As Told By Paramours

chapter seven

elijah

"GOD, I DON'T NEED TO HEAR THE DETAILS," I say to my grandfather who is laughing obnoxiously loudly after telling me details of a story I didn't quite ask for. "I just want to know. Why didn't you show up?"

He sobers up after a (long) minute. "Because she told me she never wanted to see me again. And other things."

His words hang, and for a moment my heart drops. "Other... racist things?"

"My God, no," he says, aghast. "Or I reckon I'd be more mad."

"Right..." the taste in my mouth is ruined. "How did she tell you it, exactly?"

"Through a phone call. She was crying about it and all."

"Are you sure it was her?"

He shifts. "Her exact voice."

"Is it possible it was someone else?"

"Has a twin sister. But I'd know if it was her right away. She has this raspy undertone to her voice." He turns his attention away from me, and I'm running through possibilities in my head. I barely have enough information to solve whatever this misunderstanding is. "Now, that's enough for today, boy. I feel like talking to you makes me age x10 faster."

I shake my head with a small smile, and he laughs on my way out.

● ● ●

I don't particularly fancy chocolates, but when Noah and Soo-Ah sit in front of me and practically force me to consume it, I don't think there's much of a choice.

"God, don't be annoying about it," Noah says for the third time. He's sitting cross-legged on my bed (he, of course, helped himself), with a brown (dirty) sweatshirt on. "Just try it."

He's holding out a Toblerone bar of white chocolate with little nuts in the bottom, brown-green eyes flashing with irritation. I find it funny that I've known him longer than Soo-Ah, but we've all gotten along like it wasn't so. We're like siblings, so naturally, thinking about graduating and going to different universities saddens me.

I take the chocolate and bite into it to satisfy both of them, and I think they can read on my face that I feel like a complete dunce for not doing so before in the 18 year span of my life, because identical smiles spread across their faces.

"Oh," I say, chewing slowly, letting the remaining chocolate melt and the nuts rest on my tongue. "This is really good."

"See!" Soo-Ah looks satisfied.

"After you did the absolute most." Noah checks his phone quickly. "Shoot. Quinn needs me in a bit."

I don't want to upset Quinn, his girlfriend. And I kinda want my quiet now; they've been here for two hours and my head was starting to hurt. "I mean if you guys want, you can leave early?"

Hurt flashes across their faces, and Soo-Ah is the first to recover with a small smile. "Woah. Eager, much?"

"Hey. I didn't mean it like that," I say. "I was just thinking of catching some sleep. We could hang tomorrow?"

Noah smiles and stands, and it's genuine. "We know. Soo?"

"Bye, Jah." She trails after him with a wink and a wave.

After they leave, I write something down for when I visit the retirement home.

Tried white chocolate for the first time today.

Elijah.

Oh my God, you've never tried it? You're really crazy. In a good way, but still.

Josie :~)

Thank you (I think I can accept your compliments now that we're friends penpals)

Yup, never tried it. I'm not too much of a chocolate fan at all, so you can imagine that I'd never tried it if I've only tried regular milk chocolate a handful of times.

Elijah.

So? Did you like it?

What's he like? Your dad, I mean.

Josie :~)

Yeah.

He's quiet but extroverted. Kind. Not sure how else to describe him.

Elijah.

So, you?

Josie :~)

So, me.

Elijah.