One Thousand Paper Cranes

Chapter 16

^Rachel

Eliam's mom was quite the character. Her hair was died pink on the tips, making her come off as much younger than she already was. She was listening to David Bowie and was completely oblivious to mine and Eliam's presence.

"Hey, mom." Eliam greeted her, climbing into the front seat while I got into the back. She turned down the music and smiled, the resemblance between the two was almost nonexistent. While Eliam's hair was curly and brown hers was stick straight and red, with flecks of blond here and there. She was also extremely pale. They both had freckles though and their smiles were strikingly similar.

She pulled him in for a hug, squeezing him and laughing. The exchange was so foreign to me I had to look away. I knew this was normal, for a mother to show so much affection toward her child. I'd just never been shown affection like that, not from my mother. When my father was around I never felt like I wasn't wanted.

"This is Sam. My umm..." The fact that neither of us had defined what we were was reason enough to pause and stop talking. I saved Eliam the trouble of prolonging the awkwardness. I tried not to let my hurt show at the fact that he hadn't not told his mom about our relationship.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you, Mrs. Dale." I smiled at her and she grinned back.

"You too, Sam. Can I call you Sammy? I'm going to call you Sammy. And you can call me Jenny." She smiled brighter somehow and I stifled my laughter. I leaned back against the plush seat and watched the school go by through the mirror. A break, finally.

"Sam's only read one book in his whole high school career mom. Can you believe it?" I caught onto some of the conversation. Eliam sounded like an overexcited six year old who'd just made a new friend. It was oddly adorable but I wasn't going to tell him that.

"Well, not everyone likes books as much as you. That reminds me, you remembered Velocity right?" She asked, turning into a street with houses lined up in neat rows. Eliam gave her a hearty 'yes' and she nodded her head.

"Good. I was wanting to read it, after you're finished of course."

Eliam's house was close to the school. Blue shutters adorned the windows and bricks covered the entire exterior. A small pathway had been paved up to the door and potted plants stood in intervals all the way up it. A yellow jeep was parked in the driveway and Jenny pulled up next to it.

"Now, I'll warn you about this before hand. My dad can be a little awkward-" Eliam turned to me and said.

"Awkward? I think his problem runs a little deeper than that. He's harmless, Sammy. You'll be fine." Jenny took over. She turned off the car and got out. Eliam gave me one last good luck smile before we both got out.

He didn't try and take my hand and I pushed down the anxiousness that wanted to crawl up out of me. He was just as nervous as I was, that was it.

Their house was just as pretty on the inside as it had been on the outside. Pictures hung on the walls. Eliam with his mom holding a violin. Smiling widely, a tooth missing. I didn't even know he used to play violin.  One of his entire family was next to the TV in the very back of the living room. He was wearing glasses in that one and he was a lot younger, maybe only eight or nine. 

All these pictures and memories. It was overwhelming. But also sweet. I would ask about them later.

Jenny led us to the family room, her sneakers squeaking against the hardwood floor. Each wall was a nice maroon color and the whole place felt cozy.

In the living room on one one of the couches sat two girls. The tallest, a smile plastered on her face, was blonde and seemed to radiate positivity. She squealed and jumped up when we walked in.

"Eliam!" He laughed as she tackled him and almost sent him sprawling. That must have been Emma. Eliam had told me she was the happy one. "You must be Sam. Eliam's texted me so much about you." She hugged me and it left me surprised. I tried my best to reciprocate but I couldn't help how awkward I was.  She didn't seem to care though.

The other girl, probably Rachel, hardly even acknowledged us. She smiled at Emma but that was it. Eliam's eyes, usually so bright, seemed dim and impassive like he was used to being ignored by Rachel.

"Where's your father, Emma?" Jenny asked while going over to sit by Rachel. She squeezed her knee and gave her a smile.

"He's-"

"Right here." If I had to pick Eliam's dad out of a line up I would have had no trouble. The little hair he had left was curled and freckles were splattered across his face though he had more than Eliam. His eyes were a nice honey color and he carried himself, tall and confident, just like Eliam. He smiled with a happiness equal to Emma.

"I was just getting ready to go pick up Fi. She's not far from here so I'll go right now and be back soon. Oh," he noticed me, standing awkwardly next to Eliam. "You must be Sammy."

I smiled shyly. "Yeah, that's me."

"Well, it's nice to finally have a face to the name. It's good to meet you." He smiled at me and it set my nerves at ease. I'd be fine here for a week. It wasn't that long and so far I had made a good impression.

"I'm going to give Sam the tour." He turned to his dad. "When you bring Fi back please tell me. Bye."

Eliam's room was strangely nothing like I had expected and it looked like it had walked right off of Tumblr. Records covered his wall and a record player was set up in the only corner of his room that wasn't cluttered. Two huge bookshelves took up a good portion of one of his walls and the books inside seemed to be spilling out. The walls that weren't covered were black.

He shut the door behind him and wrapped his arms around my waist as I study the room. His lips tickled the back of my neck and I thanked the lord for privacy. I turned around, facing him. He leaned closer but I kept him from going any further.

"Why are you acting so different with me around your family? You told them about us, so why can't we act like a couple?" His arms dropped and he rubbed his temples with his thumb and index finger. He sat down on his bed and I sat next to him, moving the magazines that may there onto the chest at the foot of the bed.

"When I was fifteen I had a boyfriend." He started, looking ahead at the Black Keys record. "I thought I was in love with him.  He had a sort of checkered past and his family didn't know about us. That was the first sign of danger, but I was too fucking dumb to realize it. My whole family knew about us and they warned me. Told me he'd break my heart and I didn't listen. Well, next thing I know he's spreading rumors about me around the school that I suck dick in the boys bathroom and he caught me one time sucking the gym teacher. He ruined everything for me and got a teacher fired. It wasn't even true."

"And you think I'll do the same thing?" What he was saying didn't make me feel better. It sucked that he had went through that.

"No, I'm just- my family isn't as trusting when it comes to my relationships. They're always trying to get what's best for me." He explained. I nodded.

"I understand." I eased his worries and he leaned over to me. He took my chin in his hands and lifted it up to meet him.

"Good." And I melted into the kiss.

A/N: God I feel like this is awful.

Hopefully you mates are enjoying the story. ;)

I'm real excited to get more further into the story. Some serious shits going to happen.