Born Too Late [Elvis Presley]

Chapter 20: Love Me

A few hours later

Penny Jones

"When are we going to Italy?" Danny asks from the other side of the fire pit. Jack, who sits next to him, takes a drag from his cigarette, looking away from Danny and redirecting his gaze to me. Sharon does the same.

"Can we go tomorrow?" Sharon asks. My eyebrows knit together in confusion.

She wants to go tomorrow? Why would she want to leave so soon?

Sharon takes note of my confusion, her eyes widening ever so slightly as if we're crazy for being confused. "What?" She looks between the three of us, trying to downplay it. By the looks on Jack and Danny's faces, it appears they're just as confused as I am. "I just need to get away for a little while," Sharon shrugs her shoulders in attempt to play it cool, bur I see right through her. Something's bothering her.

"I need a change of scenery, that's all," she says. I nod, but I'm not at all convinced. I could already tell by the look on her face alone that something's happened with Noah, but the fact that she wants to leave tomorrow for a vacation we haven't even booked yet confirms it. She's clearly keen to get away for a little while.

I don't want to call Sharon out and ask her what's wrong in front of the boys, so I take another drag from my cigarette, nodding, "me too." I hold the smoke in my lungs for a few seconds before I blow out the smoke. "I was supposed to be going to a dinner on Friday but I could rearrange it."

"Who's the dinner with?" Sharon asks.

"My dad's girlfriend."

A boyish grin takes over Danny's face the second the word girlfriend leaves my lips. Jack breathes out a laugh through his nose, shaking his head as he looks down at the ground, taking a drag from his cigarette.

"I knew it," Danny says, grinning. "I fuckin' told you." He doesn't even try to hide his satisfaction. I roll my eyes as I take another drag from my cigarette. I blow out the smoke as I stand up and lean down to stub my cigarette out on the ash tray sitting on the table, which has some small pieces of cigarette ash scattered over it, thanks to the gentle summer night breeze. A few drops of beer cover one of the many playing cards which are also scattered on the table, next to a couple of empty beer bottles.

"I'm gonna go get another crate of beer," I say, looking to Sharon over my shoulder. "Come with?" I ask, but it comes out sounding more like a statement. Sharon takes a breath in and stands up to walk beside me. The look on her face tells me that she knows exactly what I'm about to ask her, but I wait until we're far away enough for the boys to hear us.

"What's wrong?"

Sharon's fake happy face immediately falls. "Noah wants a relationship. He won't admit it, but I know he does," she says. "I feel like I'm stringing him along, Pen. Every time he spends the night after we..." she trails off. "You know." I nod as we walk into my dad's kitchen. I look at Sharon over my shoulder as I open the drinks cabinet to grab another crate of beer. "I just feel...trapped," she confesses. "And I don't like it, at all. He's an amazing person, and I wish we wanted the same things, but we don't. He wants more than what I can give him, and more than what I want to give him." She sighs, leaning back against the counter. She runs a hand over her forehead. "The thought of having to live this simple, domestic life that he wants makes me feel sick. I don't look down on him for it - if that's what makes him happy then he should have that." She takes a breath in, a hint of guilt in her tone as she says, "I just know that life would never be enough for me. It's not what I want."

"Well, you know what you have to do." Sharon sighs dramatically, throwing her head back.

"Ugh, I hate this part," she says, letting her eyes fall closed before she covers her face with her hands.