I could be lonely with you

Tonight we raise a fire

“So let me get this one straight…”

           It had been three days since she and Aleš had reconnected and it seemed like three days since they’d been apart. Not that she was exactly complaining. She’d missed his friendship. More than that, it was nice to have someone around who actually knew her without any of the pretenses.

           Digging into the half gallon she scooped up ice cream and plopped it into his waiting bowl as she glanced up at him, urging him to continue his sentence as she divvied up ice cream portions.

“Your friends are completely oblivious to the fact that you and Eliot have a history? They don’t know anything about…”

           Picking up a handful of the M&M’s off of the counter top she threw them in the male’s face. Of course, his smirk was intoxicating and she found herself rolling her eyes just to try and pacify him as he caught a couple of the candies in his mouth and chewed.

           This was breakfast on a Monday morning, not exactly the best of choices but she didn’t exactly care. As of lately she hadn’t entirely cared about much.

“Weren’t you guys friends when…”

           Sure, she’d been friends with Abby and Evie but that didn’t mean that she’d actually shared with them anything about her life. She’d kept them at arms length till they’d made it to college, only telling them the things they needed to know, and nothing personal.

           She wasn’t sure exactly how to defend herself to Aleš, the whole thing seemed weird to say the least. The more she tried to figure out what to say to him the muddier the story got. It didn’t help that Aleš was one of the few people who knew the truth about her and Eliot.

“Yeah, but… we weren’t close. I don’t feel like dealing with their questions. If I told them that Eliot and I…”

            Feeling a pull at her shirt she turned to look at him, without any of the candies still in her hand. A second later he’d pulled her in closer to him, his arms wrapping around her torso and holding her there. It was an odd feeling still, one she wasn’t quite sure how right she felt about it all, but one she was going with nonetheless.

           Having someone want her despite the truths that he knew was like a breath of fresh air. Of course, Aleš didn’t know everything, but he knew more about her than Abby and Evie did.

“I like this whole arrangement. You two not being together anymore I mean.”

           He’d always lingered on her a little too long. She’d caught him time and time again staring at her when Eliot wasn’t looking. Though she’d always thought that maybe it was all in her head, as if she’d only imagined it for some reason or other.

           With the ice cream left behind for the moment she tilted her head to the side and felt his lips breeze over her neck, lingering in places. She shouldn’t have felt guilty for any of this, but of course there was a part of her that felt like what she was doing was wrong, as if she shouldn’t have been anywhere near him. After all, he and Eliot were still friends, this was breaking code, this was probably endangering their friendship.

“Oh yeah?”

           She questioned, teasing, as she closed her eyes and allowed for his lips to find hers as she shut her eyes and requited his kiss.  

           If someone had told her that this is where they would be during their first meeting she probably would have laughed hysterically and called it impossible. Then again if someone had told her then that she and Eliot weren’t one another’s missing pieces it would have been unthinkable to her. then again she’d been just a kid at sixteen.

“You know that he’s probably not going to be okay with this right?”

           Checking on their friendship was something she probably shouldn’t have been doing. Aleš had made the conscious decision to not put their friendship front and center when he’d chosen to go home with her as it was. Besides, considering the fact that he was dating her best friend did he really have room to say anything? Why did she even care?

           Because there was a part of her that would always worry about Eliot. Just like the fact that there was a part of her that knew that she shouldn’t have been doing anything with Aleš when it was going to hurt Eliot as much as she knew it was going to. It made her uneasy to think about.

“Is this really something we should be talking about when we have ice cream to eat?”

It’s not much of a life you’re living

“Atlee, calm down”

          Calming down was out of question though, she could tell that even he knew better than that as his stressed green eyes landed on her. Coming back into the room with a cup of chamomile tea he sat down beside her and held it out to her. Her hands shook as she reached out for it, the liquid in the glass sloshing around as she attempted to lift it up to her lips. She knew he was just trying to help with it, but this was only making her worse.

          This was her own fault.

           After spending an entire week in panic, not knowing what to do, going back and forth from Indie’s couch to Corie’s she’d found herself more than exhausted. Sleep had been worse than it had been when it came to dealing with Abby’s nightmares. Between her lack of sleep and the nerves that had sat in the back of her mind over how she was supposed to handle everything on her own she’d finally done it.

          The pill had tasted like chalk, washed down with a large swallow of bourbon that she’d regretted with fervor instantly. It had been in that moment that she’d gone straight into the bathroom at the club and jammed her fingers down her throat trying to expel the pill she’d swallowed as her mind crawled to a million different types of blame to press on herself.

          From there, with the makeup streaming down her face she’d gone straight to Eliot’s. A shaking mess she’d hardly been able to get the words out to him. It had been instantly in that moment that she saw the regret of the past week in his eyes, the guilt eating him away the same way as they were eating her.

“Bruiser, you need to calm down okay? I’m trying to figure out who to call exactly.”

          He’d gotten up and started pacing back and forth as she clamored with the teacup in her hand attempting to remember how to breathe. Why had she done it? What had she actually been thinking? If anything happened she was never going to forgive herself.

          It wasn’t as if they could just go to the ER, they couldn’t tell a doctor what had happened, what she had done. Not when the pills were ones that never should have been in their possession without a doctor knowing. They were already in hot water at the hands of his mother, the last thing they needed was anymore than that going on.

“I don’t know why I even took it. I…”

          The words made him stop his pacing then she noticed and she braced herself for his yell, figuring that that would come next. Because she should have known better than to take the pill, she’d put herself in this position, he’d been panicked and had given them to her out of fear that his crazy mother would have made things worse.

          Instead of yelling though she felt him place his hand on her cheek, cupping it as he stared into her eyes, making her almost feel a wave of calm come over her for a moment.

“I know Bruiser. This is my fault. You only took one of the pills though baby, the mouse is going to be strong like momma okay? We’re going to be okay. I promise you that.”

          She knew that he was trying to pacify her, trying to make her feel better even if he wasn’t entirely sure of his words either. They didn’t know what the outcome of this would be. She wanted to believe that the drug wasn’t enough to end things, but it didn’t mean that she exactly trusted those thoughts though.

          Bringing the teacup to her lips she took another small sip of the warm liquid inside of it, as if tea was going to calm either one of them down and get either one of them to not feel like the world could have been coming to an end at any second.

