Take Me Home | ✔

Chapter Twenty

[ dedicated to @/braces_are_cool for my very first piece of fan art :) thank you so much! ] 
[ unedited ] 

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      By the time Tessa had calmed down, she was already in a state of panic. The reason being that I needed to reevaluate my choices in clothing. She quickly composed herself in front of Elliot's presence, wiping away her stray tears and putting on a smile as she disappeared into her closet. 

    "So, are you planning on telling me what you guys we're talking about?" Elliot asked cautiously, sitting down opposite me on Tessa's fluffy comforter. I stroked the hemming of Tessa's jeans, shaking my head. 

    "No." 

   "Fair enough," he frowned, "But at least tell me the genre." 

   "Lady things." 

His eyes caught the package of tampons she had given me, before I shied it away from him with a cheeky grin. "I didn't think it'd be that painful," he mutters lowly. 

"What? It was nothing, Elliot, truly," I bobbed my head and weaved a smile through carefully plastic threads. 

   "Well, I could tell something was... I dunno, wrong with Tessa," he said, his voice becoming softer and his eyes flicking over to where Tessa was inside her closet, generously gathering up clothes for me to borrow. "She hasn't been quite herself lately. When I heard that Aunt Hallie died, I didn't think -- well, I didn't assume -- I just didn't expect for her to get so... sheltered." 

"She's a teenage girl, Elliot, 'sheltered' is her middle name," I told him, absentmindedly folding the numerous pairs of jeans I had tried on but threw away in failure. 

He looked to the closed door of the closet. "I just wish I could've been there for her, y'know. If only I-I knew. I would've helped her through it." 

"She needs time," I offered. 

"Aunt Hallie died a couple years back, though." 

"So? Elliot, it was her mom. She's too young to be that sad," I noticed, looking forlornly at the door. 

Maybe the reason she kept focused on her phone was to have a distraction from the outside world. Or to keep her head down, and have her hair fall around her face like a protective shield. Maybe that way, no one would notice that she was screaming inside. Maybe all of us were like that, and that was probably how so many sad people feel alone -- because no one bothers to actually notice.

I mentally added phones to the list of things that sucked. 

He thought this over. "And you helped talk to her? You helped her feel better?" 

"You did walk in on us have heart to heart chit chat and collapsing into a sobbing embrace full of unicorn tears," I said with a straight face. 

He looked puzzled, before he falls backwards with a laugh. "You're amazing, you know that?" 

My hands freeze in their place as I folded the last of Tessa's jeans. 

"Thanks for helping my baby cousin. You're such a good friend for doing this," he continued. 

Oh. Right. Right. Don't get too ahead of yourself, Vienna. You're not that naive, are you? 

With my back turned to him, I nod without forcing a smile; it was becoming too exhausting. Suddenly, I yawned loudly and curled up on the bed near Elliot's legs, resting my head on the plush blankets.