Meeting Ellie

Ch. 2

"Ellie, do you like spaghetti?" Leila asks.

"Yes."

"Good. That's what we're having tonight and in this kitchen, we all help with dinner. Here's the tomatoes, just dice them up." She orders, handing me a knife and putting a cutting board in front of me. I start cutting them up and Ben turns on the radio. Knox stands next to me cutting up fresh herbs. Ben comes to stand on the other side of me with his own cutting board and onions and peppers.

"So, are you dating anyone?" Ben asks, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

I chuckle, "Nope."

"Ben." Knox growls, which sounds like a warning.

"Yeah, little brother?" he asks emphasizing 'little'.

"I am six inches taller then you and weight Seventy pounds more. I'd watch who you call 'little' if I were you. Now, stop flirting with El."

"You've always been jealous of my body and charm." He shakes his head sadly. "I can't help it if she rather get to know the normal sized, way more attractive and funny Hendrix. It's a blessing and a curse." Ben sighs, like the plight of his life is so very hard.

I laugh and watch as Knox picks up a piece of tomato and throws it at Ben, hitting him in the middle of his forehead. Ben stops laughing and shouts, "Mom, Knox just threw a tomato at me because I stole his girlfriend."

"She's not his girlfriend, she is his friend and you deserve it. Leave the poor girl alone." Leila scolds, lightly.

"She's flirting with me. And As far as I'm concerned she's fair game for this hunter." He says, sticking his chest out proudly.

"Hunter? Did you really just call yourself a hunter?" Hank asks, throwing back his head and laughing.

"I did and its opening day for "Ellie" season. I plan on shooting her with my love gun." He replies, saying, 'love gun' suggestively. If possible Hank laughs even harder which makes me and Leila laugh. Knox is trying not to smile.

As I look up to him he shrugs his shoulders. "You can't choose your family. I only wish I could have been an only child." He complains.

"I heard that." Ben replies.

"It's not like it's a secret." Knox counters.

"All right! Enough you two. Knox has only been home a week, you have the whole summer to kill each other." Hank yells, still smiling.

Dinner was cooking and the radio was playing bands like the Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Otis Redding. We're all sitting around the kitchen talking. Ben and Knox have stopped bickering for now and are sharing stories of their childhood, making us all laugh. The doorbell rings and Ben goes to answer it.

We're all still laughing about the story of Ben, Knox, Hank and Hank' s brother Gary's first camping trip together. Apparently, Gary told Knox (who was three years old at the time) that there was a snake in his underwear and when he looked and saw his "Little Knox", he ran around the pond screaming.

I stop laughing and watch as Ben comes back into the kitchen with officer Jacob Hernandez. Shit, it's my parents.

"Sorry, to disturb you, but I need to talk to Ellie." I nod and stand up. I'm trying to read Jacobs face but he's not giving much away, all I can see is he's a little frustrated. When I get closer to him he takes my hand and walks me to the front of the house.

"What did my parents do now?" I ask, sadly.

"Nothing, I'm here for you. What were you thinking? You went home with someone you don't even know. Do you realize what I had to go through to find out where the hell you were?" He yells, quietly.