seem very interesting."
"Thanks. About a year ago, I was in my last year of college, when I suddenly realized, my life was so empty. Here I was, spending all my time studying and working, and stressing myself out, over what? A piece of paper? And what would that get me? A job? I realized that wasn't enough to make me happy. So I quit school. Ever since I've just been sort of travelling around, exploring new places, meeting new people. I want to find the real me. I take small odd jobs now and then to survive, but I'm really out of touch with the material world."
"Wow."
"Insane, I know. Everyone says so."
"No. No, not at all. That's inspiring. It's beautiful. I mean, I've always dreamed of doing something like that. Just tossing away all my responsibilities and heading out in the world on my own. I could never actually do it, though. You're very brave."
"Don't be too hard on yourself, Eli. Don't let what other people say you should worry about bother you. At the end of the day, what really matters is what makes you happy. The world's got a lot to offer a person willing to look. Especially to a boy as cute as you."
"Hey everyone," said Sofia, standing up and shouting to all. "Just a reminder, I am having a party tomorrow, and you are all invited."
"Will you be going, Genesis?" asked Eli.
"Maybe. If you are."
Jacob was staring intently into his coffee, pretending he was not hearing any of this. Eli was trying to think of what to reply, when he heard,
"Jacob, is that you?" He and his brother looked up, and there was Chloe Brown, her arms weighed down with shopping bags. "What a great surprise seeing you here!"
"Hey, Chloe, what are you doing here."
"Well, my photo shoot for today got cancelled, so Faith and I decided to go for a bit of shopping…"
Eli looked up, and saw trailing behind Chloe, standing firm and confidently, was Faith. But in a second, her composure was gone. Faith's eyes widened as if in horror, and then narrowed in fury. Eli turned around to see what Faith could be staring at, but saw only Genesis standing behind him. But then, Genesis looked just as shocked as Faith. The two women stared each other down, and Eli's head darted back and forth, hoping to understand what was happening.
"Let's go. Let's go now," said Faith suddenly, tugging on Chloe's arm.
"But Faith –"
"I'll explain later, but we have to leave right away." Chloe quickly said her goodbyes to Jacob, and the two were gone. Eli wondered if he should ask, but Genesis had also turned away, going behind the counter without another word.
Eli kept thinking of her the rest of the day, as he followed his brothers and their friends in and out of more stores than he could keep track of. And although Chase was doing his best to help spare Eli from her, he still was stuck listening to Lillian once in a while.
"I have to say, your friend Sofia is so delightful. Really. She's sweet, and elegant and funny. Why, she's one of the nicest young women I've ever met in my life. She was so polite to me even though we just met. Really. Even inviting me to a party at her house. What an amazing woman…"