It's My Fault

Chapter 17

I was being called by David and Grace. "Hey Ellie you here?" I looked at David and nodded. He gave me a concerned look and continued to take us to my usual table. I sat in my normal seat while Grace sat in Rose's. David gave us the menus and left back to his post. We both looked at the menu to see what we should get. After looking at it for a bit I decided to go with oven made pizza. I put my menu down and asked Grace, "What are you going to get?" She put her menu down and said, "I might go for a pizza seems good. So how do you know about this place?" I held a finger up and counted in my head. 3, 2, 1, "Hey honey." I hugged my dad and Grace figured it out. "Oh now I see." We both laughed and I looked at my dad, "Hey dad how's it going?" He sighed and looked around, "Well it's a full house again so it's hectic." I nodded and looked around at everyone. I looked at my dad and he asked, "So what will you guys be having tonight?" We both told him our orders and he left to go to another table. I watched as Grace looked around the restaurant. "I can't believe I've never been here. It's so nice and peaceful here." I smiled at her and then saw Jessy the manager walking around. I waved him over and he smiled wide, "ELLIE!" Everyone in the restaurant looked over but Jessy ignored them after all, he is the manager. I smiled at him and got up to hug him when he got closer. He hugged me and pulled away but held onto my shoulders, "Wow look at you so big! I haven't seen you in a while. How have you been? Also who's the newbie." I smiled and chuckled and he dropped his hands as I said to him, "I've been good just trying to finish high school now. And meet Grace a good friend of mine." He nodded and waved to Grace then they called his name from the kitchen. "That's good Ellie well I'll see you later hopefully, duty calls. And enjoy the restaurant Grace." He hugged me one last time and walked to the kitchen. I sat back down and Grace chuckled. I asked her, "What's so funny?"

She shrugged and leaned back, "You know absolutely everyone. And everyone loves you. I don't understand why it's so different at school." I smiled sadly and then my dad came with our food. "Thanks dad." He smiled and winked walking to another table. Grace and I then started to eat our food. Once finished we split the bill and Grace rubbed her stomach over her shirt, "That was so good but I am so full now." I chuckled and said, "Good I'll let my dad know and then he can tell John." Grace gave me a confused look and I got up offering my arm, "He's the cook." Her mouth formed an O shape and looped our arms together. We both walked out but not without David hugging us again. "Thanks for taking me here Ellie." I looked over at her and smiled, "It's no biggie." I handed her, her keys and she got into the drivers seat. "To your house?" I thought about it and nodded. I wanted to take a shower. Half way into the drive Grace suddenly said, "Oh before I forget your clothes that you let me borrow are in the back seat." I laughed and reached back to get them. "I'll give your clothes back eventually." We both laughed and Grace stopped in front of my house parking the car. "Thanks Grace for everything." I leaned over to hug her and heard her say, "My pleasure Ellie I had fun." I squeezed lightly and then pulled back, "See you Monday Grace." I opened the door and Grace said, "See you Monday Ellie." I smiled and got out of the car to walk to my house. Grace only drove away when my front door was open. I walked in and went straight to my room to get ready to take a shower. Looking at the time it read 9pm so I walked down the hall to go to the bathroom and turned on the water. After my shower I had changed into a pair of shorts and an old big T-shirt.

I walked out to my room and put my dirty clothes in my hamper and walked over to my bed reaching for my phone but it slid off the bed before I could catch it. I sighed and squatted down to get it. When I reached for it something else under my bed caught my eye. Confused I grabbed it and my phone and brought it up to my bed. It was an old leather book about the size of a scrapbook. The cover read 'Adventures of a lifetime.' Knowing what it was I ran my hand over the top.

Flashback
"Here Ellie I want to give you this." Rose handed me a leather book that read 'Adventures of a lifetime.' I ran my hand over the top and asked, "What is this for Ro?" She smiled and put her hand on top of mine on the book, "It's just something I made that I want you to have. Open it up." She took her hand off mine and I slowly opened it.

Tears were threatening to fall. I tried to wipe them away but it was no use. They fell onto the cover but I wiped them off with the palm of my hand. I slowly opened the cover and was met with a picture of when Rose and I had gotten ice cream together with our parents during the summer of freshman year. We were laughing at something Rose had said. Her mom took the picture on her phone and sent it to the both of us. Flipping to the next page I saw a selfie that Rose took on the first day of high school. I wasn't looking at the camera I was looking in front of us while Rose smiled at the camera. I flipped to the next page and it was a selfie of Rose and I at our tree, she was smiling while my mouth was full of pizza. She had gotten me off guard and I closed the book while sobbing. I laid back and hugged the book to my chest and cried until I fell asleep. The next morning I woke up exhausted. The book had moved to the right side of my body. I sat up and picked up the book setting it on my dresser then ran a hand through my hair rubbing my eyes. I heard pans coming from the kitchen so I figured my dad was either late or wasn't going to work today. I walked out to the bathroom before facing him. I stood in front of the mirror and I looked dead with bags under my eyes, eyes were slightly puffy from crying, and I was more pale then my normal skin color. I sighed and washed my face and walked out to the kitchen. My dad had bacon on the stove and was currently scrambling the eggs. When he looked up he looked concerned from how I looked. I only waved it off walking closer to him.  My dad started to plate everything and I stood next to him, "Hey honey." I looked over at him while he continues to plate the food.  "Yeah?"  He hesitated for a second then said, "Lets visit your mother together."  My mouth dropped in shock, "W-what?"  He looked over slowly nodded, "Lets visit your mother today."