Pushed Aside

Dinner and Amusement

Elliot's POV

"Oh don't get mad at me because you're an old man now." My mom teases my dad and I laugh at his face as he turns away from her only to pout.

"Oh mom it's not polite to pick on old men." I playfully chastise her and she laughs as my dad picks up a piece of onion thats he's chopping to throw it at me but I catch it in my mouth, laughing at his annoyed expression

"The both of you get on my nerves." He tells us gruffly and my mom puts up the garlic from her station before patting his hand softly.

"Thats nice dear." She tells him.

" I chuckle to myself as I continue chopping up the bell peppers for dinner. As always, the three of us gather together to start preparing for dinner, all of us with a job to do so that it turns out great like it always does.

Mike's job was to sit in the chair and talk about how hungry he was before sneaking to taste the food before it was even ready.

The back of his hand always ended up red after leaving my house, my mom always reaching out to smack it whenever he tried to steal some food.

Tonight we're making pepper steak and the smells of the chopped ingredients along with the smell of the spices in the air as the meat gets cleaned and seasoned has my mouth watering, excited for dinner.

Though both Mike and I can cook, nothing beats a home cooked meal straight of of the pots and pan of my mom and dad. The both of them used to work in a restaurant and it's how they met all those years ago, cooking away together in the kitchen. After five months they fell in love. And here they are twenty five years later still going strong.

Their love story was always one for the books. It's one of those ones that you would read curled up in a blanket with some hot chocolate in front of the fire place.

Something that I want.

But now I'm not so sure that I'll get it.

We continue to laugh and talk away as the food cooks, my stomach hurting from all the laughing that I've done these past four days that I've been home.

While being here hasn't erased any if my problems and it hasn't taken them all away or let me forget, being here makes me feel like they're not going to swallow me while. Begin here makes me feel as if maybe it's not as hard as it seems and that I will find a way to get through it.

Home is a powerful place to be. And so is the strength of my parents love.

I'm washing the dishes from preparing the ingredients when there's a knock on the door. My parents are bickering next to the stove as they talk about what to put inside and I laugh to myself as I shake my head and make my way down the hallway towards the door.

I dry my hands on the towel in my hands before turning the knob of the door and finding Zayvion standing on the other side.

"Hey." He greets me, his shirt a soft green, a few shades lighter than his eyes, the combination a bit dizzying. In his hands is a bag that he holds close to his body. His legs are covered with dark jeans that I always love to see on him, and I think he knows it too.

"You came." I say stating the obvious but only because I thought he would run away when things didn't go his way. But I'm pleasantly surprised that he came.

"Was I not supposed to? I was trying to figure out if you meant it or if you were just being nice by inviting me." He says nervously and I almost smile, this side of him reminding me of when we first met and how flustered he used to get around me and it makes me chuckle a bit to myself.

"It was a real invitation." I tell him and he breaths a sigh of relief as I open the door to him, letting him step inside, but he doesn't walk for before turning towards me with a nervous look on his face.

"Do your parents...?" He pauses as if unsure how to answer.

"They know. Everything. And they don't care." I tell him and I see his face pale when I say that they know everything.

Now my parents have never been hardasses, but I've only dated one person my whole life and we rarely ever got into it, so I have no clue how why're going to treat Zay. If nothing else, this should be interesting.

"Come on." I tell him, closing the door before I begin walking back down the hallways towards the kitchen. We both enter, Zay standing slightly behind me in nerves and though I know I shouldn't, I can't help but laugh at how nervous he is around the sweetest people I know in life.
"Mom, Dad, this is Zayvion. Zay these are my parents." I say, introducing them to each other.

"Nice to meet you." Zay says, his bag still in hand as he reaches out the other one to shake the hands of both of my parents who return to gesture.

"Elliot, you didn't tell me the young man was so handsome." My father says and I groan as my mom and him laugh with each other before she smacks his arm.

"I told you yesterday. Quite the young man." She says winking at me and if I could dive off of a cliff, I definitely would. And I would make sure there were sharp ass rocks in the water too. Because this is embarrassing. I expected brooding and invasive questions but instead they're staring at Zay as if he's an Angel....

Oh yeah. Forgot about that part.

The food doesn't take much longer to be done and while my parents finish it up, Zay finally shows me what's in the bag he brought, turning the tow of us away from my pageant as he looks down shyly.

"I uh- I thought about what you said yesterday and you're right. I realized that I never took the time to get to know you enough to get to know you for you and not for what you were to me. I want to get to know you better. I know this isn't much, but I do remember a few things that you told me." He says and he pulls me over to the table before taking a breath and beginning to pull out some things.

The first one is a new sketch pad, the pages crips and thick, perfect for my charcoal and my water color, I feel excitement grow within me as Zay pulls out those exact things next, brand new ones that I can't wait to break in.

"I remember you told me that whenever things get hard, you like to do art. So I got you a few of your favorites." He tells me and I watch him as he pulls out more things, my heart beating strange as I realize he was listening and paying more attention than I give him credit for.

The next things to be brought out are two small candles, bruh fall scented, my smile growing even bigger as I look at them, opening both of them up to take in a deep breath, my nose happy I did.

"Fall is your favorite season so I thought that maybe you could smell a little bit of it as you do your art and do your homework." He tells me as he goes to reach for one last thing, but it's too late, I'm already melting into a puddle in the kitchen and it has nothing to do with the heat coming from the stove and the oven.

The last thing he pulls out is an empty picture frame and it makes me frown in confusion.

"I know I shouldn't have, but one day while you were at work I flipped through your art book and I saw the picture that you drew and I want it to be framed. A lot of your work should be on walls and in frames but if you want to, I would love to have that picture for myself." He says and I just shake my head to myself before I grab him and pull him into my arms for a hug.

"You're still not off the hook." I tell him and he nods into me as his arms wrap around my waist.

"Yes I know." He tells me and I nod on top of his head, but I don't let him go, being glad that he's in my arms, hoping that maybe this will be able to work out after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~
This is so emotional omg. And what do you guys think about this book not being in the sixties because I don't even know how to stretch the book for that long. But we'll see what I can do. I think this is like chapter 45.

Thoughts?

Comments?

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