The Letter [Elvis]

Chapter 11 - The Presentation of Kings

Sally came over after I arrived home. I had called her and told her everything. She sat next to me as I was curled up in the covers, and my back faced her. I could almost hear her thoughts. She was nice to not say what I knew she wanted to tell me—that I put this all on myself, that it was my fault that Elvis was so mad at me. Well, she was right, and I very well knew it.

Tears leaked from my eyes, making my makeup run and stain my pillowcase, but I didn't care. Elvis's mean expression as we walked down the sidewalk earlier was scarred in my mind, as well as those bloodshot eyes.

Sally was running her hand up and down my arm as I lay there under my blankets, and the movement was comforting. "Thanks, Sally..." I mumbled.

"You're welcome, honey. I'm just sorry you feel so rotten right now."

"Elvis does, too, and it's all my fault. I shouldn't have written that letter."

I had said that numerous times in the past few weeks, but there was no going back. I knew that it would bit me back, and it did. Hard. "He's never gonna talk to me again."

"Would you stop being so melodramatic? He's kissed you twice already. He's nuts about you, Annie, like what I've been tellin' ya all along. Just be patient, okay? And you still have to finish your project. You'll talk to 'im then."

"And that's the only thing we'll be talkin' about. We're not gonna talk about what's goin' on between us."

"Psht. The moment that guy sees you again, he's gonna fail in his attempt push away his feelin's. C'mon, he likes ya so much it scares 'im, remember? If you ask me, he's gonna kiss ya the moment he sees ya on Monday. Hey, I got it! How 'bout you call 'im up, ask 'im if he wants to rehearse the project before school in the classroom when no one else is around? You both are pretty much done with your essays and poster. Might as well."

"We still need to put the poster together. Or... maybe I can just do it. Elvis told me once that he doesn't have a flair for creativity."

"Then do that today and rehearse on Monday. That will give 'im time before the actual presentation to get all his negative feelin's outta 'im, and then after the presentation, you two will be a couple."

I snuggled more into the blankets and pulled them over my face. "It sounds so easy when you lay it all out like that. Elvis is so mad... We may rehearse once, do the presentation, then... nothin'. He most likely won't come to my birthday party. One that he wanted to plan..."

She rubbed my arms still. "Hey, honey... don't talk like that. He likes you a lot. He's not gonna stay mad at ya forever." She giggled. "You know... it was kinda hot, him fumin' with jealousy when you were flirtin' with that store clerk."

I smirked, recalling that. "Yeah..."

She pulled the blankets off of me, making my hair a mess. "Now, call 'im up and ask about Monday."

I sat up and attempted to fix my hair. I was still in my pink dress that I wore out. "Okay, but how 'bout I call 'im tomorrow?"

"Just call 'im before Monday. Now, let's go to the kitchen and eat some lunch, hm? You never even ate breakfast this mornin', and it's already after one."

Honestly, I wasn't all that hungry, but I knew that my body needed the sustenance. "Okay."

I got out of bed, and Sally and I went out to the kitchen and made ourselves a couple of ham and cheese sandwiches. Sally thankfully didn't talk about Elvis or this whole situation but talked about her and Joey's plans for the evening. It was probably wishful thinking, but maybe someday, we all could go out on a double date. Elvis just had to forgive me first. Even then, he probably wouldn't want to go steady with me since he said he didn't want to be with a girl who lied to him. I was out of luck.