Elly & Kent - The Complete Story: Includes Books 1-3 (24 page)

"Which time?"
 

"Both times! She was feeling up on my junk. I pushed her off but geez. That girl is a handful."

"She probably just accidentally brushed you or something." I refused to believe that Jen would openly grope my man, and in front of Kent no less!

The thought of Jen groping Nate had been on my mind all night. I sat down next to Kent, and despite his cheeriness I remained silent beside him.

He tugged on my hair and that's when I turned to him, and frowned. "What the hell?!"

He held up his hands in surrender, his expression irritatingly surprised. "Woah, Elly-beast. I asked you a question and you didn't answer."

"Yeah, well, maybe I just don't want to talk to you today," I snapped.

A flicker of a frown passed over his face before he shrugged and turned his attention to his notebook. "Okay. Sorry." He picked up his pencil as the lights went down.
 

I was trying to take notes next to him but his scribbling was getting on my last nerve. How dare he let Jen feel up my date. Was he in on it? Was it a little joke the two of them had going on between them? Or were they testing him?

At the end of class, after the lights went back on, I didn't move from my seat. Kent tried to step over me after saying excuse me but I pushed him back and stood up. "How could you let her do that?!"

He looked at me, clearly confused, as he scratched at the back of his head. "Um..."

"Jen! You just sat there and watched as she groped Nate?" Kent exhaled slowly and looked around at the stares turned our way.

"Elly, this isn't the right place to talk about this."

"Fine! Fuck you too." I grabbed my things and made it down two steps before I felt his arm tugging me backwards.

"Elly, Jesus. Come on." He looked down at me with sympathy in his eyes. His hand slowly dropped back to his side. "She was drunk. I talked to her about it after she did it."
 

"After you left?"

"No, right after she groped him. I told her it was inappropriate and slutty and mean."

"Apparently she did it twice."

"I only saw the one time, Elly. That's the truth." He looked around, his cheeks blushing from the embarrassment of having to talk about this in front of prying eyes and ears. "Look, Jen's mom is divorcing her dad and it's been tough on her. Her trust fund is in jeopardy and she's been acting out."

"Am I supposed to feel sorry for her?" I raised my eyebrows in amazement at his audacity.

He shook his head and held up his hands defensively, "No, of course not. I just... I'm sorry. Ok? I'm sorry for her behavior. I completely understand if you don't want to be around her or bring Nate around her. But she isn't doing it to be mean to you."

I scoffed, "Yeah... okay. Keep telling yourself that."

"What am I supposed to do, Elly? Break up with her?"

I stared at him, wondering if he was really as stupid as he was acting. "Yes!"

He shook his head and looked away, his jaw clenching a couple of times before he looked back at me. "I can't do that. She'd had too much to drink, she wasn't herself."

I shook my head and rolled my eyes, "Oh, great. So anytime she wants to grope someone who isn't you she can just have some drinks and it'll be okay? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

His ears burned red, "Just stay out of it, Elly. It's my relationship, not yours. I've been with Jen for years, not a few weeks."

I bit the inside of my cheek at his jab. "Fuck you." I turned and ran down the stairs, leaving him standing there.

Chapter Thirty-Two

I showed up to Thanksgiving dinner just before 3pm with a pecan pie on my hands. Not made by me but my local grocery store. I couldn't bake to save my life. My mom had been over since early that morning helping Kent's mom prepare the huge dinner as she did every year since we were eight or so. I dressed conservatively in a plain black dress that showed no bare skin below the neck or above the knee. My makeup, however, was the usual glossy lips and smokey eyes.

I made my way into the kitchen with the pie and set it down on the counter. "Hi Mrs. Lytle. It smells ridiculously wonderful in here."
 

Kent's mom glanced at me, she had a towel in her hand that she'd been using to dry the dishes and she brought it to her mouth in surprise when she took in my new transformation.

"Elly! Oh my god! Your mom told me you'd lost a little weight but this is...you look fantastic! KENT! Why didn't you tell me that Elly was a supermodel?!"

I blushed and closed the distance, hugging Kent's mom briefly before stepping back. "Thank you, it's not a big deal."

