Chapter 158 – Forever and Always – Ellie Daniels

It took two weeks for me to fully recover from my family dilemma. During those two weeks I was spending most of my time with Holly. Her mother generously allowed me to live with them for as long as I needed. On the first night I arrived they made arrangements in their spare room for me. With their care and concern I was beginning to heal.

After spending this much personal time with the two of them I was beginning to see that they fully recovered from their own family dilemma. I thought it might be difficult to live with them, considering that Ms. Hayfield’s fiancé left a hole in their family. I was glad to be wrong. Their home felt as inviting as ever.

The experience helped me put my situation into perspective. If they could learn to move on with life then so could I, in time. Just knowing that and seeing their good outlook first hand did a lot to lift my spirit. It was time for me to make the best out of my bad situation.

My mom planned to move out soon after the fallout out of her arguments with my father. Instead of torturing myself on what I was losing, I decided to make plans to visit her during summer vacation. Part of the reason that things felt so hopeless was because I had the false impression that I was permanently losing one of my parents.

That was the wrong way of looking at it.

From now on it would be a matter of balancing my time between them. I was always going to move out some day and be separated from them. This type of thing was always going to happen, in a way. Maybe that was just part of growing up? It was depressing to think about, but eventually everyone left their family home.

So, with a heavy heart, I met with my mother on the day that the moving truck arrived. I wanted to personally see her off, even if I didn’t agree with everything she was doing. I was glad that I did. We hugged. We cried. We talked about the next time I’d be able to see her again and how I could reach her at her new address.

Then she once again tried to recruit me into joining her. I couldn’t. Living with Holly and Ms. Hayfield really helped me realize just how planted I was here. Even outside of my household I still had people who were like family to me that I could rely on. Even Opal’s parents recently checked in on me after learning that I ran away for a couple of days.

My mind was made up. I saw my mother off, told my dad about how I was doing, and returned to Holly’s house. I’d return home soon. For now, I just needed Holly’s comfort to help me through all this. The sting of seeing my mom leave for another state hurt, but having Holly by my side made things easier. Some things were changing in my life.

But some things would never change.

I was sitting in the final period of school on a rainy Friday afternoon when one of the teachers pulled me out of class. It turned out that this member of the staff was a school counselor. She took me to her office to tell me that she got a call of concern from my dad. Coupled with the fact that I skipped school for a few days, she decided to look into it.

I explained my situation to her and told her about how I was doing better now. It was all thanks to my friends that I was able to handle this like an ‘adult’. It wasn’t easy, but I was learning to manage my emotions more maturely. Holly and Opal were two good sources to learn from. They both had problems of their own, but always managed to compose themselves.

I wanted to be like them. After causing everyone so much grief I felt like the time was right to examine myself. The counselor listened to all this with rapt attention. She told me about another girl whose parents were splitting up and asked if we could have a group session on Monday.

I agreed. It would be nice to talk to another person going through the exact same situation, and I’d appreciate an extra friend. The counselor gave me her personal cell phone number and asked me to call her if I needed help. Instead of going back to class, she gave me permission to head home early.

I was getting my raincoat on and pulling my umbrella out of my locker when someone put a hand on my shoulder.

“You’re already out of class?” Holly asked from behind me.

“Yeah, I was talking to the counselor. She gave me permission to go home a little early since school’s almost over. I see you’re wearing your jersey even though it’s raining outside. You’re not planning on running today, are you?”

“Nah, the club was doing some exercising in the gym. We got permission from the PE teacher because of the rain. We’re finished now. After school practice is cancelled.”

“Yeah, it hasn’t let up at all, has it? I thought that it would stop before school ended.”

“The weather station was wrong about how long the rain would last. I don’t even have my coat with me. Should I ask my mom to pick us up when she gets off work?”

“There’s no need.” I said, waving my folded umbrella. “We can walk home together.”

“Great! We’ll just need to wait a few minutes for Opal to get out of class.” Holly said.

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“Actually, she wants us to leave without her. She said she has a student council meeting that will last longer than usual.”

Holly smiled at me. It was amazing how her smile was still able to make my heart flutter after all these years.

“Then we can leave right now!” She said. “Let me go get changed really fast and we’ll get going!”

“I’ll meet you near the entrance.”

Holly turned around and ran off in the direction of the gym.

It didn’t take her long to get changed. She was wearing a long-sleeved white shirt with black shorts. Her casual clothes were relatively modest. Her athletic form made her stand out even in plain clothing. This was always fascinating to me because she was so humble about her good looks.

I was considered good looking too, but next to Holly I felt average. She received triple the amount of people asking her out than I did, which was saying something. There were no shortage of guys randomly approaching me, but with Holly it was totally different. Tons of guys and girls from all grades tried their hand at asking her out.

Yet, she belonged to me alone.

It was a bit of an ego boost to me, as shallow as I was for thinking that way. Not only because she valued my looks, but because she valued me as a person. Even after all the difficult times I put her through recently, she was still as loving as ever. That’s why I loved her back so dearly. It was rare to meet a person like this these days.

