|| Elizabeth ||
I leave Shawn on his phone in the living room while I scramble around my room to find a new outfit for our spontaneous date. I fix my hair into a french braid and brush my teeth again before actually applying my make up.
"Ready," I approach Shawn, all set for our first date.
He stands up and follows me out the door. He opens my car door for me before jogging around to the other side to get in the drivers' seat. We pull out of the parking lot and make our way to wherever he's taking me for our date.
"Well, since you've already eaten, what do you want to do?" he says as we approach a stop sign.
I eye him, "How'd you..."
"There's an empty box of pizza in the recycling bin and Andrew doesn't eat pizza more than once a week and we had some yesterday," he explains, peeking over at me with a cute smile.
I nod, "Okay, Nancy Drew."
"Do you wanna just go to the park?" he suggests.
I agree, not really caring. I just wanna be with him, "Sure."
"Okay great," he smiles, pressing down on the gas so we accelerate down the street.
We make it to the park and he helps me out of the passenger side. "You're such a gentleman," I tease as we walk towards a park bench.
"Momma raised me right," he chuckles, making me laugh.
We sit down on the cold metal and I curl up beside Shawn to keep semi-warm. "Talk," I say, reminding him why we've come here.
"Well, I want to explain myself even further," he pulls away to look me in the eyes. "I like you, Liz. Like really like you. And I was nervous, so I didn't know what to do. I just wanted to go on a date with you and I finally got the nerve to text you, but I covered it up with a friendly chat kind of thing. I didn't really think you'd like me."
I gape up into his eyes, "Oh my gosh, you have no idea how relieved I am to hear all of that. I really like you, Shawn. Like like-like you. It's weird. I couldn't accept that I like you. It's so lame. I didn't think I could have such feelings about someone because of all that's happened. I thought everything was lost for good."
"Woah, this stuff is really deep," he says after a comfortable moment of silence.
I giggle, "It's nice to let all this out, though."
"Yeah," he puts his arm around me and pulls me close.
I look up into his eyes and he looks down at mine. We stay like this for a second before my eyes flash down to his lips. I wanna kiss him so bad right now. His eyes flicker to my lips then back to my eyes.
"Can I kiss you?" Shawn whispers as we lean closer and closer to each other.
"No you may not," I feel someone grab my arm and yank me off the bench.
Andrew.
"Andrew!" I try to pull away. "What are you doing here!"
I watch as he glares at Shawn, tightening his grip on my arm.
"Andy, stop! It hurts!" I feel tears burning at my eyes. This is so embarrassing.
He relaxes his grip some, but not enough to make it painless. Shawn stands to help out, but Andrew barks, "Don't touch my sister!"
"An-" Shawn starts, but my idiot of a brother intervenes.
"Shut up!" he shouts.
I can smell alcohol in his breath. "Andrew?" I peer up at him, gaining his attention. "Have you been drinking?"
"Why yes I have," he says, shoving me aside. "sister."
I shake my head, "Andrew, no."
"What do you mean 'no'?! I have the right to drink if I want! I have been through a lot over the past four years!"
I gasp, "You?!"
"Oh, shut up!" he pushes me, causing me to fall onto the bench.
Shawn pushes Andrew back, "Don't touch her like that!"
"Get out of here!" Andrew shoves Shawn away.
I feel tears pricking at my eyes. Andrew can't turn into my mom. He can't. I know what my mom was like although I was young. Dad told me stories as well as showed me marks she would leave on him and pictures of marks she would leave on my brother. She was abusive all because of alcohol and the stress that was laid upon her shoulders. Andrew is turning into her... a monster.
I stop myself from those thoughts and look to see Andrew coming toward me with clenched fists. "Stop, Andrew!" Shawn wraps his arms around my older brother and starts pulling him back.
Andrew breaks free, elbowing Shawn in the face, knocking him unconscious. I start crying, "Andy, please. Don't be like Mom!"
"I am nothing like Mom!" he grabs me by the collar of my sweater. "Mom left, but I'm kicking you out!"
My face morphs, "What?!"
"I can't live with you anymore! You remind me too much of the past and all that crap between Dad and I... and I can't live with it anymore! So go pack your stuff and leave!" he screams at me, throwing me down on the ground. "I never wanna see you again!" He yanks his foot back and kicks me right in the stomach. He kneels down and takes me by the neck, "I hate you." he throws my head down in the snow before stalking off.
