To My Future Cheating Husband

XV. Damn Difference

Mom ignored him and turned towards me. "So pretty. Pretty." She rushed towards her bedroom and came back with a camera. "My daughter is so pretty. Pretty. Like me!" She turned on the camera.

I gave her a spin.

Mom's smile dropped when the two negative presence came into view, "If you're worried about Ava. Give her a condom too."

"No!" Dad screams, "No! No! No!" He looks at me, "Your brother will be watching you."

I smile, "And who will be watching him?"

Trevon's cheeks turn red, "I'm not going to do anything tonight!"

"Trev. You dropped your condom."

"What?" Trevon looks around the floor, "I swore I put inside my walle-" He stops talking when he feels his pantsuit. "I mean...I got to go pray to God before our departure. It's a good reminder that sex after marriage is ideal." He escapes into his bedroom.

Mom smiles, "Let her go. She has a wrap." She looks at me, "Show the wrap you'll be wearing the whole night."

I pulled it out and wrapped it around my shoulders.

"Now, show him the thick coat."

I grabbed the coat and wrapped it around me.

"Now, show him the extremely long boots that cover your legs."

I pulled on the white boots that covered my whole legs.

Dad scanned my covered body. "Why are your thighs still exposed?"

I look at mom, who dropped the camera, "Don't do this."

Dad threw both hands in the air as a means of truce. He embraced me, "Please. Please. Please. Lie to me even if you're going to do something tonight. Tell me, you won't."

I grabbed his shoulders, "Nothing will happen tonight. I'm going with friends, and I'll leave with friends."

Dad smiles, "Thank you." He looks down, "Now, got any stockings for those thighs?"

"Honey."

"What?" He pinches my cheek, "I don't want my baby to get cold."

One after another, the bell rang. I was still upstairs, putting on my makeup with mom on the sidelines. She presses the camera closer to me. I grabbed the top and pulled it back, "Mom. Don't you want to wait downstairs with everyone else?"

"But, then how am I going to catch the behind the scene moments?"

"Why do you need to catch the behind the scene moments?"

She smiles softly, "If I don't do it, then who will?"

My brush made a halt, and steadily, I lowered it. For the past few months, I've been taking mom to the hospital. My family thinks I'm overly concerned, but I feel like it's not enough. The doctor says she's healthy, but doctors aren't always right. Doctors are humans, and humans are blind to mistakes.

I smile widely at the camera, "How's this for behind the scene."

There's a wall in front of me, one where I can't get past no matter what I do. So rather than standing there and pondering on how to pass it, I rather live the moment.

Live it as if it's my last.

Mom laughs, "What's with that face? You look like someone ran over your toes."

My smile was still present, "Well, you are on my toes."

The camera went down to show mom's slippers on my foot.

Mom lifted it, "Oops."

I chuckle, "Mind helping me put on the eye shadow?"

"Me?"

I nod, "Yeah. My hands are all moist because of the heater." It doesn't matter whether my hands are moist or not. I can still do my makeup like a professional. Since I live most of my years alone, I pick up a few hobbies, and decorating my face is one of them.

Mom set the camera down, "I would love to."

After she finished my makeup, Trevon punched a hole through my door. Not physically, but he was anxious. I'm not surprised if half-way through the dance, he threw up because of all the anxiety.

I ran my fingers down the dress and heard a whistle.

"Trev. For the last ti-" the words got caught inside my throat when I saw a young man beside the door frame.

A casual white button-up shirt and pantsuit do change someone. What stands out the most would be his hair. It smoothes back to reveal his always hidden eyes.

"Sorry to disappoint you, pretty lady, but I'm not your brother." That would be the last thing I need in my life.

"What are you doing up here?"

His lips twisted into somewhat of a smirk, "Your brother told me to come to get you." Eli stood up straight and made his way towards me. "Need any help?"

I shook my head, "Nearly done. All I need is to put on my wrap."

Eli's eyes wander the room until it rests on the wrap. He grabbed it from the counter, "May I?"

I didn't respond.

Eli smiles softly before he wraps it around my shoulders. I could see the small moles on his face —one below his right eye and another on his chin. There's a scent - not fresh laundry - rather quite sweet.

His fingers curl around the cloth, and it slides down my collars. The longer I look at him, the more I notice, the smaller things. Such as the tiny scar in the corner of his head. I wonder how he got it.

Eli's smile only widens, "You got smaller."

With his sudden words, reality hits. He's talking about height. Eli got taller, not by much, but enough to say he's taller than me.

"I'm still growing," I replied.

His fingers lurked near my breasts before it halted. He tilts his head, "Let's hope not too much. I enjoy the height."

"The height or the length?"

I cannot believe it.

I'm doing it.

I'm flirting with Elijah Wood.

The corner of his lips twerks, "Maybe a little of both."

"Hey. What's taking so-" Immediately, Eli and I separated with the sound of Trevon's voice. He looks at Eli, then me, and back to him. "Why are you up here?"

"This is my room?" I respond.

"No, not you." His head croaked, "I mean...you."

Eli laughs, "You asked me to come up here to get your sister."

"No. I asked Ben."

Eli shrugs, "Is there a difference?"

Of course, there is a damn difference.