          It was as she moved that she felt him move suddenly too, his hand slipping then against her abdomen, soothing them both as he run his hand back and forth over the bump that had just begun to take shape the week before. It was only in that second that she felt better than she had in the entire week.

“What if it’s not okay? Where do we go from here?”

          His eyes were clenched up when she turned enough to glance down at him, like the words were too much for him to hear. It reminded her of that night, the night that Mallory had been born. The way he’d tried so hard to make everything around him go away just by shutting his eyes. She’d watched him with the baby in his arms for as long as she’d been able to. Memorizing his pain, just as she was doing now.

          His hand was still on her stomach, he was still trying to sooth them both with the rhythm of his rubbing. She just wished it was working, that either one of them could let go of the sinking feeling that she knew he could feel too.  

“We’re not going to worry about that right now. It’s not going to come to that.”

          Though as he got his final words out she clasped her hand over his as her stomach began to cramp up, the evidence blatant on her face.

When everything’s made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am

The fact that he’d asked her to join him in the cellar of the bar had been unnerving enough. Seeing his dead eyes had made it just that much worse. Aided with the fact that he hadn’t said two words to her couldn’t have made her anymore uncomfortable.

This wasn’t something she’d ever truly experienced with him, the feeling of discomfort. Only when she’d been appeasing the fact that he was with Evie, and that hadn’t been for a year now. This just felt out of place and unusual and it scared her more than anything else.

“Eliot… you’re starting to scare me.”

           She studied his eyes, still seeing no ounce of break in them.

“Atlee. I’m gonna give you an out.”

           Reaching into his pocket he pulled out two medicine bottles and placed them in front of her. Looking between him and the bottles she hesitated for moment before lifting them up and studying them closely for a moment.

“Misoprostol? Mifepristone? …Eliot”

           Instantly the sick feeling washed over her as she held the two medicine vials in her hand, turning them over and over without looking at him, instead she studied the pill bottles. Her unease had only worsened.

           Where was this coming from? She couldn’t understand it, any of it.

“It’ll…”

           He started and she shook her head dismissing him. She knew what the drugs were, she’d been there before, and she’d taken them and felt them work little more than a year past now.

“I know what they DO Eliot, I’m asking you why you would even…”

           This was completely unwarranted. In fact, she had tired everything to call him and tell him that she’d walked out of Abby’s, that she’d called it quits on the not sleeping nights and he’d been the one to ignore every phone call. If he was here to be an asshole about all of that he was doing a damn good job of hiding it. This was pushing it more than too far.

           Protectively she wrapped her empty arm around herself. Her hand spreading out over the rounding that was beginning to take place. Just days ago he’d been in protective mode, not this cold and inept mood he’d somehow found himself.

“My mother knows Atlee.”

           All of this secretive talk was beginning to make her head throb. Headaches were a killer during pregnancy when you couldn’t take the typical medications. Although with the drugs in her hand she could have done whatever. The thought made her wince.

“So what? I’m not hiding this pregnancy… can’t exactly hide a baby in six months.”

           Granted she’d done that once but it was beside the point.

           His strained features didn’t change, instead, if it were even possible, his green eyes seemed to glimmer with pain more so when she made her comment.

“No Atlee. She knows about Mallory. She knows what we did.”

           And just like that she felt like the floor had just dropped out from underneath her. She could understand exactly why his eyes looked so dead and lost all of a sudden. The room felt too small, she was too claustrophobic.

“I know”

           She said quietly as she looked down at the table, going back to being fourteen for a moment. The day that the wicked woman had called her into the office to attempt to buy her out from continuing the pregnancy. She’d been nearly six months pregnant by that point and she’d neglected to say a single thing to Eliot about the meeting with his mother.

           Eliot’s eyes were on her when she looked up finally, they were the size of boulders and all she could see was a mixture of confusion and hurt in them. She had no other choice but to explain it to him.

“What do you mean, you know?”

           Placing the vials down on the table she pushed the chair back as she stood up from her spot and started to pace back and forth.

“I was a couple of months along and she tried to pay me to end it.”

           There was a pointed look she shot at him that seemed to go unnoticed. What she hadn’t expected was for a bottle of liquor to fly past her head and smash against the wall, the contents of the liquor and glass splattering all over. That anger flare was the type that she hated most about him. The flare that she hadn’t seen in years now. The sound of the clatter made her jump.

           Turning to him she lowered a glare.

“Capital punishment Atlee. She’ll push for it and you know she’ll get it. Especially with him running for office, the friends that they have… I did everything, everything to not confirm anything for her, figuring all she had was circumstantial evidence.”

           Brushing the liquid that had hit her sleeve off she looked down, making sure that none of the glass from his little outburst had hit her before she made her way back over to the table.

“So what do we do Eliot? Just pretend that all of this is nothing? What strings is she trying to pull this time? Marrying you off to Florence? Making you run for an office? And what, I’m just supposed to take those pills and forget?”

           Watching Eliot as he lowered his head into his hands she knew that she wasn’t going to get anymore conversation out of him about the whole thing. Because that was Eliot did, he shut down and blocked her out when he was done talking.

           Snatching the pill bottles off of the table she headed past him towards the door. This was NOT the day she wanted. Her head pounded as she slammed the door to the cellar behind her and made her way up the stairs, it was taking everything in her not to break down, not to further the weakness she felt, the fear that was consuming her.

I’d take it all back, take it all back just to have you

           Somehow over night she’d slightly popped. The little person inside was beginning to try and make itself known and she had this round shape to her abdomen that asserted itself in tight fitting clothing. Something that she knew Eliot would be proud over yet something that was going to make it a while lot more difficult to hide from Abby sooner rather than later.

           It had only been when she’d heard the door click that she’d felt comfortable enough to walk out of her room in just the thin formfitting tank top without a bluky sweatshirt over it.

“Alright mouse, how’s food sound?”

           She’d gotten in the habit of talking to it lately, something that had been difficult at first, reminding her of that first time. Of the daughter she’d held in her arms for the briefest of time.

           Padding out of her bedroom she headed for the kitchen, her hand resting against the roundness as she walked. Eliot had a point, as much as she hated to admit it. She missed sleeping beside him at night. Sure, it was something that she hadn’t done consistently in years, but it was something that by now she probably should have been doing.

           It wasn’t as if she could get away with it for too much longer. What was she supposed to do? Have the baby and then keep it from him just to keep up a charade that she have a relationship with him for Abby? Corie and Eliot never would have let that fly.

