November 1, 1994 (Later)
Sorry, I couldn’t finish writing earlier. Mom called. She was wondering why the microwave didn’t have cable and surround sound.
So anyways, Eli’s house. That was – interesting.
Adonny left soon after dumping half a bottle of glue on me. Eli got paper towels to clean up the mess. He set them down on the table and sat down across from me. I grabbed one from the stack and started wiping the sticky white slop off of my arm.
“Look Brandy, this may come as a surprise to you, but I'm not heartless.”
I looked up, and he continued, sounding sincere.
“Why does he do this to you?”
A bitter laugh forced its way out of my mouth.
“You follow all of his orders, you’re the perfect little minion, and you don’t even know why?”
His eyebrows creased.
“Whatever. It doesn’t matter. What matters now-“
Eli interrupted me. His eyes were squeezed together like he was concentrating on something.
“I’m not the perfect little minion. I just can’t disobey him – Adonny has some shit on me. He’d tell people if I didn’t stick with him and his decisions. Believe me I don't enjoy doing this to you.” He said shaking his head looking at me with hurt hidden in his eyes.
“And you expect me to believe all of this? Adonny and the rest of your guys gang, put me through hell and back, yet now you act like we’re friends. Like you’re on my side. I don’t know what Adonny has up his sleeve this time, but I’m not falling for this.”
A crushed look fell over his face for a few seconds while we sat in silence. I waved a book at him.
“We need to get started.”
He nodded, and a smile slowly crept across his face. I froze. He was planning something; he must have been. Why else would he smile like that?
“Yeah. Let’s get started.”
The rest of our work time was suspiciously peaceful. No insults, no pranks, no nothing. Just work and nice small talk. Adonny came back near the end of the day, when we were almost done. As soon as he came in, I wasn’t “Brandy” to Eli anymore; I was “idiot”. But it still could have been an act. It’s still more likely to be an act.
So we’ll just have to see how this goes. I wonder if this is Eli’s plan – or is it Adonny’s?
-Brandy
