Our Aquarium

37 ~ Eliana

I'm beginning to regret coming to this place. Not because of the way they are treating me, but because of the way they are treating Wesley. It's not right. They bring up all his flaws. They ridicule him about his tattoos and his escorting. Why is it that people don't want to acknowledge the wonderful attributes he has?

"So Eliana, tell us about yourself," his aunt says as we sit around the table by the pool with loads of food in front of us.

I look at Wesley and then back to his family who is all waiting for my answer. "I'm dating your nephew and I think he is an amazing guy even though he gets on my nerves sometimes." Wesley laughs and kisses my cheek, pulling me closer to him. "I studied marine biology and oceanography at UC Santa Barbara. I now work for Eleanor and Preston."

"What about your family?" Wesley's uncle asks.
I feel Wesley's grip on my arm tighten, but I don't mind the question. It's not the first time I've been asked that and I always tell them about my friends and their families. They're my family. Sure my biological family didn't care for me but I was adopted into four amazing ones and I'm thankful for it. That's the answer I give them. They give me those happy/sad smiles. Smiles of sympathy.

But thankfully Wesley takes the attention off of me even though I know how much he doesn't want it on him. Throughout dinner we talk with his family, reminiscing about his childhood shenanigans. He sounded like an adorable little troublemaker. I wonder if our kids will be the same. When I said that his eyes lit up a little too much.

Now here I stand with his father as Wesley helps his mom with dessert. Most conversations with Preston are good but when he speaks I feel the sudden urge to punch him in the face. Which is bad because he's my boss.

"After all the things my son did, I can't understand why you would still want to be with him. He's not good enough for you."

With furrowed brows, I take a step away from him. "I don't appreciate what you are saying about him. Wesley is amazing and I'm happy to have him in my life. I still want to be with him because on more occasions than any Wesley has shown me more love and affection than I could ever ask for. You underestimate him. He's loving and caring and honest...sometimes. But he's a wonderful boyfriend and friend and I couldn't ask for a better person to have in my life. You should be glad to have a son like him."

With those words off my chest, I walk away from him and search for Wesley. We should not have come here. Neither one of us had a good time, I just thought I could help by bringing Wesley to this gathering and having him see his family again after not seeing them for so long. I was wrong. We should've gone on a date and got Mongolian.

When I find Wesley, I pull him away to a more private area. "I want to go," I say immediately. "It was a mistake to come here. We can still have our date, go to the amusement park, then the brewery so we can sample their drinks, get ice cream and walk on the pier."

Even though I knew we were coming here I actually did plan out a day just in case Wesley started asking questions. And now I really want to do that instead of being here.

He tenses and slips his arms around my waist. "Eliana tell me what happened."

"Can we just go, please? I want to go. I should've never tricked you into coming here."

His jaw ticks, but he nods and takes my hand to go find Rex and say goodbye to his family. Wesley noticed how I avoided his dad but thankfully doesn't say anything as we hook Rex onto his leash and leave the house. This time Wesley drives.

When we are far away from the house I tell Wesley to stop the car. He pulls over immediately and the second he puts the car in park I climb over the console and into his lap pulling him into a much-needed kiss. He doesn't deserve the treatment he's received.

I'm not going to tell him what his father said because I know it won't help anything so instead I kiss him.

Like usual he immediately kisses me back, wrapping his arms around my waist and holding me tighter against his chest. "What happened?" He whispers pulling back and looking at me.

"Nothing, I just really really like kissing you."

He nods and kisses me again. "We will talk about this later because it's obvious you don't want to talk right now."

I climb out of his lap and settle back into the passenger seat. Wesley pulls back onto the road and goes to our first location: the amusement park.

You could visibly tell he was happier being away from that house and I'm really starting to regret going there. This is much more enjoyable. Laughing with my goofy boyfriend and threatening him every time he tries to pull me toward the drop tower. Eventually, we end it on the Ferris wheel and go to the second part of our date. He really enjoyed the liquor tasting. We didn't get Mongolian but we got ice cream and pretzels then walked down the pier by the ocean. I loved every second of spending time with my two boys.

"Eliana, are you going to tell me why we left so quickly?" Wesley questions as we lay in bed together.

I don't tell him the complete truth. Instead, I just say that it was obvious he didn't want to be there and I didn't want to force him to stay there any longer. He nods but I know he doesn't believe me, but he still doesn't press. Instead he cuts off the lights and pulls me into his arms, holding me as I fall asleep. I don't think it's pertinent that he knows what his father said. And I don't want to bring it up.

Unfortunately Wesley figures it out and the pain was evident. I really wanted to protect him.