Chapter 3-2
1022 Words
“What!” Mum said.
She looked almost comical, the horrified expression topping her flowery apron and her arms wrist-deep in a bowl of dough. Her gaze was piercing though, and Eli squirmed uncomfortably against the counter.
“Thanks, Jenny,” he said sourly, and Jenny glowered at him.
“Oh, f**k off,” she said coarsely.
“Jennifer!”
“He’s going to spend Christmas with them!” Jenny cried, and it was almost in a wail. “Christmas is for family, and—”
“And Rob hasn’t got much family, so it’s the perfect opportunity for me to meet them,” Eli said coldly.
“In Scotland?”
“That’s where his aunt and uncle live. He’s my boyfriend, it’s perfectly normal to spend Christmas with your b—”
“What about his parents?” Mum demanded.
Eli swallowed and ground his teeth. “I don’t know.”
“Right,” she said. “So you’re going to spend Christmas with this boyfriend that you know so very well—”
“I’m going. I’m an adult, I can decide where I spend my time!”
“And we are all adults and can voice our disagreement!” Mum snapped. “Eli, for goodness’ sake, you’re going to the other end of the country—no, a different country—with…with a…”
“A what?”
The kitchen door banged. “What the hell is going on here?” Dad. Of course. It was the weekend, and he’d been gardening.
“Eli’s spending Christmas with Rob in Scotland!” Jenny blurted out before Eli could stop her.
“Jen!”
“What?”
Dad’s boom was identical to Mum’s aside from the pitch of it, and Eli groaned.
“Eli, for God’s sake, you’re not—” Dad started.
“Yes I am,” Eli said firmly. “Rob is my boyfriend and—”
“Of six months, and quite frankly, I am not happy about my—my son going God only knows where with someone like Hawkes!”
Eli ground his teeth and hunched his shoulders, feeling the usual sting when Dad stuttered over son. How many years did he need?
“I know it’s your first Christmas and it feels special,” Mum said, a bit more diplomatically, “but you and Rob haven’t been together all that long, and—”
“And I’m going.”
“No you’re bloody well not,” Dad snarled.
“What you gonna do, arrest me?” Eli demanded, jutting his chin out. “I’m not a child, I’m not mentally retarded, I can make my own f*****g decisions and when Rob asked if I’d like to go, my decision was yes! And it’s still yes, so you can all—”
“Don’t use that tone in my house!”
“Don’t talk smack about my boyfriend all the f*****g time!”
“Eli!” Mum scolded.
“I’m sick of this!” Eli exploded, throwing his hands up. “I’m sick of it, all you ever do is rag on him and tell me to leave him and how he’s bad news, you all freak out if I have him here overnight or I stay at his flat, you don’t want me going anywhere with him, and you don’t even know him, you don’t—”
“I know enough,” Dad snarled.
“You know a record on a computer screen,” Eli snapped. “You know rumours and hearsay around your stations—and if you did look up Rob’s criminal record, that’s a total violation, you had no—what is it, no policing purpose?—no good reason to.”
Dad went scarlet. “Are you accusing me of—”
“Should I be?”
“Stop it, both of you!” Mum shouted, banging the bowl of dough on the counter loudly to get their attention. “Now calm down. Everyone just calm down.”
Eli stared at the oven, and willed it to explode.
“Right,” Mum said, rinsing her hands off. “Eli, you must understand why we’re upset. Christmas is a time for family, and we don’t feel you’ve known Rob long enough for him to be family…”
“Because you won’t let him be!”
“Quiet!” Mum barked.
Eli curled his lip.
“Christmas is for family,” Mum repeated into the ensuing silence. “And yes, Eli, I would prefer you were home with us. At the end of the day, we don’t trust Rob yet. No, quiet! But we also have to accept that you are an adult and free to make your own choices, however much we disagree with them.”
“Louise!” Dad protested.
“No, Samuel, that’s the truth,” Mum snapped. “Eli, we aren’t happy about it, but of course you can do what you feel is best for Christmas. Just…think hard about it, yes?”
“I have,” Eli said coldly. “I know Rob better than any of you. I want to go, I’m thrilled he’s asked me, and I’m going. End of story.”
“For how long?” Dad demanded. “Scotland’s not exactly the other side of Huddersfield!”
“For a week,” Eli said, and bit back an angry retort when Dad visibly swelled. “We’re staying with his aunt and uncle and cousins. His brother’s coming, too, so you don’t have to worry about him beating me up in the car on the way there,” he added viciously.
“Eli, stop it,” Mum scolded.
“No. You f*****g—”
“Eli!”
“—stop it, all of you! Rob is a nice guy. Yeah, he’s a bit rough around the edges—”
“Oh, right, yeah, a bit,” Jenny said acidly.
“—but he’s good to me, really good to me, he’s good as gold and he’s kind and supportive and funny, and he—he supports me, he really does, he’s really accepting of me, and if you’d just…just stop judging him on the other stuff and—”
“The other stuff? Eli, that includes violence. He’s a drug addict and a—”
“He’s not an addict, he smokes the odd spliff now and then, that’s it,” Eli snapped. “And he’s never once even threatened me—” He didn’t think it would be a good time to mention that Rob had threatened him, in the bedroom while playing their s*x games, and Eli had enjoyed the f**k out of it. “—and if you would just stop staring at his police record and actually get to know him, get to see how he is with me—”
“Then let us.”
Eli was brought up short by his mother’s words. “What?”
“Let us,” she said. “Invite him to dinner. Let’s meet him properly, as a family, instead of you smuggling him in and out like stolen goods and getting at your father’s throat about it.”
“That’s not my fault, I—”
“I have had enough of arguing about this, Eli!” Mum said sharply. “You keep insisting we’re wrong about him, so let’s see the proof. Have him over, and let’s actually sit down and talk to him.”
Eli nodded jerkily, mind already spinning. “Fine,” he bit out. But it wasn’t, because there was no way Rob was going to agree to this. Eli was going to have to force him, or manipulate him. Maybe give the order in a scene, or promise a scene after the dinner. Or—
He turned on his heel and headed for the door.
“Eli!”
“I’m going to Rob’s,” he said.
“Oh for God’s sake—”
“How else am I meant to tell him he’s coming over?” Eli shouted over his shoulder, jogging upstairs. His brain was turning it over in earnest. He’d need time, that was the big thing—he’d need to get Rob well and truly under control before telling him to come to this dinner, or Rob would throw the idea right out.
He tossed his overnight bag onto his bed and started to stuff it, sending only a perfunctory text to Rob as warning, without a single emoticon, kiss, or explanation. Just the bare bones fact—and that should be enough to warn Rob all on its own.
Coming over.
- Writer
