When you realise

9. Hunter's Confession

As soon as those two words were said, I had all eyes on me, everyone knew what those words meant. I guess it was now the time that I had to explain why she was gone. I took another sip of my beer and as I placed it on the table I kept my eyes on it, maybe if I look at the beer I won't have to see everyone's reaction at what I am about to say "she heard everything, the whole conversation we had earlier about us not being in a relationship, she could hear it from the kitchen, she packed the things she had here, she said she thought we were in a relationship and that she had fallen in love with me, I didn't know what to say, most of the time I stood there frozen, especially when Rosie came in and they had to say goodbye to each other".

"Oh shit man, I'm so sorry, where is Rosie now, how did she take it?" James questioned sympathetically. "How do you think she took it, I was so self-absorbed in myself this year, I failed to see how close Elle had gotten to everyone especially Rosie, I failed to see how much I had actually fallen in love with her because I was too blinded by the past that I couldn't see a future, when the car drove away that Ellie was in, Rosie asked if she could go home, she ended up falling asleep on my shoulder and I put her to bed, she was begging me to ask Ellie to stay and I was too stupid to open my mouth, what's that saying you don't know what you have until its gone".

"I can't believe it took you this long to realise you love that girl, what the hell was running through your head when you said all that shit before, your mother told me everything that was said and she also told me how Eliana looked in the kitchen as soon as they were said, you are a god damn fool, you broke that poor girls heart, if you were smart you would get your ass up and go beg her to take you back" my dad never sugar coats anything, he lets me know exactly how it is, he always has.

"I don't know where she lives" realisation sets in that I have never been to her place, she has always come here, most of the time bringing food to cook dinner or we have met up after work for drinks, where we would usually end back at my place.

"How the hell do you not know where she lives" Marcus speaks up, "Man you fucked up severely, sorry Mr and Mrs Black for the language" he quickly threw in a glance to my parents "but your son is probably the biggest idiot I have ever laid eyes on right now, I have never seen him so happy with anyone than he was with her". He took a breath before looking back to me "you had everyone fooled thinking you guys were together, no wonder why she felt deflated and had to leave, she must of felt so embarrassed sitting out here with all of us after what you said".

"No need to apologise to us son I agree with you, world class idiot sitting right there and if you call me Mr Black one more time, my foot will go so far up your arse, I have known you three boys since you were 3" He said while pointing at my 3 best friends, "I have never treated you any different than I do my own son, if you don't want to call me Nathan you call me dad, none of this Mr Black crap". Trust my dad to throw in insults towards me while telling off one of my best friends, anyone would actually think that the 4 of us were brothers, we were that close and we have been since we met in pre-school.

"Yes sir" Marcus teasingly directed at my father "Pappy" Marcus glanced at my father with a smirk on his face knowing he is getting a rise out of him. "Ouch", we all started to chuckle as my mother walked past and smacked Marcus over the head. It has always been like this Marcus is the cheeky one of us 4 and likes to get a laugh out of people, so to actually hear him seriously tell me I'm an idiot you know I fucked up, Marcus is never serious unless it has something to do with Bianca, than he is one hundred percent committed.

Things quietened down again and I don't think anyone knew what to say until Rachel piped up "Now I know why Elle was looking so sick today, she didn't even touch the food, she perked up a bit when Rosie sat on her lap, she helped Rosie get some food but she didn't touch anything herself".

"You need to fix this" everyone's head shot straight up to my mother as she said this because my mother always made it clear that she didn't like Ellie, in fact she had never liked any girl I brought home. "I know I was a bitch to her, but that girl saved this family, we had never met our granddaughter until she was here because Rosie wouldn't stay, she put up with all my crap but still stuck around and took care of you, I had never seen you smile for no reason before, until you would look at her, you probably didn't even realise you were smiling, but you looked at that girl the way that your father has always looked at me, she gave me back my son, the boy that was lost because he didn't get to see his daughter", a tear fell from my mother's eye and my father reached out and rubbed her back to sooth her. "I am your mother and it is my job to make sure the girl you fall in love with is right for you, Ellie is perfect and there is nothing I want more in this world right now than you to tell her how you feel, she is in love with you, hopefully enough to forgive your stupidity and take you back, something tells me though she is not going to make it easy for you, she is a strong girl and not someone that will just fall to your feet with some pretty words".

"Mrs B, you just became my new hero", my mother shot Marcus an evil glare at these words with one eyebrow raised. "I mean mum" Marcus swallowed hard as my mum gave him a sharp nod "Yep certainly mum", everyone laughed excluding me, I was still stuck on what my mum said, I needed to get her back and it was not going to be easy, I actually ended up having a bit of a chuckle when Marcus leant over and whispered "Your mum scares the shit out of me sometimes man".

The topic of Eliana was dropped for a little while, I still didn't feel like conversing with anyone so I just sat and listened until Rosie walked out carrying an envelope, when she got to me I picked her up and put her on my lap while kissing her forehead "Did you gave a good sleep sweetheart" she had managed to have a nap for about 2 hours, the sun was slowly setting now, "I went to look for you daddy in bed but you were not there but this was on your pillow". I took the envelope from her and turned it around to look at the front, all it said was Hunter in Ellie's handwriting. I opened the envelope and pulled the card out and a key fell onto the ground, Rosie jumped of my lap to pick it up and handed it to me, I opened the card and read it.