Not another Yelena story

Family Dinner

Dani and Yelena have been driving around all day. She's shown Yelena her very first childhood home with her favorite garage. She got a little teary eyed while driving by and sharing some of her favorite memories of the place. But also from some of the bad memories of her parents always fighting and things being thrown around the room. She felt like she was reliving all of those moments all over again. Like those overwhelming feelings of 'Is mom going to be in a good or bad mood when I walk in the door. Or wondering when dad will be home to finally spend time with us?' 

"Sorry I don't mean to get emotional over this. Living in that house was probably the last time Elizabeth (her twin sister) and I were ever close to one another. There were some good memories and some bad in that house. Hey do you know the song 'The House That Built Me by Miranda Lambert'?  Well that came out around the time my dad had to sell the house and my mom moved us out. Any time I hear it, it reminds me of this place. I was always so desperate to go in an look around after the new owners moved in to see what they changed. I thought maybe I'd find some kind of closure if they ever let me walk through it. I was always too scared to ever ask." Dani says with a shaky voice.

"Oh, babe it's ok  you're allowed to feel your feelings. If you want why don't we go somewhere else for a bit?" Yelena asks while taking Dani's hand in hers.

 "Yeah um.. sure.. Why don't I show you one of my favorite places that my friends and sister would hang out when we were younger? I'll have to park by my old house and we've gotta walk through the woods." Dani says with a half smile.

"Yeah sure that's fine as long as you're up for it." Yelena smiles.

Dani parks the suburban and locks it up before leading Yelena into the familiar patch of woods. They start to climb a steep hill for a few minutes.

"Man I'm outta shape. Holy shit this was so much easier when I was younger." Dani says as she's huffing for air.

"This isn't that steep. Looks like we're going to have to increase your cardio when we get back home." Yelena says while skipping past Dani.

"Yeah sure. Cause you know it's my favorite thing to do. We're almost there though just through this empty patch of grass. There's usually a bunch of deer beds." Dani replies sarcastically.  

The two finally make it to the top of the hill before it opens up to show off the giant valley below. Dani walks over to the big electrical tower and starts to climb up it.

"So what do you think? We would ride our dirt bikes and quads (atvs)  through here all the time. Then we'd watch the sunset from up here. You should see it in the fall it shows the most gorgeous shades of red, yellow and orange. The smell of dead pine needles fills your nose it's the best." Dani grins while sitting on the beam of the tower swinging her legs.   

"It's really pretty and it's oddly quiet here too. I bet it is maybe we'll come back for a visit in the fall? Sound good?" Yelena says placing a hand on Dani's thigh while resting her head on Dani's shoulder.

"I'd love that. I really do miss this place and all the fun times we had here. It's kind of sad that me and my friends that lived here grew apart. We were all so close we'd always just show up to each other's houses randomly and have dinner together then end up sleeping over. That's something I hope for when we have a kid some day they'll get to experience it at least once. That kind of close friendship with someone is such an awesome feeling." Dani says with a big grin reminiscing about her neighborhood friends. 

"Good I'll mark it on the calendar then. It happens life moves fast babe but I bet if you reached out to them they'd probably respond. That sounds like a great way to grow up." Yelena smile while she intertwines her fingers with Dani's.