Rita scoffed, “My mom advised that I date when I am done with school and working and as for you thinking about Randy in those terms you are being silly, Randy is not your type."
The dismissive way Rita said it made her open her mouth and shut it again without commenting. She finally asked after a short pause, "And what is my type pray tell me Rita?"
“Don’t you have a boyfriend? Sean. Remember him, the tall, cute guy who only wears suits reminding us of boss baby. Now that is your type. He is sophisticated, has a good job, comes from a good and influential background and he is loaded. By the way does Sean even have a pair of jeans in his closet?" Rita asked with a slight twitch on her mouth.
“So are you saying Randy doesn’t fit into that category?” Elsie asked with a frown on her face while her friend rolled her eyes before she replied, “Yes. Randy will not be able to give you the life style you are used to.”
“I don’t know about that,” Elsie said and decided to lie back on the bed. “I mean.... I love Sean and on paper he has everything that you mentioned but I wonder if I can have the passionate kind of love that would make me go crazy and lose it with him."
"Ooh like the one you see in movies and you think Randy can give you that. Which Randy are you talking about? The quiet, unassuming guy who happens to live next door, are you for real? The one who terms us as the silly twittering girls and treats us like his young sisters and who barely has noticed that you have boobs? I wonder where do you get passion in all that mix."
Elsie giggled at Rita’s summation of the whole thing; of course Rita will always see him as their older brother than anything else.
Blame it on the tutoring sessions but she was attracted to him and there she had been thinking Rita will just stop at the fact that it was fine for her to like two guys.
"Yes our big brother Randy" she drawled.
Rita sat up on the bed and clutched at a pillow before she asked, "Ook let’s say hypothetically you happened to leave Daddy Sean.."
Elsie rolled her eyes at that since Rita always claimed Sean acted more mature to the point he qualified to be in their parents’ age group. The guy was just four years older than them while Randy was five years older.
Randy had recently completed college as a Mechanic and was working different jobs including being her Mathematics tutor while Sean would be completing his Law degree in a few months times.
"And dated Randy..." Rita was saying. She attentively listened. "As you can see Sean has the fat bank account, he comes from your world, he is about to become a lawyer once he is done with varsity, not to forget he is good on the eye. Then we have Randy, he has responsibilities, his young brother, sister and his nana. He is in-between jobs not at all what your mom might recommend it terms of ‘stability’. With Randy you will have to give up your lifestyle, you will join us including under the tree in order to get your hair plaited and bargain your way in everything."
“Geez when did you become this mature and start thinking in those lines" Elsie asked after giving it a thought.
"Am just pointing out the facts on why I said that he is not your type and don't say it..."
Elsie had opened her mouth to protest.
"Randy is not the type to accept help from a woman and you know that. He will not get your money even if he knew your bank balance was fat."
"That’s being too proud, I mean hypothetically speaking."
Rita would say that about Randy since she also had refused her assistance when Elsie tried to help her out with her tuition for Medical school.
"It’s self-respect, call it pride but it’s our dignity being put on the line. This side of town we work for everything that we have."
"We do the same also," Elsie pouted her lips.
"Did you work for the money you wanted to offer me for my education?"
"Well that would be coming..."
Rita interrupted her again by raising her hand. "That’s what I meant, your trust fund. We don't have that. After Randy's parents passed he had to leave school and do odd jobs so he could save for college. Can you do that, give up on your dreams and pursue something else to make ends meet. His nana’s pension isn't much so he carries the bulk in taking care of Lilly and Raff; his life is not an easy one. Can you manage with all that?"
Rita looked distant as she said that before she shrugged and continued, "I don't know Else, maybe you can manage our lifestyle, at the end it’s your decision, but don't string both guys along that’s all I am saying. Either you are with Sean and fully content with him or you leave him to be with Randy, giving Sean the chance to be with someone else who will love and cherish him."
Elsie huffed; her friend was acting as if she had two boyfriends when she just had Sean her official boyfriend and Randy her friend. She had been curious that’s why she had asked. She somehow felt guilty for the fact that her family was well off, especially after hearing Rita talk. What did they worry about actually apart from, which country they would visit over the holidays or the brand on their clothes if it was a designer or a knockoff? She cleared her throat and Rita yawned.
"I am surely going to miss these sleepover talks once we are at uni."
"Same here" Rita said and yawned again. She lay back on the bed since they had both sat up again amidst their talk and whispered "Goodnight, feeling sleepy."
Elsie stiffly nodded before she lay back also but couldn't sleep like Rita who easily dozed off into dreamland.
She was thinking on what they had spoken about. Rita was right, would she manage with Randy if it meant she had to leave everything behind. What about Randy, would he fit in with her people. Her family was friendly enough but the circle of friends around them could be termed more on the vain side than anything else.
With their barbed remarks on anything that was beneath them. Sean had scowled a bit the first time she asked him to drop her by Rita's place, as if he didn't want to be there at all. He had been dressed in his tailor made suit, a stark contrast against the background while Rita had rolled her eyes at him.
