In the Life of a Rose

November 25, 2019

In the Life of a Rose...

"Thea, sweetie, open the door," Mom said from the other side of the door.

"Aunt TT," I heard Elijah call out. He made a fussing noise since I was attending to him and it hurt me more than last night's situation. He banged on the door and heard him whine even more.

I fell for his act and opened the door. Towering over him, he lifted his arms and I picked him up. I turned around and left the door open for my mom to come in.

"I talked to Delilah..."

"And she meant every word she said?" I stated, raising an eyebrow. "You do realize she's a knit-picking bitch and wants to destroy my life because she's jealous of how successful I am, right? She's been doing it since high school. No matter how many times I forgive her or try to be nice, she always comes and bites me in the ass."

"Don't talk about your sister-"

"You're saying that because you know I'm right," I cut her off accidentally but I was so angry that I couldn't control my expression. "So what if I still love him? I'm trying to move on but she's just trying to pull me back. And then she brings up the part where I'm 'late' to get married and have kids. I didn't know there was a specific time to do that."

"Thea-"

"No mom! She always ruins everything. I was just wanted to come here and have a great time with you guys but that didn't happen."

"Thea," she breathed and I exhaled with her. She grabbed my free hand and led to me to the bed to sit down. "I understand if you want to beat her ass."

"I really do."

"But you won't," she assured me. "What she said was wrong and she will apologize for it. I'm not going to do it for her and I won't say anything to help her. I'm just here for comfort, okay?"

"I know."

"I hope you guys resolve things so the rest of our holiday goes smoothly. I don't want you to leave early like last time."

"It's funny how this has happened before," I dryly chuckled, shaking my head. My eyes focused on Elijah's brown eyes that calmed me down. "I promise I won't leave."

She warmly smiled and squeezed my arm. She stood with a little pat on my knee and kissed Elijah's head and he babbled. As she was leaving, she turned to say, "A piece of advice: don't fall in love when you're not out of love."

I tilted my head and frowned for a bit, watching her shadow fall downstairs. Elijah squirmed in my arm and turned my attention to him as he slid out of my arms. "You were just crying for me a second ago," I said as he waddled around. "I have to go use the bathroom, okay? Don't hurt yourself."

"TT needs to pee!" he exclaimed which made me chuckle as I went into the bathroom, closing the door behind me. As I sat on the toilet, I heard Elijah move around me and it made me curious as to what he was doing. After washing my hands and drying them, I left and paused at the sight of the toddler sitting on the bed with my phone.

I frowned when I saw the screen moving from a FaceTime call. When I looked closer, I gasped as Chris' face moved across the screen.

"Where's your aunt?" he asked. Honestly, I couldn't be mad and just held myself as I let out a laugh. "Oh! there she is. Can you give her the phone, please?"

"O-kay," Elijah said. He awkwardly got up and waddled across the bed and handed me the phone.

"Thanks bud," Chris said as I answered.

"Hey."

"I see your nephew dialed me on accident," he said with a wide smile.

"I hope you don't mind."

"Oh no, that's okay. You should see the people my nephews call and they know what they're doing," he joked. "Anyway, how was your Thanksgiving?"

"Uhm... I don't really want to talk about it."

"That bad, huh? We had a kitchen catastrophe so we bought rotisserie chicken instead," he told me.

"Sorry about that."

"Likewise." He continued to talk but my brain drained out his voice when I looked up to see Delilah standing at the doorframe. The faint smile on my face vanished and I just stared at her for a moment.

"Can we talk?" her voice was low.

"Yeah," I replied in the same octave as her. I cleared my throat and said a little louder for Chris, "Hey, can we talk later?"

"Um, yeah sure," he said. "Bye Thea and Elijah— if he's still there."

"Chris!" Elijah squealed which made him and Delilah chuckle.

"Bye," I lastly said before hanging up. I looked up at my sister whose smile eventually faded as she stepped into my room, making me lift up my arms to cross over my chest.

"Thea," she began, "I'm truly sorry for what I said last night."

"Why did you say it, then?"

She was quiet for moment, putting the right words together. "I-I wanted them to hate you too."

"Oh!" I exclaimed in some sort of a whisper. "The truth's a bitch."

"I don't hate you, really, it's just this reoccurring envy that I've had since we were young. I see you with the stars, making money, happy, living a life I wanted."

"Okay," I breathed. "So why bring up the fact that I'm not married and don't have kids? We both know that doesn't fulfill a woman's life."

"Mom has always wanted that for us and I thought pointing out your un-achievements would make me better." I closed my eyes tightly, feeling a tear strip down my cheek. "I'm sorry, Thea."

I opened my eyes and looked at her. She lowered her head, knowing that it was the end of our conversation and she walked out, closing the door behind her.

Tears flowed out like a river and I crouched at the edge of bed, laying my head in my arms to cry. Elijah could feel the melancholy aura emitting from me and he stayed quiet, trying to comfort me as he hugged my head.

———————

The five day sort-of vacation ended quickly after all of the strife. I even shoved in a few Netflix films like The King and Marriage Story while I was holed up in my room.

Cameron and my dad helped me take down my suitcases and load them into the car with new gas. I said my goodbyes, especially to Elijah, who was sobbing and wanting to come with me.

When I hugged Delilah before my departure, I said, "Maybe if you focus on your own life, you would find happiness." She nodded, understanding, and I got into my car.

"Bye sweetie," Mom said. "Have a safe trip home."

"Bye," I replied and shouted another to the rest on the sidewalk. I then pulled away from the curb and drove down the street.