Sandcastles | Completed

27 | in 4k

• • •

It was barely 8 am, a factor to be considered if one wanted to know why I swung the door open somewhat forcefully, "I thought y'all meant later today."

"We see. Is it a bad time?"

"It is." I responded, "Give me until like... 12?"

My dad looked impatient, "Eli can stay asleep. We wanted to get breakfast."

"I just woke up. Haven't even washed my face, nothing."

"We can wait."

In my room, Elijah was still sleeping and while looking for another shirt and pair of tights, I thought about smothering him with the pillow, just enough to wake him up.

He had an attitude when he came over last night. Why? I didn't know. It irritated me though.

I'd asked what was wrong, but he acted like I was imagining something and he was fine.

After going over everything that could've been wrong with him and nothing coming to me, I chalked it up to be something with his family like usual.

It wasn't the fact that he wouldn't tell me that irritated me, just that he wouldn't speak on it but was taking it out on me and acting as if nothing was wrong.

My parents were still standing by the door when I came out of the bathroom, speaking in hushed tones.

The moment they said we were going to Waffle House, I knew something was wrong. This was my comfort food, which they knew, and it took a lot to wait for them to tell me what was wrong.

He at least didn't try to make small talk, beginning time my waffle was placed in front of me, "We're moving to Dallas."

"Dallas, where?" I looked to my mom for clarification.

Maybe it was another Dallas I didn't know about. Like, Dallas, Alabama? That sounded right. Dallas, Louisiana? Dallas, London? Didn't care as long as it wasn't Dallas, Texas.

"Texas."

"Why?" I asked, trying to get an understanding of the decision to move, "What's wrong with Houston?"

"Your dad got a job offer here, and with Jai moving out, we didn't want you to be alone."

The first part was an excuse, and the second part was a damn lie.

Being an architect, my dad's travels were somewhat frequent. They were usually a couple of weeks long, save for the big projects that required him to stay for maybe 2, 3 months max.

As far as being alone, "I lived here by myself before Jai came. And besides, Elijah is here."

"That's the point." My dad shook his head, "We love you, but your decisions lately haven't exactly been logical. The perfect example is at your apartment asleep."

"Sometimes we sleep at his house. Big bed– Nice bed."

"Is everything tasting okay, guys?" The waitress asked with a smile, stopping by the table to check on us.

I hadn't even started eating, so I couldn't tell her if it was okay or not yet. At the rate this breakfast was going, I wouldn't be able to tell her at all.

After my mom told her we were fine, she sighed and clasped her hands together on the table, "You've made it clear we need to respect your space, okay? We won't come over unannounced, but maybe it'll be nice to have someone near you if you want to talk."

They acted like Jailyn was moving out of the country.

Not wanting to be mean to her, I inhaled slowly, "Okay. It would be nice to be able to talk to you in person."