Ellis Laurent is
a Young Adult. His stepmother Kylie Grey
is an Elder.
* * *
Although his grief for his father was still fresh in his
mind, Ellis couldn’t help but feel like adulthood agreed with him in a way
being a teenager never had.
First there was the obvious – his looks. Seemingly
overnight, he had outgrown his goofy teenage awkwardness. He looked a lot more
grown up than he felt, to be honest. But that was the beauty of being an adult
and living (almost) on his own – as long as he showed up at work every day and
paid the bills on time, nobody cared if he wanted to sit around watching
cartoons or talk to his bear.
He only had two major problems. One of them was money. It
wasn’t until his father had died that Ellis had discovered just how bad their
financial problems were. He had found a job as a dishwasher at a local
restaurant, and it was allowing them to keep the wo of them afloat, but only
just. Even with what he was making at his job, he didn’t think they’d have
enough money to both pay their bills and eat if not for the produce from his
father’s garden.
The other problem, of course, was Kylie. She wandered around
the house like a ghost, ignoring Ellis’s promptings to eat and sleep. She
seemed to only notice him when, out of the blue, she would start yelling at him
about some minor thing like watching TV too late or leaving a wet towel on the
floor. Without his father to keep her anchored, she seemed to be coming apart
at the seams, and Ellis had no idea what to do. Even after all these years, he
still felt like he barely even knew her.
Liss was, as always, a bright spot in his life. When he
couldn’t handle Kylie anymore, sometimes he would go spend the night at the
house where she was living with Autumn Brennan. Sometimes he was in awe of
Liss, and that feeling kicked in whenever he looked at one of her paintings or
saw everything she was willing to put up with in order to follow her dream. He
couldn’t imagine being that talented, or that determined. He was cut out for a
simple life, nothing more. All he could hope was that Liss would be willing to
share that life with him.
He sometimes thought about asking her to marry him. But
something always stopped him. It wasn’t how young they were – young or not, he
knew she was the one he wanted. It was the way Liss talked about finally being
out of her parents’ house, and how happy she seemed to be living the life of a
starving artist with Autumn. It was the way she avoided his questions every
time he brought up the future. This wouldn’t be a question she could ignore, and
he had a feeling she wasn’t ready to hear it yet.
But there was still time. They had their whole lives ahead
of them.
Ellis wanted to say he didn’t miss high school at all. But
he had to admit he was a little lonely these days. The only person to socialize
with at work was the surly cook. At first he compensated by spending more time
with Liss, but as much as he loved her, sometimes he just wanted to spend time
with a friend. Someone he didn’t want to kiss.
He was beginning to realize how few real friends he’d had
even in school. Dmitri Fish had probably come closest, back in their early
years of high school, but he knew better than to try to make contact with
Dmitri now. But during his jogs around the neighborhood, he found himself chatting
regularly with Knox Nye. They bonded over a shared interest in science fiction.
He had seen Knox’s triplets around town already, and was
surprised to find that Knox wasn’t that much older than he was. He couldn’t
imagine having kids at his age, but then, Knox probably hadn’t imagined it
either. The thought left him unsettled – and yet, at the same time, not. He
knew he wanted kids eventually, after all. If it were to happen now, it wouldn’t
be all bad.
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