Chapter 347: Day Twenty of Growing

Scrubs. He's wearing scrubs. Light blue scrubs. And glasses. And standing in front of me. Elliot Kingsley is standing in front of me in light blue scrubs and a pair of glasses and smiling. And I'm supposed to know how to function like a normal human being? Even behind his glasses, and despite the tiredness I'm sure he's feeling, Elliot's eyes shine unlike any other set of eyes. Is it just me or does he look taller in scrubs? It definitely looks like he knows his way around a brain. Does he know the kind of effect he has on me right now? He's holding his arms up, almost in defense. "Give me ten minutes," he says, almost panting, "I'll shower and be right back. Okay?" I nod. He grins. He disappears. I swallow slowly and turn and see Ray leaning against the doorframe to the living room and smirking at me. "Quick, Julie," she snaps her fingers, "What's the name of that dog that drools a lot?" I roll my eyes at her and Juliet bites down a smile. She was let in on The Big Secret because she is, after all, Ray's wife. The only problem I have with that is that Isa is going to absolutely annihilate me when she finds out. Elliot and I decided to wait a while before telling the others. I sink into the couch and look over at my packed and tagged suitcases in the hall behind Ray. When my eyes meet hers again, she gives me a small, almost sad smile and walks over to me. Sitting next to me, putting her arm around me and pulling me closer, Ray squeezes me as tightly as she possibly can. "I'm going to miss you, Al and I know for a fact that I'm not the only one in the house who will." I smile, but roll my eyes at her. "No, seriously. You think he would have driven straight over from a million-hour shift if he wasn't going to miss you?" she asks me. I sigh deeply, trying not to think of the impending sadness that will fill me when I have to say goodbye to Elliot again. "Your brother is some weird machine that runs far longer than anyone else." Ray squeezes me again. "He's a weird machine who likes you. That's why he can run for so long." Mrs. Kingsley walks into the living room at that moment and looks around at us. "Weren't you leaving fifteen minutes ago when I said my goodbyes?" "Elliot is driving us," Ray says, casually. Her mother nods. "Well, I'm just glad Jenna isn't driving." "Mom!" "Sweetheart, the only driving you're good at is people up the wall. And I say that with love." Amidst Juliet trying not to die of laughter and Ray looking like her Mom insulted her great ancestors, Mrs. Kingsley crosses the room to me and runs a hand over my head. "It really was lovely having you, Aurora. I hope you come back soon." "Oh, she will. Won't be able to get rid of her now," Ray muttered, bitterly in my ear, too low for her mother to hear. Elbowing her in the ribs, I smile at her mom. "I loved being here, Mrs. Kingsley. Thank you for keeping me." "It was so much easier than keeping Jenna, honestly." "Mom!" "Only the truth, my darling. Julie and Aurora put together aren't as much trouble as you." Still having her arm around me, crushing me, Ray tries to decimate us with her words. "The two of them are nothing, but trouble," she grumbles. "Well, whatever the case, I know Isa and Jenna are going to miss you, too. They were talking about your coming here months before you actually came." "That's true," Juliet adds, "I didn't stop hearing about Al for a few weeks there." Mockingly, I look over at Ray, who is trying her best to look nonchalant. "You lurve me," I tell her. "I hate you," she grumbles. There is a thunderous sound down the stairs, almost as if whoever is descending is taking a tumble. Elliot appears looking as cool and put together as an organic cucumber during a Canadian winter and smiles at all of us. "Ready?" he asks. Ray pushes me to my feet and slips her arm around my waist. "Come on, come on. Let's get her out of here before I get ragged on some more." I give Juliet a hug goodbye and follow Elliot and Ray out the door, as they argue about who gets to sit in the passenger seat. "Guys, I'm happy to go in the backseat," I tell the two of them. Stopping mid argument, they both turn to me. In that moment, I see the familial resemblance in them more than I had ever before. The same shade of brown in the hair, the same thick, dark eyebrows, similar widow's peak in their hair. I could see the amalgamation of their mother's features mixed with their father's, in each of them and it suddenly hit me how familiar the both of them are to me, despite my knowing one of them for a very short time. Looking at them, I have this strange feeling of knowing them my whole life. "I don't care if she's the Queen of England, asswipe, I'm riding shotgun. She told me I could," Ray is telling her brother, who seems almost mildly amused that he managed to annoy her. "Oi, Lizzie, get your ass in the car so that I can eject you near the airport," Ray says, squeezing me around the waist before walking around the car to get into the passenger seat. "No one is ejecting Aura anywhere," Elliot says, calmly. I practically devour my bottom lip to keep from smiling too hard as I fumble to open the door to the backseat. Ray catches sight of my face and snorts. "A few more comments like that and you'll be dropping a beetroot off at the airport." I roll my eyes at her and slide into the