“I guess we should probably go see daddy this morning too.”

           It was a Monday, which meant that the bar wouldn’t be open tonight, which meant that he would give her even worse of a time about going back to the apartment. Not exactly what she wanted to deal with for the day, she already dreaded that conversation.

           She’d been standing in front of the fridge with a hand resting over the slight lump in her middle as she examined the contents when the door had open and left her no time to dodge out of the way or hide it. Apparently that conversation that she’d been so dreading was going to happen sooner rather than later.

“Are you talking to yourse…”

           Abby’s words stopped as she finally looked at her roommate. Atlee didn’t try to hide, instead she carefully closed the fridge and turned to face the other girl who looked both shocked and horrified. She bit her lip in reaction, this was going to be a long morning, a very long morning.

           Pulling out one of the chairs at the breakfast nook she motioned for the seat across from her.

“I think it’s time we talked Abs”

           If this had to happen at some point it was probably better just to get it over with and be honest about it all.

“Are you pregnant?”

           Why did this feel like she was lying to a significant other? Her guilt rose in her throat for a moment. This was all because of the Evie thing. Because in all honesty she didn’t feel any guilt about taking Eliot back like she probably should have. Her guilt only stood in the fact that Evie was dead and she felt like that was her fault. Just not in the area of which meant that this baby belonged to Evie’s ex fiancée.

“Who did you sleep with? Why haven’t you said anything?”

           The other girl questioned and she bit her lip again looking down at her hands for a moment before looking back up at Abby who was anxiously waiting for her to answer that question.

           Atlee prepared herself for dramatics. There was no way that dramatics weren’t going to happen with this.

“Eliot actually.”

           Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear she watched as Abby’s dark eyes grew wide before narrowing at her. There was a bubbling of anger growing within Abby that Atlee could see.

“You slept with our best friends boyfriend? How could you? Why didn’t you tell me? He was going to marry her… he was supposed to love her. Christ, she’s hardly been gone a year…”

           Yeah, this was exactly what she’d expected from this conversation. It would have been so much worse if she’d been sitting here telling Abby the whole truth, like the truth that the night Evie died he’d made the blatant choice to let her die. Now that was just truths that she’d happily keep to herself rather than sharing.

“Would you have slept with Xavier if it was me?”

           She held her tongue back from yelling. When it really came down to it Abby could say whatever she wanted, Atlee would give her some time to cool down before actually trying to apologize. As if an apology was really something she owed anyone.

“Abby don’t be dramatic.”

           Those were words she probably shouldn’t have said. She should have known that the anger that was already rising in the other girl who have only been made worse. She wasn’t wrong as she watched Abby turn her back to her and head back for the door.

           The other girl seemed to forgot who got up with her night after night when she screamed about bad dreams and memories flooding her mind.

“I can’t believe you would do something so stupid. I can’t even look at you right now.”

           With her final words, Abby slammed out of the door, the apartment shaking as she did so. The neighbors were going to love that just about as much as they loved Abigail’s screaming night after night.

           She hadn’t expected the conversation to go much better though. Really, if she was being honest part of her felt completely relieved that she was no longer keeping the secret of the baby. At least it meant that she didn’t totally have to hide herself when it was sweltering outside.

           In a few weeks she’d make an attempt to talk to Abby again, to try and et her friendship back. But for now, she really didn’t feel like hearing about how she’d hurt Evie or any of the other bullshit that came along with all of that.

You’re not broken, you’re not star-crossed 

           Today was one of those relieving days that he spent all day at the bar. The last thing she truly felt like dealing with was Eliot and his antics. Like he had no idea why she couldn’t just tell Abby the truth, she’d already hurt Abby, the last thing she wanted to was make any of it worse or more confusing.    

           However, she’d forgotten her favorite sweatshirt before she’d stormed out of the house and had no other choice but to go in there by herself and grab it. At least she hadn’t had to worry about him being around. She’d been able to slip in and out of the house and was just about to lock it and leave when the voice behind her caught her in the act.

“Baby girl, I think you owe me some information…”

           Nash.

           She clamped her eyes shut for a moment. Of course Nash knew, they’d never been able to hide much from Nash as it was. Taking a deep breath she shoved her keys into her pocket and slowly turned around

“I don’t know what you’re talking about”

           Of course Nash wasn’t about to buy that. The way she shook her head alone told Atlee just that fact. Sighing she sat down against the door, motioning for Nash to come and join her on the spot on the ground beside her. Something that Nash did without questioning it.

“I’m not saying the words Nash”

           It wasn’t because she didn’t trust Nash that she wouldn’t cop to it. Hell, Nash probably would have been one of the first people she would have told. No, it had nothing to do with the person and everything to do with the fact that she’d already exceeded her comfort level of people knowing what was going on.

           Instead, she absentmindedly rested her hand against the roundness in her middle that was beginning over the past few days to take shape and harden. She’d been doing that a lot lately, cluing her into the fact that her rouses wouldn’t last very much longer and she was going to have to come clean with the truth about being pregnant sooner than she’d wanted to.

“How far?”

           Nash wasn’t going to let this go, they had to have this conversation and it was something that she should have expected. She rested her hands against her stomach, pulling her knees in closer to her.

“A little over 11 weeks…”

           There was a natural reaction on Nash’s face. It was in that moment that Atlee knew Nash understood her hesitation. Of course she did. Because Nash remembered everything.

“Then when you hit seventeen I expect a phone call, understand?”

           It was then that she finally smiled, because at least someone got a little bit of it. Not that Eliot didn’t, she knew he did, she saw the apprehension in his eye every time a single ache or pain hit her. Because that guilt from those years ago were still ones that he lived with day in and day out.

           Feeling Nash shift slightly beside her she leaned her head against the other woman’s head. Her emotions lately had been all over the place. She knew that it was because of the pregnancy but regardless it was still frustrating when she was typically the type who blocked out feelings with everything.

“You two shouldn’t be dealing with this alone though Atlee.”

           This part of the conversation was the one she’d been dreading. The part where Nash was honest and she knew that she needed to listen instead of brushing it off like she did every time Eliot talked. Because if there was anyone she knew she couldn’t ignore or hide from it was Nash.

“I watched his side of what you two went through last time. I know that it was a bad time for both of you, but baby, he was so ready to be a father at twenty, it’s been years since then. You two should be relying one another.”

