| torn up

~ chapter 45 ☁️

'Willow, is that you?'

I hear the distinctive sound of my Mum as I silently curse in my mind before the door swings open to reveal her figure on the other side of it.

'Hi, Mum.' I grin, forcing a smile onto my face and making a move to subtly stand directly in front of her, hopefully somewhat blocking Eli and his car from her view.

'Hey, sweetie. How are you, how was the movie then?' She eagerly greets me, seemingly excited for me since she knows how much I love the Crimson Sky franchise. ' And why didn't you just knock, silly? You knew I was home.'

'It was good, really good. How about we go inside and I can tell you all about it in the sitting room, it's a little chilly out here.' I gush in a hurry, silently willing her to just close the door and go back inside already.

She smiles at my words, nodding her head in response to my proposal. It appears she's just about to head back inside when her gaze eventually settles over the black car parked outside our house and she stills in her place with raised eyebrows.

Cursing at her awareness inside my head, I quickly open my mouth to answer her unspoken curiosity in a bid to stop her from getting too interested in the vehicle and finding out it is in fact Eli Walters sitting inside.

'I just need to grab something from my room for my friend real quick but then I'll join you on the couch.' I ramble, causally gesturing to the car and praying she won't be able to make out the dark haired boy's face from here before trying to usher her inside.

It seems the universe really isn't on my side tonight because before I can get to the point of physically trying to just push my Mum inside already, I watch in dread as she stares at the car with squinted eyes before a big smile breaks out on her face.

'Oh my god, is that Eli?' She cries, a happy noise exiting her mouth as she begins walking over to the car before I can grab onto her.

I watch from the porch, face palming myself as she soon stops right by the vehicle, wasting no time in raising a hand to knock on the window. She soon quickly catches the attention of the green eyed boy who seemingly hadn't noticed her presence and had been busy looking down and typing on his phone until now. He seems startled by her presence, straightening up at the sight of her as an awkward smile momentarily takes over his face. He glances questionably towards where I stand for a second before he returns his gaze to my Mother.

I heave a heavy sigh as I play spectator, watching the two of them from the front door for a second before soon deciding I don't want to witness my Mum's embarrassing ways any longer when I hear her shout out that awkward thing adults always say to us kids after not having seen them in a while- 'get out of the car then, Eli, Let me see you!'.

I decide to just hurry up and quickly search my room for his ring already so that the cringeworthy encounter outside will end as quickly as it possibly can. I already know how it's going to play out, it always goes the exact same way when my Mum and Eli encounter each other again after some time apart.

She's always so happy to see him, hugging him and asking how's he been and that she hopes he's been taking care of himself. Meanwhile he always stands there tensely and as stiff as a board, trying to force a smile onto his face as he attempts to keep up with her rapid fire questioning. And yet despite how indifferent and perhaps standoffish his behaviour might come across to others, I can tell he actually does kind of like my Mum- at least he tolerates her more so than most adults I see him with of whom he never fails to greet with a scowl.

As uncomfortable as it might be for me to watch the two interact, it's actually also kind of refreshing and amusing to watch Eli try and act as normal and respectable as he can in front her. I'm used to seeing him shout and scream at the teachers at school, I'm not used to seeing him so obviously try and force his laughter out at my Mum's dead jokes.