car. Ray and Elliot bicker pretty much all the way there. At one particular traffic light, Elliot caught my eye in the rear-view mirror and smiled, holding my gaze. To which Ray promptly said, "Hey Romeo, are you craftily trying to make sure she misses her flight? Go!" Elliot immediately countered with, "I should eject you." "Oh, you try going home and telling Mom that you ejected her only daughter." "Hah! Try again. Thanks to your recent wedding, Mom has another daughter; better one than you at any rate." "Too bad she can never have a better son." "That's true. It's tough to get a better son that this." "You're a complete and utter limp waffle." "And you're an absolute wet sock inside your shoe while hiking." It's only my almost death by laughter that get the siblings to stop talking smack about each other and wonder about my wellbeing. Ray shakes her head at me, but Elliot smiles. His smile warms me all over and I smile back. Slowly, he removes one hand from the steering wheel and holds it out to me. I reach out and take it, heart hammering, knowing that Ray can see this whole exchange happen. Elliot's long, strong fingers squeeze mine. I squeeze back. "The light's green, Casanova," Ray says, in a voice so uncharacteristically gentle for her that Elliot looks over at her and nudges her with his elbow before driving forward. Ray is always so loud and boisterous that it swells my heart knowing that she went quiet for us. As Elliot pulls off the main road and down Airport Drive, he looks at me through the rearview mirror again, holding my gaze and despite the setting sun glaring directly in my eyes, I look back at him right until he turns his focus to the road again. My insides twist, knowing the impending pain of having to walk away from him. This time is only different because it will probably be worse; knowing that I can see him again, knowing his name, who he is, who he has become to me, the way his hands feel in mine, the way it makes me feel when he walks into a room. All of that knowledge is going to make it so much harder to be away from him. It's quiet in the car for the first time since we got in. Ray turns her head and looks at her brother, who seems to be keenly focusing on the road, before turning her gaze on me and giving me a small smile. I muster up a smile and give it back to her. As Elliot nears the drop-off zone of the departure terminal, Ray clears her throat and says, "I'll park the car while you walk Al inside." I can only see his profile as he glances at his sister and nods. "Thank you," he murmurs to her as he pulls the parking brake and gets off the car. Ray reaches to the back seat and gives me a clumsy hug. "I knew I'd miss you, but this is just too melancholic for my liking," she says into my hair, "My only consolation is that I know you'll be around soon." Pulling away, I smile at her. "Look at you being all sentimental." "Shush," she chastises, "Love you, Al. I'll always be the Kingsley who loved you first." "Love you, too, Ray," I reply, "You'll always be the Kingsley I loved first." When I get off the car, Elliot is standing on the pavement, my bags in hand. As Ray waves and drives off, Elliot silently moves my bags to one of his hands and reaches for my hand with the other. I give it to him, willingly. Raising my hand to his mouth, Elliot gently kisses my knuckles and then, slowly leads me inside the departure terminal. "Here we are again, saying goodbye at an airport." Elliot stops walking before getting to the check-in counters and turns to face me. I stop with him, running my thumb over his knuckles. "It's one of the top places for goodbyes. Right after hospitals and doorsteps." It makes Elliot smile. "Is that a guess or one of the very many trivial facts that you've acquired over the years?" "It's elementary, my dear Elliot." Elliot stares at me a little too intensely with his insistent eyes, making my breath catch. The setting sun reflecting in his right eye doing wonders to make me forget words. Releasing his grip on the handle of my bag, Elliot steps closer to me, tangling his hand in my hair, resting his forehead against mine. "I am going to miss you so much, Aura," he whispers to me. Pretty sure that my heart is breaking, I clutch the fabric of my sweater, over my heart. Brows furrowed, I manage a feeble, "El." I raise my other hand to grip his shirt and my head to look at his face. Elliot wears a smile, but his eyes are sad. He removes my fingers from his shirt and clutches them in both his hands so tightly that I have to tighten the hold I have over my heart, almost to keep it from tearing. "I promise you, Aura, that I will call you, I will speak to you every moment I am able. I will give you my time whenever you want me and even when you don't. I will think of you more than you will know, more than you think is normal, more than I should." Removing my hand from my sweater, I bring it around Elliot's and smile. "I will answer your calls, give you my time and think of you more than I will ever admit to you, your sister or Isa." My promise makes Elliot smile. He steps closer to me, grasps the back of my head and gently, but firmly presses a kiss to my forehead, holding his lips there longer than he should, but less than I want. "I am so going to regret letting you walk away from me. But I promise you that one day, you won't have to."