Fake It 'Til You Make It - Hamliza

Chapter 24: The Storm

“Dinosaur!”, Philip sang, playing with his plastic stegosaurus in the backseat of the BMW. They decided to go to the park, and Pip was really excited. “We are here!”, Eliza said.

Pip squealed and tried to get his seatbelt unbuckled. Alexander laughed and helped him. "Ready to go play?" He asked and carried Pip and the bag of dinosaur toys. Eliza got out of the car and glanced at the sky. "Looks like it's getting cloudy, we should only stay an hour unless it starts raining sooner." She informed Alexander and walked with him.

“Georges!”, Pip screamed, running as he saw Georges and his older sister, Ana, on the merry-go-round. “Pippy!”, Georges hugged him. Pip got on the merry-go-round and Alex spun them. “Haha! My hair is getting windy!”, Pip giggled as he held on to Georges’ hand. 

Eliza sighed and made a mental note to give Pip a bath and make sure his hair was brushed out later. She sat on the bench with Georges's mother and checked the weather. "Oh shiiiiiitaki mushrooms there's a storm coming-" she mumbled, grabbing Adrienne's attention. "A storm? Oh dear- we getter get 'ome." She said in her thick french accent.

“We have to get home”, Eliza told them. Pip’s face scrunched up. “But we just got here!”, he whined. “I know but there’s a storm coming.” That grabbed Alexander’s attention. “A storm?”, he croaked. The wind started to pick up, and Alexander picked Pip up. “We have to go!”, he said, running. Eliza never saw him like this before. “My unicorn!”, Pip said as he dropped his unicorn on the ground. “Randall!” Alexander did not turn back, but Eliza quickly picked up Randall before getting in the car.

Eliza gave Randall to Pip and put the bag of dinosaur toys in the back. "Alexander, what's the rush? It's not even raining yet-" she asked but he cut her off. "We have to find higher ground- we need to be safe. I don't want anything happening to you or Pip or the baby-" he started rambling about how he was going to keep them safe, making Eliza more worried and anxious.

“Alexander these are New York storms! They happen all the time!”, she tried. “You don’t understand”, he muttered, before starting the car. Pip was cuddling Randall close, as Alexander typed in some things into the GPS. “My friend, John Laurens, lives on a hill. We can go there-“
“Alexander we can just go home-“
“Just trust me, alright?”, he sighed. Eliza widened her eyes. “Okay then…”

Eliza sighed and rested her head on the window, slowly nodding off as it started to drizzle. The sound of the rain hitting the roof of the car calmed her, lulling her to sleep. The opposite happened to Alexander, however. He panicked a little more with every drop of rain. 
"Daddy, what's wrong?" Pip asked and leaned forward a bit, putting his stuffed animal in between his parents so Alexander could see it.

“I’m fine!”, he snapped as they drove up the hill neighborhood. “I think daddy’s just stressed, okay? We had an intense scene we had to shoot today”, Eliza said. “Mhm”, was all Alexander mumbled. They drove up to the house.
John opened the door, as a girl about Pips age hid behind his leg. “Oh, Alexander! Long time no see! Come on in!” The rain was getting heavier and heavier. 

Alexander hugged his friend in fear. Thunder started booming and lightning started flashing. Pip showed his toys to the girl and introduced himself. "I'm Philip! What's your name?" He asked and handed her a velociraptor toy. "I-I'm Frances…" she whispered and cautiously took the toy.
"Nice to meet you John, I'm Eliza." She introduced herself and held Alexander's hand once he got off John. "Nice to meet you too. I'll go call Martha down if you two want to chat." John said and ran upstairs quickly to get his wife.

“Wow! Mr. Lauren has turtles?”, Pip exclaimed, seeing small sea turtles in a fish tank. “They’re so pretty!”, he said. “They sure are”, said Eliza. Alexander nervously sat down. “Daddy also has turtles that walk on land! But Daddy won’t let me get them out all by myself, he’s worried I’ll drop them”, said Frances. John came downstairs a few moments later with a young looking woman.

