Unexpeted

Ch. 21

Elianas pov

I follow behind my mom into my grandparents house where I see Victoria, both my aunts, and my grandparents.

I lock the door behind me and sit beside my youngest aunt, "Well it's been a while since I've gotten to see you Eliana, how are you?" Aunt Madison asks.

I just give a shoulder shrug and pull my phone from my pocket to entertain myself, "Busy according to her snapscore. I'm a bit offended she let our streak die but keeps them with other people." Aunt Madison says.

I turn my head to her and look at her stupidly, "I don't do streaks with anyone. My Snapscore rises from story views, group chats, and private messages. What are you talking about?"

"You don't do streaks?" She asks.

"No, they are stupid. If I want to talk to you, I'll talk to you. Sending a photo for a score is stupid. My friends know who they are, I don't need a streak to tell them how good of a friend they are." I roll my eyes.

"Add me to your group chat?" She asks.

"No." I say looking down at my phone.

"Oof, someone has an attitude." She says.

"And she better loose it quick." Mom warns.

I hold back an eye roll and pull my earbuds from my pocket next. I put them into my phone and open Spotify and shuffle my music to tune out of everything going on around me.

You can't expect me to not stand up for something when I'm being accused of something I didn't do. I don't keep streaks and am being accused that I do. But of corked I'm in the wrong. Of course I better shut up. Because when has my mom ever let me actually use my voice? Never. It's always been expected of me to be quiet.

But am I going to date to argue back to my mom with the tone of voice she used? No. I don't have the courage to even try that. I'm only going to get screamed at and what's the point in going through that? I'm only going to have fear and my moms not going to change or even listen to what I have to say. It's best to just hold my tongue and do what she wants.

"So what have you two been up to today?" I hear my grandma ask.

"Well Eliana had a doctors appointment today and that's been about it." I hear my mom reply.

"How did it go?" I hear my grandpa ask.

"Same as usual."

Hmm, I can only wonder why. It's totally not because when I'm honest about how I think or feel I always get in trouble resulting in me keeping silent out of fear. Oh wait, no, that's exactly why.

"Victoria how are you getting along with Ellie?" I hear my grandpa ask.

Ew, please stop calling me Ellie. I hate that name. I hate my name in general, but Ellie is even worse. My mom really showed her dislike to me by naming me Eliana Faith Lovato... like if you think your names bad, just remember you don't have faith as your middle name because your mom really tried some religious stuff with your name...

"I think we're better than we were last year, but there's still a long way to go. But I'm just trying to go slow and not make her uncomfortable with things. I know this isn't an easy change for her and I can't expect it to be." Victoria says.

"Well, you're trying. That's what counts. Eliana is a bit of a tough one to break through to. She's been holding a grudge with her mom ever since she left her on that one tour."

No, I started resenting her after that one tour when I realized my mother didn't care about me. That is not the same thing. I should've known before that tour with all the abuse, but I guess I held onto the hope that it was just drugs effecting her. But no, it wasn't. She just doesn't want me and does her best to make that very clear. Like she's not hiding it, never has.

"I don't think she's a tough one to break through to, I think that's a bit rude to say. Eliana is very smart and knows that sometimes you need to have a guard up with change. Because you don't want to get to comfortable with something only to have it end. She also knows when to let people in versus not. If you don't give her a reason to distrust you, she won't. So if it's been a year and she still doesn't want to be around you or trust you, then it's time to think about what you've said or done that made her uncomfortable. I also disagree that a tour is why she is resentful of demi. Demi leaves her for tours all the time and she's fine. Hell she looked happy when Demi was gone for a month and she was with Wilmer. None of us know what happens at her house, but considering how she decided to just snap at Eliana for defending herself, I can't imagine it's award winning parenting." Aunt Dallas says.

"Dallas shut up. You don't even have a daughter nor do you know how to parent one. I do what's necessary to keep Eliana-"

"No, I don't have a daughter. But with how many times you've asked me to parent or babysit yours, I might as well have one. Eliana has lived with me for very long periods of time because of rehab or touring or you needing me to babysit her to spend x amount of time with this person. I know how to parent your daughter and snapping, talking to her coldly, or making yourself seem bigger and better really isn't needed. Not when I get successful results by just sitting with her and explaining why what she did was wrong, making sure she understands why it's wrong, before taking away a device to punish her." Aunt Dallas says.

They do realize I'm still in the room right? Or did they actually forget? Because I might be quiet, but I'm still here.

"I'm with Dallas on this one." Madison says.

"Demi is parenting Eliana just fine. Leave her alone about it." Grandma says.

Right, right. Abusing me physically and emotionally is just a really great way of parenting. It really teaches me how to be cautious of everyone and everything. Fear everyone and everything. Not trust a single person. Have pain tolerance. The ability to just disregard my emotions. The ability to manage to always convince myself things are always my fault. Yeah, my moms doing great.

"And when Eliana turns 18 and shuts her mother out of her life, she'll learn that her parenting was anything but fine. Maybe instead of being defensive about things, her mom can learn to take feedback and not take it has hate. It's constructive criticism that'll actually lead to a change in-"

"I'm doing what I can Dallas! There's a damn reason I have her in therapy! I am not saying I'm perfect, but your damn right I'm going to get onto her when she does something wrong!" My mom yells.

I get up from the couch and walk to the bathroom before I hear something that'll send me into an anxiety attack. My moms yelling is already making me very uncomfortable and I really don't want to have an anxiety attack and not have anywhere to hide and calm down. So I might as well remove myself from there before it gets bad. Because when my mom and aunt argue, it usually gets pretty ugly. Actually, it always gets ugly...