Chocolate Eyes

EJ was woken up in the morning by his grandmother, who gently rubbed her hand against his back. He rolled over to face her and looked up with dark eyes, confused as to where he was for a few moments. When Holly spoke, it all became clear to him.

"Grandpa is making breakfast," she said softly, brushing his growing hair out of his face, "So it's time to get up and get ready for the day."

"What time is it?" EJ questioned, unable to see if the sun was even up since there was a lack of windows in his room.

"Seven," Holly asked as she stood up from the edge of his bed and went to his dresser to find him something suitable for a day downtown, "I put all your clothes away while you were sleeping. You go brush your teeth and I'll find you something to wear."

Evander slowly moved to sit up with his feet dangling over his bed. He wasn't used to being up with the sun anymore if it wasn't a school day. Him and his dad slept until the sun was practically on it's way out of the sky. The little boy stood up.

"I can pick my own clothes," he said, "Daddy put outfits together." He remembered sitting on his bed at home as Brian pulled out clothes and explained that he could match whatever he wanted.

Holly smiled over her shoulder at her grandson and nodded towards the door. "It's alright, Sweetheart. Your toothbrush is on the bathroom sink."

He didn't argue. He entered the hallway and looked at the only two other doors. One was across from him and one was next to him. Since he could clearly see that across from him was a larger bedroom, he timidly stepped into the bathroom to his left.

He brushed his teeth with the toothbrush that already had toothpaste on it and then went back into his temporary bedroom, this time getting a good look at it. On the wall above his dresser was a large picture that showed him as a baby in his mother's arms.

He stared at his mother's image. He hadn't seen another picture of her since her funeral. His dad had framed one and put it next to his bed, but seeing his mom so exactly how he remembered her made him sad. Even at four years old, he wanted to forget the life he lived before.

"Come on, come one," Holly nudged lightly, "Get dressed so we can eat breakfast and then head to Main street."

EJ pulled his shirt over his head and replaced it with the one she was holding out to him. It was a collared shirt with little metal triangles on the collar. It was short sleeves, but they were permanently rolled up to look like a biker from a sixties movie. He exchanged his pajama pants for gray jeans and followed his grandma to the living room, then the kitchen.

"Look who's up," she joked to her husband as they entered the decent size room.

James Kent smiled at his grandson. "Good morning, Evander," he spoke as he shoveled pancakes onto a plate that sat in the center of their rectangular table, "You're hungry, aren't you?"

EJ just nodded and climbed into the chair next to his grandma. When they started eating, Holly and James shared a few glances that had EJ glancing between them.

"What?" the little boy asked at one point, nervously frowning at the older couple who sat across from each other.

James started instead of Holly. "We noticed that you have a cell phone," he said, being upfront like usual, "Did you dad get it for you?"

EJ nodded and became worried. He hadn't talked to his dad when he got here the night before like he promised. He tried to stand up from his chair, but Holly eased him down.

"You can call your father after breakfast," she promised before returning to the subject, "That was very nice of your dad to do that for you, but we have phones that you can use to contact him. There's no need for you to have to worry about carrying your own."

"I want to," EJ rebutted, "I can call my dad, and Papa, and Michelle, and you," he explained, naming off the numbers that were programmed into it, "And they can call me."

"Evander, who's 'Papa'?" James asked, surprised by the new name.

"My dad's dad," he replied.

Holly went back to the subject again. "The thing is, Evander, we don't want you to worry about losing it when we're away from home, so we think it would be best if you would leave it here while we're gone. You can talk to your dad when we're here."

"No, my dad said that I can keep it in case I get lost," he complained, putting his fork down on his porcelain plate, "What if you lose me? How will my dad find me?"

"That's impossible, Evander, we won't lose you," James stated, grabbing EJ's cup to pour more orange juice, "Your phone stays here."

"No." The blonde crossed his arms over his little chest and pushed back against the back of the chair like he was trying to push away from his grandparents. "I want to talk to my dad now."

Holly sighed and sent a warning glance to her husband. They knew Evander had become a sensitive boy since their daughter died, they only wished they he would've been swayed in their direction afterwards. Holly stood from her chair and went to grab the little phone from EJ's dresser. She walked back out and set it on the table next to his plate.

EJ picked it up and dialed one.

In Huntington, Brian was jostled awake by the sound of his phone ringing on the nightstand next to his head. When he heard the ring tone, he quickly grabbed it, answered it, and put it to his ear without hardly opening his eyes.

"Ev?" he answered although he already knew, "Morning, Buddy. What time is it?" Brian pulled the phone from his ear and looked at the clock on it.

"Seven," EJ replied, although it was nearing eight, "I want to go home," he said secondly, surprising Brian.

Bri sat up and leaned against the head of his bed, careful not to wake his sleeping wife. "E, what's wrong?" Brian asked, listening to the noise in the background of the phone call. EJ said 'no' to someone else and then returned to his dad's conversation.

"Grandpa and Grandpa are trying to take my phone away," he explained in a rushed voice, his tone becoming increasingly upset as James tried to wrestle the phone away from him.

