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Chapter 4: Macaroni and Cheese

I turned around to come face to face with Eric. Well, the macaroni splattered face of Eric.

"Oh my God! I am so sorry! I,I ,I startle really easily." I stammered. He simply put a hand up to stop me from blabbering even more. He reached for a spoon and scraped the macaroni off his face. He popped the spoon into his mouth and had a few moments of contemplation.

He broke his concentration and said," Murat mab."

"What?!"

He held up a finger as if to say 'wait a minute".

He swallowed and said," Not bad," with emphasis on his pronunciation. He grabbed a napkin and finished wiping his face off.

We got out of line, grabbed a drink and sat down at the table in the center of the room where Lizzy was already sitting.

"Hey, Elen! What took you so long? Never mind you should really try the macaroni and cheese! This stuff is awesome!" Lizzy said with all her focus on her food not even bothering to look up.

"Yeah. I know. Elen, here…suggested that I try some." Eric said. Lizzy's head shoot right up at the sound of a masculine voice.

"It's Helen, not Elen. That's just what Lizzy calls me" I said gesturing to Lizzy, turning the conversation her way, how I knew she wanted it to be, I could see it in her eyes.

"Lizzy, Eric. Eric, Lizzy."

"Hey. So … you two roommates?" Eric asked waving he fork at us.

"Yeah." Lizzy responded before I could even open my mouth. She really liked him, I could tell that much. She also seemed to be a bit nervous; I saw that her pupils restricted just the tiniest bit. The only reason I could find that would explain her freak out is that hot guys don't really talk to her. I don't see how that could be though, not to be lesbian, but she is hot.

"So… are you spending time with your uncle for Christmas and this was the only way?" I asked Eric.

"Who's his uncle?" Lizzy asked, putting her two cents in.

"The captain of the boat," Eric replied.

"Anyway, ah… no. My parents wanted me out of the house so that we could move in." he continued.

"Where you moving to?" I asked.

"Some wimpy town in New Jersey called Mount Laurel." He answered as he shifted his food around on his plate.

"Mount Laurel isn't some wimpy town in New Jersey." I protested with my arms crossed.

"How the hell would you know that?" he asked with a single eyebrow raised. I was about to answer until I say that tell-tale guilty look plastered all over Lizzy's face.

"What?" Lizzy asked when she realized that I was staring at her.

"Did you friend at the front desk tell you that bit of info too?" I asked as I beginning to get even more ticked off as the seconds passed.

"Maybe."

"What bit of info?" Eric asked seeing how he was a little slow on the uptake.

"She's from Mt. Laurel," Lizzy answered with a small, fake, awkward smile.

"You know, I am fully capable of answering questions myself," I retorted. How I hated when people answer for someone else. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Eric's face as he realized his mistake.

"You know, I've never actually been there," Eric began with his excuses. I simply held up a hand to shut him up.

"You're forgiven."

"Maybe, it'll be better since I know someone there," He said with a devilish grin as he casually scratched the back of his head.

I was a little ticked off at him so I turned to Lizzy and asked," So,.. why are you here?"

"Well,… You guys may not believe this but I'm an orphan from the make a wish foundation." Lizzy said a bit shyly, which only cements my hypothesis that she is nervous around boys. Something stood out in her statement though, she was an orphan. The words orphan and Elizabeth seemed to click for some reason. Somewhere, in the far corners of my mind, I knew the connection between the two.

"Well,… I made a wish to have a six week vacation on the water and this is what I got." She continued. I could tell that she was torn between flirting with Eric and hiding from him in some dark depressing corner. I could tell that she was sitting up straighter than normal and that she was thrusting her cheat out ever so slightly, but she hesitated to speak. It wasn't natural to her.

"And you?" Eric asked completely ignoring Lizzy, who was fixing her hair.

"My parents decided to go on their second honeymoon on their fifteenth anniversary. So they dumped me here so that they could go to Alaska for three weeks." I explained.

"That's so romantic," Lizzy said as she stared at Eric's profile.

"Not for me." I grumbled.

"Oh shit! I have watch in five minutes!" Eric exclaimed as he looked at his watch. He ate all of his macaroni in five bites, shoved his whole chicken in his mouth and ran out the door with his tray. Two moments later he came rushing back in and dumped his tray.

"We have watch from three to six by the way," Lizzy said as she pushed away her tray after Eric's unappetizing exit.

"So we have watch right after Eric then," I stated.

"No, three to six in the morning," Lizzy contradicted me.

"You're kidding, right?!" I asked.

"Nope. And not about this either, I call dibs." She said.

"No, I saw him first and you can hardly talk to him"

"You didn't see him first! Your back was turned when he first walked in here and I saw him then. So there." She said contentedly with her arms folded across her chest. She either knew about her self-consciousness around guys, didn't want to talk about it, or she was in denial.

I leaned slightly forward and said," This isn't the first time I've seen him,"

"I, but, you…. Oh" she said as it finally dawned on her.

"So that's who your mother was talking about,"

Thanks for reading!