Trust -|- An Elmax Story

IV

I look up to see a man with grey-black hair and a scruffy beard.

"Hello?" he says in a confused voice.

"Hey. Is Joyce here?" Steve asks.

"No. She and her new husband went off somewhere for work. She left me in charge of William and her daughter," he responds.

"Do you even know where the children are?" Steve asks.

"Yeah, at school. I have to pick them up soon."

"Don't you think they're old enough to take care of themselves?"

"Yes, but Joyce wanted me here."

"Well, Jonathan is coming back from college this week. He can take care of them," Steve lies.

"How do you know Jonathan?" the man asks.

"He's an old friend of mine."

"And who are you?"

"Steve," Steve says, handing out his hand to shake his.

"Lonnie," Lonnie says, shaking his hand.

"You can leave if you want. I'll take care of the kids until Jonathan gets here."

"I want to see my sons again, though, and who are these two?"

"The one on my right is Max, and the one on the left is Jane, Joyce's daughter."

"Nice to meet you, Jane," Lonnie says, staring into my eyes.

"Nice to meet you too," I respond. I already didn't like this guy. He's only here because Joyce wanted him to. He doesn't care about Will and Jonathan.

"Look, I can take care of the kids. You don't have to be forced to stay here anymore," Steve reasons with him.

"Alright. Fine," Lonnie grumpily says.

"Thank you," Steve thanks him and turns around, waving Robin over. Robin gets out of the car and stands next to it, keeping the door open.

"What do you need, Hair?" Robin yells at Steve.

"We need to stay and take care of these kids, then we have to pick up Will," Steve explains.

"I'm not the babysitter; you are," Robin shouts back.

"Alright. Have fun walking home."

"I changed my mind. I'll stay here with the kids," Robin says, running over after closing the car door. Steve smiles in victory. We enter the house, and we all sit on the yellow and white striped couch. Steve and I were sitting at both ends. Robin was next to Steve, and Max was next to me.

"Here's the plan. Robin, you'll stay here and look after El while I take Max to her house," Steve announces.

"I can stay here," Max says quickly afterward. Immediately, I became pissed. I don't want her here.

"Screw that plan," Robin laughed.

"Well, I've got to pick up Will from school soon. So, Robin, you'll have to stay here with the kids," Steve says.

"We can take care of ourselves," Max argues.

"I know, but I don't want you guys unsupervised," Steve explains.

"I thought we've already been over that you're the babysitter; not me," Robin says to Steve.

"You can't drive, so we have to swap places for the day," Steve says.

"Alright," Robin complains. Steve gets up from the couch and walks towards the door.

"I'm leaving now. Have fun, you three," Steve says, walking out of the house.

"Not even a goodbye? Rude," Robin jokingly complains.

"I know right," I joke back. Robin gets up from the couch and stares at us.

"You guys seem like an awkward pair," Robin states.

"We aren't even friends," I respond. Max looks to her left, straight at me. I stare back at her.

"You sure?" Robin says, noticing the staring. I look up at Robin.

"Yeah, I'm sure," I say, with Max still staring at me.

"We're acquaintances," Max says, finally looking away.

"Uh-huh," Robin says, not agreeing. I look over at Max.

"We aren't even acquaintances," I tell her.

"Kids, no fighting," Robin calmly says to us.

"We aren't," Max mumbles. Robin walks away towards the kitchen.

"I'm sure," Robin shouts. I get up from the couch to get away from Max.

"Where are you going?" Max asks me.

"My room," I sigh. 

"Can I come with you?" she asks.

"No. I want privacy," I tell her.

"Please?"

"Ugh. Fine. Come on."

I turn around and look over my shoulder to see her smiling and getting up. She's so annoying. We walk over to my bedroom together. My door was left open three inches as usual. I pushed it open. We walk in together.

I look to the left and see my made bed. I have a little brown woven chest in front of it. In front of us are my desk and chair. My desk is very messy. It has art supplies all over on it. To the left of my desk is a small shelf. There's a window right above my desk. I like to look out it often.

"Nice room," Max says, calmly.

"Thanks," I respond. I walk over to the side of my bed and sit down.

"What now?" Max asks, strolling around my room.

"I guess we will wait for Will and Steve to get back," I shrug. I felt someone staring at me, so I made the dumb decision to look up. I was immediately greeted by Max's eyes.

"Why do we always make awkward eye contact?" Max asks without breaking eye contact.

"I have no clue," I respond. She walks over to me, still not breaking eye contact, and sits down next to me. She's too close to me. I slightly scoot over, causing me to break eye contact.

"Ha! You looked away first!" Max yelled in victory. She got up and started doing a little victory dance while smiling.

"You look stupid dancing," I say, laughing.

"I want to see you dance better than that," Max says, grabbing both my hands in hers and pulling me up.

"I don't dance," I respond, still smiling.

"Time to learn," she responds with a giant smile on her face. She turns me around and puts her hands on my waist. I felt my face getting hot for a second, but then it was gone.

"Move your legs like mine," she says, moving her legs left and right. I try to copy her movements, but I keep failing.

"I know how much you want me to let go of you, but I won't until you get this right," Max whispers into my ear. Truth be told, I don't mind her being here right now. I'm having a lot of fun. But, with that, I do it correctly and she lets go of me. I look back at her and smile.

"I had fun," I tell her, smiling. She smiles back and looks like she was about to say something but she was interrupted by clapping.