The room had nothing too fancy. Just two beds that stood beside each other, with lampstands in between. There was a small cubicle that appeared to be the washroom by the furthest end of the room. Lance put the suitcases beside each other and turned to Elena who was seating by one of the beds already. She was taking off her flat shoes. Her feet felt free.
"Elena are you sure about this?" Lance asked. "If it's too much for you I can ask for another room and I'll spend the night there."
"What? No!" Elena smirked, slightly. "I told you to stay with me, so stay, please? Who knows what can happen to me if I'm all alone?"
"But you won't be alone. You'll have your guardian angel hovering above you, protecting you this night."
"Lance, we are not debating this." Elena shrugged out teasingly. "You asked to join my road trip, I allowed you to. So I'm making the rules and you my companion scout, are supposed to listen."
"Fine... which begs me to ask. What the hell are we doing here, south Utah?" Lance mumbled. "You asked for us to stop here first."
"I have a friend I have to visit." She answered, stood up, and took off her coat, followed by her sweater and finally her blouse. Lance turned around when she was only in a bra and her blue tight jeans. "Good," Elena mocked playfully, "...look away."
"Are you going to take a shower?" Lance asked, his back facing her.
"Yes... I'm pretty drained out." Elena answered as she took off her tight jeans. She put on some flip-flops that were under the bed she had designated to be hers. She walked toward the bathroom with a towel covering her body, obtained from her suitcase of course. She started the shower and the warm water flowed against her skin.
"Elena..." Lance called out from his bed.
"Yes?" She answered, the water swallowing her voice.
"Tomorrow's a special day... for you."
"I know, but why tell me that?" She asked.
"Because I'm going to make it special for you, that's why..."
"How?" She chuckled.
"It's a surprise," Lance told her, "a big one."
"Mind sharing some of the details? I promise I'll still act surprised!" Elena told him.
"No. If I tell you then it will no longer be a surprise!" Lance laughed out.
"Then you should have shut up about it because now I'm intrigued." Elena teased him.
"Sorry, I just wanted you to know that we can make this work. With or without Washington. With or without Ethan." He heard Elena stopping in her movement inside the bathroom.
"Why'd you have to bring him up again?" Elena asked.
"I know you guys were together last year during your birthdays. And I know how much the day means to you."
"Hmm... thank you." Elena answered.
"Ok. Now hurry up. I wanna take a shower too." Lance cohered.
"Fine." Elena stuttered as she started moving again inside the bathroom.
After a minute she was done. She got out in her towel as Lance headed in. She changed into some loose pajama pants and a white shirt. She tucked herself in her bed, covered herself warmly, and lay on her side. Her eyes looked at the lamp beside her. In an instant, her mind was taken back to last year's birthday party, when she was with Ethan. The cold was biting from the window, and they hid under the cover of the blankets as they cuddled. The house was left for them during that night, as the rest of the Purcells and Stenfields went on their own game night so as to let the two die-hard friends by then enjoy their own company together.
"Elena, goodnight," Lance told her as he climbed his bed. Elena had zoned out that she didn't hear him approaching or how he got on his bed. She turned around smiling and looked at him.
"Goodnight." She answered and turned back again. It took a while but her mind finally zoned back into the same night as she struggled to sleep. The day was long and tiresome, yet she couldn't find it for her body to be pretty exhausted by all the events that had happened during the day. She heard Lance dozing off minutes later, as she still kept her eyes wide open. After thirty minutes of endless fidgeting, she decided to get up, put on a hoodie, and went outside the room, which was on the upper floor of some building. She sat on a seat outside as she breathed in the cold air all on her own, until an old man, too old for life itself, dressed in a green robe with white lined patterns walked past her, then decided to join her. They stood company to each other along the verandah and stared into the night.
"Hello, there young lady," The man called out to her, voice so dreaded in age. He took some time before he sat down beside her.
"Hey," Elena answered. "Couldn't sleep?"
"When you live for more than eighty years, you dream all the dreams that you could ever think of. Then the sleep becomes boring." The old man murmured.
"Really?" She tucked her hand between her hips. "You mean to tell me that I can tell you some dream and you'll ultimately tell me that you've dreamt about it?"
"Go on, lady." He answered nodding his head slowly.
"Okay... how about this? Have you ever dreamt ... um well have you shared something so close with someone you loved and always felt at home with, only for that person to do a terrible thing to you, and suddenly what you once shared feels so strange?"
"Um, nice one young woman."
"Oh, my name's Elena."
"Okay Elena, I thought that you were going to tell me about a dream?"
"Well, um... it was a feeling rather. Sorry. Have you ever felt that same feeling, sir?"
"Just call me Pop." The old man blurted out at her. "No, feelings no. Perhaps if it were a dream maybe I would have related. But if I may ask, this person... it's your boyfriend if I'm correct."
"No, no. He was more than that."
"Your fiancé?"
Elena shook her head, laughing, "Do I look like a woman who is about to be married?" She asked. The old man raised his brows.
"You look like a lot of things child. You look lost. You look confused. You look like you're brave. You look like you're scared and running away from something. I just hope it's not from him because, from the way your face glowed up when you talked about him, I can tell he was the world to you."
Elena nodded, "Yes. I think so too. I mean we used to do a lot of things together. We played, did homework, ate, have fun you know?" She wiped a tear. Her heavy hurt voice was back. "Even though we were young, we just felt at home when we were together. I would host his birthday this year and he would host mine the next... and he would come, and I would go to his. Our parents let us do that for years after they noticed some chemistry between us and it was fun."
"So what's different this year?" He asked, "He's not coming to yours this year?"
Elena snuffed, "Yeah, and it feels so strange."
"And where is he now?"
"I don't know. Some prison somewhere in Arizona. Tomorrow is a special day for him as it is for me."
"Why's tomorrow so special to him?"
"It's his birthday..." Elena answered, turned, and faced in front.
"And why is it special to you?"
A tear slid down her face. She let it happen.
"Because it's also my birthday..."