Chapter 49 Elijah
FORTY-NINE
ELIJAH
Wake up, take a shower, brush my teeth, eat something, work, eat, go to bed.
I do that over and over again without feeling a single thing. Because I don’t deserve to feel. What do I have to be sorry about when I ruined the life of the most important person in my entire existence?
Nothing.
I deserve this.
Deserve the agony building in my chest, suffocating me with each movement, breath, and thought. If she lives in torture, I should live in even more.
“You don’t look so good, man. I think you should take a break.” Leonidas’s calculating eyes watch my every move.
My siblings, friends, and Lily are all treating me like I’m fine china. As if I didn’t just completely shatter someone’s career.
Lily is taking the job loss better than I am—how embarrassing is that? She’s constantly checking up on me, making sure I’m eating and getting enough sleep. Afraid I’m going to fall apart, she’s always behind me, following my footsteps.
“I’m perfectly fine,” I mutter rudely. “I always edit and post our videos.”
“But don’t you think you could use some sleep? We have a packed schedule.”
Annoyed, I huff and close the phone. “I’m aware we have the craziest show ahead, the most anticipated one, which happens to be our last show. But work still needs to get done.”
Our private plane is quiet. The only ones not asleep our Leonidas and me. Lily, only moments ago, had her head resting on my shoulder until I opened my mouth and started talking back to Leonidas. Now her forehead is resting on the airplane window. Yet she somehow still manages to look gorgeous.
Extending his arm across the aisle, he snatches the phone from my lap and shakes it. “I’ll finish it off so you can get some rest.”
Slouching back in a leather chair that’s meant to be comfortable but is making half my butt numb, I force my eyes shut.
Lily walks ahead up to Mom’s house on the beach, bustling with nerves and excitement. Her steps falter in the sand, almost making me crash into her back from her sudden halt.
Squinting up and attempting to look through the sun’s blinding beams, Mom is standing in the open doorway, looking down at Lily like she’s seeing a ghost from her past.
“What on earth? Am I dreaming?”
Sea salt in the air, a warm breeze on my face, the Greek flag waving through the wind, and my mother’s comforting voice—I’m so happy to be home.
Lily, in her white summer dress, who looks more like a goddess, takes a small step forward, and a smile graces her face when she spots Mom. “Long time no see, Mrs. Drakos.”
Mom trembles at her words, rushing down the tiled steps with tears streaming down her face. Lily falls into her arms.
“My love, you have grown up to be such a beautiful lady.”
Mom was always a mother figure to Lily, growing up. In fact, my mom and her parents got along so well that, sometimes, I found they were closer than Lily and I were.
Standing at the front of the car, the rest of the crew sees the moment Lily and Mom are having and decide to give them a moment alone and run down to the beach. Which is only a couple of footsteps away from Mom’s property. I stand back and let them hug it out.
“I’ve missed you,” Lily mumbles into her shoulder, grasping her just as tightly.
She pulls back to inspect my girlfriend’s face. “I bet I missed you more, agapi mou. My soul feels like it’s finally healed.”
Mom spots me over Lily’s bare shoulder. “Don’t just stand there. Come here, my boy!”
Amused, Lily turns and watches me approach. They both throw one arm open, inviting me into a group hug. Taking the two most special girls into my sides and holding them like the world might end and this will be our last hug is free therapy.
“How did you manage to catch this one, Elijah?” Mom jokes as she steps back and appreciates seeing us as a couple for the first time. “Do your parents know you’re together? We placed bets when you guys were five. I thought this would happen sooner, but, boy, does this feel amazing to see.”
Lily’s body goes quickly from happy and carefree to weak and surprised. With a hand around her thin waist, I keep her up.
“Did I say something wrong?” Mom asks, frazzled.
“Leonidas, what the fuck?!” Trinity screams in the depths of the ocean.
My brother runs to her after throwing her in. Flabbergasted, she brushes wet hair out of her eyes. Flapping her arms, she jumps and tries pushing his head down into the waves but is unsuccessful.
I try to get my train of thought back.
