Page 14 of Mister President

We needed to leave now, because if he got on that damn game, he wasn’t going to want to get off. I didn’t mind him playing his game and watching TV in his free time because he was a phenomenal student. He wasn’t really into sports yet, but he played chess and wanted to join the wrestling team next year. As long as he was active, he could play the game as much as he wanted.

“Nah. I’ve been in there talking to your granddaddy waiting for you.”

“Did he tell you Uncle Happy made me drink beer the last time I was over there?”

I laughed as we headed out of his bedroom. It was like a customary rite of passage in my family to sneak a kid alcohol. Pops had already told me Uncle Franklin, or Happy as we called him, tricked EJ into thinking his beer was ginger ale. We all had to learn the hard way not to ask to taste anyone in my family’s drink because you never would get a straight answer as to what was inside.

“Yeah, he told me. How did it taste?”

His face twisted at the memory, making me laugh again. “Disgusting. I don’t see how y’all drink that nasty stuff.”

“Good. Hopefully that’ll keep you from wanting to drink when you’re older.”

“If it tastes like that, you don’t have to worry about me drinkingat all.”

We continued to talk as I drove to Amanda’s place. I hoped we’d be able to interact with each other normally this evening and it not feel weird like it did last week. If not, I’d just have to get used to this new normal.

9

Amanda

This was probablythe longest family day ever—and not in a good way. Things were still weird between me and Elias. I thought by now I would have been able to shake him not wanting to give us another chance, but I hadn’t. Well, maybe it wasn’t that I couldn’t shake it. Maybe it was the fact that I had to detach from him. Either way, it was hard to talk to him or even look at him. And what made it even worse was EJ saw one of his friends at the fair and ended up hanging with them. So for at least an hour, Elias and I were with each other walking behind the boys in silence.

God, it was awful.

I never thought things would be like this between us. Even when we had disagreements, we were still able to talk to each other. It felt like we were strangers, and I didn’t like that at all. As he pulled into my driveway, I’d never been happier to get away from him, and that made me sad. Elias was, is, one of my favorite people in the world. How’d we get to this point? Was it my fault? I knew there was a chance he wouldn’t want to be withme again. As much as I’d prepared for the rejection, I couldn’t prepare for how it would cause me to act around him.

Looking back at EJ, he brought an immediate smile to my face. “Did you enjoy yourself, pooh?”

“Yes, ma’am. It was really fun.”

“Good. I love you. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay. I love you too. Make sure you get some rest.”

A quiet chuckle escaped me as I unbuckled my seat belt. He sounded just like his damn daddy. As I reached for the door handle, Elias said, “The fuck is you doing?” and though his voice was low, it was firm.

“Getting out of the car?” I asked more than said.

“Since when do you open doors around me?”

Rolling my eyes, I crossed my arms over my chest. “Come on then. I’m ready to go.”

After sucking his teeth, Elias chuckled. That was a clear sign that he was irritated, but he didn’t say anything as he took his time taking off his seat belt and coming to my side of the car. When I got out, his arm wrapped around me, and he casually moved me to the right. He closed the passenger door and kept me barricaded against the car.

“What’s ya problem, man?”

“I don’t have one.”

“We lying to each other now?”

My head tilted as I clenched my jaw. I exhaled a hard breath and swallowed hard. “It’s not something I really want to talk about. Is that better?”

He looked at me for a few seconds before nodding and dropping his arms so I could walk away. Even with me being in front of him, he still walked me to my door. Normally, I’d let him open it, but I did it myself. Elias waited until I was inside to say, “I’m here whenever you want to talk about what’s going on with you.”

I was tired of talking about something that wouldn’t change. Still, I nodded and muttered a quick thanks as he gave me a kiss on the forehead. After he left, I locked up and headed straight to the kitchen for a bottle of wine. By the time I made it to my room, Elias had sent me five thousand dollars and told me to spoil myself until I felt better. The gesture was bittersweet because he always took care of me…just not in the way of my heart. It didn’t matter how many times I told him I didn’t want him giving me money unless it was for our son, or I was dancing for him, because he did it anyway.

The more I thought about the static between us and how I didn’t want to be around him if I couldn’t have him, the more I wanted to make things right.

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