Not Your Average High School Experience

Taking in a kid.

"Jamie, why don't you go shower in my bathroom and get warm? You know where the towels are and I have some clothes that you can wear right here. When you get out we'll get you some ice and I'm sure Elaine wouldn't mind setting you a bowl at the table as well." Elizabeth suggested while lightly rubbing Jamie's back, getting ready to reach out and pick the clothes up off the arm of the recliner only to see Elaine standing there with the clothes in her hand, offering a small smile. Elizabeth took the clothes before handing them to Jamie, who nodded before heading up the stairs.

Elizabeth watched her for a moment as she walked up, still looking towards the upper level of the house even when the girl disappeared from view. She only returned her gaze back to Elaine when she heard the bathroom door shut and then heard the shower start to run. When Elizabeth turned her attention to Elaine, she offered a soft smile, knowing it was fake because smiling was the last thing that she wanted to be doing at the moment. Elaine seemed to notice this and walked over, standing in front of Elizabeth as she reached her hands up and rested them on Elizabeth's shoulders.

"You want to talk about it?" Elaine asked while lightly rubbing Elizabeth shoulders, causing Elizabeth to relax slightly though when she started thinking about what that man did to his daughter she couldn't help but tense up once again. The image of Mr. Edwards laying his hand on his daughter caused Elizabeth to fume with rage. She couldn't imagine what it was like for Jamie to go home and fear a man that was supposed to protect her. The man that was supposed to teach her that there is no such things as monsters and that the boogieman doesn't exist, but instead he was the boogieman. He didn't hold Jamie when she had nightmares; he was the reason that she had them to begin with.

"Andrew, Jamie's father had been hitting her even ever since she turned 8. This year she turned 13. The man that is supposed to protect her from harm is the very person that is harming her and it pisses me off to no end. I can't stand just thinking about how many times that this man has done this to her and I haven't been there to help her. She came to me about a year ago and that's when I started doing whatever I could to try and help. I couldn't be there every time that he was angry, but the moment she called me, I dropped whatever I was doing and drove to her place so that she could get out and head to a friend's house or something. He'd eventually drink so much that he'd forget he planned on hitting her and it saved her from a beating. I-I just wish she didn't have to go back there and face that...that horrible man again." Elizabeth said while closing her eyes, shuddering slightly at the thought of what would happen if Jamie was to go back home. Elizabeth moved her hands from her side and rested them on Elaine's hips gently, sighing as she leaned down and rested her forehead on top of Elaine's head.

"Elizabeth, you've clearly done all that you can for Jamie. You can't be there for her every time despite how much you want to because she may not always be able to get to the phone, but the important thing is that you are here for her when she really needs someone. Like right now. You're offering your support for her right now and I'm sure she's more than thankful for that." Elaine explained while lightly rubbing Elizabeth's shoulders in hopes that it would relax her slightly seeing as Elaine could feel that Elizabeth had gotten a little tenser as they talked. Elizabeth didn't answer and Elaine didn't stop rubbing her shoulders. Elaine wanted to help and Elizabeth was slowly starting to calm down, reassured by the words that the woman had spoken and comforted by the feeling of her hands.

"You're right. I just want to be there for her as much as I can be because I don't like the idea of her own father harming her like this." Elizabeth said softly while slowly opening her eyes, lifting her head off of Elaine's as she looked down at the woman gently. Elaine smiled softly up at her, moving one hand to rest on her cheek before she leaned up on her tiptoes and gently kissed Elizabeth's nose. Elizabeth couldn't help but smile softly at the feeling of the kiss, lightly kissing Elaine's forehead in return before she took ahold of both of Elaine's hands. Elizabeth gently squeezed Elaine's hands as she allowed the woman to walk her to the loveseat where they both sat down.

Elizabeth looked over at Elaine, watching the woman pull her legs up under herself, leaning into the younger girl while she closed her eyes. Elaine rested her head on Elizabeth's shoulder and Elizabeth couldn't help but wrap an arm around the woman's shoulders. She kissed the top of Elaine's head and relaxed slightly herself, knowing that there was nothing else that she could do except wait until Jamie came back down stairs. While Elizabeth waited, she lightly rubbed Elaine's arm, still holding the woman as she patiently waited for Jamie to finish up her shower. Together they stayed curled up on the love seat until about 15 minutes later when Elizabeth heard someone clear their throat.

