Love, Elliot

Part. / 7

Previously on Love, Elliot: 'Well, goodbye Aunt Veronica! It was lovely meeting you. And you're right we should catch up soon. Right?'

With that, I left and drove home. Sigh.

When I came back home, I glanced towards Elliot's driveway. His bicycle was chained on a tree. I hate you.

You could hear the commotion inside our house. What the heck is going on? Inserting my key in the front door, there he was. Uncle Ben, stood on the couch.

Weird? Not really.

'Oh look who it is! Kathy's home! How is my baby girl?', Uncle Ben came came forward with a hug. I love him, dearly. He has a special place in my heart along with my family. I honestly couldn't believe he was standing in our living room. Hugging me.

'haha I'm fine Uncle. How are you? Took you long to visit though,' I smirked at him deviously.

'Oh I'm sorry sweetheart. Things at the office have been going downhill lately. But now here I am, ready to take on the fun!,' he spoke with enthusiasm.

I always pictured Uncle Ben with a cowboy hat, saying every now and then,' YEE-HAWW!'

'That's great! What's for dinner then?'

'Well, your dad and I are making our special lasagna with a failed desert,' he smiled cheekily. 

'Oh, and we have fried chicken as well. Well get up now, wash up.'

I decided to tell dad and Uncle Ben about Aunt Veronica. I'm sure they would like to hear about their sister. Maybe..

'I uh...I met Aunt Veronica.'

Silence.

 'Did you just say Veronica?', dad raised his eyebrows.

'Yeah...I did. Why don't we ever talk about her in this house?'

'Sweetie, that's not your place to talk.'

'But d-dad, this isn't fair. We need to know about her. Do Claudia and Vivian know about her too?'

'Go upstairs, honey. We'll talk after dinner.'

Sigh.

As soon as I went up to my room, my eyes darted towards the fax machine. Almost as if the machine knew I was here, it started screaming.

Tumbling on my shoes, I took out the paper carefully. Elliot.

Dear Tom,

What's the matter with you? I've been trying to contact you for the past 2 weeks. You're not answering my phone, you're not replying to my fax. I need this money! Why are you being so complicated? 

Dad's in the hospital. He needs to get operated. He got drunk and slammed a glass bottle on his head. The glass got in deeper to his skull. I need this money. For college, for my job, for everything. I wanna fulfill my mom's dreams, man. 

I met this girl. She kept my secret.

Call me. I'll tell you everything.

Love, Elliot.

*~*

I changed into some lounge wear and when came back downstairs, Claudia and Vivian were already sat at the dining table. We ate our dinner, had a chat, mainly Uncle Ben talking about his travels. He was a big businessman, but he packed it all up once my grandfather died.

I washed the dishes later on, and kept staring at dad every once in a while.

Once done, I took my book out on my bedroom's balcony, and sat on my swing.

'Oh there you are,' dad spoke gently.

I nodded towards him.

'Honey, I need to tell you to not worry about your aunt Veronica. Just...stay out of it.'

'Dad, I'm sorry. I won't.'

'Why were you guys so quiet when I asked about her?'

'She's not safe. You're not safe if you keep meeting with her.'

'Why? Why am I not safe?'

'We've had enough of this conversation.'

'Dad!'

'Enough! ... that's enough. Go to bed. You need rest.'

Tears prickled down my face. He's never spoken to me like that.

I turned my back against the door, and clutched the rod of my balcony. Wiping my tears, my eyes darted towards a dark figure. Standing on my porch.

Elliot. His face told me he knew everything about my fax machine.