cherry flavoured

10

"Hey Els what's up?" she answers, a little breathlessly. There's a busy bustle of noise in the background.

"Mrs Ashford invited me to live with them." I repeat the words as if I'm reading them for the first time.

"No Abuelo, don't touch the cake until Sissy cuts it!" Bela huffs, the phone rustling around momentarily.

I smile.

"Sorry E, what did you say?" she breathes.

"It's okay Belz you're busy. I'll call you later." I say softly.

"Are you sure? I can go and lock myself in the bathroom?" I can tell she's up to her neck right now.

"It's okay Bel. Wish Sissy a happy birthday from me."

"Okay, love you El." she makes a kissy noise through the phone before it hangs up.

I smile, shaking my head as I scroll through my contacts to 'D'.

The phone rings twice, three times, four times, but my father doesn't answer. I stop calling after the 6th ring, tossing my phone down and lying back on my bed.

I'm not really sure what to do with myself. I don't study on Sundays, and my neighbours are away for the week so that rules out our usual afternoon tea. The eerie quietness of the house makes me shiver.

I sit up, pushing my hair over my shoulders and letting out a short breath. I'm gonna go get my dress from the Ashfords' and return Parker's clothes again.

I pick up his tshirt and sweats, bringing them downstairs along with some other things and loading them into the washer. I only have to wait an hour for them to wash, and half an hour to dry. After I put them in I go back upstairs, getting in the shower. I shave, deep rinse and condition my hair. Once I'm out, I look at the time. An hour left.

I sit in my towel at my vanity, brushing through the waves in my hair. It reaches past my back now. It's almost long enough for me to sit on. I let my hair air dry to prevent any risk of damage. After putting on my underwear and socks, I pull on a fitted tshirt and a cute denim skirt that I thrifted last summer, along with my converse. I check the time again. Just 30 minutes.

The fourth step to the bottom squeaks as it always does when I walk down the stairs. I load the wet clothes in to the dryer, pressing the start button.

My eyes wander over my house.All the memories are so contradictory. I look to the sofa that I broke my wrist jumping off when I was four. It's also the sofa that Dad slept on for a month after Mom died. My gaze turns to the little red door. The door I've slammed, ran through, opened and closed more times than I could ever count. The doorway my mom would sit in every single night, reading Jane Austen with the summer breeze tickling her skin.

I walk over to the door, pushing it open. I slide down against the frame of the door, pushing my feet against the other side. I lean my head back, closing my eyes and letting out a breath. My eyes begin to brim with tears.

"Elena?"

I jump a little, subtly wiping my eye as I look up at the voice that called my name.

"Oh." I frown a little. "Hey James?"

James looks just as confused as I am as he stands at the end of my driveway. He's wearing dark blue baggy jeans, with a white graphic tshirt and Jordan 4s. His blonde hair is covered with a violet coloured fitted cap.

"You okay?" he turns his body to face me.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." I sniff, sitting up a little. "What are you doing here?"

"I live like 3 doors down." he points to his right.

"Oh! Oh wow I didn't know."

James smiles softly.

"Uh you busy?" I ask after a moment.

"Nah. Why?"

I don't know James well, but I just don't want to be on my own right now.

I slide over a little, making space in the doorway and patting the floor beside me. James hesitates, before loosening up, walking over and sitting in the doorway beside me.

"How are you?" he asks, turning to look at me.

"I'm good." I nod, trying to sound as convincing as possible.

"How are you really?" he repeats.

I turn to look at him this time and our eyes meet. I never really noticed how pretty and blue his eyes are. I suddenly become all to aware of our shoulders touching, and the strong smell of his aftershave.

"It gets a little hard on my own. But I'm okay." I say truthfully.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" James says with such a sincerity in his voice that I tear up.

So we sit. And we talk. I tell him about my mom dying and my dad being away, he tells me about how his biological parents abandoned him when he was 8, but he loves his adoptive parents more than anything. We laugh, I cry a little, but I feel something lifting off my shoulders the more we speak.

"You should take it." he nods.

"What?" I play with a fray on my skirt.

"The offer. Move in with the Ashfords."

"I don't wanna intrude." I sigh.

"You won't. They're a great family, with more than enough room in their house." he smiles at me. "You shouldn't stay here alone."

I nod slowly.

"Maybe I will."