Time after time

You and I

She didn't answer me but her eyes filled with tears before she nodded. I leaned in to give her a kiss feeling her relax under my embrace.

- We're going to get through this together!" I whispered in her ear.

- Thank you!" She said softly.

I didn't think it was possible for lunch to turn out as badly as Elle had think. I told myself that our family loves each other and that we would find a way to explain ourselves. But I was confused because the moment Elle and I arrived hand in hand and sat down side by side, my brother literally exploded saying:

- Well, yes! If you went to Harvard, it wasn't for Noah! You really wanted me to swallow your story, Elle! But you take great pleasure in lying to me again!

- It's my fault Lee! I really told her that!" I said to my brother with a bit of shame to admit this in front of my parents and Mike.

But I wanted to deflect Lee's anger away from Elle to me. What he thinks of me isn't very glowing anyway, so a little more contempt won't change much. But Lee completely ignored me and just kept storming at her best friend who was sitting silent looking at her hands and seemed to be losing more and more of her color:

- So what, you just went to him and told him you still go to Harvard.

- Lee, I was the one who went to see her and begged her to go back with me! And not the other way around!

- And that's before or after you sleep together!

- Lee!" I said before Elle jumped and then said.

- It's not about sex, Lee!

- Well, let's see, everyone knows that he is like a drug you can't do without, Elle! You've always put him first! You have no regard for my needs!

- That doesn't make any sense, Lee! Elle spent every spare minute with you for the bucket list during the summer. Can you not be so grateful for all the time she gave you?

- That's not enough to make up for the fact that she's broken her promise and is going to college on the other side of the country!

- Lee! Elle wants to go to medical school! There's not even medical school in Berkeley!

- Oh, yes! And it's just a happy coincidence that Harvard has the best medical school in the entire country! I'm calling Bullshit!

I thought I was good that I had managed to keep my composure so far, but my brother was really putting my self to the test. I hadn't been involved in a fight in a really long time and my brother seemed to be doing everything he could to make me want to punch him. Luckily my father intervened at that moment:

- Boys, Elle has the right to go to the college of her choice especially if it is the best place to study what she was passionate about. Plus, Noah and Elle have every right to get back together if it's okay for both of them, end of discussion!

I sat leaning back on the back of my chair, relieved that this discussion had ended. I also knew that my brother wouldn't take the chance to contradict my father. I looked at Elle, she was silent, and I felt that Lee's words had touched her deeply. Probably we'll talk about it again tonight while she was going to cry until she fell asleep thinking about my brother's completely unreasonable words. I took her hand in mine and she responded by squeezing mine back. I knew at the time that she was telling me that despite the sadness, she thinks she can handle the situation. But unfortunately, Lee didn't seem to be the only one who wanted to dump bad news on Elle! Linda, who was there for the first time at our family lunches, said:

- Since it's official that you're leaving for Boston Elle, your dad and I wanted to ask you to completely clear your room before leaving!

I saw Elle's look change completely when it came to being asked to leave her childhood home.

- I didn't think I'd say that to her that way, Linda!" Mike said a little embarrassed.

- But why does Elle have to completely empty her room? " said my mother, to whom I was really grateful that she stood up for my girlfriend because I was flabbergasted. "Elle is going to visit on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and summer break."

- I'm officially moving in at Mike's house and I'm going to need some room for my sewing stuff. And probably Elle is going to be at your house June for stay with Noah. She hasn't even been there all summer! It probably won't get any better when she's in college!

I felt like I was in a fourth dimension! Were they really all going after my girlfriend? I turned to her and saw that her eyes were wet with tears and knowing her she would soon break down. And just as I had anticipated, Elle got up, apologized to the whole family and rushed out of the restaurant.

- You couldn't give her some air! " I said to them all, standing up as well.

- Oh, don't play saint with us, Noah! You're the one who started it! " Lee said dismissively.

I didn't answer him and headed out of the restaurant but my mom caught up with me before the exit.

- Noah, were you really serious when we were making this particular purchase together?

I knew exactly what she was talking about. I answered her frankly:

- Yes, I was really serious, Mom!

She looked for something in her bag before telling me:

- I don't want to put pressure on you Noah, but it could be a good time!

Then she handed me the famous leather box that I had spent the summer lugging around waiting for the right moment. I took a deep breath before taking the small box from my mother's hands and putting it back in my pocket. I now knew what I had to do, even though I had knots in my stomach.

I hurried out of the restaurant and joined Elle in the parking lot. She was in tears:

- Elle! Wait for me!" I yelled at her before joining her.

She resisted my grip before telling me:

- Do you regret your decision, Noah? Would you also like to push me out of your life like everyone else?

- Never in my life, Elle! I made the mistake once and I'm definitely not going to do it again! I told you this morning that we were going to go through this together, my decision hasn't changed!" I said to her, pulling her into my arms, in which she had taken refuge, having no strength left to fight.

It wasn't long before she burst into tears before she said to me:

- I want to go to Boston, Noah! There's nothing holding me back in LA anymore. Please don't leave without me!

I was hoping Elle would come to Boston with me and be happy there! But I would never have wanted her to leave in such a context! I reassured her that I wasn't going to leave without her. When Elle calmed down I was finally able to get her into my jeep to leave the restaurant because presumably we weren't going to stay here longer than necessary.

I got in my car with Elle and headed for the Hollywood sighs. She realized that I was not following the right route:

- This is not the right route back to the beach house.

- Before I do, I have something to show you! " I said, taking her hand...