Chapter 82 - Memories

After some time, Alex calmed down and was now a little ashamed as she realise how much she had cried in front of everybody. She came out of Eliott embrace looking at him with a shy smile. Eliott shirt was all dirty with her makeup and she couldn't help to hide her face, knowing that all her face was a mess.

"Uhm, the bathroom please?" Alex asked, hiding her face.

"The door on your left" Eliott thought that she was really cute at that moment, he had already seen her face bare or even in a bad state, he smiled, thinking of the night she was drunk and had done all kinds of stupid things in front of him.

Alex run into the bathroom and washed her face. Now she was standing barefaced in front of the mirror and for the first time, she had seriously thanked her mother for giving her beautiful skin. Even without makeup, she was still presentable.

When she came, she stood in front of the door and take the time to look curiously at the room. 

"This is my bedroom," Eliott said, looking at Alex, "the room I have here since my first year." He added before getting up and walking toward his wardrobe and changing his shirt.

Hearing that it was Eliott bedroom, Alex was a little excited and started to look around with more interest in the eyes. She was happy because in that room were all Eliott memories and, she felt like just being there made her closer to him.

Since Eliott and she had been neighbours, and his home was basically her second home, it had not occurred to her that Eliott room in his apart was just a part of Eliott adulthood life, the true Eliott, his secret, his feelings were more in the room she was now. She did not know why, but he was quite happy and excited to be there. It was Eliott's little sanctuary, a place with all his boyhood memories.

The first thing that caught her eyes was a large glass shelf filled with all of Eliott's trophies, awards, medals, diplomas, and certificates, arranged by year, from his first year in elementary school to his college years. Alex could see what game or competition, Eliott had participated in each year since he was a kid. Looking at all these appreciations, she could easily guess what Eliott's favourite sport was, his favourite subject in school, which period of his youth he was happiest, or which year he disliked.

Also, another shelf just beside was filled with pictures of Eliott and his family when he was growing up. All thirty years of his life were represented there. Alex could somewhat accurately place all the major events that had taken place in Eliott's life, it was as if she had been there. She was happy to see all these pictures that showed every side of Eliott's character: sweet, kind, angry, naughty, serious, etc.

One picture of Eliott caught her attention, it was Eliott when he appeared in his teen years and was in the hospital. His head was all wrapped up in a bandage, he was lying there and seemed to be in a lot of pain. Alex could not help but reach out, take the picture off the shelf and look at it intently. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she did not notice how tears from her eyes landed on the picture. She didn't know why but that picture was making her heart hurt...

Eliott, who just had changed his shirt, found Alex looking at a picture in a daze. She even had a few tears on his cheeks. Eliott looked at her, frowning and approached her silently. He looked at the picture that could put Alex in this state and sighed.

"This is after Clyde blow that metal bar on my head," Eliott said, taking a seat on his bed.

"Seems like you were in a lot of pain?" Alex was snapped out of his reverie when she heard Eliott's voice.

"I do not know ... I don't remember ... Not important." He said, but Alex was still glued to the picture. "Come here!" Eliott called her softly. Alex walked over and sat down next to Eliott, still holding the picture. Eliott took it from her and put it on his nightstand. He didn't know why, but he felt the urge to take Alex in his arms, and he did without thinking, petting Alex to calm her down one more time.

"I didn't know you loved me so much that you would go so far as to cry just looking at a picture of me!" Eliott teased the woman in his arms with a sly smile.

Hearing this, Alex broke the hug and looked at Eliott sheepishly, "I wasn't myself! I don't know why I was crying myself, looking at this."

"Well, doesn't that mean your love is even deeper?" Eliott teased again, laughing.

"Your childhood seems very vivid looking at these pictures," Alex said, lying on the bed not minding her man teasing, she loved his smile anyway.

Eliott followed suit and lay down right next to her. "Yeah, I guess you could say that, I have nothing to complain about. I actually have a happy childhood, my parents went out of their way to make me happy, if I can put it that way. I got everything I wanted and since I have a good brain and was good at sports, I was basically first in everything. This made my parents even happier to spoil me! My late teenage years were a bit gloomier, but even so, it was not too bad either"

"Yeah, I could see that looking at the pictures"

"What about you? What was your childhood like? As sassy and smart as you are today, I bet you were not a quiet kid" Eliott asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Actually,  I was a really good kid back then, I was quiet and sweet. Growing up with both my parents, everything was good, my mom was really good to me, I was like the most important person in her life. My dad... " Alex paused after saying those two words, she remembered that the man was not really a father in her life, she cleared her voice and continued "Alan Porter my genitor was good to me too when he still was with my mother... Well, he did not have much choice since he had to fake his love to take over my grandfather's company. It was the happiest moment of my childhood"

"Did it get really complicated for you later?" Eliott could imagine the difficulties Alex had faced as a teenage girl without her mother, he couldn't imagine how his life would have been without one of his parents...

"When I was twelve, after the accident, I woke up at New Bell, at first I stay at home with my mother not really wanting to go out and meet people. I was scared of seeing men, even just walking beside them was hard for me. Mum took me to see a counsellor and after some time I got better. But I start to fear men touches. In my daily life, it was quite okay, but at school, it got me in quite a lot of weird situations, people didn't like me much because I started to be a loner just so I won't be in contact with boys. My face was another of my problems, the girls in my class were a little jealous because I was a little prettier and they all thought that I was just an arrogant girl! They had made my life quite hard to live at school" Alex said, looking somewhat distressed at the picture of Eliott in the hospital. Eliott also glanced unconsciously at the picture.

Eliott thought, 'is it why I am the only one who could touch her? Could it be because I save her that day? ' But he did not dwell on it and decided not to think about it, figuring it did not matter anyway since they were already together.

Eliott could not help but take Alex's hand, sensing that it was a difficult memory for her to think about what had happened. He squeezed her hand tightly to give her a sense of comfort. Alex looked into those beautiful golden eyes and felt a sense of security and could feel Eliott's warmth. She looked up at the ceiling and decided to continue with his storey.

"Fortunately for me, there was this girl who always got in a fight out of putting those girls in their place! Every day she finds a way to look for a fight when someone would talk ill about me... One day I asked her why she was like that, why doing all that for me when we weren't even friends? She just told me that I once help her!" Alex chuckled, thinking about that time.

"Was it Fidelia?" Eliott looked at Alex, who wasn't that sad anymore.

He had had the best childhood, he could ask for and when he heard Alex's storey he could not help but feel sad. He took his baby in his arms and gave her a small kiss on the forehead. Alex rested her head on Eliott's strong chest, feeling his warmth.

"After that day, I change my way of being, I couldn't let my friend get on a fight just for me. I promise myself that I will not be weak and I will face my illness and my new life bravely. I even managed to make more friends at school with Fifi help. My days at Uni were peaceful, ignoring the fact that people were trying to put me in their bed daily," Alex concluded with a sweet smile.

Eliott smiled when he heard that and remembered that he was actually the first for Alex. They didn't go all the way last time, but knowing he was her first was just satisfying.

Eliott tightened his hug as he played with Alex's soft hair. 

"We should go back, don't you think? I don't want mother to misunderstand me!!"