CHAPTER 2
NOT BEEN EDITED.
~Ellie~
I finally understood Alex Coleman was always going to be a part of my life whether I liked it or not when he came down at half past one in the night and told me he was going to propose to Evie.
Ever since the day our parents got divorced Evie started spending her nights awake, sometimes I used to come down in the middle of the night to get a glass of water and see her sitting eating, or watching TV or just simply sitting doing nothing.
But since she met Alex she just flipped and that was the end of her night shifts. I was the one now keeping awake at night. I was sitting one night spitting watermelon seeds at the window when Alex walked in, he switched the light on and blinked at me.
“What?” I snapped at him.
He held his hands up in mock surrender “Nothing, nothing.” He said. He walked over to the sink and poured himself a glass of cold water, then he looked at me.
“What is it?” I asked him narrowing my eyes.
He ran a hand through his hair and sighed, I watched him walk over to the counter and pull out a stool.
“So, Ellie...I thought I’d run something by you,” he paused, a tiny smile on his lips “I’m going to ask Evie to marry me.” He said.
Wait what? I just stared at him my mouth wide open.
“No, you can’t do that.” I said instantly. I shook my head so vigorously that I didn’t even realise that I had bashed into the cupboard.
“Ellie-,” he began, I cut him off.
“Is she pregnant?” I asked him, regaining my balance and walking towards him with murderous look on my face “Is that why you’re going to marry her?”
“Of course not!” he exclaimed “That’s impossible.” He muttered under his breath.
“Why? You know condoms and pills can fail sometimes.” I don’t know what I was thinking when I said that, Alex’s face flushed red, even though he was probably in shock from what I had said.
“No, I meant we haven’t...,” he trailed off.
“Haven’t had sex?” I offered harshly. What was I doing discussing my sister’s sex life with her boyfriend?
“Ellie,” Alex started to say, but I just held a hand up motioning for him to stop. I can’t stand it when people pity me and talk to me in that voice.
I walked out of the kitchen and went up to my room. My room was always cold even in the middle of summer, I kept the window wide open even at night. My mom hated that I did this, but it didn’t stop me.
I wasn’t surprised when that next Saturday Alex got down on one knee and held out a ring to Evie. I remember hating her that day so much; I didn’t understand why he made her so happy.
She said she loved him, but was he really that perfect? Why was it only him that could put a smile that huge on her face.
Evie had always had a perfect life, everyone loved her. My dad and mum loved her more than me, but I never minded because I loved Evie so I couldn’t have liked it any other way. But all of a sudden I was so angry at her, so mad that she was being so selfish and ignoring all the love that rest of us gave her.
When I was sitting inside, Evie spotted me through the French windows and came skipping to me.
“Hey Ellie.” She said grabbing a peach from the fruit bowl. I have no idea if she knew how I felt about Alex asking her to marry him, at the time I pretended that she didn’t so I didn’t have to feel so bad. I could still live in my little fantasy world.
Evie was good at pretending, so good that I still have think very deeply about the way she acted in any situation. I liked it like that though, because even if she was pretending it put a grin on her face, and mine too.
In the weeks leading up to the wedding I saw a lot of Evie than I had in the past year. That was good. She came into my room one night when Alex had gone to Canada to see his Aunt and Uncle, I was almost asleep so much that I didn’t feel her weight on the bed; she had to give me a good hard shake until I was wide awake.
She smiled at me, and I moved up so that she could climb in beside me. No words said, no words needed to be said. Evie was my sister, I was hers. She loved me and I loved her. It was a given.
The next morning when I woke up, Evie wasn’t there, I panicked for a second, where could she have gone? I quietly padded down the stairs and calmed down when I saw her dancing around the kitchen in her old teddy bear nightshirt.
“Evie!” I giggled as she twirled round and round until she set a plate of pancakes in front of me.
“Ellie,” she said solemnly.
“Chocolate sauce!” I whispered laughing.
“But of course!” she said trying to sound posh, she danced gracefully over to the cupboard and pulled out the nutella.
She squeezed so hard, that my whole plate looked like a muddy puddle.
“Evie that’s gross,” I said looking disdainfully at the brown spread.
“Here,” she said holding her hair with one hand and leaning down “Let me lick some off for you.” She poked her tongue out and started to swirl it around my plate.
I pushed her head down into the plate and waited. She laughed like I knew she would.
That was a good day; it reminded me of what it was like before Alex came into our lives. However as everyone knows; all good things come to an end.
Alex was back before we knew it; though if I really think he was here even when he was gone.
Evie asked me to come to the airport with her, I said yes. I wonder if she knew that when she was asking me, she asked our father to come too. I didn’t know why at the time, but she had also started to bring him back into her lives as much as she could. He, our father found it hard to say no to Evie, she made sure though to carefully leave our mother out of the trips that included him. So our mother waved from the front door, a worrying expression settling on her face. She was a very big worrier, everyone said I took that from her.
At the airport it was absolutely crowded, I hated it; feeling so suffocated.
“I’m just going to watch the planes,” I said to dad. It was slightly better by the windows, I sat there watching quietly for nearly an hour until Evie came and gently pulled on my arm.
“Come on,” she said. I looked up and frowned; Alex was with her. How long had I been there? I rubbed my eyes and stood up. The journey home was quiet; I guess we were just tired. I sat by my dad and Evie and Alex sat in the back.
When we got back my dad parked the car in his driveway and got out. He hugged me and Evie and then went to open the trunk to get the luggage out. Alex and Evie hugged and he kissed her lightly on her cheek, she smiled at him sparkles in her eyes. I looked away but didn’t say anything. I watched as they both helped my dad take Alex’s luggage out of the car and load into the house.
I wonder how stupid I must have been to never question, why Alex and Evie hung onto each other so closely. She had a hard time saying goodbye to him that day, I watched her face crumple when he let her go. It was weird, he had just been away for three weeks and she hadn’t looked like this once and now he was home she was in tears. We walked to our own home in silence.
It didn’t occur to me until much time later that Alex had not gone to his own home that night.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ :)
