Rum and Coke

"Wow, did Kale really win all these awards?” Brian asked as he looked at the wall behind Kale’s desk. The wall was so covered in plaques, pictures, and selves full of trophies, that you could not see the cyan paint.

“Most of them. Some of them are joint collaborations and a few of them are mine. The names should be engraved somewhere on them,” Ellie shrugged, placing all of his office stuff into boxes. “Jamie, can you please stop scuffing up the floor? And draw the curtains over the mirrors. Thanks,” she quickly snapped to one of her dancers.

Brian looked back to the wall and a mural picture caught his eye. The mural was mainly of Ellie at different stages of her life. In the pictures, she was always dancing. Kale and Danni were featured in a few of them. The photos radiated out from a blurry picture of a little girl in a pink tutu.

“I was four. It was my first dance recital,” Ellie smiled, pointing to the center picture. “Mom took it on her camera during the first dress rehearsal, so it’s not the best, but it’s still one of my favorites.” Ellie pointed to a picture that was in the bottom right hand corner. “And this is from my last dance concert. I was dancing the piece that broke her into the big leagues- it was the one that everyone remembered her for.”

“And this?” he asked, pointing to a photo near the top.

“It’s from a dance that mom and I did when I was fourteen.”

“So, she did it. She really became a world renowned dancer?” Brian asked.

“Yea, she did,” Ellie smiled before taking the mural off of the wall. “Even if nobody really appreciated her work,” she added before putting the picture mural in a box. She smiled sympathetically at Brian before returning to packing up the desk.

Brian went back to packing up the contents on the wall.

“Thank you,” Ellie said simply after about twenty minutes of silence. “For, you know, getting along with Adam. I know it can’t be easy for you,” she added, taping up the last box.

Brian sighed and taped up the box he had been packing. “You’re welcome. He’s actually a really cool guy.”

“That’s good.”

“This must be hard, you know, packing up your home.”

“It’s a little painful, but manageable all the same. I mean, this was only really my home after the first one burnt down.”

“Whoa, burnt down?”

“Yea, mom was heating up a frozen pizza and the oven caught on fire,” Ellie replied with a shrug as she took down more memorabilia off the wall.

Brian snorted. “Classic Danni. You know, even Jimmy wouldn’t allow her in the kitchen.”

Ellie laughed and shook her head as she grabbed another plaque. “That’s just- wow.”

Brian nodded and brooded for a few minutes. “So, if this is not a home, then what exactly is it?”

Ellie pursed her lips and thought about it. “It was a temporary home for me. Temporary, but necessary. Now, it’s just a house that I feel comfortable in- extremely comfortable in. It’s like a best friend’s house- you’ve been there so much that you’re comfortable enough to just walk right in, but it’s not enough to build your life around.”

“And what about Adam’s house? I saw your room- it looked as if you’ve been living there for quite a while.”

“I had three official bedrooms- one at mom’s, one here, and one at Adam’s- so you can’t use that as a basis.”

“I see, so it’s not your home, either.”

“Kind of.”

“You don’t know?”

Ellie sighed and taped up the next box.

“Ellie?”

“It’s complicated and hard to explain.”

“I’m all ears.”

Ellie sighed and fingered a picture of her mother. “I don’t know where my home is- or if I even have one.”

“Ellie, everyone-”

“You see,” Ellie said, completely ignoring Brian. “I’ve always felt that I don’t belong here. That- that I’m just passing through, you know? And the stage is the closest feeling to home that I have, well, acting is at least.” She looked up at Brian and took in his confused expression. “I know it’s crazy, but that’s how I feel.”

Brian nodded his head. “Maybe that just confirms where you’re truly from- heaven.”

Ellie shook her head and said no more. It was a ridiculous notion. Her? An Angel? It couldn’t be. Maybe an Angel of Death, seeing as how that’s the main thing that happened to her. Her life was turning into one long and drawn out Greek Tragedy. Oedipus and Pentheus had nothing on her. Ellie shook her head again to rid herself of the thought. She had to get her head on straight- there was so much to do, and her time was quickly running out.