Broken Pieces

47

47

     “They’re gone,” Elliot said as he came up behind me.

     “Oh, good.” I nodded, half listening.

     “You’ve been waiting for them all day so that we could have some time together and now-”

     “Shh! This is getting really good.” My eyes stayed glued to my book as he picked my feet up to sit on the couch and placed them in his lap.

     I could hear him chuckle at me, but I didn’t care. My Sister’s Keeper was too good to put down at that moment.

     “You know, I could watch you read forever,” Elliot whispered.

     A smile played at the corners of my mouth, but my eyes still danced over the words on the page. After a few moments of appreciated silence, he started to get fidgety. His fingers tapped my shin impatiently and his knee started bouncing up and down.

     “Okay, I really could watch you read forever, but I really want to kiss you right now.” He grabbed my book out of my hands and put it face down on the table behind me.

     In an instant his lips were on mine, his body braced rigidly over me. My fingers found their way into his hair to pull him closer as my other hand moved down his muscular arm.

     “See, now, why couldn’t last night have been this nice,” he whispered over my cheekbone.

     “We have now, though,” I breathed in reply, my hand snaking around to his low back to pull his body closer to me.

     “And every day after, too.”

…

     “Can I go with you?”

     I clipped the leash to Cooper’s collar and stood by the door. “If you think you can keep up,” I smirked.

     Elliot stepped up to me and gently pressed me against the door. “Oh, I can keep up,” he whispered as his lips brushed against my ear. “The real question is… can you?”

     His lips grazed my jaw and I felt myself smile. “Bring it on, Flint.”

…

     “Damn, Reynolds,” Elliot panted as he trailed about two steps behind me.

     “Ease up, Coop,” I said slowing to a walk. “I think Mr. Tough Guy needs to catch his breath.”

     “Well if you weren’t running like a maniac-”

     “Hey, we were taking it easy on you,” I said nudging him with my shoulder.

     He wiped the sweat off of his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt as we entered the front door to his building. “Yeah, yeah,” he grumbled under his breath.

     “Aw, you poor baby. Are you-”

     “Sammy?”

     I turned to see Laurel trailing behind me as I flinched slightly at my childhood name. “Yes?”

     “Um, I need to talk to you.” Her dark eyes flickered nervously to Elliot who had taken a rigidly protective stance slightly in front of me.

     “Elliot, this is Laurel… my… sister.” I placed a hand on his arm, hoping to comfort him, but for the first time ever he brushed it off.

     “What are you doing here?”

     “Elliot, stop! What do you need, Laurel?”

     She looked terrified. “Um, can we talk?”

     I glanced up at Elliot for a long moment, waiting for him to look back at me, but he didn’t. His cold stare stuck to Laurel.

     “Yeah, I guess. Do you want to come up?”

     Elliot’s immovable stare snapped to me in utter shock. “Sam-”

     “Sure.”

     Cooper sniffed at her feet as I grabbed Elliot’s hand and turned toward the elevator. He squeezed my hand, but not in a reassuring way. He wouldn’t look at me, he just stared forward with his jaw so tightly clenched that his temples bulged.

     The elevator was so heavy with tension that it was a miracle that we were ascending at all. Even Cooper sat at my feet, awkwardly betraying his usually bubbly personality. The elevator dinged open and Elliot rushed through the door, leaving us in the dust as he headed toward the kitchen.

     “You want a drink?” I asked as I unclipped the leash from Cooper’s collar and hung it by the door.

     “Water would be great, thank you.” She stepped into the living room and perched herself on the edge of the couch.

     “Elliot, what is your problem?”

     He poured whiskey into a glass and took a long swig. “She’s hurt you, Sam. Majorly. And I know you’re starting to feel better about it, but seeing her… I can’t help but feel like she’s just going to bring you back to that vulnerable place you were in.” He took another long drink and turned to leave the kitchen but paused. “I can’t sit around and watch her do that to you.”

     “But-”

     It didn’t matter what I said, he had already gone off down the hallway somewhere with the whole bottle of whisky in his hand.

…

     “What do you mean?” My head spun and I was instantly glad that I had only gotten water for myself too.

     “I wanna stop… I wanna get clean and get my life together.”

     “What made you decide to change?”

     She looked down and twirled her thumbs around each other. “I heard that you got engaged… I want that. I want a life. I want a good life… Will you help me, Sammy?”

     “You’re going to have to start calling me Sam…”

     “Sorry… It’s been so long…”

     “I know. I’ll help you, L. I just… I’m going to need some time to get Elliot used to that idea. He knows everything… He’s not really comfortable with all of this…”

     “Yeah, I could tell. And I guess I understand. I just… I wanna make everything better, you know? And I want him to accept me… because I don’t wanna mess up anything between the two of you…” She looked down again and I saw a tear drip onto her hand. “I’m sorry, Sam. For everything I’ve put you through… you were right… you were always right.”

     “Don’t worry about Elliot. He’ll come around eventually… he’s just worried. We’ll be fine.”