She was going out of her way to be more attentive after everything Opal said to her. It was hard not to feel a little selfish about this, but Holly continuously assured me that she was in the wrong. She was reevaluating her priorities at the same time I was. Her medals didn’t mean as much to her as our relationship.

Living with her these past two weeks was full of fun. We were together around the clock. I was originally set up in the guest bedroom, but temporarily moved into Holly’s room with her. After a few days I decided it would be wisest to go back to the guest bedroom. We had a tendency to stay up too late when we were together.

“You should come closer to me.” I said to Holly as we walked. “Your shoulder is getting wet.”

“You’re right. I just didn’t want to risk tackling you into an embrace out here on the sidewalk. I’m not sure I could resist the urge from so close.”

I laughed.

“What are you, a vampire? Come closer!” I said.

Holly did as I asked, going as far as putting an arm around my waist while we walked. She looked away nonchalantly, but I could see a coy smile on her face just before she looked away. Maybe this was what she wanted all along. She just needed the proper pretext. She was more cunning than I gave her credit for.

Rainwater cascaded off the edges of the umbrella as we walked. Cars humming by splashed pools of water onto the sidewalk as they drove by. Holly chivalrously placed herself between me and the edge of the sidewalk, as if to protect me from being splashed. She did so without saying anything about it, which made me smile in amusement.

Our walk home had never been this quiet and peaceful. Normally we were always talking about something that happened during the school day, but for now we just walked in tranquil silence. Holly took me by the hand and held it. Without a single word spoken between us we were still able to enjoy each other’s company.

After a few more minutes of walking I began to realize something.

“The rain stopped!” I said.

“Oh, you’re right.” Holly said.

“I guess we don’t need the umbrella anymore.” I said.

“Aw, can’t we stay under it together for a little while longer?” Holly asked with a cute pleading face. “How about until we get back to my house?”

“Actually…” I started to say. “I think I want to go back home today. I want to talk to my dad. I know he’s worried sick about how I’m doing.”

“Oh…?”

“I’ve appreciated all of our time together, but now I think I’m ready to go back home. It’s thanks to your help that I’ve been able to get back on my feet.”

“You were there for me when I needed you the most.” Holly said. “I’m happy to return the favor.”

“Do you want to come with me to my place?” I asked. “Maybe you could sleep over tonight. It would be a nice change of pace after all the time I spent at your place.”

“How could I turn down an offer like that?” Holly asked. “This sounds like the start of another great weekend.”

“Great, I’ll contact my dad about it.”

Holly and I lived relatively nearby. Our houses were located on separate parts of the same neighborhood. There were a dozen or so houses separating us, but it wasn’t a long walk. We stopped over at Holly’s place so that Holly could pick up a change of clothes, and so that I could gather my things.

My father worked from home and so I already expected the door would be unlocked. He was happy to get the call from me letting him know that we were on our way over. He also happily accepted Holly joining me. He wanted to thank her for looking after me during such a difficult time for our family.

The entire first five minutes of my arrival back home was basically my dad majorly embarrassing me in front of Holly. He embraced me tightly, pick me up, and spun me around so much I felt like I was gonna puke! I laughed, but I couldn’t help but to cringe as I saw Holly laughing too. At this point I got the feeling that my dad was trying to embarrass me on purpose!

“Okay! Okay! That’s enough, dad! Sheesh! I haven’t been gone that long!” I said, still laughing.

My dad set me down back on the ground and let me go.

“You’ll have to forgive me.” He said innocently. “I’ve missed having you here. It’s been lonely without you.”

“Well, I’m home now.” I assured him. “And I’m not planning to go anywhere.”

“I’m lucky to have you.” He said.

He rubbed my head like I was a little kid, before turning to Holly to do the same. Holly dodged his hand and gave him a friendly hug instead.

“I’m a little too old for that, Mr. Daniels!” Holly said.

“I told him the same thing before!” I said.

“You kids grow up too fast.” He said.

“Okay, old man!” I said playfully. “I’m taking Holly up to my room! Please knock on the door instead of just barging in!”

“I’ll think about it.” He said with a wink. “I’ve ordered some food for us since this is such a special occasion. Is your friend Opal coming over too?”

“She might.” I said. “I’ll have to call her later. She’s in a student council meeting right now.”

“Let me know what she decides.” My dad said. “I’ll talk to her parents, along with Ms. Hayfield to let them know where their kids are.”

“Thanks.” Holly said.

Holly and I went upstairs to my bedroom. We walked by some boxes set aside in the hallway that were meant to be sent to my mom. The sight didn’t hurt me as much as I thought it would. Holly put a hand on my shoulder. She could see, just from a look, what I was feeling and was here to comfort me.

“Want to try calling her?” Holly asked knowingly. “I’m sure your mom would be happy to hear from you.”

I pulled my cell phone out and gave it a thoughtful look.

“The hardest part is already over.” Holly reminded me. “You managed to overcome that. Don’t shy away from reaching out to her now.”

I nodded to myself, and then again at Holly.

“Okay.” I said confidently. “Thank you for helping me, especially in a time like this.”

Holly smiled at me.

“Always.” She said.