Lily shifts uncomfortably on her feet. “Um, they don’t know.”
“Why?” Mom’s mouth drops open. “We should call them right now and tell them!”
With wide eyes, I shake my head rapidly. “Mom, can we please drop this?”
She pouts, grasping both our hands in a motherly embrace. “They would be so happy though. We always hoped you two would get together.”
“I would call them in a heartbeat for you, but I can’t.”
“Did you lose your phone?”
Oh my God. Please, someone, come up and deck me in the face. This is torture.
“N-no. I can’t call them because they’re dead,” Lily stammers, quickly ripping the Band-Aid off so it hurts less.
I assume nothing could ever make that sentence more tolerable.
Mom gasps, grief written across her face. “Lily, they passed away? Oh my God, both of them?”
Nodding, Lily is unable to form words.
“How did this happen, and when?” Mom cries out, trembling with the sudden news of her long-lost best friends’ deaths.
Watching my mother cry and Lily holding back tears is like a sword through the chest. This will never get easier for anyone.
A tragedy lives on through generations.
Pulling my mother into her arms, Lily holds my mom’s shaking body, lending her a shoulder to cry on when she probably needs one the most.
I haven’t seen Mom cry in years.
She’s always been the backbone in the family, even when I get mad and hold myself back from asking why she never shows us when she’s upset. Or when she continued to stay with my dad without any emotion on her face, like all the torture she endured was a walk in the park.
“A few years ago, they got in a very bad car accident. Dad died on impact, and two days later, Mom passed away in the hospital.” Lily pulls back. “I tried contacting you specifically, but I never got through.”
Cupping Lily’s cheeks, Mom shakes her head in denial. “The old team made me get a new number a long time ago, agapi mou. I would have run to be with you if I’d known.”
I place a hand on her shoulder, hoping she feels comfort by me being here.
“Elijah has explained everything, so please don’t feel guilty at all. You would have come if you had known, and that speaks volumes.” A sad smile lifts up the corners of her mouth. Pointing up to the sky, she whispers, “And they wouldn’t want you to feel guilty.”
“They’d kick my ass.” Mom bursts out in a chuckle, wiping her tears that are mixed with brown mascara away.
“I miss their tough love,” Lily says softly, looking out at the sapphire ocean. “Even though I hated it, growing up. Death really makes you realize never to take anything for granted.”
She pulls me to her side and nudges her nose in my chest. “That’s why I’ve chosen to bless your goofiest son with my presence.”
“I hoped you’d come sooner. He was so miserable without you.”
I shoot her a mock glare.
Who am I to argue? I was depressed.
When you experience the feeling of the greatest, purest love and it’s ripped away, sadness tends to drag you down to the dumps. I thought I’d have everything when I was whisked away to Hollywood. Little did I know, I would be giving up all the things that mattered.
Hand in hand, Lily, Mom, and I make our way down to the shoreline.
“I would love to do a small ceremony for your parents,” Mom says, arm hooked in Lily’s.
“I would love that,” Lily replies, in good spirits. “What are you thinking of doing?”
“It’s a tradition I used to do when I was young. We’d fill up balloons with helium and write everything we wished we could say to the person who had passed. When the whole balloon was covered, we’d let them go and hope they received it in heaven.”
The salty sea kisses the tips of Lily’s bare toes. With a faraway look, she smiles. “I love that idea. Let’s do it.”
Unhooking herself from Lily, she walks backward to where the others play in the water like little kids. “It’s a date.”
“If that’s going to make you uncomfortable, tell me because you’re the boss here,” I say softly, watching the sun slowly start to set, sending pinks and oranges across the sky.
She faces me, and her arms wind around my waist. She looks up at me with her doe eyes, and her black locks blow in the wind, causing her to look more like a miracle than a human. “I’m more than okay with your mom planning something. They deserve it.”
Grasping the back of her neck, I pull her into a soft kiss.
“You deserve happiness,” I whisper against her plump lips.
Her voice trembles. “So do you.”
My forehead rests against hers, and our eyes flutter shut. “I have everything I need, and it’s right here in my arms.”