You have twelve minutes left, E lvis!
I lock my phone screen, shaking my head and laughing to myself.
Phil is so impat ient.
Getting to the bottom of the stairs, I hear chatter coming from the kitchen. My parents must have come home while I was sleeping.
I walk in to find them standing by the large window, staring at the beautiful view of West Vancouver. Unsurprisingly, I hear the sound of Elvis Presley’s voice, softly playing from the speakers that stand on either side of the French doors. My dad has his big arms wrapped around my mom while she leans her back against his chest, laughing at something he said to her just before I walke d in.
She always looks so small beside him. Many women find my dad attractive, and my mother never seems to pay any mind to it. He still turns heads when he walks the streets, but she is always so confident in their love; besides, my mother is a beautiful woman as well. It makes me pretty angry when I see men stare at her, but I would never let my mother witness me fighting anyone. It would tear her apart. She would even jump and squeal when she came to observe Adam and I playfighting in the gym as part of our trai ning.
It looks like my parents have started their own celebration for the weekend since they each have a glass of red wine in their hand. I smile, standing by the huge kitchen island, and clear my th roat.
“Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad,” I finally say. They both turn around quickly to look a t me.
“Hi, sweetheart,” my mother says. She smiles, walking towards me, and I meet her halfway and give her a kiss on the c heek.
“Mmm, you smell so nice, Elvis,” my mother says.
“Thanks to me. I can smell the cologne I picked out for you from upstairs. Go ahead, tell me how much you love it,” says Allison, appearing behind me with Logan at her side. I turn to them and shake Logan’s hand. “I love it very much, Alli,” I say. “H appy?”
“Very!” she responds, smiling back.
“Where are you off to?” Logan asks.
“I’m going to Glowbal Grill with Liam and Phil to meet some friends from school. You two want to joi n us?”
Logan looks at Allison questioningly to check if she would be interested and, of course, I already know what answer is co ming.
“Yes!” She is bouncing with excitement. “We were going to watch a movie downstairs, but this sounds like a much better plan.” She looks at Logan with a smile still on her face.
“Sure, babe. If you like, we ca n go.”
“Great! We’ll get changed and meet you there,” she says and takes Logan by the hand, leaving the kitchen in a h urry.
I can hear Adam and Natalie’s voices coming down the hall towards the kitchen. Adam is the first to appear, then I see the tall blonde walk in behind him. They truly are a good -l ooking couple. If Lizzie had never encouraged Adam to invest in what he loves to do, he would have never opened his own gym and met Natalie. He always wanted to find his soulmate, just like Mom and Dad did, and now he had.
“Where is everyone off to tonight?” Adam says with a laugh. “Must be good since we just saw Alli bouncing pas t us!”
“Your sister is full of life,” my mother tells us, looking up at Adam as he kisses her fore head.
“I know, Mom. It’s nice to see,” he says, then looks my way for an answer to his ques tion.
“We’re going to Glowbal G rill.”
“Oh, you’ll love that bar,” Natalie says. “It’s one of the best in town.”
My father clears his throat and looks at me with concern. Given my temper, he’s never been fond of me going to bars. I ignore him, lifting myself up from my position at the counter, and grabbing my car keys.
“I’m sure it’s a nice place. It’s the first time we’ll be checking it out. Would you two like to come along?” I ask.
“We will next time. We’re heading up to the cottage to ski.
Whistler is gorgeous this time of year,” Natalie says, smiling at Adam who smiles back at her lovi ngly.
“I assume you’ll be taking the four - b y -f our , Adam,” my father says in a deep, commanding voice, giving Adam no other op tion.
Adam gives our dad a nod, knowing that’s the only choice. I use this as my opportunity for a swift exit and almost make it to the front doors when my father puts his big hand on my shou lder.
“Be good, Elvis. I don’t want any tro uble.”
My temper has settled down a lot over the past few years, apart from a few small brawls along the way. But my father knows me pretty well, and he knows how protective I am of Alli. And knowing that my sister is going to be at the same bar as me, I have to be extra cautious about not causing any trouble. As long as no one bothers her, I should remain calm.
“I know, Dad. I’m not going out for trouble,” I say.
Besides, the dream has certainly put me on a downer. I’m feeling in too much of a mellow mood to even care about causing any tro uble.
“You’ve been very good, Elvis,” my mother says, looking at my dad and giving him a calming look.
“I’ll try my best,” I say sarcastically, smir king.
“Elvis!” my dad barks with frustration in his eyes.
“I’m kidding, Dad. Relax,” I say, shaking my head.
My dad sighs and walks away from the front door as I make my way out, but my mother remains standing there, watching me leave. I walk to my car, open the door, jump in, and push to start the ignition to wake Snow White up from her beauty s leep.
I drive off with the music playing as loud as possible, trying to concentrate on anything but the past, since I keep getting flashbacks from my nightmare. Before that night, I couldn’t remember having a dream since I was ten years old. It’s strange that the only time I do dream, it’s about the girl, and now this new girl from school. If this starts to happen frequently, it
will drive me crazy. Dreaming about the girl I found and the girl from my class brings up two different emotions. How can my brain blend the two together? Let’s hope that this never happens again.
I shake my head to get all those thoughts out.
Minutes later, I turn onto Philip’s street. I look at the clock in the dash and see, to my satisfaction, that I still have a minute left, according to Philip’s timing. As I drive down the street, I can see them both standing out on the long driveway beside Liam’s sport -b lue Porsche 9 11 Carrera, waiting for me.
Philip must have parked his black Audi TT Coupe in the garage for the night. I’m not surprised to see them there. Phil isn’t exactly the most patient individual I know.
“You are so lucky you’re on time, El,” Philip says as he climbs into the back seat. “But if you were only two minutes late it would have saved me another fifty b ucks.”
Liam gets in and immediately holds out his palm with a big smile on his face. Philip looks at me, with annoyance framing his dark eyes, and shakes his head as he pulls out yet another fifty -d ollar bill and slams it into Liam’s open palm.
We don’t talk about it too much, but money is no object for Liam, Philip, and me. Liam’s father is CEO of the largest manufacturing company in the country. He and his younger brother, Steve, who looks like Liam’s twin, have had everything they ever wanted with the proviso that they commit to their schoolwork and volunteer as often as possible. Philip is an only child; his father came to Canada from Central Africa to study law, met his mother, and now owns the largest law firm in the province. Phil is following in his father’s footsteps with plans to take over the firm once his father retires. Adam, Allison, and I have a trust fund that will last us a lifetime, especially with the way I follow the stock market. Investments have always been my specialty. Although I still promised my father that I would attend university to achieve a degree in biology and give plenty to cha rity.