The girl behind her smile

- 10 -

ELIZA

I sit with Ezra on the sofa, my legs on his lap as we both watch the TV in front of us. Eli was in the kitchen making food and mum was at work. Even with the show running, I was unable to pay attention to it, trying to conjure up ways to address Ezra and his illegal fighting. I shift my feet in thought once again, accidentally hitting his chin when I try to cross them over.

"Oh my God, stop fucking fidgeting." Ezra complains.

I lift my head adjusting the cushion it was rested on, "I can't help it."

Ezra scoffs looking at me, "Yes you can, you're the one who's moving."

"Well I can't help it if you legs are so damn uncomfortable, why do you even go the gym if they're just gonna be rocks?" 

In response he shoves my feet off, ultimately causing me to roll off the sofa with it.

"Hey!" I glare at him, "Why are you being such a baby?"

"Why are you being such a baby?" He mimics my voice.

He sends a smirk in my direction before I respond, "Proving my point there, mate."

I gather the blanket and huff as I sit back down on the sofa.

A few seconds pass before Elijah walks in, placing himself in-between both of us, with his freshly made sandwich.

"Eli, can you lift your plate up quickly, I just need to check something." I smile.

The moment his hands raise, I place my legs across both of their laps.

"Izzy-"

"For fucks sake-"

They both speak over each other, Ezra continues his grumbling, quietly cussing me out.

"I can hear you Ezra." I mumble back.

"You're meant to." He retorts.

Eli sighs between us, bringing his plate down once again, resting it on my knees. I eye the other half of his sandwich, wishing I had thought of bringing food before I had sat down. Maybe I could grab one before he realises.

Just as I bring my hand up, Elijah slaps it back down, "Don't even think about it."

I bring my mouth to a pout, bringing my focus back to the show.

-

The show had ended a while ago, and we were still sat here, all of us engaging in a mix of mindless conversation or scrolling on our phones. There wasn't much work for me to do, so I decided to give myself a free day.

"Actually, Izzy, I did want to discuss something with you." I turn my phone off and turn my attention to Elijah.

"So with uh- with dad gone, our bills have been piling up, I've already talked to Ezra about this, and there's only so much mum can do with the salary of a nurse." He continues, "I've picked up some part time tutoring but I am going to look for a job that's going to pay better, Ezra's become an instructor at his training site so there's that,  but I need you to also get a job aswell."

I had forgotten that with dad gone, our biggest source of income had vanished too, we had electrical, heat, gas and the mortgage to pay off.

I nod my head, "Yeah, yeah I'll start looking, why didn't you tell me before?"

"I actually didn't plan on telling any of you guys, I though I could handle it, but Ezra read one of the letters addressed to mum a while back, and he came to me about it." He rubs his face, "I don't want you guys doing anything heavy, you still need to be focused on work, but I think it's better if all three of us pitch in for mum."