Not Thinkin' Bout You

Chapter 26

PREVIOUSLY: "Is that him? Sienna, Ellody, I think that's him!" she said suddenly. 

Ellody's stomach dropped as a man walked towards them. But this man was bald, apart from a small amount of dark-brown fuzz.

"What the hell did he do to his head?" Sienna yelped, standing up and joining Ellody. The girls gawked at their dad as he pranced towards the group, grinning and touching his head every few seconds.

"Girls! Lovely to see you," he smiled. Sienna stared in shock before shaking her head in disbelief and walking away. She felt like following her sister's lead, but Ellody was too polite for that.

"It's... good to see you," Ellody muttered before turning to see her sister on her phone.

"It is good to see you. Um, could I ask... when did you shave your head?" their mum frowned, unable to take her eyes off the guy's head. Ellody wondered what Jonah would look like with a shaved head and began to laugh at the image in her head.

"On my work trip, obviously. Picture this: I was sitting with these guys from my work at a bar, and they were like, 'you know what would be sick?' and I was like, 'we should get nachos!' and this guy was like, 'we should shave our heads!' and I was like, 'why not?'" Ellody stared at her dad as though seeing him for the first time. He wasn't just an absent father. He was a child.

"You're a grown adult, for god's sake. You're not supposed to be all 'yay, let's shave your heads haha that would be funny'. You're a father, but you're too busy having fun with your work friends in London or whatever," Sienna yelled. A group of tourists walking past stared at Sienna as she stormed out of the airport towards the car.

"I should go get her," Ellody suggested, backing away from her parents. Her mum was crazy if she thought they were going to get along with their dad for a whole week. Especially Sienna.

Ellody's phone pinged as she walked, and she pulled it out of her pocket to see her favourite face.

JONAH: hey ell wanna chat i'm free

ELLODY: sure

Her screen became dark as Jonah called her.

"Ell, how are you?"

"Hey Jonah, I'm alright. How are you?"

"Good, good. Tired, but good. What are you up to?"

"Chasing Sienna at the airport," Ellody said, laughing. Jonah snorted, making Ellody laugh harder.

~

"So, how are you planning on coping with Sienna in your room?" he asked. Ellody stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror and pulled a face at herself.

"I'm not. Right now, Sienna's moving the last of her stuff she's going to need for the next week into my room and I'm hiding in the bathroom because she's still avoiding talking to me. This is not going to end well," Ellody explained. Jonah sighed deeply, and all she wanted to do was wrap her arms around him.

"I wish I was there. I seriously want to be there for you," Jonah said. Ellody frowned, wishing he was here too.

"Yeah, if only," she added. They sat in silence for a few seconds until Ellody remembered that she had an assignment due the next day and that she hadn't even started it. She left Jonah before running to her room and throwing open the door to find Sienna on the trundle bed, flipping through a very familiar book.

"Sienna! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Ellody screamed, launching herself at her older sister and scrambling for her diary from a couple years ago.

"Hey, calm down," Sienna mumbled, going bright red. Ellody yanked the diary out of her sister's hands and snapped it shut, panting angrily.

"Why were you going through my diary? You little snoop! How dare you?" Ellody cried, searching her older sister's face for any trace of smugness. But there was nothing except pure astonishment.

"Why didn't you go to mum?" Sienna whispered. Ellody frowned, realising her sister looked extremely concerned.

"Huh?" Ellody said, confused.

"You wrote that you diagnosed yourself with anxiety in grade seven using a bunch of BuzzFeed quizzes. Why didn't you talk to mum about having anxiety? Or me? Why did you go to the band over your family?" Sienna elaborated. Ellody's eyes widened as she remembered her diary entry in grade seven as clear as day:

Dear diary,

Today, I was looking at all these quizzes and stuff online, and I found these ones that are supposed to tell you if you have anxiety and depression. I took the quiz and it asked questions like "do you get nervous in crowds" and yes of course I do! The results said I didn't have depression, but I have high anxiety levels. I texted Zach straight away, of course, and he said he didn't really understand what that meant but he offered to help me with anything if I needed it. He usually teases me a lot and we just play tip at lunch, but that was really nice of him to say that he is there for me. I hope that he stays in my life forever, as my best friend. Or maybe he can be my boyfriend! He is very cute!

-Ellody Brown.

Ellody couldn't believe that her sister had read that entry. How many other entries had she read? There was a lot of personal stuff in there, like when Ellody had a sex-ed class and she had literally written a whole entry about having kids with Zach one day - and an entry about the time she had dreamt she was kissing Daniel, and she woke up with feelings for him that evaporated that very day. How much did she read?

"Ellody... why was Zach always your outlet?" Sienna pressed.

"Because mum was always trying to prove to dad that she didn't need him, or she was at work. And you were always so secretive about your life that I was never sure if I could talk to you.Of course I went to my best friend. You of all people should understand that," Ellody fired back. Sienna was at a loss for words, and she looked like she might cry.

"Seriously? I was secretive?" Sienna mumbled. Ellody nodded, watching her sister carefully. For the first time in a long time, she looked like she could be breaking.

"Girls, come downstairs please!" their mum called. The Brown sisters stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds longer before Sienna stood up and called back.

"Coming."