"Have a seat if you may," Lance spoke boldly as he ushered Elena to sit down.
"Thank you," she told him as she finessed herself on the designated seat. On the other side of the table were Mike and the preacher's daughter, Shallon Padalecki, dressed in funky clothes full of dark themes.
"Damn, so it's a double date today here I guess," Mike shrugged.
"I wouldn't call it a date." Shallon seamed her sentence with his.
"Guys, guys this was all for Elena. We have to show her that we are with her, despite her challenging times." Lance rolled the reason for why they were having a double date in a nearby restaurant closer to their homes.
"Guys I really appreciate you. Really. I think this was too much in fact." Elena stuttered at the lot. She had this girl friendship pact with Shallon and Chanel that had been since they started studying at U.O.W. But as of recent, Shallon had veered off and joined Lance's group leaving her alone with Chanel. Shallon was really in love with Mike and this caught Elena by surprise at how fast she had a thing for him. Lance's group was considered a toxic one; the one filled with these three awesome cool-looking guys; all cute and handsome in their own unique ways. Myles Slaughter, Mike Witwicky and Lance Harper. Any girl would be fortunate enough to have either of the three even though they all had eyes for Lance on the top of their list. He was really simple on the outside yet so attractive.
"You can discourage us all day but we know that you need this," Lance spoke so warmly to her. "What Ethan did to you..." he clucked his teeth in disarray.
"Lance, would you mind not bringing that up now..." Elena spoke out to him in a sad low tone.
"Oh, yeah... I'm sorry." He said as he brushed Elena's hair back her ear.
"So, are you guys dating now or what?" Shallon squeaked jovially.
"Pssht- no!" Elena's voice rose up above the noisy restaurant. Saturday had a lot of people free and they would mingle here and there despite the cold. "No, we're not." She shook her head affirmatively.
"And do you have any plans for doing so, in the future maybe?" Mike added on flicking his eyebrows at Elena.
"Maybe," Lance answered in an instant.
"No," Elena answered at the same moment. She looked over to her left and exchanged weird gazes with Lance. She noticed that he was calm with her answer on the outside, and probably boiling mad inside. He gave out a smile that stretched from ear to ear.
"It's okay... I understand. I won't force you to make rash decisions on such topics." Lance told her and finally removed his hands from her hair and faced the other two couples.
"So, if this is not a double date then what can we call you two?" Shallon stressed-out holding Elena's hand above the table.
"We're just friends. Just friends." Lance answered her and raised his hand to catch the eye of an approaching waitress. He placed an order for the whole lot, each giving descriptions of what they wanted to put down their bellies. They talked and talked for a long time. They talked about school and what was trending, they talked of life; they had just completed school and were so anxious and anticipated for the next chapter of their lives that was unfolding itself right in front of their eyes.
Elena contributed the least to their stories feeling like an outsider in their midst. Once every while, she could notice three unfamiliar guys from the table in front of them giving out strange and weird gazes at her as if they knew her. She felt empty and alone inside like something was missing. She had promised herself to give herself more chances in life, to try and see what good would come out of her Ethan ordeal. The trauma she had was dying by every passing day and she would try her best to live the remaining part of her life to the fullest. So she decided to give this little outing a chance, in hopes that maybe something good and positive would come out of it. But it just didn't feel right, not for a moment. She felt like she was out here by circumstance and not by choice. There was nothing really driving her towards this event and that's what made her feel low. Shallon would try to bring her back in the conversation by talking of their own stories together but it would die anyway. She wasn't up for the mood really. That wasn't her lot... Ethan was. She had spent so much time with him that even his own absence left a huge void in her life. 'He's where he needs to be,' she told herself, 'but am I?'
An hour later, Lance and Mike got up and went to play pool on the pool table on the far corner of the restaurant leaving Elena and Shallon to have their girl talk. Elena wasted no time with her female girlfriend as she shot to her a question that had been bugging her since the graduation party.
"How did you end up falling for Mike that fast?" She asked.
"Elena, people meet up in coffee dates or nightstands and they do stuff and when it's good they ultimately fall in love."
"Don't play so innocent with me Shallon! We know you are a preacher's daughter. The preacher's daughter. Your mom and dad would have never allowed you to be engaged in a romantic relationship with a toxic guy such as Mike! Leave that alone look at what you're wearing. Huh?"
Shallon scoured at herself, smiling so sharply. Her fitting booty shorts weren't past half of her lap, and she had on a sexy tank top on her with some not-so-nice words written all over. Her hair, longer than Elena's was loose today and was stylized on the right side of her chest. Her face was gorgeously cute with dark-themed makeup on it. She looked like she was trying to say 'I'm that girl!'
"I don't see anything wrong with me..." she shrugged fumbling her hands. Elena scoffed.
"Shallon, you never wore such stuff before. He changed you... I don't know how but he did. This girl here is just not the same Shallon I remember from last year. Do you even attend your parents' sermons nowadays?"