Bri was surprised when an adult voice met his ears. "Brian?" James asked into the phone.

"What's going on?" Brian questioned, moving to get out of bed so he could talk normally and not wake Michelle, "Why is EJ so upset already? He's only been there a few hours."

"Brian, we don't think it's right for Evander to be so dependent on you while he's here so we simply explained that we would prefer it if left this phone at home while we went sight-seeing."

"That's not your call," Brian stated as he walked down the stairs to the living room on the main floor, "It's mine and I want him to have it will him all the time. He may be visiting you now, but he's still my son and I still have custody, no matter how hard you try to change that."

"I don't want to get into that right now," James replied, peering across his kitchen table at the blonde child who sat defiantly in his chair with his arms crossed as Holly tried to sooth him, "I just want Evander to feel comfortable with us and he won't if he has you on speed dial in his pocket."

"I'm only going to say this again," Brian stated, growing any about James' arguing, "Evander is my son and he gets raised the way I say he does. That's it, no fighting me, just do as I say and give him his phone back or I will be on the first flight down there to make sure he feels comforted."

James was silent on the line. He didn't know Brian well, but he'd only seen the muted, fatherly version of him at Claudia's funeral and then again in his home. He'd made breakfast for the boy and shielded him from the sight of his mom. Until now James had thought of Brian like something EJ owned, but now he could see that it was the other way around.

"Alright, Brian," James relented finally, taking his eyes away from the argumentative child in front of him, "Evander can keep his phone with him all the time."

"Now put my son back on," Brian instructed as he sat down on the couch in his living room, facing out towards the glass wall that exposed the ocean to him. "Everything's okay now, EJ," Brian said when the four year old's voice came back to him, "You just enjoy being with your grandparents. They love you and your mom very much."

Evander sank into his chair as the couple rose from the table and began clearing the dishes. "Daddy, there are pictures everywhere," EJ whispered, putting his feet up on his chair so his knees were pulled to his chest.

"E, we've got pictures too, man, everyone has pictures some people just like them more than others."

"Pictures of Mama," Ev clarified.

Brian was silent. He knew what it was like to be reminded of death from every direction. It was terrible and made it harder to accept it. Brian kept dozens of pictures of Jimmy around the house now, but right after it was limited to the murals in the basement and a simple frame in his room. Reminders weren't healthy during healing, and would be hard for any child. "Use this trip to remember your mom," Brian said to his son, "Remember that she would want you to have fun with her parents and enjoy yourself."

"Okay," EJ said slowly, putting his feet down off of the chair when Holly looked at him pointedly.

"I love you, Ev," Brian said as he peered outside, "I'll see you in six days."

"Love you too, Daddy."

Brian managed to hang up the phone, leaving his four year old in Oklahoma for the second time. EJ got up from his chair and watched as Holly and James finished their dishes. He stood straighter when they both turned around to face him.

"What do you say we head downtown?" Holly questioned cheerfully, referring to the series of family owned stores along Main street. "Mr. Bruckner owns an ice cream shop at the end of the road, perhaps we can stop when we get down there."

EJ smiled and nodded. "Where are my boots?" he questioned, remembering the shoes that he'd practically begged to wear yesterday.

"They're by the door," the woman replied as she followed him across the living room to get her own things together, "You didn't bring any tennis shoes, did you?"

EJ tried to remember if he'd seen his dad put any into his suitcase. "I don't know," he said, and sat down to pull his black boots onto his feet and attempt to tie them.

He ran back into his room to search for the child-version of a puffy rocker jacket, and slipped it on over his t'shirt. When he hurried back out to the living room, Holly tied his shoes correctly and zipped up his jacket before sending him back to get his hat. "I'm glad your dad packed warm clothes," she said when he returned, "It's not freezing today, but we're only in the mid 50s."

"Lets get going," James said, putting a smile on his face he turned to look at his grandson. The three of them headed out of the door to the garage and got in the car that James had pulled inside the night before. Evander got into the back and let Holly buckle him into the carseat, while his grandpa got in the driver's seat and started the car.

EJ reached into his pocket and touched the phone as they backed out of the driveway. As he looked at the scenery around him, he noted that the large expanse of snow covered fields that separated each house was far different than the beach back at home. He'd never seen snow before and he wanted to get out of the car and it looked so soft to him that he wanted to get out and sit in it.

The houses were far apart, separated by what would've been at least a couple blocks back at home. Instead of incredibly tall palm trees and Stucco buildings, barren shrubbery lined the road with hoards of branchy trees just beyond.

"Can I play in the snow?" EJ asked, his eyes still staring out of the window as more buildings popped up around him.

James glanced in the rear view mirror. "We'll have to get you some snow-pants and mittens first," he said as he and his wife both realized their grandson had never seen it before, "It's too cold for jeans."

"There's a store where we're going," Holly explained, turning around in her seat to smile at the dark-eyed boy, "We can go there first."

EJ smiled and nodded. He put his hands against the window and watched as the precipitation cleared and left his print. He focused on how cold the window felt and the fact that his fingers became chilly. He pulled his hand away again and wondered just how cold "the 50s" was.