I heard Kent from the living room. "Mom, I told you she looked good." In just a few seconds Kent came into the kitchen. I was still pretty pissed at him from our fight last week.

I'd been so pissed at him that I'd switched sections in Art History just so I wouldn't have to see him.
 

"It is, dear, not a lot of people can accomplish what you have. And you!" she pointed at Kent, "You told me she looked good, I thought she got a new haircut or something. Not..." she swept her hand from my toes to my head. "This!"
 

While Kent and his mom bantered I held my breath and stared at Kent from across the room, studying him. I hated to admit that I didn't hate him. I didn't even dislike him, not even a little bit. The fact that he was supporting Jen, despite her bad behavior, just showed me how much he really loved her. For better or for worse he was going to be there for her.

"Elly's always been beautiful, mom. Or have you forgotten how you used to make me keep my door open because you were afraid we were having sex, huh?" Kent teased his mom and looked towards me and I looked away quickly.

"You two were inseparable. But I hadn't forgotten you constantly insisting that you and Elly weren't an item. You made it very clear you didn't have those feelings for her. But then Jen came along and I hardly saw you anymore." His mom raised her eyebrows. "I can only imagine what you two were up to at her huge probably unsupervised house and on those fancy vacations she'd treat you with."

Jen came in, a glass of wine already half consumed in her delicate hand, "Mrs. Lytle, you know exactly what we were up to. We were teenagers in love."
 

Jen smiled up to Kent, wrapping her arm through his. His cheeks started to turn a pale shade of pink as he shook his head.

"C'mon Jen, not in front of my mom." He chuckled and ran his hand through his hair, releasing it from the gel cast that was probably on Jen's doing.

I smiled politely as I shuffled my feet. Jen bat her lashes at Kent, innocently.
 

"What? It's not like she doesn't know about this stuff. She's a very smart lady. Even our little Elly..." Jen pressed her lips together and glanced between me and Kent.

I felt my stomach drop along with my smile. He'd told her that I'd lost my virginity? He'd told her the horror story that was my first time? I looked down and tried to compose myself. He was in a relationship, did I really expect him to keep my secrets? I was a fool for thinking that he could.

Apparently she thought better than to bring up my horror story and went on a different path instead.

"Elly's been doing open mic nights at a local bar. We haven't been able to make it but I've heard her name come up a few times between my circle of friends." Jen smiled softly to me and raised her wine glass in my direction. Her way of a peace offering, I guessed. Little did she know it was pointless.

Mrs. Lytle looked at me, "Yeah? I didn't know you read poetry."

"It's singing, mom. Elly sings. It's nice that she's finally doing it in front of other people."
 

I scoffed at Kent. "I sang in the car all the time."

Elly's mom came into the kitchen and rubbed Kent's back as if he were her own son. It perturbed me just a bit.
 

"It's true. And in her room. And in the supermarket. And at the doctor's office. She was always singing." My mom smiled at me, her face full of love.

I felt my cheeks heat and rolled my eyes, "We don't need to re-live my childhood right now. Do you need help with anything?"
 

Kent's mom looked around and shrugged her shoulders, "I had no idea you were a singer, Elly. You certainly never did it here. Not that I was eavesdropping or anything." She cleared her throat softly before continuing, "You could set the table, if you'd like, dear."

I nodded and stepped to the counter where the dishes were already stacked. "Excuse me." I grabbed the plates and silverware and smiled at Jen and Kent as I approached, I needed to get past them to set the table.

Kent moved Jen so I could squeeze by them. Just before I got passed I felt his hand on my arm and he pulled me into an awkward group hug. It was a bit weird being a threesome that way. It would be weird to be a threesome
any
way.

"Happy Thanksgiving, Elly," Kent said with a smile.

I winced as the plates and silverware smushed between us and tried to stamp down my anger at his chicanery. "Happy Thanksgiving to you too. Now let me go so we can eat, I'm starving!"
 

