𝐼 𝒲𝐼𝐿𝐿 𝑅𝐸𝒮𝒞𝒰𝐸 𝒴𝒪𝒰- conrad fisher

Chapter 2

"Mom, can we take the car?" I asked. "No, you were drinking last night." I groaned. "Come on shrimp, we just have to walk fast." He nodded and we were off. It was like six in the morning so the walk wasn't the worst. "So how have you been feeling, Eli?" I tried to get through to him. He's always been quiet. We hardly ever fought, he was a sensitive kid but he was the sweetest.But he's gotten quieter, he didn't eat often,and he stayed in his room most of the time unless my mom forced him downstairs. I think my dad's death has been affecting him the most, it makes sense though. He found his body in the basement. "I'm feeling fine." He said quietly. It was kinda hurting me the way he was shooting me down. I hated that I couldn't just take all his sad feelings away. I wasn't going to push him though, he'd tell me when he was ready. I nodded, "That's good." We walked the rest of the way in silence. Once we'd gotten there the beach was really empty, just a guy sitting there.

I set the umbrella and chairs up a few feet away from him. I stood up slipping my shoes off then grabbed Eli's hand. "Come on shrimp, let's get in the water!" I said happily. He followed behind me and we started splashing each other. I ended up falling backwards and he laughed. A genuine laugh. I stood up and pushed him backwards into the water. He got up quickly and grabbed my legs picking me up. "Elijah put me down!" I yelled. He walked deeper into the water before throwing me down. "You piece of shit!" I said, smiling as I came back up. He was laughing, his face bright red. He was walking away and I used this as an opportunity, I ran as fast as the water would let me behind him and hopped on his back. It backfired on me because he didn't fall. I didn't think this through at all. He's 5'9 and 120 lbs. I'm 5'3 and 113 lbs.

He started spinning me around before throwing himself backwards causing me to go into the water with him. Once we both came up he couldn't stop laughing. "You just tried to drown me!" I said gripping onto him as if I was going to die if I let go. The waves started hitting harder which made it a lot more fun. After about twenty minutes we decided to take a break and go eat a snack. We wrapped up in our towels while we ate watermelon and drank some strawberry Fanta. "Sunscreen break shrimp." I said while shaking the sunscreen. I sprayed him down then sprayed myself. "Can we hang out some more after this El?" He asked, not looking up as if he was afraid I'd say no. It broke my heart seeing him afraid to ask me to hang out. I nodded, "Of course shrimp, why wouldn't I want to hang out with my best friend." I said putting my hand on his knee.

After a couple more hours of hanging out at the beach people started piling up. "Let's go get some ice cream shrimp." I said while grabbing some of the stuff. We walked back to the house while laughing the whole way there. It's been a while since I'd seen him this happy. He had a smile that would light up a room. I was so glad to see it back. We made it back to the house and he went to take a shower first. I went into the kitchen to see my mom, Susannah, and another lady sitting in the living room talking. "Oh Laurel, this is my daughter Elodie." She said walking over to me. "Oh wow she's absolutely gorgeous." I thanked her. "Mom, I'm definitely sober now, please let us take the car." I begged "Where are you guys going now?" She asked "Eli wants to hang out some more, I thought I'd take him to get ice cream." She hugged me. "Aww my babies love each other!" She let me go. "Me and your uncle didn't get along until we were nineteen and twenty three." she said. "Well Laurel, Susannah and I are going to take Laurel's daughter Deb shopping."

I couldn't imagine going that long without getting along with Eli. But he wasn't annoying when we were younger. I liked taking him everywhere. When I was eleven and he was eight I took him to my fifth grade dance. I didn't have a problem getting a "date" but I wanted to go with him. And then three years later when he was eleven I was fourteen. He wanted me to go with him to his fifth grade dance. I went because of course. "That long?" I asked. I felt a knot in my stomach at the thought of that happening to me and Eli. "Yeah, but I'm glad you guys are inseparable." I nodded and sat down. Eli came down the stairs and grabbed another piece of watermelon out of the beach bag and looked at me. "Aren't you going to shower so we can go?" I cleared my throat. "Y-Yeah." I stuttered out before going upstairs. I could hear mom introducing Laurel and Susannah to Eli.

I showered and washed my hair really well to make sure I got all the sand out. I got out and went into my room then did my skincare and blow dried my hair. I went into my closet and grabbed an off the shoulder white sundress that had blue flowers all over it. I put on my white sandals and tied my hair half up in a white bow. I walked back downstairs and Eli was sitting to the island playing on his phone. "Come on Eli, come put on some sunscreen." We put our sunscreen on and mom tossed me the keys. "Drive safe you two." she said before continuing her conversation. We nodded and walked out to the car. Eli sat in the backseat. "It wouldn't hurt for you to sit in the front for once." I said. He smiled and got in the front while strapping his seatbelt on. We went to a little ice cream shop. "Can I get three scoops of cookies and cream and three scoops of cookie dough?" I asked. Once I ordered we pulled off to an arcade a few minutes away. We sat on the hood of the car eating our ice cream. We finished and went into the arcade.

We played games until it was almost eleven at night. "Come on shrimp, we've got to get home." he agreed and we were on our way home. We were talking and the subject went to school. "So have you made any friends yet shrimp?" I asked. He nodded and his cheeks got a little red. "There's this girl Cammie and she's really nice to me." I smirked. "Really? What's she like?" He hesitated, "She's really smart, pretty, and she's popular. She's mean to others but not to me, she's actually really nice to me." I poked him a little "Awww you guys like each other!" he smacked my hand away. 'We do not!" He folded his arms in front of him and looked out the window. I laughed to myself and we drove the rest of the way home. He'd fallen asleep. I didn't want to wake him so I tried my best to pick him up. He was tall so I struggled a bit but I did it. It felt like that day our dad took us to the movies when we were five and eight.

He'd fallen asleep and I wouldn't let my dad carry him inside. I picked him up and carried him in the house. Once we'd gotten inside I was so proud of myself. He was my baby then and he was my baby now.

I finally got him into the house where mom was sitting with Susannah and Laurel still. "Elodie, Susannah invited us to stay over with her and her children. She has extra room for us." I smiled. "Sounds fun mom." We decided to take her up on her offer, I packed my back and Eli's and my mom carried them for us while I carried Eli. Susannah showed us our rooms and I thanked her. I laid Eli in his room and laid with him for a while caressing his hair. I kissed his forehead before going to my bedroom. This house was great. It was a bit bigger than ours. I laid down and that's when I heard a knock on the wall. I ignored it, maybe it was just Susannah's kids. I rolled over and scrolled through Instagram to see Cam's new post. He had a photo of him and the girl from the bonfire at the drive in. I went to my iMessage app and saw I had three unread messages from him. One from last night, and two from this afternoon. I opened them. 'El where are you?'. 'Are you alright, did you get home safe last night?' and 'El can we talk' I started typing but had no idea what to say.

'I did get home safe, thanks for asking.' he opened it immediately. "Shit!" I said exiting out of our messages. 'That's good, can I come over so we can talk. I'm in the neighborhood.' I bit my lip and let my fingers hover trying to find the right words. 'Not home out with mom's friends.' he sent the thumbs up emoji and I liked his message. I rolled over onto my other side. I could hear arguing from downstairs. I couldn't make out what they were saying, just a lady and a man. I heard stomps coming up the stairs and into the room next to mine. I ignored it and slowly closed my eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep.