The folks that lived next door to my brother's house, the Grorick's, were kind of… well, strange. They tried and couldn't seem to have children so they then brought their orphaned niece, Eleni, over from "the old country" when she was five. Her parents were killed in a civil conflict in her country during an uprising. A year later, the Grorick's had a daughter, much to their surprise (and mild disappointment at it not being a son). Six years later they finally had their son – at about the same time as my sister-in-law, Cindy, gave birth to my nephew.
"Blessed" with their own children now, they pretty much treated Eleni as a burden rather than as a part of their family. They quit buying her clothing, forcing her to wear hand-outs from neighbors, articles donated by folks from their church or stuff from second-hand shops until she could learn to sew her own. They'd quit home-schooling her at high school age because they didn't believe women needed more education. When the government forced the issue, they sent her to the local high school where she was quickly ostracized and ridiculed, forcing her deeper into her shell, even though she was usually on the honor roll.
The Grorick's pretty much kept to themselves, never seemed to have any friends or family visit, never seemed to go anywhere but work, they drank
a lot
and they fought almost every Friday and Saturday night.
Eleni was around 9 or 10 when my brother bought and began to renovate the beautiful old Craftsman house next to the Grorick's. Two years later, during the summer after high school graduation and just before I enlisted, they finally finished and occupied their new home. I stayed with them over that summer to help them get the place together before I had to report for duty and went off to "see the world."
When I returned after my 6-year hitch, I moved in with Brad and Cindy to save on money on college room and board costs. Brad was fairly successful and had a damn good income, so that Cindy didn't have to go back to work right away. She stayed home with their newborn baby boy, my nephew, Brad, Jr.
The first few weeks, I slept in a spare room in the house while Brad and I constructed an apartment over their detached, 3-car garage on the weekends. What we didn't get done then, I finished up during the week. Brad agreed to my renovating the apartment because he felt that I wouldn't want to be bringing home dates to "mom and dad" and wanted me to feel more comfortable on my own and in my own place.
My sister-in-law, Cindy, had an excellent career as well. She was able to work from home while she was on maternity leave. To ease matters and be able to concentrate, Cindy had the Grorick's niece, Eleni, over during the day to help her with the baby and with cleaning the house.
I didn't really remember Eleni all that well because she'd been so young, quiet, scrawny and shy then. This young girl apparently had been very sheltered because she had absolutely no social skills or taboos that I could see and felt she could come into any room of the house at any time, but she was a pleasant and interesting conversationalist – always polite and courteous.
Eleni would follow me around the house whenever she didn't have sitting duties or, when I was working on the apartment above the garage, she would act as my assistant and hand me tools when I needed them, make my lunch. Overall, she acted like a lonely girl with a huge crush that was enjoying the company of someone relatively her own age. I didn't mind, though. El was intelligent and well-read and, once you got past the accent and baggy clothing, she might even be considered cute.
As for myself, I'd not had a very good track record with girls in the past several years. It seemed that all the ones I'd really been interested in either never noticed me or, when they DID go out with me, it was only because they found out I had money (I'd gradually invested about $30,000 during my 6 years in the Navy, turning it into a cool $87,000 by the time I got out). I got used a lot and it made me angry. I mean, I was generally a nice guy, but we would date a couple times and they would eventually leave me for some asshole, then spent the rest of the time bitching about how much of a jerk the guy was. When I'd point out that
I
was a nice guy, they would laugh and say, "Yes, but you're my friend! Sex would only
ruin
our friendship."
Two weeks ago, I'd had yet another girlfriend break up with me because I was "too nice" and it put me in a pissy mood – not to mention leaving me horny because she'd found all sorts of excuses not to have sex or go out for three weeks prior to that. (Turns out she was fucking some new guy who was all muscle and no brain.) Carrie had been a sexual dream to me, willing to try almost anything and encouraging my passion; experimenting with all sorts of kinks and fetishes. Without warning, she dumped me for some Neolithic moron and told him that I was a mean and cruel bastard in bed and had hurt her. That was bullshit. She'd begged me to do those things, but the moron let me know that if I ever came
near
Carrie again, he would crush me.
Bitter and confused, I went to a bar to try and drown my sorrows, drinking about a dozen beers before heading home, dejected and angry. When I got in, Eleni was standing on the porch talking to my sis-in-law about her day. I gave them both a nod and headed up to my apartment. A moment later, Eleni knocked at my door.
"May I come in? Cindy is home and wants to sleep, so I can't watch TV there and I don't want to go back to my house right now."
"Sure. Make yourself at home," I replied, leaving the door open as I walked away. I went over to my laptop and tried to find some friends to chat with online, but no one was available. Eleni sat on the couch and picked up the remote, rapidly turning the volume down and flicking through the channels. She seemed to sense my mood and kept her distance until I felt like talking.
I grabbed another beer from the fridge, popped it open and sat next to her on the couch as we watched some silly movie. When I began to talk during a commercial break, she shut the TV off and gave me her full attention. Maybe it was her empathy that helped me open up, venting all my hostilities or maybe it was because she intrigued me with those dark, mysterious eyes. Any way you look at it, I talked; she listened. After a bit, I excused myself and headed for the toilet to pee, continuing my conversation since the bath was the only other room in my studio. I thought she'd simply stay on the couch and listen as I talked. Eleni, of course, followed me in.
