"Flynn, will you please be careful? We can't be spilling gravy all over Elliott and Evelyn's apartment building!" Nora calls back to her boyfriend who is slowly walking up the flight of stairs.
"I am being careful, babe!" Flynn snaps back, glancing over his shoulder at me to roll his eyes.
I give him a thumbs up and continue walking at an even slower pace than him. Evidently, I'm not too excited to go to this Thanksgiving party. Half of the people there I haven't seen in years, and it's bound to be awkward for everyone involved.
Also, I don't know how well I'll be able to handle seeing Elliott and Evelyn being so couple-y. It's hard coming face-to-face with something you could've had, but you walked away from, even when it was for the best.
"Ivy, can you get the door for us?" Nora asks, her hands filled with plates of desserts.
I move in front of Flynn to get to the door of Elliott's apartment. My hand stays on the doorknob, limp. I really don't want to go inside. How can I face everyone I abandoned? I'm definitely not ready to look at all of Elliott and Evelyn's cute photographs on the walls. This was a horrible idea.
"Ivy, my hand is cramping!" Flynn complains. "Open the door for Christ's sake!"
Just as I open the door, Flynn loses his grip on the gravy and drops half of the container on the floor of the entrance to Elliott's apartment and the other half on me.
"You always did know how to make an entrance, Ivy Lynch!"
I click my tongue, staring down at my gravy covered pants and glancing up at Jake Acker who is on his way for a bear hug, despite the fallen gravy. "Hi, Jake."
He pulls away from the hug and looks at the floor then up at Flynn. "Hey, McClean, maybe you should clean this up?"
"Oh, funny. Clean jokes. It's not like I have ever heard one of those before!" Flynn mutters angrily as he storms past Jake to find something to clean the mess up.
"Oh my gosh. Elliott, Evelyn, I am so sorry about this," Nora exclaims as she leaps over the gravy to place her plates on the table.
Evelyn shakes her head. "No worries, Nor!"
Before I have time to cringe at Evelyn giving my sister a nickname, I am pulled by the arm and being led into a bedroom. Mrs. Kennedy is already explaining to me about how she leaves an extra pair of pants at Elliott's place in case she spills or, most usually, one of the kids spill on her.
"These should fit you," she says and hands me a pair of brown capris. "They might not go so well with that sweater of yours, but they're better than your gravy-covered jeans; that's for sure!"
"Thank you," I reply.
"Oh, of course." She smiles and pulls me in for a hug that isn't as awkward as I imagined. "It's so nice seeing you here, Ivy. You look so happy, honey." She pats my hand before leaving the room.
I smile and lock the door to change my clothes. Knowing the Kennedy family, anyone could walk in if I'm not careful. The pants are baggy on my legs and most definitely don't go with my sweater. So much for impressing Elliott. Not that I'm trying to impress him.
I'm happy he's with Evelyn! They seem so happy. With a happy friendsgiving party and a happy apartment with happy photos all along the walls!
I sigh and sit down on the bed that is covered with a sickly, pale green comforter. Along the dark, wooden dressers are photos of Elliott's family. I stand up to take a look.
I can barely recognize Bethany and Ethan, all grown up now. The twins are so beautiful, and same with Addison, who has always been stunning. Jonas looks the same, just a bit taller than the last time I saw him.
Thinking about seeing them again, I begin to feel nervous. I bet they hate me for leaving. I promised that even if Elliott and I weren't going to be together I would never leave them. But I abandoned them, my family.
I clear my throat and head back outside in my new threads. Nora and Flynn have already gotten comfortable and are watching a football game with Elliott, Atticus, and Jonas. Evelyn and Mrs. Kennedy are now in the kitchen talking with Reyna, Carter, and Addison. At the kitchen table, Abraham and Levi are teaching the rest of the kids how to play a card game.
Addison spots me first, setting down her drink to run over to me. "Ivy!" She hugs me tightly. "How are you?"
"I'm good!" I say. "And you?" I don't even wait for an answer. "My gosh, woman, you're so gorgeous!"
She smiles. "Thank you, thank you. You are always looking beautiful."