I forced a grin that I wasn't anywhere near feeling and pulled away. My traitorous knees quaked slightly at his touch, which, I thought as I walked away, was completely ridiculous! I was losing it. Every since losing
it
I was even more aware of men and that included my off-limits friend.
 

As I was setting the table my thoughts turned briefly to Nate. It turned out I hadn't needed Kent's opinion of him after all. Two nights ago I'd asked him to come with me for my family Thanksgiving. He said he'd give me an answer the following evening. The answer had turned out to be a song he'd written for me called, "Let Her Go." I cried well into early that morning. I was still raw with emotion from the break up and I was sure that's why I was feeling all these things for Kent. It was transference or something.
 

After setting the table, I went out back to the swing that faced the garden and tall trees in Kent's backyard. I sat down and crossed my arms over my chest, getting some fresh crisp air, hoping it would calm down my raging libido and equally raging anger.

It wasn't long before I heard the back door open and the leaves crunch under someone's approaching feet. My tingling body told me it was Kent. And that only made me angrier.
 

"You alright, Elly?" Kent asked. I moved over as much as I could so he wouldn't be touching me as he took a seat beside me. "You seem...out of it tonight."
 

 
"Yeah, I'm okay. Just going through some stuff that I can't really talk to you about. And I'm pissed at you. I can't believe you told her. I..."

Kent was silent beside me. I looked down at my hands which were turned skyward on my lap. I wasn't sure what else to say. I still felt this wall coming between us, growing higher and higher. I knew that if I was going to remain sane I needed to try to distance myself from him. I couldn't let him get close so he could learn all my secrets and then blab them to Jen. She would torment me with them for the rest of my life or for however long she was in it. I didn't see an end in sight.

I looked up, staring out into the pretty little rose garden Kent's mom had planted a dozen summers ago. It was starting to lose its color as winter quickly approached.

I had come over every day to help Kent water them. His mother swore that they needed at least twenty minutes of watering every morning. I smiled to myself as I remembered the water fights we'd had as kids. It was so much simpler back then before the sexual tension arose and tried to drive me slowly crazy by dangling Kent in front of me morning, noon and night. That piece of cake I so desperately wanted but couldn't have.

Kent spoke softly beside me, breaking my thoughts, "You know she didn't think they were going to live. Everything else she planted died that year...even with her watering them daily to help them along. The roses, she decided to give the job to me, and then you joined in."

I chuckled softly, remembering, "She called them the Jesus roses." I forced my eyes to Kent.
 

I felt my shoulders hunch forward slightly, the smile at the corners of my eyes slowly dropped as I stared at him. My lips were dying to kiss his. And my brain wanted my hand to slap him, for being so stupid. With me and with Jen. My mind and body were at war.

Kent chewed on his lip as he continued to stare at the roses. "Have you ever wished you'd done things differently, Elly? Like there was something in your life that you weren't sure if you made a mistake or not?" It was a simple question but one that was laced, at least for me, with dozens of what-ifs. The what-ifs that would drive me crazy if I let them.

"Of course." I looked away, feeling guilty for thinking about wanting to molest him. "Don't you?"

"There are a few things that I think about a lot. I wonder what things would be like if things were done differently. I wonder what my mom would be doing. I wonder if she'd still be playing cards with your mom every Friday or if she'd be like one of those women who travels everywhere."

I looked at him again, the lust gone for the time being at the mention of his mother, whom he loved very much. "You mean if you hadn't scared all those guys away?"

"Yeah. I kept holding on to a hope that my dad would come back, but he never did. Do you think if I hadn't, that we'd be friends? Would my mom have ever met yours? When I think about it, I feel sad for my mom because I was a little shit, but the more I think about it, the more I'm glad I did because I can't see my life without you in it." Finally he took his eyes off the roses and looked at me.

I looked away, unable to hold his gaze when he was being so emotionally fluent. "We would've met in school." I shrugged my shoulders softly, it hurt to even begin to think about a life without him in it at all. It had been hard enough essentially separating from him since we graduated from high school. "You probably wouldn't have wanted to hang out with me though. But it doesn't matter, the past is in the past. You've been away at college for a couple years now and your mom could've found a man if she wanted to."