What If It Was Like This

Chapter 10 - Elise

I stood in Sheena's doorway, completely pissed.

"Um, hey, Mom," Sheena said nervously, the boy she was with frozen with fear.

"Er, I think I should go," he said, trying to pass Elise, but she grabbed his shirt.

"I think not," she said and looked at the two teenagers in the room. "Let's go downstairs and get something to drink, shall we? I have a nice, unopened bottle of wine and some water. Come along, Ella."

Elise knew she left the two in shock, but Ella ran over to her and took her hand to be lead downstairs. "What do you want, Ella?" she asked the little girl as she opened the fridge, waiting for the others to come downstairs.

"Soda!" Ella answered excitedly.

"No, baby. No soda. How about juice?" Elise asked, taking the apple juice from the fridge and a small cup from the nearest cupboard.

Ella smiled and nodded, walking over to her chair, which was higher than the rest so she could reach the table and had steps so she could get up herself. Elise poured out some juice for her and she quickly started drinking it. Elise smiled at her and heard Sheena and the boy coming downstairs as she put away the orange juice.

Sheena walked into the kitchen slowly with the boy and sat down next to Ella. She stared silently as Elise pulled out a small wine glass for herself and poured some out.

Elise glanced at the boy. "Are you legal?" she asked him, receiving a small, quiet nod from him. She nodded slowly and took out another glass, pouring him some, too. Finally, Elise grabbed a glass and filled it with water for Sheena.

"I would get some for you, Sheena, but not while we have a guest," Elise said as she brought the glasses over for the three of them, setting the correct glasses in front of them. She sat down across from the two, with Ella next to both of them at the head of the table, and took a sip of her wine. "So, I'm Sheena's mother, Elise," she said, introducing herself.

The boy nodded and took a small sip of his wine. "I'm Francis, Sheena's... friend," he replied carefully.

"Only one date?" Elise asked, obviously starting to embarrass Sheena.

He nodded, looking down at his wine. "Yup. I can leave if you want," he answered quietly.

Elise chuckled and shook her head. Damn, the wine was strong. "No, you're fine. How old are you?" she asked, smiling st Ella.

"Only twenty-three," he said nervously, as if afraid Elise would disapprove.

"Okay. What do you do?" she asked, already knowing.

"A tattoo artist," he said, still afraid.

"That's cool. I dated a tattoo artist once," Elise said, smiling. Sheena was surprised; Elise never talked about her exes.

"Really?" Sheena asked, finally speaking up.

Elise nodded, taking another sip of the wine. "Yeah. But it ended with him moving and me having a kid."

"Which kid?" Sheena asked, trying to get more information than Elise was willing to give.

"That's another story for another day," Elise said, standing up. "Now, you two are excused," she said and walked over to the kitchen to pour her wine out.

Sheena and Francis stood up and started to walk out, but Elise turned around and said, "Wait, Ella, shut your ears." Ella put her hands over her ears and said "Lalalalala" repeatedly.

They turned around and looked at Elise. "If you guys are going to hump," Elise said, making Sheena's cheeks turn bright red, "Don't do it here. Otherwise, I don't care as long as you're safe."

Sheena nodded and quickly shoved Francis out of the room, leaving Elise to feed Ella.