She had whispered afterwards that she thought Sean was prideful and had an ego that needed to be deflated before they tied the knot in future.
She knew Sean was a good person; it was just that it had been the first time for him to venture to the other side of town and it might have taken him by surprise that she had friends from there.
Randy and Sean might have the common trait of being committed at whatever they did, yet she doubted they would be the best of friends. One wore jeans and worked with his hands, fixing cars for a living while another wore suits all the time and was being groomed to take over the family law firm one day.
She couldn't even imagine Sean being laid back and getting his hands dirty not even in her wildest dreams.
Randy will end up looking like a sore thumb among them and might eventually resent her.
It’s not like her family were super rich like Bill Gates but they had enough. The only reason why she even became used to Rita was because her mother sent her to public school as a punishment from her many misdeeds while her sisters still went to the expensive boarding school out of town.
Was she beginning to think differently because of that, being around people who didn't have much but had what counted, like a happy family?
Ever since she could remember she had always longed for that. Her home was a chaotic one with both parents living under the same roof but separated. Sean's was the same.
She worried her lip. Maybe that's how it was meant to be. No one ever got everything that they wanted.
Randy's parents passed when he was nineteen and he stayed with his nana, young sister and brother. From the framed photos she had seen on the wall, their family had been a happy one. Complete. It still had that warmth because of his nana who made sure that all the children stayed inline.
The old woman laughed a lot and had a lot of laugh lines as proof of that. Elsie had instantly liked her the moment Rita introduced her. Randy was a model grandson, student, brot
her and friend. She rather envied both Randy and Rita. Though they might teasingly call her a princess who had everything, she at times felt they had more than she could ever have.
She heaved a sigh and decided to shut her eyes. What was the use of thinking in such terms? She was with Sean and they had already planned their future together, and like Rita had mentioned Randy didn’t notice she even had boobs. To him she would always be like his young sister.
Chapter One
1 year and 9 months later.
“FUNKY HAIRSTYLE check, make up perfect, check, backpack set with the things that I will need check, over the top clothes to show that I am a fashion student” Elsie turned around and looked into the full length mirror before stating , “check. IPhone check, bluetooth headset, check. Guess I am set and ready for my long awaited second semester at varsity, that’s a double check.”
Elsie smiled at her reflection in the mirror; fully conscious at the fact that she looked great while muttering under her breath after seeing to it that everything she needed was in order.
Picking up her bag and car keys, she rushed to the kitchen to have her breakfast before school.
“Morning princess,” her step dad Ethan Ross greeted while holding her squealing young brother Eric in his arms. He whistled when he took note on what she was wearing. Before he could comment, Lorraine and Laura rushed into the kitchen noisy as ever managing to make Elsie roll her eyes.
“I don’t know how you manage all this, I can’t wait to leave this house,” Elsie commented.
“Young missy, the only time you will leave from under this roof is when you are safely in your husband’s house,” her mother spoke as she got into the kitchen.
Ethan gave up the fight and placed Eric on the ground. He watched in dismay as Eric crawled off as fast as his tiny knees and hands could carry him trailing behind the twins before he straightened and leaned towards his beautiful wife for a kiss.
“Morning,” he whispered.
“Ugh get a room,” Elsie said loudly enough for her parents to hear and watched her mother turn around to face her and place her hands on her waist.
“Ugh to you too as if you don’t kiss with Sean.”
Elsie dramatically closed her ears while her mother chuckled. “I mean it Else, marriage first and you leave home. No daughter of mine will stay alone in an apartment, who knows what you will be up to.”
“Daaad.”
Elsie looked to Ethan pleadingly who shrugged his shoulders and said, “I should check on the children and see what they are up to.”
“Cowaaard,” she giggled at his retreating back. Her step dad was more of the peace kind of loving person and usually retreated before things got out of hand. When he set his foot down though, his word was final and the law of the house.
At the moment he appeared to be in agreement with his wife on the fact that Elsie would be driving to and from varsity.
He had even stated that she give him 1001 reasons on why she wanted to move out.
“Are we that much of a nuisance that you want to leave us love?” her mother asked with a furrowed brow pasted on her face.
“It’s not that ma and you know it. I am twenty, am at varsity and an adult. Most adults actually get excited over the fact that their children are moving out. They celebrate over the free room and turn it into a storage room or game room.”
“Well we are not most parents,” her mother quipped back before turning back to the stove to prepare breakfast for everyone. Elsie heaved a heavy sigh and dropped the matter. What was the use since it was rather a long ongoing argument that she was failing to win.
“Ok, ok, I give up. I will not move out. I will stay with you till the day I diiiee. No marriage for me since I have such loving parents,” she drawled, waving her arms in defeat. Her mother chuckled, “Ooh now I get it, you want some action and we are getting in your way.”
“Ugh maaa,” Elsie shook her head and decided to put her energies into buttering a slice of toast instead.