Elizabeth quickly turned her head to look over in the direction of where the voice had come from and found that Jamie was standing on the bottom step of the stairs. Jamie was wearing the large t-shirt that she had been given underneath the black hoodie that she had been given, both of which were long enough to have the end of the hoodie reach a little over halfway down the shorter girl's thighs. Elizabeth looked back at Elaine for a moment, gently shaking her before looking back at Jamie.

"I-I didn't mean to interrupt your time with your girlfriend..." Jamie said in a low voice while looking down at the sleeves of the hoodie, pulling at them gently while she bit her lip slightly. Elizabeth shook her head slightly, blushing when she heard Elaine being referred to as her girlfriend as she slowly stood. Elizabeth walked over to Jamie as Elaine also stood up. When Elizabeth got over to the girl, Jamie slowly looked up before practically jumping into her arms as she gave her the biggest hug she could manage. Elizabeth immediately returned the hug, lightly rubbing the girls back, just happy that she was okay.

"You didn't interrupt anything, we were just waiting on you to get out of the shower." Elizabeth said, after she pulled out of the hug slightly, looking at Jamie a little worriedly. Jamie seemed to understand this look and offered a small smile as if to say that she was okay. This was enough for Elizabeth to nod a little before starting to a walk over to where Elaine was. She offered Elaine a small smile and took hold of Elaine's hand while gently squeezing it. Elaine chuckled slightly before leaning up and kissing Elizabeth's forehead, questing that Elizabeth wanted something and Elaine had an idea that it had something to do with food. She didn't really know how she knew, she just seemed to know.

"Go spend a little time with Jamie, I'll bring you the ice and then I'll start setting the table. I'll come out and get you when everything is ready." Elaine said softly before kissing Elizabeth's cheek. Elizabeth nodded thankfully before watching Elaine walk into the kitchen. Elizabeth walked over to stand right beside Jamie, gently wrapping her arm around the girls shoulders seeing as she was almost as tall as the older girl. Maybe a few inches shorter. When Elaine came back, she handed a bag of ice to Jamie before both Elizabeth and Jamie walked into the garage.

When they were in the garage, Jamie looked around for a moment, putting the ice on her lip before she looked over at Elizabeth. Elizabeth raised her eyebrow slightly before looking around as well. After a moment of looking around, trying to see what Jamie must have seen, Jamie just laughed. Elizabeth looked at the younger girl and raised her eyebrows once again before smiling slightly.

"Liz, you mind if we just listen to music and dance like we used to do when I was in 6th grade?" Jamie asked softly, causing Elizabeth to smile even wider. Nodding, Elizabeth walked over to where her Ihome was over beside the recording equipment, pulling out her phone and setting in on the doc. Once her phone was on there, she quickly scrolled through her songs before coming across one that she knew Jamie would like. "Good Girls" by 5 Seconds of Summer. It was a song that they both had found they liked when Jamie was a little younger and they really could dance to it.

The moment that the song started, Jamie smiled happily and set her ice on the steps that they used to get to the garage, waiting for the right time to start dancing. However, before the dancing part arrived, both Jamie and Elizabeth were singing along to every word of the song, having a wonderful time. When it was time to dance, they danced around the garage like they didn't have a care in the world, singing along with the song as they did so. Elizabeth was smiling happily and she was sure that Jamie was doing the same. This was exactly what Jamie needed at the moment. Some fun.

Together, they danced for the whole song, Elizabeth walking over and turning the volume up once the song restarted. They didn't bother changing the song because they were perfectly happy with dancing to that one once again. About halfway through the song's second time playing, Elizabeth suddenly heard someone laugh, the only reason that she had picked it up over the sound of the music was because she knew that the laugh didn't belong in the song. Looking over at the entrance of the garage, Elizabeth blushed slightly when she saw that Elaine was standing in the doorway, smiling while she held a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing any further. Elizabeth just blushed a little deeper and bit her lip slightly before looking over at Jamie when she noticed that the younger girl was walking towards Elaine.

Jamie smiled widely as she reached out and took hold of Elaine's free hand, gently pulling her down into the garage before starting to walk her into the area where they had been dancing. Letting go of Elaine's hand, Jamie started dancing once again, clearly wanting Elaine to join in. Now it was Elizabeth's turn to laugh and she did just that. Giving a laugh, Elizabeth walked to stand by Elaine, gently bumping the woman with her hips before she herself started dancing once again. It took Elaine a moment or two, but she soon started dancing as well, now meaning that all three of them were dancing without a care in the world and they couldn't have been happier.

