Saving Elliot ©2015 Sydney Wray

Chapter 13~Grammatical errors

"Potatoes, Mr. Jackson?" One of our servers asked me, standing at our dining table with a bowl of potatoes in her hand.

"Um, no thanks." I shrugged, sending a smile her way. I went back to my salmon, my soft T-shirt smoothing down. I hadn't felt like a suit tonight; a blazer or a dress shirt just seemed off putting.

I felt my father's gaze on me. Never, have I once, muttered the grammatical error of, 'um,' around his presence.

Diana, the server, spooned potatoes onto his plate. He didn't suppress so much as a thank you as she scurried out of the rom.

"Elliot."

I looked at him, swallowing my salmon. "Yeah?"

His gaze hardened from my lax word choice. "Where is your blazer? A dress shirt maybe?"

"I didn't feel like wearing one. I mean, I'm not going anywhere and it's just you." I explained.

Father looked perplexed at my explanation. "A suit is the appropriate attire, Elliot. I don't know if it's this girl that's doing this to you-"

"-her name is Hailey," I inturrutped, quite irritated he still did not address her properly, "And no, it has nothing to do with her. I guess I just didn't want to dress that way tonight."

I went back to my meal.

"I don't want you seeing her, Elliot. She's messing with your focus, and that is not good for you." He continued.

I froze, looking at him. "You don't get to tell me who I'll be with. Hailey is an incredible person who-"

"-who is probably a lower classman. We don't associate ourselves with those kinds of people." Father interrupted me with arrogance in his tone.

I laughed bitterly. "She's not actually. She lives on the north side of Venice."

His eyebrows raised. That was, after all, a very nice area. Almost equivalent to the area we lived in.

"And honestly, even if someone wasn't as fortunate as this," I paused, motioning to the environment around us, "It doesn't matter. It matters what kind of person they are."

"Elliot." He slammed his fist onto the table, making me jump and the plates rattle. "I am your father, and you will show respect to me."

His tone was scary, which made me shrink silently.

"I expect you to be at the conference tomorrow. Understood?"

I nodded quickly.

I watched him sip his wine, staring off into the distance.

It was quiet for a bit, until he cleared his throat, "Oh, and get that mutt out of my house."

I swallowed, looking to the left and caught a glimpse of Snoopy hiding under one of the chairs.

~~~~~~~~~~

Jaxx stared at me, unconvinced. "What?"

I glanced around The Shack, and bent down to Snoopy. I picked him up, and held him in my arms. "I need you to take him."

Her hands were covering her mouth. "Oh, my god."

She came out of the island, and gasped at his size. He was still a puppy.

I grinned, watching her gawk at Snoopy, and handed him to her.

She took him with delicate arms, cradling him as he yawned in her grasp. "What's his name?"

"Snoopy. He's five months old."

She puckered her lower lip, scratching behind his ear. "He's adorable, Prim."

I smiled sadly. "Take good care of him."

Jaxx smiled, giving me a light hug with Snoopy still in her arms. "Thank you."

I checked my watch. Ten minutes until the conference. "I have to go. Have fun with him."

She nodded to herself, smiling down at him. He had tucked his head in the crook of her arm, eyes half closed.

I started to leave, but glanced back once I got to the door.

Snoopy had his head up, staring at me in alert as I descended away from him. I bit my lip, forcing myself to step out of The Shack.

~~~~~~~~~~

I sat in borederm, listing to my father bore on about the project in down-town LA. His colleagues nodded appreciatively along, watching my father pace and announce his plans. My thoughts eventually wandered to Hailey; like most subjects on my mind lately, they were almost all about her. When I ate my breakfast, I would stupidly wonder if she liked Cheerios with banana as well. Or when I sat doing my father's paperwork, I would wonder what she was doing at the moment. It was like every thing I did lately had some connection to her.

I may have been falling in-"Elliot?"

An impatient voice shot from the head of the room, none other than from my father.

"Yes?" I asked, putting my hand on the doodling in the corner of the white-lined paper

"Can you please read to me what we discussed minutes before?"

My lips parted as I frantically searched my paper. The only thing written was the date, and of course, Hailey's name scribbled in cursive.

"The dates for construction?" I guessed, smoothing down my blazer.

I noticed his expression tighten in anger, but retaliated quickly.

"Right," he started, "Dates for construction."