“Speaking about action, so are you wearing that on your first day to school?”
“Yes, is it bad? I thought I looked great.”
“It’s a creative outfit; great buut does Sean like it when you dress like that?”
Elsie rolled her eyes. “Sean is rather being stuffy and controlling all of a sudden.”
She knew that as their ten year plan they had agreed that they would get married once she graduated from varsity but that didn’t necessarily mean that he was meant to start controlling her now before they had even tied the knot.
Her mother shrugged, “You chose him, I didn’t so stop looking at me with accusation in your eyes,” she advised before calling out to her brood and husband that breakfast was ready.
“And that’s my cue to leave,” Elsie said and stood up from the kitchen stool before she hugged her mother and waved to the rest of the family members who came rushing into the kitchen.
The way her chaotic family acted as if it was world war III was one of the reasons she didn’t always bring her friends over.
Her parents were just something else as they tended to interrogate whoever managed to knock on the door looking for her and pointing out that Elsie already had a boyfriend, who she was meant to get married to in a few years’ time, ugh. Everything was set. Her future was bright and they were not going to allow anyone to take her away from her plans.
She regretted telling her step dad in confidence about them. At the time, he had stated that he was proud of her for thinking ahead about her future and her relationship with Sean.
The minor setback is that, he told her mother, who spoke to Mrs. Grace Compton, Sean’s mom, who told her husband and both families started acting like one unit.
Everyone was just bent on ruining her life and there was no way of escaping her relationship, not that she wanted to but still. She didn’t intend to be scandalous like them as their scandals made her wish she could crawl into a pit and never come out.
Already photos of her dad and Abby were plastered on billboards, the Abby who had once tried to ruin her mom’s life while her mother had her young handsome husband on her end.
How she so missed Nita and Wendy who appeared to be the quiet and scandal free ones in the family.
Getting into her car she drove off, leaving her chaotic family behind for just a few hours. She wondered what Rita was up to and took note in her mind to give her a call in the evening. She must have settled well at Medical school and doing what she was good at, researching.
Her car made a funny sound out of the ordinary and she decided to turn to the nearest garage before she travelled further. Though she had another car in the garage, she appeared not to be able to part away with her cute mini cooper. They had so much history together. She sighed loudly as she drove after taking note it was safe to make a turn.
The funny sound happened again and she was relieved that she had reached the garage when the car went dead.
The garage had a few cars in it and she couldn’t spot any mechanics from where she was. Stepping out from the car, she motioned to the lady who was seated behind a desk. “Halloo, need a bit of help here, my car.” The lady yelled to one of the mechanics while Elsie rolled her eyes, geez did she have to screech like that. She got back into the car and waited.
“Hi” a deep voice that she couldn’t easily forget drifted through. The last time she had met him had been before her final exams at high school, when she decided to stay away because of her sudden crush.
“Randy,” she screamed and got out of the car before hugging him.
“Hey Elsie,” he chuckled returning the hug before stating, “I am a bit dirty if you didn’t notice.”
“Ooh you,” she muttered and punched his arm before stepping away.
“How have you been? It’s been long, how is nana, Lilly and Raff?” she asked and Randy raised his hands. “Whoa princess, nothing changes there, you still chatter so much like a bird.”
She huffed.
&n
bsp; “Tell me what’s the problem with the car and I will answer your questions while I attend to it.”
“I don’t know, it made some funny sounds before it went dead completely.” He nodded and went back to take his tool box before he came back.
He was still the same, with the attractive body that had made her almost drool and at the moment he was spotting a shadow of a beard and moustache. He had removed the work suit jacket and tied it around his waist and had a grey t-shirt that was tautly stretched over his abs. She could swear that side about him had become broader.
He popped open the hood and began taking a look at it while he told her that nana and his little brother and sister were fine before asking her about her family.
Randy chuckled and kept on nodding as she chatted on about her mom getting married; having Eric and now Eric was a nuisance to her things as everything belonged in his tiny mouth.
“It has been long indeed since we last met.”
“Being under lockdown makes people miss out on a lot of things,” she replied with a grimace and he nodded. They were still recovering from the corona virus that had taken the world and everyone by surprise including changing their way of doing things.
That had also made a dent into her ten year plan since she delayed in going to uni because of it and marriage would only come after she was done. Though it was still there, the rules had been loosened a bit and people were able to go back to work and regain some semblance of normalcy back in their lives. They had managed to create an effective vaccine and the virus had become just as common as the flue.
“You can start the engine now,” he advised and she turned on the key. The car purred to life and she sighed relieved.
“Thank you, thank you so much Randy,” she said and asked, “Where do I pay up?”
He shook his head, “No need, it was nothing much that I had to do.”
“We should meet up for a drink Randy, I can still get you on your same digits right.”
He nodded and watched her drive off. Tyler was walking his way when he carried the tool box back to the other cars he had been checking out before the interruption.
Sweet Crazy Love Page 2