Invisible String [T.S-E.S BOOK ONE]

23

August 11th, 2013

"Porter!" Izzy ran towards her boyfriend.

After breakfast Taylor and the Hawkins-Slater siblings decided they needed to get dressed and get out of the house and do something. So naturally they went downtown to meet Porter. They had filled Anthony in on the whole situation and after being begged mercilessly by all three siblings, Izzy finally gave in and told Porter to meet them.

As they watched Izzy run into Porter's arms, Eleanor noticed Hawk had his phone out and was taking a picture. She rolled her eyes and covered his camera with her hand to give Izzy and Porter their moment.

She was more lucid than she had been that morning, but was still feeling the euphoric effects of the drugs she had taken in the shower. It would wear off soon, she she had hid a few in her pocket. The trouble was making sure Taylor and Pat didn't find them before the weekend was up.

"Do we like him?" Taylor asked the soccer player. They were in public, so they couldn't be holding hands or as close as they wanted to be, but the blonde was leaning in as close as she could.

"From what I've seen he's a nice guy." Eleanor responded.

Patrick grunted. "I don't like him."

"Is it him or the fact that he's dating your little sister?" Eleanor nudged his shoulder, making him grunt again.

"He's a cool guy, I just don't want to think about what he's thinking about." Patrick told them. "As a man, I know what we think and it's gross."

Anthony seemed confused, but went with it. He personally loved Porter, though.

Eleanor laughed at at her brother's sudden confrontation of realty and rubbed his shoulder. "God bless lesbianism."

"And bisexuality." Taylor added quietly, sharing a secret look with her lover.

Patrick shook her arm off. "You have no idea how glad I am that I'm only getting one brother in law. I can't go through the stress of sorting through your partners and Izzy's."

"Because you're a man and you get to control their lives?" Eleanor raised an eyebrow in a challenge.

Hawk sighed dramatically. "No! That's not what I meant!" He tried to find the words to defend himself. "I just meant...I...I just worry about my sisters a lot, you know? It's a scary world."

"I'm messing with you, Hawk." Taylor giggled. "I know what you meant." She shot him a reassuring smile. "I just hope you don't lose too much sleep over me."

"Oh I do." He told her, his defensive demeanor melting away. "I just worry about what my sister will do to you." He winked.

It was supposed to be a joke and Taylor took it as such. Eleanor watched as her face lit up in a laugh, her beautiful unstraightened curls falling into her face. Instinctively, El's hand fell into her pocket and she felt the pills. Even if it was a joke, Patrick was right, she was going to ruin Taylor. The worst part was, she knew that and she knew she wasn't going to change. It was selfish.

Izzy dragged Porter over to them before Eleanor was forced to face the unsuccessful (to her) joke that Hawk had made.

"Porter, you know Patrick and Eleanor." She pointed to her two older siblings.

Eleanor forced a smile and a wave. Patrick just stared at him. Both were very different greetings than he'd gotten in the past.

"Right." He chuckled awkwardly. "Hawk and Slate, hey."

Eleanor's smile cracked and slowly became genuine at the mention of the nickname. Everyone in the soccer world called her that, but it always felt special when someone called her that out in the real world. It was as if she was a kid just coming up with the name for the first time again.