Stress Relief

Pool Party (revised)

"Well, you look excited." Clara smiled from the kitchen as Elijah descended the stairs, her shoulder-length, auburn hair having that bend in it from being tied back for so long, "What's the occasion?" she was still in her work uniform, shoulder lightly dusted with powdered sugar.

"Some friends invited me to hang out, they're picking me up." He said quickly, walking past the kitchen to go wait in the living room.

"Hold on young man." He stopped in his tracks, "I haven't been able to talk much lately, do you not want to talk about your new friends?" She smiled light-heartedly, coming around the kitchen counter to stand on the threshold between it and their living room.

Suddenly it hit him that he had barely mentioned his friends at all to his stepmom. "Sorry, I forgot." Clara's reassuring laugh filled the air as he turned around and walked over, beginning to chatter. "So, at the start of school, Dad introduced me to these football players, Chase, Matt, Diego, Alex-" he listed them off as they came to mind, "-Anthony, Carson, and Jason. They're chill, and they're supportive of me being gay, which I nearly had a heart attack when they asked." He spoke without a breath in between.

"Slow down. I got time." She smiled. Not realizing the speed of his speech, he took a deep breath. "Go on."

"So," he continued, more slowly this time, "on the first day of school, after school, we all went out to eat, which was why I wasn't hungry for dinner." He remembered telling his mom the same thing that same day, "I think I told you that already."

"It's fine, sweetie." She smiled at him. Her smiles were like those comforting, soft smiles that wrapped you in a blanket of warmth. Elijah nodded to himself, trying to remember where he left off.

"Right. Anyways, so Matt asked if he could call me Eli, which, like most people who know me long enough do. Even dad does-anyways." God, he had to stop getting off track. It was one simple thing, get to the point. "Matt asked if I was gay out of nowhere and my water went straight to my lungs which was not comfortable." A beep sounded from the oven and Clara looked over, Elijah pausing just as he was getting to the point.

Standing from leaning against the wall, she went back behind the counter. "Sit down, I'm listening." She said, slipping the plastic gloves off and throwing them away.

Recognizing she was busy, he felt a little hesitant to speak again. "Are you sure?"

Giving him a quick, "Yep." She slipped a pair of oven mitts on and opened the oven.

"Okay, well anyways-" just like that, he was back on track. Talking about the events that occurred on the first day of school and after in scrambled order. With each thing he remembered he'd blurt it out, add some details, and then say when it happened.

All the while his stepmom continued with preparing dinner. Listening to every word and reassuring him as much by asking questions and laughing at some of the things he mentioned. Once or twice she gently told him to slow down a little, but when he apologized she just smiled and said it was okay, and to continue.

The next thing he knew his phone buzzed and the name Goldilocks appeared on his screen.

Goldilocks: [I'm here]
Goldilocks: [it's the house with the dark wood porch right?]

He smiled, quickly typing back. "Yeah, be out in a sec" Clara opened the fridge, noticing the smile on her stepson's face. "Your ride here?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna be hanging out with them for a while." He slipped off the barstool and put his jacket back on. Even though he wore it at school, most of the time he'd take off when he was at home.

"You want me to put your food in the fridge or will you be back before then?" Struggling to find whatever she was looking for, the fridge beeped at her telling her that the door was open and she clicked her tongue in annoyance.