           Nash was right. She shouldn’t have been living with Abby. She shouldn’t have been depriving herself of sleep or Eliot of being there for every little thing. She was causing herself and him more harm than good with the separation.

“Just move home Atlee, do it now before you two have that little one to take after every night. Do it for him so that he can be a part of all of this like he was with that baby girl who didn’t make it. For yourself so that you can send him out in the middle of the night for any of those weird cravings that might pop up. Atlee you don’t deserve to punish yourself for anything that’s happened in the past anymore.”

I won’t remember, save your breath cause what’s the use

“Come on, I need you two to get to know one another. You know what the Spice Girls say, if you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends…”

           When the word lover came out of Evie’s mouth Atlee felt herself cringe at the mental image that filled her head. The last thing she wanted to have an image of was Eliot horizontal with Evie. Instantly she looked away from him, cringing.

           This whole thing was harder than she’d thought it was going to be.

“Can I get you drinks over here?”

           Saved by the waiter. She’d never been so happy to give out a drink order in her life. Smiling at the man she was quickly the first one to mumble off her needs.

“Watermelon martini on the rocks and a glass of bourbon no ice would be great.”

           Evie gave her a look as if warning her to be good, she had no idea what she was dealing with, being good was so far out of Atlee’s vocabulary. Shrugging at Evie she didn’t bother to hide her smirk.

“For you sir?”

           He’d pick scotch. That had always been his drink of choice.

“Nothing for me, thanks.”

           Once a pro at their silent conversations she gave him a questioning look, hoping that he could still remember how to communicate with her, that they hadn’t lost one of the things they’d once been so very good at.

           As the waiter retreated from the table with their drink orders to bring them to the bar she watched as Evie moved her chair over, content to practically sit on top of Eliot, she could feel her distain growing stronger by the second.

“I’ve been sober for almost four years. I had a night where I drank too much, did some stupid stuff… and sealed my decision to stop drinking.”

           She knew the night that he was talking about, that night almost four years ago when she’d gotten bruises and scars that would stick with her for a lifetime now, that would stick with the both of them.

           With the offer of a half smile she pulled the menu up in front of her, partly so she could block out the audience and take a couple of breaths to herself to calm. The memories of that night flooded her, the way he’d smelled of vodka and cranberry juice, how he’d completely lost control when the words had come from her lips. They were all memories that she’d never have the luxury of losing.

“Isn’t he just perfect?”

           Perfect was something that was probably in a way far from what Eliot would ever be. He wasn’t perfect. He was human. Evie had no idea what she was dealing with when it came to Eliot, she didn’t know anything that he’d seen or anything that he’d been through. Atlee was sure she never would either.

           Atlee was having trouble taking her eyes off of him, after loosing out on the past four years with him she felt the need to study him. His eyes were tired, wiser yet worn. Of course, even at twenty he’d seen things that no one else could compare to, but it seemed as if the past four years had caused him to grow up further.

“Atlee graduated with her BA in business but decided to go back to study to be an EMT. She’s been riding the rig for a couple weeks now.”

           She’d had no idea what she’d wanted back then or what to give further thought to. She’d dabbled in the idea of psychology but backed out on it knowing that it was cases like herself she would have gotten. Considering that she’d never been able to get her own life out of the mess she’d found, being responsible for guiding someone else had been her decision to stay far away from that.

           Eliot’s smile turned proud at the mention of her being an EMT, she’d caught it. After all, after delivering a baby on her own at nearly 15, it was something that she couldn’t say she’d be terrible at. Only he and Indie would ever know of that stuff though. They were memories that would never again have to come out.

“That sounds like a taxing position, though putting up with Evie over here you probably have the patience of a saint.”

           She didn’t like this, didn’t like listening to him give any sort of affection to someone else. She knew she had no right to complain about it. He wasn’t hers and never would be again. But she couldn’t help it. For majority of her life she’d gone through it expecting for the two of them to be together for always. Her jealousy was one she was never going to be able to easily shake.

“I’m still trying to decide if it’s the right decision or not.”

           The waiter was back with the drinks then, a relief washed over her as he placed the bourbon in front of her and without the slightest beat of hesitation she threw it back without chasing or coddling it. Earning herself another dirty look from Evie. The girl had no idea the reasoning for her issues.

“Excuse her, Abby and I have been having a bit of trouble with Ats and all of her extracurricular activities lately.”

           Not bothering to hide it, she rolled her eyes at Evie’s comment. As if the girl actually knew anything about her or why she drank as heavily as she did. Who would have thought the reason for most of those issues was the one that Evie seemed to be chomping at the bit to get into bed with.

We had this big wide city all to ourselves.

“Hey babe, I picked up a couple of things. Figured I could throw together dinner before you went to the…”

           Placing the bag down on the counter her eyes went wide as she glanced over into the living room and spotted not only Eliot sitting on the couch but two other guests with him as well.

She probably should have expected that the moment she’d turned around Eliot’s grandmother would be right in front of her with the biggest smile on her face. It didn’t take half a second before the older woman had pulled her into a wordless hug.

Gigi, as even Atlee had been informed to call her so many years ago now, would never have been suspected to have mothered Henry Weston. Where Henry was cold and shut off, Amelia Weston was without a doubt a free spirit. In fact from what Atlee could remember, the woman’s 65th birthday had been at a male strip club. Here she was pushing 76 and not looking a day over 50. How she’d ended up with a son like Henry, Altee would never understand.

“My beautiful girl, your boyfriend over there is in so much trouble for not telling me this surprise.”

Looking over Gigi’s shoulder she shot him a questioning look, asking without words if he’d let their secret slip. He shook his head at her, confirming that that was a no. Though by the way that Nash eyed her from the couch, there was one person who’d caught onto every conversation. She shouldn’t have been surprised by that one though.

Pulling back from Gigi’s hug she felt the woman reach around her neck and the necklace that lay there, for a moment.

“Tell him he needs to put this thing back on your finger too.”

She glanced up at Eliot again, a smile brushing against her features as her eyes came back to Gigi. At least someone in the Weston family had always loved her, because it most certainly was not Eliot’s parents.

“I finally managed to steal Nash from those crazy people. Now we’re going on vacation to France. I think Paris is just the place that Nash should see first. Figured we’d stop here and see my grandson first only to find a female’s belongings all over the house. I should have known it was you, Eliot has never been dumb enough to let you get away.”  

Gigi talked a million miles a second as she led her back into the living room where the pair was deep in conversation that abruptly stopped when they entered. She had no doubt that the last part of their secret was now known by the woman who’d cared for him better than his own mother had.

