The Letter [Elvis]

Chapter 8 - An Unlikely Ally in a Messy Situation

Thankfully, my parents pulled us out of the party a half-hour later, and we rode home in silence. Well, Elvis and I rode home in silence while my parents talked about a promotion that my dad supposedly was getting. I would be happy for him, but it was a little hard to be happy at the moment, with what I knew.

We got to the house, and my parents said goodbye to Elvis and thanked him for coming. They went back into the house while us teens stayed outside. Elvis faced me as we stood near the back end of Dad's car.

"So... I guess I'll say goodnight, Annie," he said, hands in his pockets. "I had fun tonight. I kinda like those kinds of parties—the fancy kind that has good food."

He enjoyed it more so since he obtained a girlfriend. "I'm glad that you had a good time."

"I'm just sorry that you didn't. You seemed pretty upset when Dixie and I saw ya in that lounge area. You really didn't wanna go, did ya?"

Everything in me was screaming at me to tell him the truth, that Dixie lied to him, but another little piece of me told me to keep quiet. For now. "I just... well... I guess. I mean, I've been to these events every year, and I never really liked going. I'm just glad that you came along. That made it better."

He smiled. "That makes me feel real good, Annie. I'm glad I went with ya."

"And not just because of what happened with Dixie?"

I tried to give him a sly look as to cover my dismay over all this, and apparently, I was successful in doing so since he blushed. "Well... I admit that's part of it. I'm just taken aback that she wrote that love letter. I knew she liked me, but... from what she said in it... wow, she was nuts about me and I did nothin' about it. I should'a just taken 'er out on a date the moment we first locked eyes."

My heart wanted to tear in two. I gulped down a thick lump. "Um... well, maybe. At least you're together now."

"Yeah... Well, I guess I'll see ya on Monday, huh? I can come over even if we don't have school."

"Okay. Does Dixie know..."

"Yeah, she knows that we're project partners. You don't have'ta worry about that." I only nodded. "Goodnight, Annie."

"Goodnight, Elvis."

He went on to his car and waved as he started driving away. I went on into the house and went to my room. I sat on my bed for a moment, then went into that drawer and took out that green pen, the one I wrote the letter with. Elvis would be torn if he found out his new girlfriend lied to him and his friend kept a huge secret from him.

This was a mess.

~ ~ ~

The moment my clock read ten o'clock, I called up Sally, knowing that she would be up since she usually slept in on Saturday. The phone rang, and a groggy "Hello?" came in on the other end. Like me, she had a telephone on her nightstand. "Hey," I said. "I'm sorry I woke you up."

"No, no, it's okay. I needed to get up anyway. I was on a date with Joey last night, and he dropped me off at one. So, how did the party go? Please tell me something happened."

I knew what she meant, that she wanted to know if anything happened with me and Elvis. "Yes, something did, but not like you're thinking..."

I commenced telling her all about what happened at the party. I got to the part of Dixie being there, and she hollered into the phone, "What?! She was at the party? How in the heck was she there?"

"She went with her cousin whose father works with mine. Look, there's a lot more to this, and you're not gonna like it."

My story went on to Elvis following Dixie out of the party room, me eavesdropping and what I saw, and on until Elvis drove away from my house. Sally hollered again into the phone: "Oh my heavens, that lying snake! She told 'im that she wrote the letter?!"