"Well, I try," I joke.
Addison takes me to the kitchen where I say hi to the other ladies. Evelyn gives me a hug, and I decide she's a hug-person. I felt like she would be one when I met her at the hospital. I join in on their small talk for a few minutes before I decide to greet the others at the party.
I stand behind Abraham to look at his cards. Mouthing across the table to Crystal, who manages to keep a straight face, I say, "he's lying!"
Before Abraham even gets to put down his incorrect card, Crystal screams, "bullshit!"
The apartment suddenly goes very quiet. All eyes turn to Crystal, who seems to ignore the attention and proudly pushes the large pile of cards in Abraham's direction.
Abraham looks around at the watching eyes and puts his hands up innocently. "I didn't teach her that language!"
Everyone laughs, and the game of BS continues. Without Abraham even noticing, I foil his every move in the game. Near the very end, he starts to get suspicious of where Crystal's eyes are watching.
"Hey, what are you-" he stops mid-sentence when he turns his head to see me right behind him. "The hell, Lynch, how long have you been standing behind me?" He leaps out of his seat to give me a hug. "Have you been cheating for Crystal?"
I shrug. "Crystal's my girl," I say and wink in her direction.
She smiles and stands up to run around the table to give me a hug. "Hi, Ivy."
Rosie is next to give me a hug, followed by Levi and then Ethan, who is now too cool for hugs and instead gives me a high-five. I'll take what I can get. It isn't as uncomfortable as I thought it would be. The girls and Ethan actually seem happy to see me, though I can't say the same for Bethany. She doesn't stand up to hug me. Instead, she remains sitting and looking unsure of herself.
"Hey, Beth," I say, moving to sit next to her at the long kitchen table. "I haven't seen you in a long, long time. I used to nanny for you. You remember me?"
She looks down at the table, her brown, wavy hair falling in her face. "No."
There's a loud audible snapping noise when my heart splits in two.
"Oh! Okay. Well, I'm Ivy," I introduce, hiding the pain coursing through my body. "I'm Jett's sister."
"Oh. Hi," she mumbles before standing up and walking into the kitchen.
I put on a fake smile so that the kids don't see that I'm upset and walk over to sit next to my sister on the couch.
She sees that I'm upset immediately and places a hand on my arm. "What's up, Ivy?"
"Bethany doesn't remember me," I sigh.
"That's not true!" Elliott says, his first words to me since I got here. "She definitely remembers you, Ivy."
"Yeah, no, she doesn't. It's not like I changed her dirty diapers everyday and sang her to sleep every night for three months or anything! She might as well have popped out of my vag-"
"Ivy!" Jonas cackles. "What did you expect? You haven't seen her since she was two! No one remembers people when they're two!"
"Screw you, Jonas," I mutter to myself, crossing my arms over my chest and pouting like a child.
Nora knocks her head against mine gently. "Don't be too upset, Ives."
I nod. I know I shouldn't be that upset about Bethany not remembering me. She was just two when I moved away. Even so, I never thought she wouldn't remember me. I was her first word. Iee. Ivy. I was the most important moment in Bethany's life, and that's a fact.
"What the heck are you wearing, Ivy?" Jonas snorts randomly.
I squint my eyes to glare at him. "Hey, Jo, it's really nice to see you too now that you mention it!"
"Are those my mom's pants?" Elliott asks, hiding a smile.
I sigh, "yes. You can thank butter-hands over here for that," I mutter and nod my head in Flynn's direction.
More and more of Elliott and Evelyn's friends start filling up the apartment. Kirk and his girlfriend are two familiar faces, along with Giano Bertolini and his wife Nadine. I'm surprised that so many people made it out to this party. If it were me throwing the party, I'd be lucky enough if Nora or Jett showed up.
Levi sits next to me on the couch and hands me a glass of wine. "I feel like you need a drink right now."
"I feel like you're right," I say and take the wine glass from his hand. "Thank you." I take a sip, though I would prefer to have chugged the whole thing right now. "How are Mo and Amy?"
"Ah, so you do remember us!" Levi laughs. "We were starting to think we were erased from your memory."
