the last song (mileven au)

better late than never

≫ 13 ≪

El spent the first half of her morning out on the beach, inspecting the turtle nest. She had been a little preoccupied lately, so she hadn't checked on it in awhile. Not that she really needed to, ever since the aquarium put the cage up around it, the sea turtles were fully protected. She still liked to keep an eye on it, just in case one of those raccoons got to messing with it.

"El! Look what came for you!" She heard Sara yell, as she ran out from the house, to where El was sitting. She handed her a large square envelope, with El's name written in beautiful cursive on the front. There was also a post-it note stuck to it, with not so neat handwriting on it. From what she could make out of the messy penmanship, it said "Better late than never!"

Knowing exactly what was inside, El ripped open the envelope, sliding out the card stock that read:

Please join us in celebrating the union of

Nancy Kay Wheeler & Steven James Hargrove

July 7th at 2:00 in the evening

It was her invitation to Nancy's wedding. She was starting to think she'd never actually get it. As the wedding grew closer, El had really hoped Mike could somehow get his mom to let her attend. After all, Mike was her boyfriend. She may not know Nancy, but this was an important day for Mike. His sister was getting married, how could it not be? And she wanted to be there with him, even if she would feel entirely out of place, amongst all those wealthy people.

El read the invitation aloud, earning her an overly excited high-five from Sara. She was so thrilled to tell her dad, that she dropped what she was doing and took off down the street. The church wasn't too far from their house, so the walk there wouldn't be that much for her.

She entered the church, spotting her dad sitting on one of the few pews randomly placed throughout the small building.

"Dad! My invitation came, for the wedding!" She happily informed him, waving it in front of her. He took the invitation, looking over the fancy writing.

"I told you! I knew it would all work out, I'm so happy for you El!" He congratulated her, before handing it back and reaching in his pocket. He grabbed his wallet and took out a handful of cash. "Here, take this."

"Oh, no, dad. I wasn't gonna ask you." She quickly denied, not wanting him to think that she expected him to pay for anything. 

"Please, El. I have years of shopping to make up for. The least I can do right now is give you money for a dress." He insisted, placing the money in her hand.

She was overcome with gratitude, accepting his proposition. "Thank you, dad."

El stuck the money in her back pocket, then took a seat next to him on the pew.

"Why are you doing all this?" She asked, looking around at the damaged interior of the church. The inside looked untouched, like the fire had just happened. She figured they must have not gotten to restoring the inside yet.

"Well, I've spent a lot of time here, El. I used to go here with my family as a child. Then when I moved back, I would come here every day and play piano. Sometimes they'd let me give lessons here. This place just always had a special place in my heart and made me feel safe."

"Then why do people say you burned it down?" She hesitantly asked, hoping her saying this wouldn't hurt his feelings.

"You heard that huh?" Jim looked away for a minute, not wanting to meet her curious gaze.