This Still Belongs to You and Always Will
Chapter 21
Elena’s P.O.V:
It’s my birthday today. 9th of June. I’m not actually that excited about it. Birthdays have lost that magical effect on me. I threw my duvet aside and got up outta’ bed, rubbing my eyes. My black vesty pyjama thing rode up my stomach slightly as I rubbed my eyes. I need to get some new pyjamas. I should’ve asked for some for my present…
“Happy birthday, honey!” Dad beamed as I drifted into the room.
“Thanks.” I smiled, sitting at the kitchen table.
Dad poured out a second cup of coffee and handed it to me, sitting opposite me with his own coffee. I smiled gratefully and took s gulp of the warm liquid. It went straight through my senses and woke them up with a kick. Dad sighed contently as he took a loooong gulp of his coffee.
“So,” He began “Anything you wanna’ do today?”
“Not really.”
“There must be something!” He said “C’mon Elena. It’s your birthday! D’you wanna’ invite Katie over or something?”
“No I’m fine, Dad, really,” I said “I don’t really want you guys making a huge deal outta’ it.”
“There’s something wrong with you!” He exclaimed “You’re only fifteen; you’re supposed to be going nuts. Next year you’ll be driving! Think about that.”
I thought…and shrugged.
“Maybe I should take you to a doctor,” He muttered to himself “There’s definitely something wrong! I’m thirty and I still get excited about my birthday!”
“Yeah but that’s only ‘cause Frank and I buy you really big presents and then Frank and you do God knows what!”
“Ok that’s enough!” He exclaimed quickly, growing a lovely shade of red.
I smirked to myself, hiding it by taking another sip of coffee. Dad picked up the morning paper and flicked through it, pretending to be interested in George Bush’s world of: Oh-let’s-find-new-ways-to-destroy-the-world-we’re-going-to-war-in-Iraq-aren’t-we-Tony.
“Asshole.” Dad muttered, folding the paper up and tossing it aside.
“And I’m sure he thinks the same about you.”
“You’re one to talk,” He replied “You hate him just as much as me!”
“True,” I agreed “You could probably put a load of monkeys in the white house and they’d do a better job than him.”
“No,” He argued “Worse than that. You could put Frankie in the white house and he’d do a better job than him!”
“Frank couldn’t even keep his tamgotchi alive!”
“Exactly.”
“Did someone say my name?” Frank questioned, suddenly entering the room.
I glanced at Dad, who grinned sheepishly. Frank kissed his cheek and went to get himself a coffee. He leant back against the counter, blowing his coffee after taking a sip and swearing upon discovering it was too hot.
“We sure did!” Dad confessed “We started off discussing what Elena wants to do today. Then we moved on to my birthday, which was stopped when Elena mentioned the extra presents you always give me. I then started reading the paper and called George Bush an asshole. Elena said a load of monkeys could do a better job than him and I said that you could so a better job even though you can’t keep a tamgotchi alive for more than a few days.”
“Right,” He said with an amused smile “So, Elena, your birthday, extra presents, paper, George Bush, asshole, monkeys, better job, me, better job, tamgotchi.”
“You follow us.” I laughed.
“Yep. Makes perfect sense to me.” He shrugged.
He laughed and occupied the seat between me and Dad, calling us a strange pair. Dad hit his arm feebly and said something about not being a tamgotchi killer. There was an interesting display of pathetic insults and feeble threats after that, which included Frank threatening not to buy Dad a bunch of adult-only related objects that I won’t repeat.
“So,” Frank began “What’s Elena doing today?”
“Nothing.” I shrugged.
He faked a heart attack and pretended to choke on his coffee.
“Are you serious?” He demanded “It’s your birthday!”
“So?”
“Jesus girl what’s wrong with you?”
“That’s what I said.” Dad shrugged, taking another sip of coffee.
“I just don’t feel like it’s my birthday anymore.” I shrugged.
“Does that mean we can take all those presents back?” Frank said hopefully.
“No.”
“Crap. That would’ve been a nice chunk of change back in my pocket!”
“Aww, poor baby,” I mocked “Is poor old Frankie financially challenged?”
“Yep.” He sniffed, wiping away imaginary tears.
I laughed and got up to get myself some cereal. Frank and Dad both demanded some too, which I refused but then Dad stood up and said ‘I changed your diapers!’. I shrugged and he replied ‘Even the real stinky green ones!’, which made Frank go ‘Ew’. Still I refused and was met with ‘I fed you! I bathed you! I cleaned up after you! I spent all my hard-earned money on you! I would’ve breast-fed you if it wasn’t biologically impossible!’ so I gave in and got them both the cereal before it got even weirder. Dad nodded triumphantly at Frank as they both munched their way through bowls of Rice Krispies.
“Ok, look Elena,” Frank said through a mouthful of cereal “If you won’t do anything for your birthday then I’ll choose for you! I’m calling Katie, getting her over here and taking you both up to the green.”
“The green? What’s there?”
“A travelling fair.”
“Ok,” I replied, pretending to be overdramatic “If you absolutely insist that I do something today then I’ll let you take me and Katie up to the green.”
“If you really don’t want to do anything-“
“No it’s cool! I like fairs anyway.”
“I’m coming too.” Dad insisted, raising his hand in the air.
“God how embarrassing,” I muttered “If I remember correctly, you almost puked last time we all went to a fair.”
“I blame the guy who sold us those hot donuts.”
“Ok, Dad.” I nodded, getting up and putting my bowl in the sink.
“Had your fill?” Frank questioned.
“Yeah. Why?”
