Eliott Price Should be Dead

thirty four - civilized

The three of us are civil.
The three of us are sitting in a diner's booth, coffee mugs filled and pancakes stacked a foot high in front of us - family style.
I'm on one side, the two of them on the other.

I don't make any eye contact as I use my fork to stab a pancake, flopping it onto my plate. It's only at that point, I notice that she is hogging the syrup. I swallow hard and clear my throat.

"Can I please have the syrup?"

Her eyes scan the bottle of pancake syrup before sharply darting to meet mine. In one single movement, she picks up the bottle and thumps it down in front of me. The silverware on the table rattle and the pancakes look like they're about to topple over. I could cut the tension at this table with my knife if I wanted to.

"Are we going to talk through this, or no?" Ivan sighs, leaning back and folding his arms tightly at his chest. His scrambled eggs and pancake are only half eaten.

"I don't want him here," she says, staring at her plate, shrugging.

I sharply exhale through my nostrils, peeking up at Ivan in front of me. He's staring straight ahead, right back at me.

"Ivan and I were meant to be together. He's gonna be my baby daddy and then we're going to get married."

She smirks and twirls her poorly-dyed blonde hair, giving me the smuggest look in history.

"My daddy said so. It's just how things work around here. If he don't give me a baby soon, we can't carry on our legacy and daddy's gonna be real upset you came between us."

I exhale through my nostrils again, pushing the hot air out while I half listen to her annoying voice.

"Right Ivan?" She turns to face him, picking something off the shoulder of his hoodie.

I watch his eyes roll towards the ceiling.

"Right."

I cut my pancake with my fork, beginning to chew on a bite. Ivan kicks my shin from under the table and I immediately look up from my plate.

He points at me, mouthing the words "you," then points back at himself and gives me a sly wink before grinning.

I smile sheepishly and notice that she is on her cell phone - her long fake nails tapping away as her tongue sticks out just a bit in focus. I giggle to myself at the look of it and realize Ivan is doing the same thing.

For the first time in a while, things are starting to feel normal like before.

---

After we have breakfast together at the diner, I learn that she has a name, and it is Colby. Like colby-jack cheese. I shiver at the comparison and turn away as Ivan kisses her cheek goodbye. She turns the corner and disappears, leaving Ivan and me alone in front of the glass diner windows.

"What do you want to do today?" He asks me, rubbing his palms together.

"Well, I don't know. I didn't know there was going to be a 'today.'"

Ivan grins and intertwines his fingers together before dropping his arms to stretch. "Yeah, of course. The day is young and I'm loaded up on coffee. Let's do all that we possible can — and I mean everything."

I squint my eyes from the sun that is beginning to show itself from the clouds, scratching at my eyebrow. As I'm dropping my hand, a big truck with an insanely loud engine stops and revs at us.

"Bye, baby!" Colby says, blowing kisses out the open passenger door window. Quickly, the truck takes off once again before traffic takes notice and gets angry.

"Oh god," I mumble out of annoyance, rolling my eyes. "Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

I shrug in the direction of where the truck once was. "Her. Deal with her."

Ivan sticks his hands in his pockets. "I do it cause I have to."

My eyes roll once more and I feel my cheeks become flushed. I'm sure they're red as a tomato.

"That's the thing, Ivan, you don't have to do anything you don't want to do."

Ivan shushes me and shakes his hand, out stretching it to place over my mouth.

"I don't wanna get into it. Let's just go do something together."

I grab his wrist and suppress his hand down, holding it still as I intently stare at him.

"I don't think I want to do anything with you."