“Old woman you are not taking me anywhere, I’m here to make sure you don’t do anything crazy.”

It was nice to see Nash so free and nut under the thumb of the crazy Weston’s like she was when at their manor. She’d always said that there were only two reasons she stayed on in their home was for Eliot and Amelia. Finally, she seemed to be out from under their insufferable demands.

Sitting down on the couch beside Gigi she stayed quiet as the woman carefully pulled her closer, hands playing with her hair just as she’d done since Atlee had been thirteen and afraid of the contact.

“So tell me that this is finally for good now. No more of that silly being broken up thing.”

           The older woman asked questions as she raked her fingers through Atlee’s hair, braiding it carefully just as she’d done a million times. She’d missed this, missed this woman more than she’d thought she had, that was all obvious to her now.

           Even Eliot looked quite content as she glanced over at him, a sly smile on his features as he watched them.

“Trust me G, if she’d let me put the ring on her I’d probably do it tomorrow.”

           Sighing deeply she wished he’d shut up. He of all people knew that that couldn’t happen. Eventually, yes. But right now they had enough problems to figure out how to share with people. Or more so, she needed to be honest with Abby and tell her the truth about everything. That was going to be a difficult one.

“Is he keeping you up at night too much? You look exhausted child. It’s all fun and games until you find yourself too tired to cha cha.”

           Leave it to Gigi to ask the questions that no grandparent probably should have questioned of their grandchildren. An awkward laugh came out as Eliot flushed red for only a brief moment and rolled his eyes. She knew that it was part of Eliot that was used to Gigi’s antics.

“She’s not even living here Gigi. I have no part in her lack of sleep. That would be the roommate.”

           The displeasure was obvious then, Eliot was once again going to give her a hard time about staying in the apartment with Abby. But he didn’t get it, he didn’t understand the fact that virtually she’d killed Abby’s best friend. She was the reason that the girl had memories of finding out her best friend was dead, night after night the memory that clouded her mind. How could she leave and find a place where she could have slept like a baby when Abby was up all night screaming in terror?

“Don’t start Eliot, Abby’s one of my best friends …and she needs me.”      

           He’s make the point that the baby needed her to relax too, but seeing as there were two people in the room that had no idea about the expectancies he couldn’t exactly use his typical rebuttal to get his way for the moment. It was a relief to Atlee.

“Let’s go out to dinner. I know of this great brewery not too far away from here we could go to. Maybe it’ll even convince you to add more to your beer list grandson.”

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Bar night with this babe @babylennox

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If feels just like it was yesterday, we were in love, why’s it falling apart?

           She should have gone to bed hours ago, and by that, she meant that she should have gone to sleep before the sun had come up. Now it was nearly seven in the morning and yet Atlee still hadn’t dared to close her eyes. She couldn’t do it, not when her brain raced every time she attempted to do so.

           Evie hadn’t come home all night.

           She wasn’t afraid that something had happened to the other girl. No, that would have been too caring for how Atlee felt lately. Instead, she was worried that the girl had spent the night with Eliot. That was the thing that scared her the most every time she shut her eyes. Because without even the conformation that something had happened she could already feel the knot in her chest rising.

           Being over this was something she was supposed to already feel. Evie and Eliot had been together for a month. She’d been the one to tell him to stay with Evie, the one to beg him not to hurt the other girl. She knew what it was like to have her heart broken by him, no one else needed to feel that pain.

           Her eyes were beginning to shut as she leaned her head back against the couch when the door began to jingle open. Hazel eyes snapped open then as the door began to creek.

“Oh… crap… Ats, you just scared me half to death. Why are you down here?! “

           There was a look in Evie’s eyes, one that seemed almost too happy. Suddenly, the last thing she wanted was the other girl’s words to confirm or deny a single thing. It wasn’t her business, she didn’t want to know.

           Shrugging Evie off she reached for the glass bowl on the table alongside her lighter. Yup, that was what it was going to take to get through this day. Flicking the lighter a couple of times she held it to the ground up herbs inside the cylinder.

“You’re starting to worry me with all of this lately Atlee. It’s been so …often.”

           Atlee shrugged, breathing in a deep puff of air from it before tilting her head to the ceiling and exhaling. She should have just gone to bed instead of waiting, should have simply avoided all of the chaos that was going to come forth now.

“Late night?”

           With the change in Evie’s face, the way the corners curled up into a very basic smirk. That was it, she was going to get an ear full that she knew she didn’t want to hear about, thing visual images that she only wished to escape instead. He might have been her boyfriend, but Eliot would always be the love of her life.

           Suddenly, Evie was perched on the corner of the couch, ready to jump into full story mode. Suddenly Atlee felt like she was going to lose her liquor all over the coffee table. But she had to be that friend who listened to every word, that was her job.

“Last night was… Oh my god Atlee… this might be TMI but we did it last night and I know that he’s the one for me. He’s so soft and slow… he really cared… and I feel like we really connected.”

           Atlee reminded herself to breathe as Evie talked, silently anyway. She zoned most of Evie’s words out, not wanting to hear her going into anymore depth or detail about how good Eliot had been.  This officially made her not his first or his last, that was …awkward.

“Glad you’re getting laid Evie.”

           Taking another hit from the glass in her hands she sat with the smoke in her mouth for a moment. At least that would prevent her from having to talk for a moment. Not that any of it occurred to Evie. Instead she looked as if she’d won the lottery. This was insufferable at best.

“Guess this means I should probably start remembering to take my birth control.”

           Yeah, that was all that Atlee could take. If she had to sit through another word out of Evie’s mouth she would have probably lost it right there in the middle of the living room and no one needed to deal with that. Specially Abby who was upstairs sound asleep and completely dumb to everything taking place right in the living room.

           Getting off the couch she put the glass back down on the table still smoking slightly. She stretched her arms over her head and yawned dramatically.

“I think I’m gonna go for a quick run this morning. I have class in like two hours and I think I need to wake up.”

           That was a lie, not that she didn’t have class, but that she planned on going for a run. If there was anywhere she was going it was probably to murder Eliot for the hell of it. Because the truth was that was exactly what she felt like she needed to do this morning, maybe it would make her feel better.

           Or maybe it would make her feel worse to see him. To see him and to know that he’d slept with Evie in the apartment they’d once shared, probably in the bed that had once belonged to her.

