3...2...1...ACTION!

Chapter XII: Cigarettes.

As Earl approached us, the connection that Elinor and I shared seemed to fade away. Almost as if he was the reason she can't speak freely. I put out the cigarette I was previously smoking, and stood up to greet him. "Jenny, how lovely it is to see you here, with my wife." There was something off about his voice and the way he spoke. The tone that he used when he specifically said "his wife", was odd, not to mention the mean look he gave her. "Excuse us." said Elinor as she walked away from me gesturing for Earl to follow her. He followed with his eyes at first then he walked behind her still keeping the same hard facial expressions as before. I sat back down waiting for them to finish their conversation, well more like an argument. There was no telling what they could be possibly speaking about but I could tell that Elinor needed saving. I glanced over at my watch to check the time only to see that we are nearing 2pm, so I marched over to them and I could hear a little of what their quarrel was about "I told you to leave my personal life out of this." Elinor protested, "You seem to have forgotten that your personal life is inclined with mine. You know that if it weren't for me–"

"I would still be in there. I know. But you and I both know that there is nothing holding this marriage together, hence why we both decided it was best if we open it and keep it a secret."

Right before Earl could say anything back to his wife, I cleared my throat to announce my presence. "Sorry to interrupt but Elinor and I agreed to spend the rest of the day with each other. Assuming you don't mind of course."

Earl shifted in his place and seemed to struggle to keep a straight face as I calmly spoke to him as if I hadn't heard a single thing. "Of course, I'll leave you to it. Be sure to come back home by eight, my beloved wife."

 "Thank you for saving me back there."

"No worries, you looked like you needed saving."

"Jenny, how much did you hear?"

"Enough to know that whatever the argument was about, I better stay out of it."

But then she said something in such a low and soft voice it barely even came out as a whisper from her lips. "You are already involved, Jenny." she quickly changed the topic "you already offered me a nice place to grab a bite now's my turn."

"Lead the way." I replied as she entangled her arm within mine and we walked towards her car. "Shall I do the honours and drive you around myself?"

"By all means, please go ahead." 

We both hopped inside the car and I asked her to drop me off at home first since I still needed to fill up Luna's food bowl. She doesn't stick around much, she's an independent cat so she leaves from time to time and comes back home to either eat or sleep, otherwise she leaves through the metal bars on one of my kitchen windows since that's the only one I keep unlocked and sometimes cracked open. The car ride was silent, but the loud voices in my head felt like I was in a screaming match. Part of me wants to reach over and rest my hand on top of hers, while the other is telling me that this is wrong and it shouldn't be like this. I wanted to smoke so badly to hush down those thoughts but I didn't want to bother her with the smell. "Why are you so quiet?"

"Oh. I'm just thinking."

"Is it about Earl and I?"

"Partially, yeah."

She turned her head to face me, gazing intensely into my eyes and I felt my breath hitch in my throat. "Jenny..." My name came out of her like a promise, a melody or a song, so beautiful yet so distant. "I'm sorry you got into this mess... There's something very few people know; about me.'' We arrive at my apartment building and she pulls over. "Something that only my husband and a selected number of close friends know."