Wonders of a Smile

Benefit Of The Doubt?

Elise

Elise peered up at her parents as they worked around each other, cooking dinner. Their smiles were all too evident as they moved gracefully and in sync around the kitchen. They would occasionally sneak a few kisses here and there when they thought she wasn’t paying attention, but she was. Elise eyed them carefully, scrutinizing every little thing they did, hoping to see any signs of discomfort, but she didn’t find anything. They both looked completely at ease and it was unnerving to say the least. Elise couldn’t take it anymore. She had to know the truth!

“What were you guys arguing about before I came in?”

She watched as they faltered in their steps and movement. Her mom was in the middle of scooping the green beans into a plate and she noticed that she had missed, causing a number of those green vegetables to fall to the floor. Her father was cooking the steak and he actually froze in the middle of flipping it. It lasted only a second, but she saw it and her parents knew that she saw it, too. Her mother turned to her with a forced smile as she carried the plate of greens onto their dining room table.

“What are you talking about, sweetie?”

Elise frowned at her in disapproval. Were they really going to try and weasel their way out of this when Elise was 100% certain on what she had heard. “Dad said I couldn’t handle it. Whatever you were hiding from me. Well I think I can handle it.” She crossed her arms across her chest.

Patrick, Elise’s father, cleared his throat as he brought over the three separate plates of steak and set it in front of them. “It was nothing, sweetie. Now let’s eat-“

Elise shook her head and stood up quickly causing her chair to fall back and collide with the floor with a loud crack, but she ignored it. Her parents stared at her chair in shock, but they quickly recovered themselves and began to scold her for her attitude.

“Elise! Don’t be rude. Pick that chair up,” her mother, Jennifer, started.

But Elise cut her off. “No, tell me what you guys were talking about. I’m almost 18 and I think it’s time you start treating me like an adult.”

Patrick looked up at her and could see the determination in her eyes. He sighed as he thought of how much they were just like her mother’s. She would always give him that look when she wanted something when they were younger. He knew that if he couldn’t get out of it then, he couldn’t get out of it now.

“Alright, Elise. Pick up your chair-“

Elise cut him off with an exasperated tone. “I’ll stand.” Her lips set in a line as she continued to stare into his eyes.

He sighed and ran one hand through his hair. Another thing that she had inherited from her mother, he thought. That feistiness. He felt a hand touch his and he turned to see his wife giving him a reassuring smile along with a squeeze of his hand. He immediately felt better.

“Elise, I’ll tell you once you’ve sat down in your chair.”

He watched as she wavered and reluctantly picked up her chair. She sat forward in her seat with her back straight as she made no move to begin eating dinner. He knew that she wouldn’t do anything until he told her.

“We didn’t want to tell you this because we didn’t want you to get hurt. We wanted to protect you…” He continued moving his hands in awkward gestures.

Elise could feel the panic set in. Oh god, what was he going to say? It sounded bad. She could see the reluctance in his eyes as he opened his mouth to speak, again.

“You have-…you didn’t get the internship from that newspaper you wanted. I’m sorry.”

His lips were in a frown and he looked genuinely sad that he had to tell her that. But she saw something in his eyes for a brief second that made her doubt that he was in fact telling the truth, but as soon as she saw it, it was gone.