Elly & Kent - The Complete Story: Includes Books 1-3 (16 page)

"Nope, not a dream," Elly muttered from the back seat, her voice not at all hiding the indifference she was feeling.

"So you're probably wondering why I'm taking you both to lunch. I have huge news and I wanted to make sure I told you both at the same time."

"Could we just skip lunch and you tell me now and take me home?" Elly said, kind of bitchily. Maybe she was hungover too.

"O...kay." Jen seemed to be trying to be genuine and nice, and Elly was being, well, not so nice.

I was massaging my temples with my fingers to alleviate some of the pain and to try and clear my thoughts for this. "I could use some more sleep as well." The two of them doing their tug of war was also making my head hurt.

She pulled into the drive-thru and ordered three milkshakes. I grunted as we moved way too slow, my impatience to speak alone with Elly was wearing on me.

Jen finally parked and she handed out the shakes, turning in her seat so she could see us both. "So, my parents spoke with Kenny's mom and ... right after graduation Kenny is coming with us for the summer to our vacation home in Hawaii! Isn't that exciting?"

I blinked at Jen. I just sat there holding the milkshake, the sweet smell making my stomach churn uncomfortably. "Wait. When did I agree to that? How did you get my mom to sign off on that?"

"It was easy! My dad is going to let you shadow him for the summer. You'll get a taste of business and see if it's what you want to do in college. And at night..." Jen's hand moved onto my thigh and squeezed gently, teasing me.

I jumped slightly. "But... but...." I sat the milkshake down in the cup holder after a couple of failed attempts at finding it. "Business?" I chewed on the inside of my cheek as I considered what she'd just dropped on me. Hawaii would be great. Nights with Jen would be... fantastic, but business during the day with her dad?

"Daddy makes a lot of money, he's good at what he does. I just thought you'd want to see if you might want to do that too."

"It's a good idea, Kent. You should go." Elly said from the back seat.

Jen and Elly exchanged a look that I couldn't quite make out.

I turned my head to look at the blurred figure behind me. "Maybe... That's a long time to be away from my mom. I'm all she's got..."

"She obviously isn't worried about it. I'll check in on her every day if that will make you feel better. You should go." Elly insisted. "How miserable would you be without Jen for the whole summer? And Hawaii? Come on. You can scratch it off your travel list."

I couldn't believe that she was pushing me to go. I would have expected some yelling or screaming or cuss words or something. Complaints about how unfair it was. But instead she was unbelievably cool about it. I turned around in my seat and sat back again.

"Okay..."
 

Jen squealed loudly as I agreed and hugged me tightly, her noise blocking out the sound of Elly's door closing, but I felt the car move slightly as she got out. I pulled away from Jen to look out my window and I saw Elly's figure walking towards the sidewalk.

I put my hand on the door handle but Jen grabbed the front of my shirt to keep me in.
 

"Where do you think you're going?" Her voice was a soft purr and I could tell she wanted to make out and fool around. My pants tightened. My dick apparently remembered what happened last night. I tried to fight the urge.

"I was going to talk to Elly. Something doesn't seem right."

"I think she knows. About last night. And you know how she is about alcohol and stuff. And she's probably jealous about Hawaii."

"Yeah. I guess..." I muttered.

"What's the matter?" Jen asked, her hand moving down my chest, paying attention to the tent I was sporting.

"I shouldn't have drank last night." I rubbed my head. "Ugh. Alcohol."

"I'm sorry, baby." Her hand moved back up to my chest, trying to comfort me. "You sure you don't want a pill?"

"No. I don't like taking meds. I'll just suffer. Hopefully learn my lesson for next time."
 

I glanced at Elly's form again but she was too far away for me to make out anything except a little spot of black.

"Okay, baby." Jen sat back into her seat and smiled at me, her hand clasped mine gently, pulling my attention back to her.

"Want to come over and cuddle?"

I should've gone after Elly but I wasn't sure I'd be able to put coherent thoughts together. "I..." I paused for a moment and then turned to look at my girlfriend. "Sure." I figured I could always go hang out with Elly later on when I was feeling better.

Chapter Twenty

ELLY

Elly:
So, I'm sure you'll be shocked...

Prom was a big disaster.

Jake:
I told you so!

Elly:
Whatever. You told me that saying that you were my boyfriend was a bad idea. It wasn't. Jen has been totally civil.

Jake
: But now things are a little awkward aren't they? You know I'm not talking about Jen.

Elly:
That wasn't ever going to happen! Me and Kent are never going to happen. I'm not stupid.

Jake:
If you give up now, then there'll never be a chance.

Elly
: Give up? I'm not even in the race. I was barred from the race to start with.

Jake:
So you're telling me that you're just going to let her win?

Elly:
He isn't a prize, Jake.  He's a person.  

Jake:
A smart person.

Elly:
Yes... Btw, if I get into Texas State, can I room with you?

Jake:
Um, no.

Elly:
*whines* Jake.  Come on.

Jake:
You want to be a third wheel with me and Candice?

Elly:
 *gasp* She's moving in with you?

Jake:
 :-) Yep!

Elly:
 Alright, so Texas State is out too.

Jake:
No.  You can come down here but you can't room with me.  I'd love to meet you in person and Candice would too.  And Texas boys have Southern accents and they open doors for their ladies.  And everything is bigger in Texas. ;-)

Elly:
Jake!! Totally inappropriate.