You have a jump in your step but a rip in your... a rip in your rep.

“No reason for the ER”

           That would have been a pointless trip, though she hadn’t quite seen her forehead to assess if stitches were needed or not, but from what she figured it was probably just a surface wound. Besides, it wasn’t like she really wanted to explain to a doctor that she’d hit her head sneaking out while her boyfriends almost monster in law hit on him. That sounded like content for a lifetime movie.

           Running her hand over the cut in her forehead she looked at the blood on her fingertips and made a face. It was drying up at least, a considerably less stain had engulfed her fingers finally.

“Florence showed up this morning with breakfast and a sob story. I caught my foot trying to sneak out the backdoor and banged my head on the side of the house.”

           Glancing over at Indie she remembered for a moment (as he stood there blatantly staring at Corie who seemed not to notice) what he’d shared with her about the weekend and the craziness that the pair in front of her had been through –were still going through and refusing to pay any mind to.

           Hadn’t either one of them learned from what herself and Eliot were currently still going through? Jesus.

“Although if I don’t get this sweatshirt off I’m probably going to puke again…”

           The scent of the blood was getting to her. That paired with the smell of fresh cooking that was probably coming from the kitchen she felt like her head was spinning. Why was it that every bit of food lately was sending her into a tail spin? She hadn’t been nearly this sensitive with the other pregnancies.

           Pulling the sweatshirt off over her head and leaving herself in a tank top she winced as the fabric brushed her forehead. Just what she needed, another injury to haunt her.

“Like that’s something new”

           Reaching out she punched Indie in the arm.

“I’m just saying, how many times did I have to hold your hair back this morning? I thought it was morning sickness.”

           A second hit to his arm caused him to actually rub the spot that she’d injured. He deserved it, she hadn’t gotten the chance to say anything to Corie about that just yet. She would have that morning, but of course the kid had been gone before she’d ever even thought about getting out of bed.

“You have the biggest mouth”

           She barked at Indie as he shrugged his shoulders. This was Indie’s way of deflecting things, of not allowing her to bring up a second of what had been spilled over the weekend on the beach. His smug way of getting out of talking about things had always pissed her off. Him throwing her under the bus had pissed her off even more.

           Especially since she and Eliot had sworn to one another that until she was closer to being done with the whole thing a word of the truth wouldn’t be uttered in anyone’s direction. The only reason that Indie had been an exception to that had been because he’d been there when she’d found out and they’d put the stitches in her cheek.

“Guess I should take that as my queue. Have fun dealing with this one. Just a note, saltines don’t work. I tried shoving them down her throat all weekend. Projectile vomit occurs. If you feed her I wouldn’t bring her back out to the front.”

           Lifting up her left hand Atlee flipped him off.

           Indie laughed, leaning down enough to kiss the top of Atlee’s head before pulling his phone from his pocket and (what Atlee could only assume) texting Eliot to say that she wasn’t dead and that she was at the café so he didn’t have to worry about her.

           One day someone was going to kill Indie, and when it came time to poke fingers and figure out who’d done it she was going to confess and say it was just to put the rest of the world out of its misery. Because of course that would have only been in the best interests in the world.

           With one last awkward and longing look at Corie (which once again Atlee seemed and felt like to be the only one to catch) she watched him as he retreated back out the door that they’d come in from.

“Don’t say it.”

           She cautioned Corie knowing quite well that there had to have been a lecture coming over what she’d neglected to tell the child who was like her own daughter. Child. She wasn’t a child, sometimes it took a lot to remember that Corie was a full fledged adult now.

“I wasn’t hiding it from you, we were just waiting to say anything so that nothing …happened.”

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Well someone loves me. 

“It’s only half past the point of no return”

“Hey babe? Have you seen my Gatsby book?”

           It was the first day back after winter break and she was going to be late. Senior year was painful enough on its own, she wasn’t about to go to class without the book that had gotten her though every other day of high school. The book that Indie had handed her to read before she’d started 8th grade, the year that she’d met Eliot.

           She’d torn apart the entire living room so far. The last thing she wanted was to be late on the first day back. Especially when calculus was her first class of the morning and she already hated that as it was. Shuffling unopened mail to the side she checked the counter in the kitchen – still nothing.

“What about the new one you got for Christmas?”

           A half asleep Eliot, who didn’t have class due to it still being break for him, stood in the doorway of their kitchen, his eyes still half closed, with the imposter book in his hands Looking at him in his boxers and tee shirt, face still sleep kissed, made her want to decide not to go in just to crawl back into bed.

           Shaking her head at the book in his hand she refused it. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate the gesture of him buying her a new copy to replace the one that was taped and everything back together, because she did, she just wasn’t ready to let go of the warn copy that had been with her through the worst of it all. So no, she didn’t want to take the copy he was attempting to hand her.

“What’s so wrong with this book? You haven’t even looked at it.”

           It wasn’t like she expected him to really understand. While in the past almost six years she’d taught him plenty, holding onto possessions instead of getting rid of them was not one of those. She gave him a half smile and shook her head, denying the book he held out to her.

“I want MY book Eliot.”

           Taking a step around him she continued her search for her book as he stood there looking at her dumbfounded. There were moments where he was just so frustrating it made her want to scream.

“Bruiser, just look at the book…”

           She eyed him for a moment. If he had done anything to mess with her classic copy of Gatsby she was going to kill him, she hoped he grasped that.

           Snatching the book out of his hand she eyed him still, trying to wash the angry look off of her face but she couldn’t seem to. If he had done anything, anything, she was going to lose it. She loved him, but Eliot went over the top with things at times. That was something she’d learned about him.

           Holding the new book that she’d opened up a week ago for Christmas she opened the cover of it and shrugged at him as he gestured to her to actually look through the thing, which for some reason she decided to do. She flipped a few more pages as her eyes grew wider.

           The book inside had been cut with a razor blade, there was a hollow square inside of the pages that held inside of it a beautiful square diamond ring with. The beauty of the diamond sparkled in the morning sunlight.

“Eliot…”

           As she took her eyes off of the book she noticed him then. He’d gotten down on one knee in front of her, a smile spread across his features.

“I’ve been trying to get you to open up that damn book for a week Atlee.”

           She was still frozen as he took the book out of her hands and reached inside of it for the ring before discarding it to the side and holding it up in his fingers staring up at her from bended knee.

