Work in Progress

Chapter 36: Wednesday

A/N: Hi everyone! I know it's late huhu I'm sorry. It's been a busy week for me.

*ELI'S POV*

"I really wish I could be there with you, sweetie. I've been working double time but the paperwork just never ends." I could hear the disappointment and tiredness in Aunt Tessa's voice.

"It's ok, Tita. You're working to make the world a better place. As long as you promise to tell me all the juicy facts about your recent case." She laughs at this.

"I promise I'll tell you as much as I can. And once I get some free time I'll run right over and we can do some much needed bonding time."

"Ew," I joke.

"Tera tells me you have some friends joining you too. Do you really? I'm so glad you have someone else now other than Tera." I could just imagine her features getting soft as she says this. My Aunt is still young, in her thirties, but sometimes when she's buried in her work she would look more than her age. And being a lawyer meant that she was almost always buried in work. But during those moments when she was relaxed, she could be the most beautiful woman you'd ever lay eyes on who exudes so much confidence and independence. She was the modern woman.

"I managed to make some proper friends," I laugh.

I could hear Aunt Tessa's excitement from the other line, "I cannot wait to meet them!"

We couldn't talk long since Aunt Tessa had to go to a meeting. We said our goodbyes, both of us doing so quickly before the tears started coming. Then I got ready for school. Tera convinced me not to skip class and said that she would do all the prepping. I didn't really oppose much since school would keep my mind occupied and really, there wasn't much to prep. We'd just have a small ceremony on the rooftop and I asked Tera to make some sandwiches since the others might be hungry coming from cheer practice. I was mostly looking forward to dinner when I planned to cook for everyone. It's not often I get to cook for five people. The last time I did was on my birthday and it was the best feeling ever.

When I got to school, I went over to Sam waiting in her car as usual. We had breakfast and chatted about school and what we'd be doing today. It was just like any other day. One of the things I loved about Sam was how she was able to make me feel comfortable talking about things I usually wouldn't be comfortable talking about. I think it's because she didn't talk to me as if I was someone to feel sorry about. It was more of 'ok so you went through this, let's talk about it'. We'd go through the emotions of the experience without getting lost in it, which was the problem I'd have before whenever I talked to my friends or my mom's co-workers. It didn't help whenever they said 'a good life was cut too short' or 'the world robbed us of kind people'. I'm sure they meant the best but those weren't comforting words, those were words of regret and they were saying it to the sole survivor who was regretting a lot already.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Sam asks nervously laughing.

"I'm just thinking of how lucky I am to have you." I give a small smile.

"I'll always be here no matter what." Usually she'd brush it off whenever I said something cheesy like that but this time she looks me straight in the eyes.

"Thank you."

***

The day passed by quickly and soon enough we were in my apartment dropping off our bags. Jane and Kate were with us as well. We all went up to the rooftop together where Tera was waiting. My eyes started burning. "Tera-- "