(EDITING 2022) Don't Forget Where You Belong | morganehlenfeldt

Chapter 5

* Warning: Adult content. *

I spent the rest of the week searching for a job. Finally, on Friday, I spoke with the owner of a small market down the street, who offered me a low-paying job at the cash register. I'd already spent some time studying European money and felt confident I could run a register by myself. The shop owner said I could start the following week, as long as my background check came back clean. I was excited to have an income of my own, even if it wouldn't add up to much.

On Saturday morning, I call Eleanor. She picks up on the first ring.

"Hey, Em," she says into the phone. I hear crunching and assume she's eating a bowl of her favorite cereal, corn flakes. When I told her I wasn't the biggest fan of corn flakes myself, she nearly fainted. "What's up?"

"I'm bored," I tell her. "I think today's a lazy day."

"Wanna come over and watch some TV?" she asks. I glance around my room at the pile of unpacked boxes still all over the floor.

"I still haven't unpacked," I tell her. I hear Eleanor verbally gasp.

"What?!  I'm on my way." She hangs up before I can respond. A few seconds later, I hear a muffled knock. I run down the stairs just as my dad opens the door.

"Hello, Mister Cohen," Eleanor says chirpily. "My name is Eleanor. I'm going to be your daughter's new best friend. Today we're unpacking her bedroom-" She peers around my dad's shoulder and meets my eyes with a stern look. "-finally."

My dad stares down at the thin woman in front of him. He looks over his shoulder at me. I give him an innocent smile and shrug slowly. He nods and turns to Eleanor, then steps aside and gestures for her to come in.

"Welcome to our home, Eleanor," he says with a friendly grin. She brushes past him and gives him a quick smile.

"Thanks, Mister Cohen. It's a pleasure to be here."

"Please," my dad says, pushing the door shut, "Mister Cohen was my father. You can call me Adam."

"Okay, Adam," Eleanor says. She sticks out her hand, and I watch my dad shake it firmly. Then she turns and smiles at me.

"Let's go," she says, pushing me up the stairs.

"Have fun!" Dad calls up the stairs.

Eleanor tells me the boys are at the studio again today, that Louis barely made it home for a full night's sleep last night before the producer called early this morning and told him to come back. She plays One Direction's first album while we unpack boxes and begin organizing my bedroom. I recognize more songs than I thought I would and can't help but get butterflies in my stomach every time I hear Niall's voice through the speaker. He doesn't have many solos, which surprises me, considering how great of a singer he is.

"Seriously?" I hear Eleanor say suddenly. I turn and see her holding up a pair of my underwear, staring at me with a look of disbelief. My eyes widen in embarrassment. She chuckles and tosses them towards the dresser. "Don't worry, Em. We'll go shopping, just the two of us, and I'll take you to my favorite store for some new panties."

Being friends with a real adult is so strange. Eleanor's got a modeling job that gives her lots of free time and plenty of money. She lives with her boyfriend in a huge apartment in London and spends her free time hanging out with the most famous boy band in the world. I didn't even get my diploma, have only made one real friend before we moved to London, and haven't been on a single date my whole young adult life. Was there something I should've been doing besides school and work?

"Panties?" I say uneasily. "I don't even know what those are, Eleanor."

"At least you know what they're not," she says jokingly, rummaging through the next box.