Tears of our Ruins

Confession

ELLIOT

I don't know what to expect. Bobby and I are getting along, but that doesn't mean he's going to handle this well. He flipped off his handle with the whole Lindsey thing. I'm preparing myself for something like that or the day when Cora disappeared. Then there's my mom and dad. What will they think? I can handle all of it. It's Cora I'm worried about though. I held her silently for two hours before she sat up and announced that we needed to go home. I watched as she quickly threw things into a bag. Then we went to my place so I could pack.

The atmosphere is odd. She's not acting like I expected and that's actually scaring me more than if she was in a full blown panic. I expected screaming and crying. She's just silent though. Silent and pulled inward. I don't know how to handle her like this. It's been a long seven hour drive. I'm tired. I'm nervous. I'm worried.

It's really early, but Bobby will be awake by now, getting ready to go into the bakery. I just hope he doesn't kill me. I hope this isn't too much on Cora. She's hasn't even gotten over the Lindsey drama and now she's forced to face this. Dammit. I wish she would talk to me, but she's barely said a handful of words this entire drive.

I nervously clear my throat. I turn on her street and stop the car. "Are we, umm, surprising them or are you giving them a heads up?"

"Just go. Either will be alarming for them."

We unlock the gate and pull up her drive. Bobby steps outside to greet us but he looks concerned. Of course he would be though. Why the hell are we showing up unexpectedly, this early in the day?

"Cupcake," he holds his arms wide, as he intently studies her. "What are you doing here?" Cora buries herself in his arms and doesn't answer. "Cora? Cupcake?" Still no answer. Shit. I'm going to have to take the lead here.

"We need to talk to you."

Bobby's eyes snap to mine and now I'm at the receiving end of an intense stare. "About?"

"Can we," I gesture for the door. Bobby nods and we walk inside. Cora's still buried against his chest. I wish I knew what was going on in her mind right now. I tried talking to her about how we were going to do this, but she wouldn't answer my questions. So here I am blindly trying to pick my way though something by myself. I have no idea if I'm handling this how she wants me to or not. As we get to the living room, Cora finally pulls away. She looks pale and I know Bobby realizes that too.

"Mom needs to be here," she quietly says.

"Alright," Bobby responds with caution. He looks her over before throwing me another look. I'm almost scared to know what's running through his head. He walks out of the room and Cora sits rigidly next to me.

I wrap my arm around her and kiss her shoulder. "It's going to be ok." She takes a huge ragged breath. I feel like she's hardly holding on right now. "Do you want me to tell them or...?"

"I need to. This is my fault."

"I was involved too," I remind her.

"Not completely," she mumbles. That's not true. Ultimately, I'm the one that fucked up here. I didn't use a condom so I got us into this mess in the first place. Hell, Cora was a plastered virgin. This is definitely my fault. My stomach clinches. I never apologized to her for getting her pregnant either. How did I fuck that up? Shit, I'm going to need to do that.

My internal thoughts are silenced as Jessa and Bobby walk into the room. Jessa has clearly just woken up. Her curls are escaping her messy bun and she has lines on her face from her pillow. She is wearing a fluffy robe and slippers. She looks more panicked than Bobby does.