"What do you mean by that?" I ask. "I kept in touch with all of my sushi friends! I wished all of you Happy Birthdays this year."
"Ivy, the last time we talked was almost two years ago, and even then it was awkward between us. I can't remember the last time we had a real Levi and Ivy talk."
"I remember. It was when you prank called me for a YouTube video, but I made you stay on the phone for hours to tell you all the crap that had been going on in my life. You ended the call short because you had to get back to filming and you promised to call me right back," I mutter and drink more of my wine. "But you never called again."
Levi licks his lips and huffs. "Well."
"Well," I repeat and hold the pendant of my necklace with my free hand.
"I'm sorry, Ivy," he says. "I guess I just was afraid of falling for you again."
"Hah!" Jonas laughs from his couch.
I snap my head in his direction, and he quickly looks back at the TV to pretend like he didn't just laugh at Levi. I sigh, "Levi, come on."
"I know," he says. "Of course I know. And it's whatever." He looks around the room briefly before whispering, "plus, I'm still waiting for you and Elliott to finally be together."
I roll my eyes. "Actually, Elliott's currently waiting for us to be together," I say, pointing from myself to Levi.
"Well, that would explain why he told me to give you that glass of wine," he says with a small laugh.
I laugh because it seems like the right thing to do in the moment. In all honesty, my heart is hurting right now. Not only am I regretting letting Elliott go, but now I have to deal with the rest of the relationships I left. Bethany doesn't remember me. Levi and I can't have a normal conversation, not like we used to. I feel uncomfortable talking to anyone who isn't my sister, her boyfriend, or my brother, who I am still waiting for to get here.
I excuse myself from the conversation with Levi and find Nora and Flynn talking with Kirk and his girlfriend. I stand by them, pretending to be in the conversation by nodding my head every once in awhile. I'm really just distracted watching the Kennedy's interact with Evelyn.
Bethany is sitting in Elliott's lap while she plays some hand clapping game with Evelyn on the floor. The little girl laughs loudly with Evelyn, a comfort level that was far gone when I was around. I look away immediately when Elliott glances my way. I hope he didn't see me staring.
"I'm going to get more wine," I excuse myself from the conversation I was absent in and walk to the empty kitchen.
I lean against the counter and dip my head back, trying to relax my nerves. I don't know how much longer I can stay here at this party feeling like this. Desperately, I pour more wine into my glass, hoping that the alcohol will help with the anxiety I'm feeling.
"You doing okay, Ivy?"
I turn around to face Elliott, wide-eyes, as if I had been caught doing something wrong. I clear my throat and nod. "Yeah, I'm fine. This is a really nice party."
"Thank you," Elliott says. "Evelyn planned it. If it were up to me, it'd just be the two of us and one turkey." He smiles and moves next to me to lean on the same counter. "Look, Ivy." He pauses, and a million thoughts rush through my head about what he's going to say next. He looks serious, very pondering.
I turn my body to rest my hip on the counter so I'm looking directly at Elliott. I bite my cheek, anticipating what he'll say next.
"Bethany's just shy," he says, and I feel oddly disappointed. I don't know what I was expecting him to say. "She really does remember you."
"Oh." I pause. "You think so?"
"For sure!" he promises. "With all of the stories the kids love to relive, there's no way she could forget you."
I smile and drink my wine, slightly more at ease than I had been. "Maybe I'll be able to sleep at night now."
Elliott forces a pity laugh. "Yeah, hopefully." He sucks in a breath and pushes away from the counter, walking backwards to enter the other room. "You promise you're okay?"
I lift my wine glass and nod.
Just as Elliott leaves the kitchen, Evelyn walks in to check on the turkey. Her immediate reaction to seeing me is suspicion, but she plays it off with a warm smile. "Hi, Ivy! Do you like that wine? I'm not much of a wine girl myself, but I'm trying to get more into it."
"Oh, yeah, it's really good," I say as kindly as possible.
"So," she pauses and opens the oven to check the turkey, "what were you and Elliott talking about?"
I cringe at her obvious jealousy. She has nothing to be jealous of. Elliott seems more than in love with Evelyn. "Bethany," I answer truthfully. "I was a little upset that she didn't remember me. Elliott just wanted to tell me that she's just shy."
