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SEVEN, eighteen candles
italics — rues narration
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the next day, liana took elliot home to meet her parents. she was nervous, since elliot was the human embodiment of someone her parents didn't want her dating. tattoos, drug addict, rudely sarcastic. the list goes on.
surprisingly, elliot put as much effort into making a good impression on her parents as he possibly could. he forced ziayla to cover his tattoos, put on a decent outfit and even practiced in his mirror what he would say and how he would speak to them.
it paid off, too.
"it's too much salt, i told you!" lianas dad, bobby, looked at his wife with a fake angry look on his face. "it's not too much!" she argued. liana rolled her eyes at her parents, "i think it's delicious." she interjected. her parents looked at her, "who makes it better, me or your mom?" bobby asked. "no comment."
"no comment?" he asked. "that's a trap." she said. "it's no trap. it's an easy answer. too bad elliot doesn't eat real food or maybe we'd get an honest opinion around here." elliot chuckled, looking down at his plate of veggies and rice.
elliot was vegan so the meat based meal that lianas parents made wasn't going to be consumed by him, but liana tried to accommodate him as much as she could. "i'm vegan, sir." he said. "so how's the rice and veggies treating you?" bobby asked. "it's delicious, your daughters an amazing cook." elliot looked over at liana, who gently kicked him under the table.
"yeah, where do you think she got it from?" bobby asked. "her mother." elena, her mom, said. "lies! i taught you everything you know—" elena cut him off, "oh please, we both know you couldn't cook anything before me." she rolled her eyes. "baby, just stick to your iguanas."
"oh, shut up." elliot looked at liana confused, being completely lost in the conversation. "we call my mom the iguana killer." she explained. "she sits out there with her pellet gun— just committin iguana genocide on a daily!" her dad said. "they're an invasive species!"
"no, no. you're blood thirsty!" her dad laughed. "shut up, they're destroying the ecosystem!"
elliot really liked lianas parents, and they really liked him. he felt comfortable just sitting there and listening to them all interact even if he didn't know what they were talking about. it felt like he was apart of the family, it almost made him miss his.
"forget it... elliot, you know spaghettis always been lianas favorite?" elliot looked over at liana with a smirk, who hide her face as she looked down at her plate. she knew her dad was going to embarrass her, she needed to prepare herself.
"yes, sir. she's told me." he chuckled. "you should've seen her the first time she had it. we got video of it somewhere. i gotta find it. she ate it with her hands and it was everywhere. chunks of meat and red sauce all over her face, like an animal!" bobby explained. liana began to blush, "dad!"
"it was beautiful! i'm telling you! most beautiful thing i ever seen!"
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at night, lianas parents went out for a date and left the two teens alone. liana took a makeup wipe from her bathroom and wiped all the makeup off of elliot's face, revealing his tattoos that she absolutely adored. "you didn't have to go through all this elliot, you could've left your tattoos alone." she said.
elliot stared at her lovingly as she wiped his face off and shrugged, "i know. i just wanted them to like me." he said. "they do, a lot. my dad adores you." she admitted. elliot gave a small smile, "well, he's a simple man. sports, politics, iguanas, yada yada!"
liana laughed softly, "it's not that simple. he interrogated the two other guys he met like he was the feds." she joked. "so he must really like me." he smirked. "he does, so does my mom." she said. "i like your mom, she reminds me of my mom." he said. "did she text you today?" she asked. elliot shook his head, "no."
liana frowned, "don't get sad. it doesn't matter to me because you did a lot for me and i appreciate that. i appreciate you." elliot puckered his lips at liana, who inevitably gave in and kissed him quickly before tossing her makeup wipe into the garbage.
there was something really special about liana that elliot couldn't seem to kick. was it her familiarity, or her patience? was it something in the way she dressed or talked? elliot couldn't figure it out.
she was just so good to him to such an extent that elliot didn't think he deserved her. he knew he had some wires crossed and pissed her off at times, but she was so patient and loving towards him regardless of his setbacks.
it made him feel so unbelievably loved. he hoped and prayed every night that liana felt the same about him, that everything wasn't all in his head.
liana was so perfect to him that sometimes he imagined that she wasn't real. that he had created her in his mind, a pure figment of his imagination. but whenever he would open his eyes she was still there, and he couldn't have been more happier than he was in that moment.
liana got up from her bed again and headed to her desk, where a small cake she had baked for elliot laid. she didn't make a big deal out of a cake since it was only her and elliot eating it, and elliot was genuinely fine with whatever.
she began to light the candles on it, elliot watching her every move from a distance. once she was finished she turned around with the cake in hands. she tried her best to write his name with frosting but it didn't look too good, but it made elliot crack a smile.
"do you want me to sing?" she asked. elliot raised both his brows, "yeah, i want you to sing." he teased. liana rolled her eyes, "happy birthday to you..." she inched closer towards elliot. "happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear elli, happy birthday to you!" she sang, finally sitting on her bed with the cake in her hands. "make a wish." she said.
elliot could not stop looking at her, his eyes fixated on her entire face. the smile on his never left and only got wider as he took the cake from her hands. "i wish... for you to be my girlfriend." he said.
he lifted the cake up to her for her to blow out the candles, which she raised her brow at. "i'm not blowing out your candles." she said. "yes you are, go." he lifted the cake higher. "elliot!"
elliot worried a lot about her though. he didn't know if he could keep his promise of staying clean, but he knew he wanted to try. for her and for ziayla. he didn't want them to give up on him, not yet at least.
"don't be stubborn, just do it and say yes." he urged. liana pondered for a moment before she agreed and blew out the candles, "your wish is granted."