Shallon shook her head, "No. I don't."
"Girl you've got a problem. You need some prayers..." Elena finished and sipped in her vanilla-flavored smoothie.
"Ok, look. This is how it happened. Myles called me out on a date after I had slapped him in the commencement ceremony as a gesture of his apology to me. We sat down, just like we are doing right now, and talked for hours and hours and hours. He was really sweet you know. Once you get to understand him for how he is, babe you'll love him too."
"Some history you got there with him... I didn't know Mike could be a gentleman in such a way. Lucky you." Elena smiled at her broadly as she brushed her hair back once again.
"I've seen how you were behaving during our little chit chat Elena, you miss him... don't you?"
Elena swallowed hard. "What? Miss who?"
"Ethan..." she muffled her lips.
"No, I don't," Elena answered bravely and took another slurp of her smoothie.
"You don't have to pretend Elena. I know that you do. Even after what he did... somewhere in there, you're so damn worried about him."
"No, I'm not. Its... never mind you wouldn't understand..." Elena gave out a sigh and faced down.
"Hey, hey, hey...!" A female voice echoed behind Elena's back. Shallon lifted her eyes to see who it was while Elena turned around to catch a glimpse. Standing there were the three guys (two girls and one boy) from the table. They looked to be the same age as them, or even younger.
"Wait, um it's you, Elena, right?" One girl asked in a sexy voice. Elena looked at them longingly with her eyebrows cushioned with confusion.
"Yes, that's me." She answered later on.
"I knew it, the one who was raped..." the other girl spoke up in a rude manner eye-rolling at Elena.
"Oh, poor soul... I heard how that guy got into you. Got into you rough!" The guy added on top laughing out mockingly in the end.
"What the hell?!" Elena burst out at them. "What do you want?"
"Shut up you slut!" The first girl talked back. "Whore." She added on top.
"Hey what is wrong with you guys, just leave her alone!" Shallon shouted at them catching the attention of Lance and Mike on the pool table.
"Oh, keep quiet preacher's daughter. Unless you're Jesus talking to the bleeding prostitute!" The other girl pitched in looking at Shallon first and then at Elena lastly. Her comment was followed with a burst of hard knock-out laughter. Elena snuffed as she felt the tears coming as she watched the two humiliate her in full sight of the restaurant. They called her one more name and she couldn't take it anymore. She quickly darted to the washrooms crying as Lance and Mike approached the lot.
"What the hell guys, walk away!" Lance growled at them. "Go piss yourselves at some other place! Go!"
"Fine, fine, fine...we're going..." the boy told Lance in a rude manner before they turned around and walked away guffawing in loud voices. They were just a bunch of bullies.
Lance turned back to Shallon, "Where's Elena?"
"She went over to the washrooms I think. I'll go talk to her." Shallon answered.
"No, no, no. I'll go talk to her." Lance told her and quickly shot in that same direction. He opened the door to the ladies' washrooms and got in without a second thought. He saw no one at first but his ears picked up the sound of a woman crying inside a stall. He walked slowly towards it and knocked at the door gently.
"Elena," Lance called out in a caring voice. She ignored him of course. Typical Elena.
"Elena, please come out..." Lance called out to her one more time. He heard her approaching the door and she opened it up slowly. He looked at her and could notice the sadness pulling down the corners of her eyes. She had been crying and her eyes were red to show proof of it. She stared at him whimpering as she tried to hold more emotions from coming out. He brought her closer to him so that she would rest her head on his chest and weep out. He caressed her back as he pampered her to keep calm.
"Don't worry. It's okay... it's okay..." he told her in a low voice as she hugged him even tighter. And at that moment, she felt safe with him… like she was at peace for some while.
"It's not fair. Lance, it's not fair." She whispered to him in a somber tone.
"It didn't have to be you, Elena. It didn't have to be you." Lance told her softly as he traced his hand in her hair over and over. "I'm so sorry Elena. I really am."
"What did I do to deserve this? Those people called me names and it hurts so bad you know? Knowing that you're in such a position not of your own will and they end up making you look like a whore. It hurts." She cried out, tears stroking either side of her cheeks.
"Elena... has this happened before?" Lance asked her.
"Yes... ever since the first day after the trial... some people just took advantage of the situation and started making fun of me... and I don't know how long I can put up with this."
"It's gonna get hard Elena. The calm will come after the storm though. You need to be strong. I need you to be strong. I want you to start smiling because you feel like a strange woman right now and Earth doesn't feel normal without the Elena we know."
Elena scoffed as she dried her tears and looked at Lance.
He cupped her cheeks as he looked down at her. "You're an angel. And angels fly!" He told her as his crystal blue eyes searched hers. She smiled at him slightly and rested her head in his chest again and felt his warmth. The January cold was just too unbearable.
"Stay with me." She talked calmly into his warm sweater.
"What?" He asked her, not being able to grasp her the first time.
"Yeah you feel right, so stay instead..."