Audrey slept that night with tears rolling down her cheeks. Her anger had turned into sadness. She has given up trying. She begged her mom to tell her a little later that night but she has dismissed her with a shout of "It's none of your business,".
~~~
Audrey wakes up by the sound of her aggravating alarm. She throws the clock across the room, hearing a crash, but ignores it.
10 minutes later, she's up, lazily putting the cover on top of the bed, not bothering to style it as she does on daily basis. She throws the pillow on the bed and grabs her towel, casually walking into the washroom.
She's downstairs half an hour later, eating a toast, bored as ever. She eats the last bite and gulps down her orange juice. She puts the glass in the sink, grabs her bag, and leaves, locking the front door behind her.
Elvis pulls up in her driveway just as she's out.
She's thankful that she didn't have to see her mom's face this morning. Her mother is a nurse and goes to work early in the mornings. Audrey goes to school every morning at 7:30 am.
"Hey, sunshine,"
'He's unusually keen for a Wednesday morning' Audrey thinks but lets it go.
She smiles, "Hey, love,"
"How are you?"
"Good!" she lies.
Elvis raises his eyebrows, "You don't look so good. You got bags under your eyes, love. What happened? Have you been crying?"
'Too many questions' Audrey thinks
"I'm okay. You seem a little too happy though. Did anything change?"
"So...I have an idea. Well, you might not like it at first but just put it into consideration okay? Please?" he begs,
"Elv, you haven't even told me what it is yet. What is it?"
"Okay, so I need to stop the car for this," Elvis pulls over to the side of the road and unfastens his seat belt,
"You're scaring me a bit..."
"Don't be. I think it's a better idea,"
Audrey smiles, "A better idea? Better than what?"
"Okay, so I talked to my parents last night. They wouldn't tell me anything. They said if I kept dating you, they'd kick me out of the house." Elvis then whispers to himself, "I mean that'd be a relief." He continues, "I thought about it all night last night. We have enough money, I have a car, and I'm old enough,"
Audrey questions, "What are you talking about? I'm confused, Elvis,"
"Okay, imagine us living alone. We're free from all this family drama. We can do whatever we want. We don't have to sneak each other in. Freedom in general. Wouldn't you love that?"
Audrey is more puzzled now. She doesn't know if she should even ask, but she does anyway,
"Wha- of course, I would love that but I'm still not sure what you're trying to say,"
"Let's get out of here. Start a new life. Do whatever we want. I can promise you the best life ever," Elvis explains,
"Elvis. That's just a simple no. How much money do you have? I'm sure it's not enough to keep us fed and buy us a house and other essential things. Why would you even want to leave a stable home?"
"I have over 30 thousand dollars in my bank account that my parents have been saving for me since I was a baby. We can rent a small apartment. We can also get a job. I've got this all settled trust me. At least consider it?"
Audrey shakes her head, "Elvis, you know what happened when you begged me like this yesterday. If I say yes again, I have no clue what's going to happen again. What if we get lost? Do you even know where we're going?"
"Yes. It's 4 hours away from here. A small town called Falcon Haven. It's just hidden and great. Like I told you, I got this all covered. I've been there before. Just, please? Consider it, okay?"
Audrey sighs, "Okay. I'll consider it but I'm 99.9 percent sure I'm saying no even later,"
"It won't hurt if I hold on to hope for that 0.01 percent,"
~~~
The teacher is rambling about chemicals. Audrey is focusing on none of that. She couldn't care less. Her least favourite subject at school has to be science with how much she wants to drop out when she's science class.
'I mean it wouldn't hurt if I got away with him, would it?' She thinks.
Audrey pulls out a paper and a pen and divides the paper into two. She writes pros on one side and cons on the other.
Pros: Freedom. Happiness. Get to be with Elvis.
Cons: Parents would freak out. We might get lost. Lots of struggles and obstacles.
She goes over the pros and cons over and over again trying to somehow find out which one matters the most. Eventually, she decides the pros are more important to her.
It's not that she doesn't trust Elvis, but every time he says trust me, it's a known fact that something goes wrong.
She loves and cares about him too much and she would do anything to stay with him. Which is why she's going to accept his offer.
'We'll get through it together.' she thinks.
Maybe that statement is true. Just not entirely...