Keep Me Together

Anxiousness was taking over all off Elenia’s senses when she woke to a startling message from her cousin. She read it over and over again before she tried to call him. But Elenia only reached voice mail. She groaned and dialed the number to Harry’s house.

“Hello?” She heard the familiar, but yet so strange voice of her former best friend and cousin.
“Hi, it’s Elenia,” she said awkwardly to Miri.
A silence filled the line. Elenia could swear she heard a half muffled sob.
“Are you okay, Miri?” Elenia asked her curiously, forgetting her original mission for a moment.

“Derek dumped me,” Miri said not, wanting to keep quiet about it.
Elenia didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t say she felt sorry for her, because she didn’t. Nor did she want to laugh into the phone and mock her naive cousin.
“Is Harry home?” she simply asked.

Miri sighed into the phone. “No, he’s been out since mid-day yesterday.”
Elenia pondered for a second. “Have you any idea where he is?”
“No,” Miri said again and was about to hang up.
“Miri,” Elenia said, “Maybe it was for the best, you and Derek ending things.”
“Yeah, maybe,” she answered before Elenia heard the beep of her ending the conversation.

Elenia took a quick shower and headed downstairs. She grabbed an energy bar from a kitchen cabinet before she skipped out, pleased that she hadn’t bumped into any of her family members. It was an early Saturday morning and Elenia was getting sick of the snow. She wanted Christmas to pass quickly and spring to come.

She was looking for Harry. She didn’t plan to run around in the woods again so she kept local, just walking around the streets of La Push. He was nowhere to find, but she spotted a familiar figure as she neared the beach.

Austin stood gazing out at the troubled water, letting all the information he’d gained through the night sink in. He was scared, angry and upset. Knowing he wasn’t alone was the only thing keeping him from going crazy.

“Austin!” Elenia called and ran over to him. “Aren’t you suppose to stay in? You were burning up yesterday. I was-” Elenia was silenced by his dark glare.
“What do you want from me, Elenia?” he asked her angrily.
“What do you mean?” she stuttered.

“What I mean?” he asked and started to shake. He took a few calming breaths before he spoke again. “The way you talked to me yesterday, it didn’t make any sense to me. But then I got to know, then I understood what you’d done.”
“Austin,” Elenia whispered and stepped towards him. She pressed her palm against his cheek. “What are you talking about? I’m sorry for what I said, I just- I just flipped, I’m sorry.”

Austin took her hand in his and held it tightly as he closed his eyes. “We can’t be together that way anymore. I know too much, and then he’ll know and I can’t.”
“Austin!” she said again and tried to get his attention. He was just talking nonsense; Elenia didn’t understand. “Please tell me what changed.”

“You want to know what changed?” He practically yelled. “I changed!” He covered his face with his hands. “I changed, and I got to hear his thoughts, and I saw the way he love you, Leni. I saw the way he love you and realized that I will never be close to love you so badly.”

“Yo-You changed?” she asked him, not wanting to believe the actuality of what he was saying.
“Yes, Leni, I’m one of the wolves now, a La Push protector. I’m so confused, yet I still understand why you acted the way you did, why you had sex with me.”
Elenia flinched and looked away.
“I know you needed to feel loved, and it felt right, didn’t it?”

She merely nodded her head but didn’t say anything.
“But it should have been Seth who made you feel loved and showed you what true love is,” Austin explained and grabbed her hands.
“Are you ending everything with me?” she asked him weakly and stared up at him with tear-filled eyes.
Austin stared back at her for a split second before he pulled her against his chest. ”No, I’m not,” he whispered against her hair.

“But I will never have sex with you again. I will not kiss you or caress your cheek. And I can’t brush your beautiful hair behind you ear when it falls down in your face. But I’ll hold your hand and sit with you at school. We can hang out and do our home-work together, maybe make dinner and watch a movie together. I’ll be your friend Leni,” he softly said. “But the spot as your best and closest friend is already taken.”

Elenia nodded her head.
“Seth will return eventually,” Austin said to her.
“Do you know where he is?” she asked.
“Canada, I suppose. He’s been running for awhile.” Austin sighed. “I have to run, Harry is going to show me and tell me more about this – my new life. Are you going to be okay?”

Elenia stepped away from him. “Yeah, I’ll head home,” she pondered for a moment, unsure if she should ask him or not.
“Spill it,” he said and smiled.
“Can you say hi… to him from me?” She looked at him insecurely, but was relieved when he still smiled. “And that I love him.”
“Seth already know that,” Austin told her, “but I’ll pass it on,”
“Thank you,” she said gratefully.

“And be careful, Austin, I love you,” she bit her lower lip.
“I know you do, as a friend and I love you too, Leni, see ya’” He waved before he jogged away.

Elenia felt light hearted as she walked home, the world felt a little less hopeless, and she was grateful towards Austin; he could just have walked away and ignored her, but he still cared for her.

She found her mother reading a book in the living room.
“Everything okay, bambi?” She asked her.
For the first time in a very long time Elenia smiled a smile coming from her core. “Yes mama, everything is okay,” she said.
“You have a guest,” Her mother said with furrowed brows. “Miri came by to talk to you and insisted to wait in your room until you came back.”

Elenia felt her heart beat faster as she made her way upstairs, terrified that her former friend would have ruined all her stuff or was only waiting to hurt Elenia even more, now that she finally felt closer to be good again.

Elenia was surprised when she pushed her bedroom door open and spotted Miri sitting on her bed with tear streaked cheeks.
“What happened?” Elenia asked and closed the door behind her; she was wary and didn’t make any move to step closer to her cousin.

Miri’s lips were quivering as she tried to talk. “Leni,” she whispered, “Those thing you said about Kenny, I believe you,” She sobbed.
Elenia’s eye widened as she realized what Miri was telling her.