"That was sweet of him," she says. "He always wants to make everyone happy, doesn't he?"
"You would know more than me," I reply, hinting at the obvious fact she's his girlfriend and I hadn't spoken to him in five years.
She hums. "You would think so."
I widen my eyes, staring at her back as he takes the turkey out of the oven. Oh boy. Someone get me out of this kitchen right now. I don't need to be caught in the middle of any type of relationship problems they're having, though I very well may be the center of their problems.
I cough and make my move to leave. "I have to go to the bathroom."
"Did you know that Elliott never told me about you?" she asks, stopping me in my tracks.
"Uh," I look around and look for a weapon to defend myself in case Evelyn is a psycho girlfriend ready to snap, "no. I had no idea. We stopped keeping in touch five years ago, so that could be why he never told you. I'm sort of irrelevant."
She purses her lips. "If you're irrelevant, Ivy, then why did he follow you to Rhode Island?" She drops the turkey on the counter and turns around to glare at me, her hands on her hips.
"I don't...uh... Maybe you should have this conversation with Elliott," I suggest.
Evelyn's face changes immediately. "I'm so sorry." She spins back around to face the wall. "I don't know why I acted like that. I'm not a jealous person. I'm not insecure. I just... I don't know." She turns around and steps closer to me. For a moment, I'm not sure if she's about to hit me or not. "Can we just pretend that didn't happen?"
I raise my eyebrows. She wants me to pretend that she didn't almost whack me in the head with a turkey? Fine. "Yeah, of course. I get it. I've been in your shoes before." Sometimes I think I'm too nice for my own good. "You should talk to Elliott."
"I will." She smiles softly and turns back to her turkey. "The bathroom is down that hall. The second door to the right."
"Thanks," I mumble and get out of Hell's Kitchen as fast as possible.
After a few minutes of hiding out in the bathroom, Evelyn calls everyone over for dinner. I sit between Nora and Jake, strategically picking the two most talkative people, excluding Levi who I won't be sitting by for Elliott's personal satisfaction.
"So," Jake asks me, "what's a day in the life of Ivy Lynch?"
I click my tongue, hating half the table's attention on me. "Well, it's pretty simple, I guess. I'm either working or taking care of Elm or watching trashy reality TV. Oh, and I love naps."
"Elm!" Elliott exclaims. "How is he doing?"
"He's good," I answer, playing with my mashed potatoes. "There's a dog park right by my apartment that he loves going to."
"She finally got him potty trained," Nora jumps in. "I can't tell you how many pee puddles I stepped in."
Evelyn laughs, "hearing that makes me feel almost grateful for my allergy."
Flynn gasps. "You're allergic to dogs?" He shakes his head. "That's tragic." Nora elbows her boyfriend. "What? It's true."
I hide a smile, glancing across the table to Elliott who is also trying not to laugh. Evelyn looks over at her boyfriend and frowns.
"Hey, El, if you want a dog running around our apartment, you'll have to dump me first," she says jokingly.
Elliott laughs, "trust me, babe, I've been considering it." Evelyn rolls her eyes and frowns. After what happened in the kitchen, I know that comment won't be good for Elliott. He gives her a giant smile before kissing her cheek. "Love you, Eve."
I look away, hating how much it gets to me. I drink more of my wine. I'm pretty sure I'm pushing it a bit too far. I don't want to end up drunk at this mature friendsgiving party from hell. Who knows what I would end up saying, or doing.
Halfway through dinner, the most dreaded tradition at Thanksgiving-esque parties begin: going around the table to say what you're thankful for. Simple out. My family. I'm beyond thankful for Jett and Nora. But then Evelyn makes the stupid rule that it has to be one specific person with a reason.
"I'll go first," Evelyn obviously volunteers. "I'm thankful for Elliott because he makes me happy and handles my naturally overbearing attitude with ease."
Hey, maybe that's what put him in the hospital.
"I do my best." Elliott smiles and pauses to decide on a person. "I'm thankful for Flynn because he has been my best friend through thick and thin. I love you, bro."