Soon the song ended for its second time and Elizabeth walked over, getting her phone and turning off her Ihome before walking over to Jamie. Elizabeth gave the younger girl a hug before the three of them heading back inside and then walked into the dining room. Once they were in there, the three of them sat down and started eating to soup that had been set out for them, not saying anything as they warmed up. When they had all finished, Elizabeth had noticed the Jamie was looking a little tired, having fought off a few yawns during dinner. As they all started to get up, Elaine offered to clean up and Elizabeth thanked her before walking over to Jamie, wrapping an arm around her shoulders before leading her to the couch in the living room.

When they got to the couch, Jamie rubbed her eyes slightly before sitting down, Elizabeth moved one of the couch pillows to where Jamie could lay down on it and then offered the girl the blanket that had been on the back of the couch. Jamie smiled softly before laying down, covering herself up with the blanket while she closed her eyes and rested her head on the pillow. Elizabeth was getting ready to walk back in the kitchen when she suddenly felt a hand grab her own. Turning around, she saw that Jamie had grabbed her hand and soon spoke softly, asking if Elizabeth would stay until she fell asleep. Elizabeth nodded and sat on the edge of the couch, moving her hand to lightly rub the girl's back while she tried to sleep.

Elizabeth kept this up for about 10 minutes until she noticed that Jamie was sleeping peacefully. Smiling gently, Elizabeth moved her hand to move some hair out of Jamie's face before gently getting up so that she didn't wake Jamie. Once she got up she walked over to Elaine who was currently washing dishes in the sink. Sighing slightly, Elizabeth walked over and wrapped her arms around Elaine's waist, leaning down and gently kissing the woman's shoulder.

"I wish there was something else that I could do for her. Take her in or something so that she doesn't have go back to the horrible place." Elizabeth said softly while gently resting her chin on the top of Elaine's head. Elizabeth watched as Elaine kept washing the dishes, not really answering for a moment. When Elaine started drying the dish that she had just washed, she finally spoke up.

"Could you really take her in? I mean, wouldn't you have to talk to your parents and see what they say? It would mean that they would have to feed another mouth and make room for her somewhere in the house." Elaine said softly as she soon set the dish to the side and then went back to washing them. Elizabeth had thought about having an extra mouth to feed quite a few times, seeing as this wasn't the first time that she had considered taking Jamie in as a little sister or something. That would just mean she had to work a little more at the bar on the weekends and would need to find a way to make sure that Jamie was okay while she was away, but really having another person in the house would be a good thing. Elizabeth would finally have some company that she could do things with and have someone that she could spend time with.

"I could call them but I'm sure they won't mind. Hell, we've got enough money to take care of just one more person and it would also give me someone to hang out with when they leave on trips." Elizabeth explained while lightly squeezing Elaine's hips. The woman nodded a little before shrugging.

"The call is theirs. If they say no, at least you were thoughtful enough to think of opening your own home to her and if they say yes, then you will have saved her from anything harmful that could have possibly happened to her in the future." Elaine said softly as she soon started to finish up with the dishes. As Elaine was starting to dry the remaining dishes, Elizabeth couldn't help but keep thinking about taking Jamie in and having her away from the man for a long time. After a moment of standing there, Elizabeth told Elaine that she would be right back before walking into the dining room, pulling out her phone as she went.

After pretending to have a phone call with her parents, Elizabeth walked back into the kitchen and was immediately met by Elaine's gaze. Elizabeth bit her lip slightly while walking over to where Elaine was standing, soon wrapping her arms around the woman's waist.

"I don't want to bother you with something like this, but I really need to go get her things. My mom said that it would be okay until they got back home. They plan on trying to take him to court so that Jamie doesn't have to live with him anymore." Elizabeth said softly, making up the words of her parents as she went. Elaine wrapped her arms around Elizabeth's neck and shook her head slightly as she leaned up on her toes and gave Elizabeth a small kiss.

"You're not bothering me with this at all and I'm more than happy to stay here with her. Go ahead and go get all that you think you will need for her. I'll stay her with her until you get back, I promise." Elaine said softly while offering a soft smile. Elizabeth thanked her several times before leaning down and giving her a gentle kiss so that her thanks were fully expressed. When the kiss ended, Elizabeth slowly let go of Elaine and walked towards the closet under the stairs. Opening the door, she reached in and grabbed three sports duffel bags that she had laying in there before walking to the front door to get her shoes.

Once she pulled her shoes on, she thanked Elaine once again for being so willing to stay and watch Jamie before she opened the door and charged out into the rain, heading to her car. Once she was in the car she tossed the duffel bags in the back, she buckled up before pulling out of the driveway. She intended to get as many of Jamie's things as she could and if that meant that she got to give the old man a taste of his own medicine, then that's what she would do.