Lyss
Landed
Jack🥰
All good?
Lyss
So far
Jack🥰
I'll call after the game?
Lyss
Sounds good. Play good. Be careful ❤️
Lisa stands outside the Pittsburg airport, waiting for elyssa and megan. The girls exit with only one bag each for their short stay.
"Hi honey" Lisa hugs her daughter tightly.
"Hi" elyssa sighs, relaxing into her moms grip.
"Megan, how are you." Lisa moves to hug her.
"Alright. How are you?" Megan asks.
"I've been better" Lisa kind of scoffs. Megan chuckles sympathetically, agreeing with her.
"How's teddy?" Elyssa asks her mom as they drive to her house.
"Hes not as bad as I was expecting. Maybe he's just good at hiding it." Lisa sounds unsure. Elyssa furrows her eyebrows at her moms answer. She's worried that her brother is trying to hide his feelings.
The next day Elyssa gets up and dressed for chads funeral. She takes a deep breath before going downstairs to join her mom, brother, and best friend.
"Morning." Lisa hums as she puts a few things in her purse.
"Morning." Elyssa gives a half smile. The vibe of the room was unsettling. An eerie kind of silence fell over the four as they all did their own things to get ready for the day. The group get into the car and to the funeral home with the same silence lingering.
"I don't know if I can do this." Elyssa admits to Megan, not wanting to get out of the car. She stares at the door handle in her hand, debating on whether to open it or not.
"Lyss?" Megan gets Elyssa to look at her. She gives Elyssa a questioning look, waiting for further explanation.
"I feel fake. Like I should be absolutely devastated that my dad just died. All these people are going to come and feel sorry for me and I don't even feel sorry for myself. People are going to expect me to be crying and shit. Meanwhile I don't even know if I want to talk in front of everyone. I feel like it'll be a lie." Elyssa let's out the word vomit.
"How you feel is nobody's business. The relationshipish you had with your dad is not anyone else's business. Just focus on yourself." Megan tells her. Elyssa takes a deep breath before opening the car door. She and Megan entered the building, finding her mom and brother finalizing things and adjusting small details before people show up. Soon, Elyssa found herself at the door greeting people. The first few times she heard, "I'm sorry for your loss" she felt uncomfortable, but now they're just going in one ear and out the other. About an hour in, it was time to start to service. The officiant talks for a few minutes before calling Elyssa up.
"Um, to be honest I don't know what to say," Elyssa begins, addressing the small crowd of people. "I wrote a few things down. Then I didn't like it so I wrote different stuff down and I didn't like it. So here goes; growing up, I always used to wish my dad was different. But being older, I realized that he was exactly what I needed to observe. He made choices which helped me narrow down what I wanted. He didn't even mean to, but he showed me what I want, by showing me what I didn't want. And for that I'm grateful." Elyssa gets through her speech, quickly going back to her seat after. The officiant says a few more words before it gets less formal again. Elyssa moves around the room, talking to people she hasn't seen in 20 years. She was headed to join Megan and Teddy when she heard a voice behind her.
"Elyssa Cooper?"
She turns around, "yeah?" She sounds confused.
"I haven't seen you since high school." A guy Elyssa immediately recognizes approachs her.
"Oh my gosh. Wes." She smiles, hugging him briefly.
"Shitty circumstances, but it's good to see you! I see a ring? You didn't wait for me?" He jokes with a smile. Elyssa laughs as well.
"A better offer came up. What can I say." She shrugs sarcastically.
"Is he here? Or, or she; don't want to assume." Wes stumbles over his words.
"He is not here. He couldn't get off work." She sort of laughs at his struggle.
"Well then tell me bout him." Wes requests.
"Um his name is Jack, he was born in Florida but he grew up in Canada." Elyssa begins.
"What's he do?" Wes asks.
"He uh, he plays hockey." She tells him, hoping he takes her seriously.
"Like for a living? What, he in the nhl or something?" Wes scoffs.
"Yeah..." Elyssa cringes, feeling embarrassed that he might be judgmental.
"Actually?" He sounds surprised.
"Um yeah." She laughs uncomfortably.
"Where?"
"New Jersey."
"Ohhh yeah! You married Jack Hughes! I remember seeing that online." Wes remembers.
"Yeah." She nods, not knowing how to feel about him seeing it online.
"Aye, if you could get me tickets?" He tries. Elyssa shoots him a 'really?' look. "I didn't think so." He settles. She laughs as Megan approaches and Wes says his goodbye.
"You're just in time." Elyssa huffs.
"Who was that?" Megan furrows her eyebrows.
"We dated like junior year of high school. He's cool, just kinda felt uncomfortable. I don't know." Elyssa tries to explain.
"If it makes you feel any better, I'm pretty sure people are starting to leave." Megan points out. Elyssa looks around the room, seeing the fewer people than before. She lets out a sigh of relief.
Elyssa, Megan, Lisa, and Teddy all stay to help clean up before going back to Lisa's house.
The next day elyssa and Megan were flying back to New York.
"I'll see you girls in a couple months." Lisa hugs both Elyssa and Megan as they get out of the car.
"I love you." Elyssa tells her mom and brother.
"Love you"
"Love you too." They answer.