"Ah, dude love!" Flynn says and leans over the table to high-five Elliott.
One-by-one, everyone says their person. I'm too busy thinking of my answer and reasoning to listen to anyone else's. After Jake pours his heart out to Carter, it's my turn. I decide to wing it and hope the wine doesn't say anything stupid.
"I'm thankful for..." I pucker my lips, debating between Nora and Jett. "I'm thankful for the Kennedy's."
"Ivy, you're only supposed to do one person-"
I cut off Evelyn to continue, "honestly, each one of you changed my life for the better. I can't thank you guys enough for teaching me about love and family." I take a big sip of my wine. "Thanks, I guess." I notice how everyone is staring at me, probably because they can see how emotional I got saying two sentences to the Kennedy's. "Sorry. Mushy time is over." I look over to Nora so she can thank Flynn and my embarrassment can be over.
Before Nora can speak, Elliott opens his mouth to speak. "We love you too, Ivy." There's a chorus of agreement from the kids and Mrs. Kennedy. "I never got a chance to-" he clears his throat. "We never got a chance to thank you for all that you've done for us. Thanks, I guess."
I have to drop my eyes from Elliott's because the intensity felt overbearing. Plus, I could just feel Evelyn sending daggers my way.
"I don't know why I'm crying in the club right now!" Jonas says for the laughs, which I appreciate.
Nora goes on to say she's thankful for me and Jett. Evelyn gets all high strung about the one person rule again, and Nora just ignores her as I had.
Finally, we get around the table completely, and I feel like I can breathe again. Luckily, the rest of dinner isn't so awkward. I just slide into different conversations every time the other one I was in starts to fizzle out of interesting things to say. It's almost a good time, but I won't make that big of a statement just yet.
I keep nudging Nora's arm as a signal for us to get out of here, but she ignores me consistently. I move on to bugging Flynn, but he makes it too obvious and blurts out a, "Ivy, I don't want to leave yet." Oh, mortification is real.
"Ivy, can I talk to you for a second?"
I turn around, glancing up at Elliott. "Yeah, sure." I stand up from the couch and walk over to where he stands by a large decorative plant.
"How are things going with Levi?" he asks excitedly.
"They're going!" I lie. "We're already planning a wedding for next weekend. You're invited; don't worry."
"Hilarious," he mutters. "Come on, Ivy, be serious."
"You don't want me to be serious," I say. "I'm just telling you what you want to hear, Elliott." I shrug. "You're not actually invited."
Elliott rolls his eyes, though there's still a smile on his face. "Fine. I'll back off."
"Thank you," I mumble and finish off my last glass of wine. "Thanks for inviting me tonight by the way. This is the best wine I've ever tasted."
"I'm just happy you actually decided to show up," he says. "I wasn't expecting you to come."
"Yeah, well," I pause, not actually having a good reason for coming other than an excuse to see Elliott, "I missed you..." I clear my throat and quickly add, "all. I missed you all. I missed all of you."
He smiles kindly, pretending to not have noticed my slip up. "It's funny though. I feel like... I feel like we just picked up where we left off five years ago."
"We were madly in love with each other five years ago, Elliott," I laugh. "We definitely are not where we left off."
"Speak for yourself, Ivy," he sighs, confusing me more than a giraffe in a game of limbo.
~~
AN:
I love animal metaphors!
okay serious talk time. I struggled writing this chapter because I just felt so much pressure from the comments and like ouch it messed me up y'all. I'm obviously very attached to this story and all the characters, considering I have been writing it for almost a year now. I can't stand when people assume the ending of my story and automatically send hate. I get that it's hard to read about Elliott and Ivy breaking up and moving on, but it's like... do you honestly think I would leave it like that?? of course not, ladies & gentlemen!
anyway
my goal is to end the story on chapter 50 because it just feels right, you know?? so just four chapters left! (don't attack me I'm emotional too okay???)
I hate addressing hate comments so please just leave positivity, not just on my story, but also on other author's stories. we're putting our work out there, completely vulnerable. just think about it next time you're saying someone's work is shit. just think please.
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