THIRTEEN
Eric gazed down at the little object in wonder. "A key," he mused to himself and then put it down on the table ever so suddenly. He was serious earlier when he decided not to invade her privacy.
The young man took a deep breath and relaxed in the seat, trying to forget about the key and the locked drawer.
He slid the key off the table and held it between his fingers again, gently and carefully observing it. Seconds turned into minutes, where his mind tried hard to fight the thoughts of what could be contained in the locked antique drawer.
Then he snapped– losing every form of self control at that moment and found himself turning the small metal object in the keyhole. It took longer than expected; probably because he was turning it the wrong way for about an entire minute but it finally did open.
He unconsciously held his breath for a second as he tipped his head forward to look. Then he saw it– old sheets of paper and.
Eric reached into the drawer and retrieved the sheets of paper. It was her birth certificate. He casually read through it, wandering if she hid it there because she had one of those embarrassing middle names; would be adorable to watch her bury her face in embarrassment as soon as he began to tease her with it.
His eyes roughly searched the certificate until it landed on the slot for her name and he read it out loud. "Jennifer J. Mac Dougal." His brows furrowed in confusion. It couldn't be the name ... but there was her photograph right next to it. He read the name again‐ the same.
Eric's heart started to pound violently inside his chest. He felt confused and scared. He wanted to look at the sheets of paper underneath; just maybe it was a joke, but then he heard footsteps approaching and panicked.
Not knowing how exactly to react to the situation, he swept the documents at the bottom of the drawer and hoped she wouldn't notice it went missing from the pile inside. Then he placed it inside his leather pouch and sat at the desk next to the bookshelf like he'd been reading.
He watched steadily from the corner of his eyes as Beth slowly walked into the bedroom in her own graceful way, looking a bit beat; probably from a busy day at the church.
He couldn't meet up to help the other youths clean up and distribute grocery items and food to the needy– prom ... and college was at the door.
He trusted Beth had already informed the youth group and sure enough, everyone would miss him as far as he knew. It was because everyone loved Beth and a friend of hers was theirs as well and in this case, a lot of people were puzzled as to if he was her friend or they both were more ... and the youth group at church was certainly not excluded.
"Hey," Beth weakly muttered the ritualistic word of greeting as she walked towards him, stopping halfway in the bedroom to pull her boots off.
Eric watched her height drop by a few inches; she looked smaller. "Want a drink?" She offered, gesturing to the door and smartly attempting to get them out of the 'serene space of the bedroom.
"Uhh," Eric hadn't caught on to the idea yet. "Yeah." But he finally did and followed her downstairs.
As they climbed down the flight of stairs, he silently compared the Beth he knew and was looking at to the name he'd seen on the birth certificate which was probably a mistake.
He wanted to trust her ... desperately. He felt scared that she may turn out to be someone else; someone entirely different from the petite little mighty woman he'd grown to love.
His heart wrenched at the thought as Annabeth poured him a glass of cold juice in the kitchen. Mr Rodriguez walked in for his as well and left after fondly patting Eric on the back.
"You like?" She hummed the question as her little hands struggled to hold the large glass and place it to her lips.
"It's good." He replied bluntly and nodded without keeping eye contact. She nodded as well.
It felt like eternity as they sipped in the silence. Eric silently battled with finishing his drink and breathing at the same time. –but he finally did!– and he felt relief.
"So ... how was youth group?" He made conversation, still averting his gaze as he sat across from her on the kitchen counter.
"It was productive. We got all the hands we could get and everyone's really psyched that you're leaving for college and all," she explained.
"Good." He hummed in a lifeless tone.
"Good?" She repeated, searching his blank expression with her worried yet inquisitive eyes.
"Yeah. Good." He finally met her gaze with his and it burned– not the usual type he felt with her that was warm and unsettling. This was fierce and troubling; it was fear.
"And college preparations?- you're going with Viola, right?" Her soft voice bounced against his unease as he nodded at her question. Then she called his name. "Eric."
"Hmm?" He replied, circling his fingers around the edge of the glass cup.
"Did you open my drawer?" She asked rather casually– at least it sounded so in her voice until he met fury and hurt in her eyes.
WHO IS BETH??? 😨🙁
