: - watty's shortlist 2022 - :
{riff ff}
Elizabeth Russell seems to have everything but the one thing she's always wanted comes with a different kind of price.
Riff thinks that he has everything he's ever wanted when it comes to the Jets but an unf...
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// - chapter two - \\ "under your thumb i can't breathe."
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THE RUSSELL FAMILY APARTMENT SUNDAY AFTERNOON
Rushing back into the apartment, Elizabeth couldn't wait to put down the grocery bag which had been crushing her arms but she didn't realise just how much later she had become after her conversation with Riff. Already, her parents were seated at the dining table and waiting for her to arrive so that they could serve lunch. There was a spread of different meals that all looked delicious, made by the private chef that her parents had hired in the city and there was a seat left between her parents where she was expected to sit and join them. There was no time to change, so she entered the dining room in the dress that she had worn into town; the bottom of the navy fabric covered in dust and dirt from the street and her hair unruly from the breeze and heat of the urban area.
"Elizabeth, what took you so long?"
"Sorry, I bumped into someone on the street." She tried not to tell them too much because she didn't want them to know the truth but she knew that they were too nosy not to ask any questions.
"Someone?" Mother raised an eyebrow, looking up from her plate of food to watch her daughter intently, she didn't trust the secrets that Elizabeth kept from them. "Who?"
"Just a neighbour, they wanted to welcome us to the neighbourhood."
Father chuckled, sipping on his beverage and seemingly relaxed. "Good, for a second I thought you were conversing with criminals."
"Criminals?" Elizabeth repeated, not understanding what they could be talking about. So far, she had not met anyone that worried her; yes, Riff was annoying and wouldn't leave her alone but she didn't think that he was a criminal.
"These streets are filled with gangs; any boy looks your way and you cross the street."
Hearing her father's warning, she couldn't help but snicker slightly. "Aren't you exaggerating?"
"This isn't a joke, Elizabeth." Mother snapped, beginning to tuck into her own food by carefully cutting delicately with her knife. "Your father is right, the boys on this side of town are dangerous. You can't let yourself get dragged into their fights, it is not the place for a respectable young woman."
She had enough of the talks that her parents would give her, belittling her just because of her gender and she had enough of people deciding her fate without allowing her the freedom to make her own choices. "Then where should I be? Locked up here every day, only allowed to run to the store every couple of days when we run out of something?" There was a silence across the table as her parents waited for her outburst to end. "I want to be out there; I want to explore."
"Which is why I found you a job." Father admitted, shoving a large forkful of steak into his mouth; the look that her mother gave him made it seem as though she wasn't aware of that detail.
