After Hours (𝟏)

16. Lacking Trust

The food was moving around the plate in a hazy blur, watching with wide eyes, the fork after many failed attempts later stabbed into a piece of tender chicken successfully. The sound of noisy chatter echoed the dining hall with everyone busy immersed in different conservations, not paying any attention to the girl engrossed with her moving food.

Rainy Love was drunk.

A wet hiccup left her as she stared at the chicken on her fork, the joyful expression plastered across her face making the skin around her dark eyes crinkle.

She wasn't sure how many glasses of wine she had gulped down that evening, but one drink had turned into two which quickly turned into four and now her food was somehow talking to her.

A whiny Kaya sobbed loudly across from her, crying into her Uncle's chest. She had refused to eat her dinner which had ultimately led to the punishment of a well needed time out. Silver held her small body close to him, rocking her gently whilst he mumbled some comforting words to her in his mother tongue.

"C'mon bambolina, no more crying. Big girls don't cry. Just one bite and Zio will be happy. You don't want Zio to be sad do you?"

When he spoke to her, he couldn't help the faint Italian accent he had thicken. He wanted her to really understand the language from early on, just like he had been taught.

Having been so caught up in trying to calm the agitated child down, he hadn't even noticed the tipsy twenty something year old laughing comically at her food. It wasn't until Rainy had accidentally dropped her fork for the umpteenth time that he finally figured something was off.

"Oops... Sorry again."

He frowned, stroking his niece's back in an circular motion while keeping his eyes trained ahead at the scene unfolding in front of him.

Elijah sighed heavily when he felt a lazy finger prod into his arm. He turned his head slightly to look over at where the poking was coming from, only to find a flushed face looking at him impatiently. "You dropped it again babe?" He murmured in a tired tone, eyebrows knitting together to assess her  drunken self.

She merely nodded, a pout forming onto her tinted red wine stained lips. "Could you pick it up for me Eli, please?" She dragged out, slurring on her words ever so slightly. It was quiet and not overly apparent but he could pick it up straightaway.

With a reluctant nod, he reached down between them and picked the silverware up from the wooden floor. He placed it back down onto her plate, and her eyes only got bigger as she shook her head again. "I, um, need to go to the bathroom!" She breathed out suddenly, grabbing ahold of his arm.

"So then go to the bathroom." Elijah calmly responded.

However, he didn't bother to get up from his seat, not even when she gave him the look. He didn't budge and instead motioned for her to get up, and so she did. He returned to whatever conversation he was emerged in before her interruption, and she frowned. Shoving her napkin off her lap and onto the table, Rainy rose to her full height.

She didn't say another word to him.

If he didn't get the hint and want to take her to the bathroom like she had wanted him to then he didn't have to.

Rainy's fingers had never failed her before.

She disappeared out of the dining hall with no further questions asked. Her bare feet dragged her heavy body down the long table, eventually reaching the double doors where she exited with a wave and loud farewell.