“Atlee Ana, bruiser, I feel like no matter what I say it isn’t going to be adequate enough. There’s nothing that I want more than to actually spend the rest of my life with you, to give you a last name that you didn’t have to make up.”

           He paused for a moment, pulling his hand to his lips and kissing the back of it as she stared at him, shock coursing through every inch of her veins. This was not how she’d expected the morning to go and all thoughts about making it to class were suddenly gone.

“I want everything with you, I want everything for you. I’m more sure of that than anything else in my life. Marry me Atlee. I don’t care if it’s next year or in five years, just tell me that you will?”

           She bit her lip as she dropped her head into her hand for a second. Why hadn’t he just run the other way? Anyone else who’d gone through anything like what they had four years prior probably would have run the other way… screaming.

           Without hesitating she lifted her head to look at him. Nodding at him finally she broke his wonder, making a smile grow wider across his face as he slipped the beautiful diamond onto her finger before standing up and pulling her in for a kiss that would seal the deal.

“I love you, you asshole.”

“Hearts are breaking, and wars are raging on.”

“Wait a second… what did you just say?”

          Laying on the lounge chair beside the pool under the stars with her hand resting protectively over her invisible bump Indie’s words had caught her off guard. Had she had any liquor near her (and had she not been pregnant) she probably would have taken at least a shot full before asking him the question again.  

          Maybe she was going crazy, she had to have been.

          She could have almost sworn she’d heard Indie say that he’d slept with Corie. Little Corie. Corie that she’d taken care of since the age of seven Corie. Corie that had no interest in Indie what so ever. She had to have been hearing things, because if this had happened just a year ago surly one of them would have said something to her. They wouldn’t have left her in the dark about something like this.

“I fell for her and pushed her away because let’s be honest. Anyone deserves better than me.”

          That was it. A moment of seconds later she was on her feet with her bottle of water in hand. That bottle of water that she’d been holding so tightly to was without a seconds notice being dumped all over Indie with no apology being ushered from her lips. He didn’t deserve an apology. Neither of them really did for keeping things from her, but him much less for speaking his bullshit words.

          If there was one person in the world (other than Eliot) who deserved a break from all of the shit they’d been through it was Indi. Warm, fun-loving, slightly twisted Indiana James Porter. With everything he did for everyone else and everything he didn’t do for himself Indie was easily the biggest heart she knew.

“If anyone deserves something good Indie it’s you.”

          Of course a bitter part of her was stuck on the fact that neither one of them had told her. No one had thought to clue her in on the fact that her best friends had slept together, clearly, it was tearing him apart and from what was suddenly clear to her about Corie it was the same there too.

          Idiots. She was surrounded.

          Indie never flinched at the water bottle. Instead, he blinked his eyes open at her, annoyance coloring his brow as he brushed the excess water off of his face, making his hair stand up on all ends. God she wanted to punch him.

“She’s a kid Addison. I’m an old man compared to her.”

          Without hesitating she threw the bottle at him next before walking back over to the lounge chair and huffing as she crossed her arms against her chest in frustration. Neither one of them was going to hear the end of this one any time soon, she could promise the both of them that now.

“Fuck off Indie. You’re just so prone to sabotaging yourself.”  

          If there was one thing she’d never been it was edited in the way that she spoke to him. If anyone needed to keep Indiana James in line it was her. No one else knew him so in and out like she did, at least she thought she did. She never would have thought that he’d slept with Corie either and look where that had gotten her.

          Indie shook his head at her, not bothering an argument as he took another sip from the fruity drink he’d ordered in solidarity to the fact that she couldn’t have done it herself due to the baby she was slowly growing.

“I can’t believe you. And to not tell me anything. I don’t understand it, I’ve always told you everything.”

          Indie rolled his eyes and she could feel the anger rising in herself as she threw him one more glare before getting up from the beach chair she’d been sitting in. She was frustrated, she needed to go back up to the room and sulk before she screamed at him for no reason.

“You… you are in time out. I’m going back up to the room right now. DO NOT FOLLOW ME.”

          She warned him, pointing at him in anger and projecting like an angry parent rather than his little sister and best friend. She was too angry to think coherently. And it wasn’t only him she was angry with, it was Corie too, they were both going to have to suffer her wrath until the hurt set in and she just felt betrayed. Because she knew that that was going to come up soon.

          For now, all she wanted to do was go upstairs and beat up a pillow before she started to cry for no good reason other than the fact that the hormones coursing through her body were of no fault of her own. Her over emotional demeanor wasn’t something that she could push away in her condition.

“Skies grew darker, currents swept you out again.”

“Shouldn’t you be asleep little bee?”

          Atlee whispered through the dark room as she pushed the window open and slipped inside just to find a wide awake Corie staring at her. Atlee’s face softened immediately, there was something about Corie that always made her soften. Since the day the younger child had been brought to Roger’s house she’d taken control of the situation and watched the child that was six years younger than her.

          Her body wasn’t quite bending as well as it had before everything and she struggled for a moment settling into place as she shut the window behind her and locked it before shrugging her coat off.

          This was her favorite part of the evening. The part where she could get out from all of the layers of the day, pull off all of the shirts and ace bandages and just let herself not be as constricted as she was forced to be during the day. Of course with Corie awake it made it even more difficult. But she could wait till the child was asleep first. Corie hadn’t ever been that hard to get to bed.

“You know Santa’s coming tonight don’t you?”

          Of course, for kids like them Christmas wasn’t ever a big deal. But she’d scraped and gathered as much as she could the past years prior. Year 8 she’d done even better, with Eliot’s help of course. All of those presents were wrapped and tucked away in the closet till after Corie was fast asleep.

“There’s no Sanna Clause Addison.”

          At the toothless child’s words Atlee put her hands on her hips, giving the younger girl a look of disappointment.

“You shouldn’t say that too loudly Miss Corilin. The big guy in the red suit will skip us.”

          Nearing Corie’s bed she nudged the younger girl over, trying her best to stay authoritative as she sat on the corner of the bed. It was in that moment that even against the bandages and shirts she felt the movement of the thing inside of her. The baby.

          Corie moved over closer to her, leaning her head against Atlee’s shoulder as Atlee leaned her head down enough to kiss the top of the little girl’s head. Corie was teaching her patients. Teaching her how to be around kids and not feel like she was screwing everything up.

“Addison, are there mommy’s and daddy’s out there who actually want their babies?”