Jake:
 Elly, you perv.  I was talking about everything but that.

Elly
: Sure you were.  ;-)

Jake:
I gotta go.  Candice and I are going out for dinner. Write him a letter or sing him a song or something.

Elly:
Lame. I'll just wallow in my self-pity.

Jake
: Super lame.  *hugs*  ttyl.

I checked my email and raised my eyebrows in surprise to see one from Kent.

To: Elly <
[email protected]
>

From: Kent <
[email protected]
>

Date: Saturday May 15th, 2000 04:04am

Subject: [None]

Els,

I was going to call you but it's 3 in the morning and I didn't think your mom would appreciate that very much.

I can't believe graduation is in five days and that I'm going to Hawaii in seven days to study business.  Business.  

I'm super excited and utterly terrified all at the same time. I'm having second thoughts about it. It could very well be our last summer together.  And I wasn't planning on that.  If I knew that would be the case I would've made last summer a whole lot better.  Less video-gaming.  Maybe more video-gaming.

My mom said she was going to get together with your mother tomorrow (today? whatever, Saturday night!) and have a ladies night. She actually put the idea in my head about us doing the same. Even if it's just hanging out for a few hours.
 

No Jen. Just you and me like old times. I'll even paint your toenails. And let you paint mine.

We'll have a girls night in. *wink!*

So I guess that's all I have to say. It's taken me 45 mins to figure out how to put my thoughts into words and somehow not feel like a creeper. I just know that I'm going to miss you a lot. Specially if you get into Texas State.

Anyway, an hour now with lots of deleted things and now I'm just yapping in a damn email. Put me out of my misery.  Email me back and agree to come over tonight.

Shit.  My mom left an hour ago for her lady date.  I quickly pushed back from the chair and ran upstairs.  There was desperation in my gut. It felt like my last chance to say goodbye.

I picked up my pink cordless phone and quickly dialed his house.  The phone rang like fifty times before he finally picked up.

"Hello.  Lytle Residence."

"Kent! I just got your email! Are you... I mean..." I put my hand over the phone to take a minute to catch my breath and calm myself down so I didn't sound like a lunatic.

I cleared my throat and spoke calmly.  "You should come over here. I have a lot more nail polish colors to choose from."

I heard Kent laugh on the line before he spoke. "Alright, Els. Give me a few minutes and I'll head that way. Anything you want me to bring?"

"An extra ticket to Hawaii?"

Silence greeted me on the other end of the phone.

"You're not making these second thoughts easier, Els." I heard him say before he cleared his throat. "I'll be over in a bit."

Before I could say anything else he hung up the phone.  I pulled it away from my ear and sighed.  I was kidding, obviously.  I didn't want to go to Hawaii...with Jen.

Chapter Twenty-One

KENT

Maybe it was going to be a mistake to go over to Elly's.  Maybe she was just going to give me shit about everything.  When did I start dreading seeing her? Oh, right, I started dreading seeing her after she told me under no uncertain terms that she
wanted
me to go to Hawaii for our last summer together before college.

I exhaled slowly as I knocked on the door, quickly pushing my glasses further up my nose and trying to smooth down my hair. Gah! What the hell was I doing? I shoved my hands into my pockets just as the door opened and Elly was standing there smiling at me.  I couldn't help but smile back. It had been too long since I'd seen her smiling
at me
.

"I was kidding, you know, about Hawaii.  I didn't mean to--"
 

I nodded and looked down, "Yeah, it's fine. Can I come in or are you going to leave me standing out here all night?"

She stepped back, making room for me to pass through the door.
 

"Thanks," I said as I entered and looked around.  It was the same as it had always been and yet it felt different.  Weird.  Awkward. There was a heavy something in the air, it felt like it was going to crush my chest in.

She looked as awkward as I felt with her hands crossed over her chest and she was swaying like a branch moving in a gusty wind.
 

"So...I should probably go get everything and bring it down here."

I frowned and shook my head.  We always did everything in her room with the exception of our Christmas Eve traditions. I didn't want that to change now.

"No, that's alright."  I motioned towards the stairs and her eyes followed.  "After you."

She shrugged but her shoulders were tense and only went halfway back down to normal. "Alright." She started up the stairs, the silence thick between us.  Halfway up she pulled on the bottom of her shirt, once in the front and once in the back. "So have you started packing yet or are you going to leave that to your mom?"

"Um, I packed the stuff my mom bought for me today, including the new luggage.  An early graduation present, she said. I thought I would feel like an adult but it felt more like I was being kicked to the curb."

She laughed a little as she got to the top of the stairs and then turned left towards her room. When we were in her room I sat on her bed and she fumbled with things on her desk, avoiding my gaze. "I'm so excited for you."

I frowned and listened carefully after I thought I heard a sniffle.  Her back was stiff and she was still shuffling stuff around on her desk.  After a few seconds of listening intently I definitely heard another sniffle.

"Elly, are you crying?"

She shook her head as her hand went to her face.  With her back to me I couldn't tell if she was actually crying or not.

"Turn around and look at me then."

She shook her head again, her hands stilling on the desk on top of a bunch of papers.  I got up and went over to her quickly.  I put my hand on her shoulder for comfort if it turned out that she needed it. My arms ached to hug her but I didn't think it was appropriate for me to do.  Jen wouldn't approve and Jake probably wouldn't either.