Eliza stood up politely and extended her hand for a handshake. "I'm Eliza, Alexander's girlfriend. Nice to meet you." She said happily. Martha looked her up and down and scoffed. "You're not gonna last. Too fat." She said and walked to the kitchen to get a drink. Only for herself.
Eliza frowned a bit and turned to Alexander with a look warning him she was either going to kill someone or cry. He wasn't paying attention though. He was scared of the storm outside.

“Don’t listen to her”, John mumbled and then looked at her small swollen belly. “Um, Congratulations.”
“Thank you.” Frances gasped. “Is there a baby in there?”, she asked. “Mhm.” Eliza smiled a little. Then, there was loud thunder.

Alexander shrieked and ran into Eliza's arms. She then realized why he was so panicked. She rubbed his back gently and led him back to the couch so they could sit together and cuddle a bit. Pip joined for a little bit then went back to play with his new friend. 
Martha went back to her husband with a margarita in hand. "Why are they even here? Can't they do this at their own house?" She asked bitterly and a bit too loudly because she earned a glare not only from her husband, but from Eliza too.

“They are just staying for the storm, okay Mari?” Eliza rubbed the back of Alexander’s head as he buried his face in her chest. She didn’t mind cuddling like this. Pip and Frances were playing with LEGOS on the cream carpet, and John sat next to the couple. “Do you want to talk about it?”, Eliza asked softly, kissing the top of his head as he held her close.

"When I was 17 a hurricane destroyed my town… killed my brother… ruined my mothers grave… it destroyed everything… a year later, the theater was rebuilt and that's where I got my start but you've already heard that story…" he stifled a laugh but it faded quickly with another flash of lightning.

He screamed and during the moment he accidentally pushed his face into Eliza’s breasts. Martha rolled her eyes and sipped her margarita, and Pip walked over. “Daddy what's wrong?”, he asked, sitting on the couch. “I’ll tell you when you’re a bit older, Pip. It’s just that I've had a bad experience with storms in the past.” His voice was muffled and Eliza pet his hair. Pip got off the couch, and decided to play barbies with Frances. Martha decided to speak. 

"Why is your boy playing with barbies?" She asked bitterly again. "To accommodate your daughter. She's obviously not interested in his dinosaurs so he's being nice and playing the way she wants to." Eliza explained nicely. Martha scoffed. "The brat can play by herself without turning your son into a f-" John stopped her and pulled her back upstairs, yelling at her loudly for saying that word in his house.

Pip sat on Eliza’s lap. “Why is she so mean?”, he asked his mother. He looked at Frances. “No a-fence, Franny.” Frances smiled. John came back downstairs angrily. “I am… so sorry about that!” He sounded extremely tense and sat down on the couch. “Daddy…” Frances scooted over to John’s lap. “Why’s mommy like this?”, she asked, holding her barbie. John smiled. “I really don’t know, hun”. Alexander chuckled a bit. The storm seemed to be calming down. Eliza looked at him. “Alexander… am I fat?”, she whispered, with tears in her eyes.

Alexander shook his head, still shaken up. "No. Never. You're pregnant- there is a human inside you and that is a miracle, ok? You're not fat." He said and kissed her head. She wiped her eyes and smiled a little. "Thank you… I needed that…" she whispered and sighed.

“Uh huh”, he smiled a bit. Pip got off her lap. “Lie down.” She raised a brow and layed down. “Whatcha doin-“ he buried his face in her chest again and she chuckled, sighing as she played with his hair. Martha came downstairs again, as Eliza was laughing at how flirtatious Alexander is.

"They need to leave. This is very inappropriate." Martha snapped to John. He just rolled his eyes. "I think this is better than you playing WAP in front of Franny." He snapped back and made snacks for the kids.
Eliza fell asleep eventually, only aggravating Martha more because "this is her house" and "they don't even need to be here".

Eliza sighed when she woke up, on Alexander’s lap. “The wife’s asleep”, John said, bouncing Frances on his lap. “Good”, Alexander muttered. Eliza smiled as she snuggled Pip close. “The rain stopped.”
“Can we go home now?”, Pip whined. They chuckled. “Of course.”