Ellie

Five

One of the main reasons Ellie found herself reluctant to reveal what had happened at the nightclub with Brett Carter to her family, was the fact she had never actually told them that she had gotten together with some of her college friends Jono and Perry, to form Remo in the first place. 

 She wasn't sure why she felt the need not to mention it to them, especially her father. Up until the previous week, her playing in the Arcando nightclub with them had been so low key, she had felt a bit churlish to mention it. 

Not that she thought her father would not approve, but because it was just a bit of fun and she had not been taking it too seriously, she didn't want her father thinking otherwise. When she compared his successful musical career to her little band, it didn't seem that important in the grand scheme of things, as it wasn't like it was going to come to anything major

But now her mind kept going back to the fact there was a video of her out there on the internet being shared with her on stage doing one of her father's songs sat a little uneasy with her, especially when Brett Carter probably meant to use it and her father's fame to draw attention to himself and get noticed for his own ambitious reasons kept playing in the back of her mind. So she was having trouble looking her father in the eye as they sat around the dinner table.

But Jake, unaware of one of his daughter's sense of guilt, was feeling slightly peeved that Dana had still not returned for the family meal.

"Well, This has been a great start to the weekend" he remarked glancing at the empty chair where Dana should have been sitting, "First I am away half the day, and then your sister Dana takes herself off somewhere with her friends, you probably wondered why you bothered coming home this weekend" he said sounding almost apologetic

"Its ok dad, really, I don't expect you all to drop everything, just because I come home for the weekend, so it's not a big deal" she assured him with a tight smile as she attempted to nibble at the food on her plate with some semblance of enthusiasm she was far from feeling.

"Well, we will make up for it tomorrow" Jake then said cheerfully" We will plan to do something together, maybe go out for a meal, have a nice family outing, what do you fancy doing?" he then asked, his blue eyes rested on her questioningly for idea's

Ellie found herself chewing thoughtfully on her lower lip as she pondered how to reply, "Well to be honest, if it's ok with you, I don't really fancy doing very much, College has been a bit hectic this week, and really all I would like to do is chill out around the house over the weekend and unwind, " she told him truthfully, eyeing him warily hoping he wouldn't be upset or offended that she didn't want to do something more.

She noticed how his eyes had immediately turned on her mother sitting across the table, as if he was uncertain how to respond to her request, and was looking to Gemma for help.

"Well if that's what you want to do sweetheart, that's not a problem" Gemma responded smiling at Ellie, but Ellie didn't miss the little look of uncertainty that exchanged between her parents, before her father spoke up

"Yeah sure, if you need to chill out, no better place to do it than here" he agreed with forced cheerfulness as he occupied himself cutting the meat on his plate. The silence that followed felt a little awkward, as Ellie found herself feeling even more guilty now, that she was somehow letting her father down, because she didn't want to do something special

Once more it was Gemma who came to the rescue to lighten the moment

"Yeah well, we can chill out on the sofa tomorrow evening before you got home, with snacks and a movie on Netflix, it sounds like a great idea to me, and you can pick the movie, it will be nice and cosy" she then suggested brightly