          The question hit Atlee strange. She thought about the question for a moment, the little thing that hid under her layers of sweaters. Was that something she wanted her own kid wondering? Would it be a question that was ever asked? There were so many things that Atlee knew she didn’t have the answer for right now.

          Yet, as she looked into Corie’s little eyes she saw the hurt of parents who’d been careless and hadn’t wanted anything to do with the choices and decisions they’d made. She didn’t want to ever be one of those people.

“Corie, can you keep a secret and swear that you won’t say anything to anyone?”

          She held her pinky out, waiting for the small child to promise her, of course it was something she did in a split second without hesitation. Of course Corie was always her first choice of who to trust with secrets. The little girl was her best practice.

          Standing up off of the bed for a moment she pulled the sweatshirt off over her head first. Winter time made it easy to hide in Eliot’s clothes. Next it was the heavy sweater, then the long sleeve shirt and finally the ace bandages, which left her in a tank top with the small bump that was outlined underneath her shirt.

“Give me your hand”

          Pulling Corie’s hand to her little round baby bump she placed it right over where the baby’s kicks were active as ever. It seemed like the little thing always liked nights best, Eliot loved nights because of how active she was and how long he could spend talking up a storm to the thing that Atlee didn’t like to even admit existed.

“Do you feel that? That’s Eliot’s baby. Superman wants his baby, he loves her SO much.”

          Every word out of her mouth was true. The stupid hormones that circulated through her made her eyes prick with tears when she thought about it. Here was a little girl who hadn’t known a second of love and a tiny round baby bump who already had too much without any promise of any semblance of a life. None of it was fair and it made her feel even guiltier.

“I know that some mommy’s and daddy’s aren’t very good, but some of them are kind of okay. I think Eliot will be a good daddy…”

          How natural the words felt to come out of her mouth scared her. Maybe it was because the thought was the scariest thing, or maybe it was because she wasn’t ready considering their ages. But the word, daddy, it seemed to fit with the way that Eliot had been acting towards the whole thing.

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Beach Babes. Yeah @Indiana.J already cracked the bottles open. 

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“Hate is a strong word but I really really really don’t like you.”

“Hey babe… someone’s being a di… oh, I should have known.”

          There was a Mercedes parked in her spot at their condo. Why she hadn’t clued into the fact that it was Elias when the plate began with ECP was beyond her. Probably because she liked to pretend that Elias had died in a very deep ditch. Of course that was only wishful thinking, but she couldn’t help her hopes and dreams now could she?

          As she shifted her backpack off of her shoulder and let it fall into her hand she rolled her eyes to the ceiling in disgust. The last thing she felt like dealing with was Elias, that went both ways and it was obvious as he scoffed at her and went back to looking at Eliot.

“I still don’t understand on why you insist on babysitting street trash. Is she that good of a fuck? Because if she is you should have shared and then been done with it. Plenty other fish in the sea.”

          Why did he exist?

          Throwing a dirty look to Eliot she dug around in the front pocket of her bag for her headphones. When they’d moved out of St. Francisville she’d hoped that tolerating this shit from the over privileged spoiled brat’s mouth was something she wouldn’t have to do anymore. Guess she was wrong on that one.

“Bastard”

          She mumbled under her breath as she started to put the headphones in her ears despite the fact that out of the corner of her eye she could see Eliot getting up and advancing towards her.

          He wrapped his arms around her and she shrugged him off. Heading directly for the dining room table to work on homework. A warning text that the scum of the earth was there would have been nice. She could have pulled the “I’m going to hang in the library” card or even gone to a café to do homework rather than dealing with Elias.

“I didn’t know he was coming till he walked in”

          Yeah that sounded like Elias. Still, she would have liked the warning. This time she let Eliot slide as she requited his kiss as he brushed one to her lips. With her backpack on the table she reached in to retrieve the pre calculus and chemistry books as he retreated back to the couch to sit with Elias.

“So she called me three days ago and asked me what to do. I told her I’d bring her the money for an abortion. Speaking of, how much is that going to run me? You look like someone who’d know that street rat.”

          She could tell without even looking that the question was asked in her direction. Lifting her hand she stuck up her middle finger, yeah he was really the last thing that she actually felt like dealing with. How much she hated that man was increasing more than she thought it possible.

          Of course, Elias didn’t know how sensitive a subject that whole thing was.

“Elias, this is her house. I’m not going to call her off when she attacks you, you know that right?”

          Without the intention of it Atlee found herself popping her knuckles on her left hand in conjunction with Eliot’s words.

          It was then that she heard the bend in the furniture once again as Eliot got up and made his way into the dining room, his hands on her shoulders to calm her before she actually went after Elias for his stupidity. That wouldn’t have done anyone any good and god forbid she’d scratched his face, he’d probably have an entire SWAT team after her.

“I’m just saying, if you weren’t around to control her, she’d probably have her legs spread for anyone.”

          Yeah that was enough, more than enough. Even with Eliot’s hands on her shoulders she couldn’t control her anger. A second later she’d broken her pencil and thrown it in her anger across the room landing just shy of Elias’s head, she heard Eliot’s light laugh behind her and it took all of her strength not to turn around and smack him.

“You know, you are without a doubt the worst person. Please, save that poor innocent girl from carrying the second coming of the devil. I’d tell you to leave my girlfriend alone but I know better than to waste my breath.”

          Pulling back her chair she shrugged Eliot off of her as she stood up from her spot. Control her. Like Eliot could control her, what did that even mean? In what world exactly did Elias live in and why couldn’t he go back to whatever that place was?

“Eliot’s right, make sure that she doesn’t have to stuffer with any part of you for the rest of her life. That and I may spread my legs only for your best friend, but at least he found something he likes rather than dicking around with every girl because no one is interested after they see what you’ve got.”

          Turning her back then on Elias she turned to face Eliot then, leaned forward enough to press her lips against his for the briefest of moments.

“I’m going to find Indie. Call me when that ass isn’t in my house.”

          Eliot nodded in reaction, leaning in for one last kiss which she indulged for him, showing off slightly considering the man leering on the couch.

“I love you.”

          She nodded, not requiting his words but meaning them, just as she always did, he knew it too. Grabbing for her keys out of her bag she headed for the door of their apartment, thankful that Indie’s held for her a place to runaway to when it was needed.

“Go die in a ditch Elias”

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The sun is hardly awake and @Indiana.J and I are already on our way to a weekend in the beach. #siblinggetaway

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