Lance arrived at the Stenfields' home about an hour later. He had on a dark pair of jeans and a white shirt with some black words embedded on it. 'GOODBYE WORLD' they read. He had on blue sneakers and a pair of dark glasses hung from his V-shirt's center. His yellow hair was well brushed, back as usual. He looked charming. Behind him way back on the road was his black convertible car. This was one of the many priceless items he had inherited from his deceased foster parents. He rang the doorbell to Elena's home. 'DING DONG'. Someone opened the door from the other side. He had to direct his head down to see Elena's little sister. He didn't even get the chance to greet her as she yelled at the top of her lungs.
"Elena, your date is here!"
Date? Wow! Lance smirked a little bit. Elena walked down the stairs immediately. She had been waiting for him for a long time and the fact that he was finally here made her not want to waste any more time in the house. 'There she was. The most beautiful girl in the world'. Thought Lance. She came down the stairs in that red dress of hers, faster yet classy as if counting her steps to record them somewhere… like her diary perhaps. She had on black flat shoes and a black purse with her. Again, she always liked it that way. She approached Lance, her face bright as ever!
"You look... amazing!" Lance commented, stretching out his hands wide enough to hug her. She blushed a little. He smelt nice...
"You too Lance. With the words on the shirt and glasses and everything..." she said as she got out of his embrace two seconds later.
Lance chuckled. Elena laughed. Lance's attention drifted from Elena when he saw Lynn approaching them at the door. Elena looked back and noticed her mom approaching. She turned, faced the same direction as Lance, and took some steps back so that she was now standing beside Lance and adjacent to Lynn, hands in the full grip of each other.
"Good afternoon, Mrs. Stenfield." He showed his manners. "Or is it still good morning?" The three burst into some soft laughter.
"It doesn't matter." Said Lynn, her face looking warmed by his presence. "So Lance, I'm handing my daughter over to you. Make her reach her destination safe and sound and bring her back to me the way she's leaving here."
Elena rolled her eyes. 'Really mom? I'm the one who told him to come to pick me up!'
She was angry at how her mom was overprotective of her. She understood why her father was but her mom seemed to have crossed the line and went a knot further. Sure, they were both her parents but at her age, one mentality was stuck with her: moms needed to teach daughters how to become better wives to their husbands, and dads needed to do what dads did; provide for and protect the family. But her dad wasn't here. He had flown overseas for some business trip. So what was Lynn doing filling his space? Lynn noticed the suddenly annoyed charisma embedded on Elena's face.
"Go have fun you two!" She said.
Elena turned immediately as she headed towards the black road drive machine. No goodbyes no nothing! Lance had some time to say goodbye before he turned to his car. Elena was seating at the passenger's seat next to the driver's. They put on their safety belts and Lance started the engine. He feared to talk too soon knowing Elena all too well. Her temper was unpredictable if she became pissed. When they were about a minute away she decided to break the silence.
"Can you believe her?" She began.
"Hmm... I'm sure that she's just being protective of you, Elena. Nothing much." He replied, hands on the steering wheel, face locked straight ahead.
"I know she's my mom but I feel that all she's just done since morning is be too overprotective. I'm not a little girl you know?"
"She knows that. You know that too. But the fact remains and it states that you are her daughter and she'll do everything in her power to keep you safe. There are bad people out there Elena. If I had a mom as you trust me, I'd listen to everything she'd tell me. I mean look at me, I'm not a bad example myself. I turned out to be this polite person even without having a mother by my side to teach me as I grew up."
Elena listened to Lance's words keenly. Every single one of them. Remember when Lance was a bragger? Sure enough, bragging presented itself in many ways to him and that's what Lance knew how to do best. Turning all the focus of Elena and her little petty story of her mother to him being an orphan so that she would feel pity for him instead. She therefore would show sympathy to him to make him feel better. This is how he had managed to get Elena to have mixed feelings about him since he first showed interest in her.
'Really Lance? Grow up! You're a damn ass man!' The thought ringed in her mind.
Elena noticed this of course. She chuckled, shook her head, with her left palm covering a part of her face.
"What's wrong with you, really?" She asked.
Lance looked at her, then straight ahead. It seemed like the road was clear enough. He turned back to Elena. "What?"
"Why do you always do that? Making yourself the center of attention of everything?" She asked looking at him. He still had his focus on her.
"I do not do that!'' He said and now shifted his attention to the road ahead.
"I always try to believe that you're a good person Lance. All the attention that your friends, classmates, teaching staff, the whole school, and I mean like literally everyone has given you isn't enough? Why do you always have to make yourself a victim of circumstance you know? Each time I try to get to know you, to understand you for who you are, you keep pushing me away with whichever sad history you're from that you keep reminding everyone in any shape, format, or color that you can think of!"
Things had gone from zero to a hundred real quick! What the hell was happening? It was supposed to be a joyful ride for the both of them. Talking about moments of their past six years of their studies, embrace each other's company and just be happy while they still could. It was a ride supposed to be filled with laughter and some happy tears in between. Lance had gotten so mad that he didn't even bother to answer her. He was furious to the point that he over sped and was stopped in his tracks with some traffic police on duty that day. The policeman approached the vehicle and noticed that it was Lance who was behind the wheel. He praised him for how he was a good role model to society and all the positives he could think off-including how he was an orphan who had managed to graduate with all odds stacked against him. He let Lance go without any charges. Elena rolled her eyes. She was just fed up with this guy!
"This was a terrible idea!" She mocked herself letting out a little sigh.
Lance of course never cared now– he had lost her yet again. They reached the venue after five minutes post the traffic police incident with the remaining part of the journey filled with silence between them.