Old-Fashioned Love

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I watch as my siblings playing on the swings and play fight on the grass. Kids have it easy, all they have to do is play and behave.

It only takes a split. One split before I can hear the laughing. Oh jeez, I begin calling out the kid's names and grabbing all their things. I don't want to see them now. I need time.

Michelle's face is so red from laughing, please don't notice me. She sees me and waves,"Eliza!," she yells and the girls come closer. The have a jump to their walk. I fix my hair and fix my dress.

They stop infront of me and have big grins of their face. I smile and try to watch the children as they cover my view. "Where have you been chick? We thought your mamma gave you the boot!" Peggy says.

I shake my head politely,"No she forgave me now where cool," I say as I try to see past them. I don't want to say it to all of them at once. I'm a chicken. They all look at each other and laugh while giggling. I raise my eyebrows.

"Little miss Michelle went out with Richie last night and we they went to make-out point!," says Amy. They all laugh. I smirk at them and I can feel my face turning scarlet. A place i've heard stories of, and not pretty ones.

I try again to see past Michelle's head she notices and grabs my arm,"Hey would you mind slowing down? I want to ask you something," she says. I stop looking over her head and give her a fake smile.

She nods at the other girls in agreement,"Did ya hear about the shindig at the ol'stevenson barn in three weeks?" I shake my head and try to see over her head without her noticing. I can see my little brother Owen making a sand castle.

"I didn't, I never hear about those things," I say. The girls roll their eyes at my uninterested answer. I don't give to parties, mother only allows me to go to the ones held by the church. The only ones I can dance with their are old men and little boys.

"Well busy body we were wondering if you'd like to get on a pretty dress and go!," says Peggy. My heart almost stops. What would I do at a party? With all those boys and alcohol and not to mention the dancing.

Darn, I also need to tell them about what my ma said, what I agreed on. I look at all their faces. Their waiting for my answer. And today was starting to be a good day until now.

"I um.....," I snatch Michelle's arm,"I need to talk to you." I drag her toward a cluster of trees. And I hide ourselves behind a big trunk. I don't want to say it but I have to.

"I made a promise to my mother and I have to keep it so here it is.....," I begin to say. Michelle drops her smile at the mention of my mother. I fiddle with my fingers and try to avoid her stare.

I try to say it,"Look Eliza I don't give an ass if your mamma don't like me! I'm going to be with you thick and thin and even medium," she interrupts. Now she made me worse. Can I really say what I want to say after that?

"It's not that, you have to understand that my mother was mad at me at the time and I couldn't find any other way for her not to be," I say. Michelle's eyebrows knit together.

"My mother asked me-" Michelle rolls her eyes and takes out a cigar and sticks in her mouth. She lights it up and blows the smoke in my face. I cough and fan the smoke away.

"I don't give a crap!," she grabs my shoulders and shakes me. "You have to stop being so.... so nice, don't you get it?" She looks like she going to yell at me or give me one of her pieces of mind. The ones that sound like my mother's but gives a different message.

"Don't I get what? I can't help being the way I am," I say. I shake her hands off and take the cigar away from her mouth. I drop it on the grass and stomp on it.

"That you always do as your mamma says! She practically manipulates you, why can't you see that?" she says. I don't look into her eyes but at her forehead. The tears are threatening to spill from my eyes.

"You don't know what your talking about, all I do is listen to my mother what a girl is supposed to do," I say. Michelle stays quiet and I can see her biting her thumb nail.

"What is that supposed to mean? Huh?!," she says and tightly grabs my arms. "Look at me! I want an answer!" I do. I take her hands off of my dress and pull up my fallen sleeve.

"It means that it is frowned upon to talk about ones mother the way you do, it isn't lady like or respectable, mothers are the most important person of our lives," I say it in a gentle voice, i'm not good at getting angry.

Michelle leans against the trunk and looks up at the sky. "I can't believe you said that. You know the crap the my mother has dragged me through along with her, she's a horrible person because I can't call her a good mother."

I feel a pang in my heart. I was trying to make this as nice as I could, and I said something even worse that still has nothing to do with what I was going to say in the first place.

I lean beside her and I look at the pattern on the trunk. I move my nail along it,"That was an candyass thing to say, I know how your mother's drinking has changed your life, i'm so mean."

Michelle laughs but it's awkward and dry. "Your not mean you were just defending your mamma, I wish I could do that."

She looks very sad, she once told me that it felt like she was missing a piece, inside her heart. A piece that a mother could only fill. I have one but sometimes I feel like I have one of those holes. Especially when i'm with my mother.

"I should say something that would comfort you but I can't go to that party, it would be too late and I don't have the bravery to lie to my mother." Michelle laughs and not her fake one but real.

I laugh with her and we both sit down and our backs are against the tree trunk. I watch Emily trying to catch some butterflies with her red puffy dress. It used to be mine. My mother would bring me here and we would play for hours.

"Is Richie a good kisser?" I ask. Usually I dont ask these things becuase they make me blush. It's very personal. So that I haven't had my first kiss yet.

"He's pretty great at it, he touches your hair, your face and up and down your arms, he smells delicious, like apple pie," she says dreamy as she closes her eyes.

I crane my head and look back at Peggy and Amy. Their sitting on the bench and ever so slightly they look my way and we wave at each other. I know their talking about us, they know we have always been more closer than we are with them.

"Did you see his other friends?"

She nods,"If your asking for someone be more specific please," she says relaxed. I nibble on my nail, in which way do I say it so she thinks i'm not interested in that way?

"That kid.... I think his name was Daniel or Dan, something like that," I say. Danny. His name is embroidered into my brain, my memory. I haven't been able to think about a different name since that day in front of the shop.

She covers her eyes with her hands,"Yea he was. For a bit. I think he was with a blond girl, super pretty, maybe girlfriend. " I frown and pinch my leg. Of course he does. I mean he's gorgeous. It's not like i'm in love with him. It just feels like i've been played some how.

Was that thing we were doing not flirting. At that moment I thought he was. I was sure of it. Maybe I just saw what I wanted to see. Maybe he was being nice, i'm seeing things that aren't there.

Whatever, it's nonsense. I'll be a miracle if I ever see him again. I hope I don't. A tiny part of me hopes I do. "Are you going out with Richie again?"

Michelle snorts,"If he asks me i'll consider it but I want a relationship will a boy that can pay for me, that has enough money to at least buy me a soda." I nod. I don't understand how she can we be so picky. I would be flattered if a boy even looked at me.

---------

Sorry for such a sort chapter :( I was tired and I actually didn't have much inspiration with writing sorry again and i'm lazy as you can tell by my username.

But I promise i'll be longer next chapter because I have something in "store" he. That was a pun, you'll get it soon enough.

Read. Vote. Follow @jg72jocelin