“Go check out the living room.” Dad replied.
It’s my birthday today. 9th of June. I’m not actually that excited about it. Birthdays have lost that magical effect on me. I threw my duvet aside and got up outta’ bed, rubbing my eyes. My black vesty pyjama thing rode up my stomach slightly as I rubbed my eyes. I need to get some new pyjamas. I should’ve asked for some for my present…
“Happy birthday, honey!” Dad beamed as I drifted into the room.
“Thanks.” I smiled, sitting at the kitchen table.
Dad poured out a second cup of coffee and handed it to me, sitting opposite me with his own coffee. I smiled gratefully and took s gulp of the warm liquid. It went straight through my senses and woke them up with a kick. Dad sighed contently as he took a loooong gulp of his coffee.
“So,” He began “Anything you wanna’ do today?”
“Not really.”
“There must be something!” He said “C’mon Elena. It’s your birthday! D’you wanna’ invite Katie over or something?”
“No I’m fine, Dad, really,” I said “I don’t really want you guys making a huge deal outta’ it.”
“There’s something wrong with you!” He exclaimed “You’re only fifteen; you’re supposed to be going nuts. Next year you’ll be driving! Think about that.”
I thought…and shrugged.
“Maybe I should take you to a doctor,” He muttered to himself “There’s definitely something wrong! I’m thirty and I still get excited about my birthday!”
“Yeah but that’s only ‘cause Frank and I buy you really big presents and then Frank and you do God knows what!”
“Ok that’s enough!” He exclaimed quickly, growing a lovely shade of red.
I smirked to myself, hiding it by taking another sip of coffee. Dad picked up the morning paper and flicked through it, pretending to be interested in George Bush’s world of: Oh-let’s-find-new-ways-to-destroy-the-world-we’re-going-to-war-in-Iraq-aren’t-we-Tony.
“Asshole.” Dad muttered, folding the paper up and tossing it aside.
“And I’m sure he thinks the same about you.”
“You’re one to talk,” He replied “You hate him just as much as me!”
“True,” I agreed “You could probably put a load of monkeys in the white house and they’d do a better job than him.”
“No,” He argued “Worse than that. You could put Frankie in the white house and he’d do a better job than him!”
“Frank couldn’t even keep his tamgotchi alive!”
“Exactly.”
“Did someone say my name?” Frank questioned, suddenly entering the room.
I glanced at Dad, who grinned sheepishly. Frank kissed his cheek and went to get himself a coffee. He leant back against the counter, blowing his coffee after taking a sip and swearing upon discovering it was too hot.
“We sure did!” Dad confessed “We started off discussing what Elena wants to do today. Then we moved on to my birthday, which was stopped when Elena mentioned the extra presents you always give me. I then started reading the paper and called George Bush an asshole. Elena said a load of monkeys could do a better job than him and I said that you could so a better job even though you can’t keep a tamgotchi alive for more than a few days.”
“Right,” He said with an amused smile “So, Elena, your birthday, extra presents, paper, George Bush, asshole, monkeys, better job, me, better job, tamgotchi.”
“You follow us.” I laughed.
“Yep. Makes perfect sense to me.” He shrugged.
He laughed and occupied the seat between me and Dad, calling us a strange pair. Dad hit his arm feebly and said something about not being a tamgotchi killer. There was an interesting display of pathetic insults and feeble threats after that, which included Frank threatening not to buy Dad a bunch of adult-only related objects that I won’t repeat.
“So,” Frank began “What’s Elena doing today?”
“Nothing.” I shrugged.
He faked a heart attack and pretended to choke on his coffee.
“Are you serious?” He demanded “It’s your birthday!”
“So?”
“Jesus girl what’s wrong with you?”
“That’s what I said.” Dad shrugged, taking another sip of coffee.
“I just don’t feel like it’s my birthday anymore.” I shrugged.
“Does that mean we can take all those presents back?” Frank said hopefully.
“No.”
“Crap. That would’ve been a nice chunk of change back in my pocket!”
“Aww, poor baby,” I mocked “Is poor old Frankie financially challenged?”
“Yep.” He sniffed, wiping away imaginary tears.
I laughed and got up to get myself some cereal. Frank and Dad both demanded some too, which I refused but then Dad stood up and said ‘I changed your diapers!’. I shrugged and he replied ‘Even the real stinky green ones!’, which made Frank go ‘Ew’. Still I refused and was met with ‘I fed you! I bathed you! I cleaned up after you! I spent all my hard-earned money on you! I would’ve breast-fed you if it wasn’t biologically impossible!’ so I gave in and got them both the cereal before it got even weirder. Dad nodded triumphantly at Frank as they both munched their way through bowls of Rice Krispies.
“Ok, look Elena,” Frank said through a mouthful of cereal “If you won’t do anything for your birthday then I’ll choose for you! I’m calling Katie, getting her over here and taking you both up to the green.”
“The green? What’s there?”
“A travelling fair.”
“Ok,” I replied, pretending to be overdramatic “If you absolutely insist that I do something today then I’ll let you take me and Katie up to the green.”
“If you really don’t want to do anything-“
“No it’s cool! I like fairs anyway.”
“I’m coming too.” Dad insisted, raising his hand in the air.
“God how embarrassing,” I muttered “If I remember correctly, you almost puked last time we all went to a fair.”
“I blame the guy who sold us those hot donuts.”
“Ok, Dad.” I nodded, getting up and putting my bowl in the sink.
“Had your fill?” Frank questioned.
“Yeah. Why?”
“Go check out the living room.” Dad replied.