Faye and Eli - Chapter 1: "Oops"
The sporty little Chevrolet Z-24 pulled up outside the sprawling red brick institutional building with the sun dipping below the horizon. This far north, the early summer days were already getting long, so even though the official part of the highschool party was winding down, there was still a glow of dark amber as twilight succumbed to night while young men and women practically swarmed out of the doors. Dressed in their finest, rented tuxes and dresses that had cost her daddy a week's wages or had been saved for over two summers of work, music faintly heard through the doors as prom night came to an end.
Sipping take-out coffee from a bright red paper cup, Eli had been stuck behind a rented limo for a few long moments while a quartet of kids piled in, hooting at their classmates. He finally caught sight of his cousin Faye, with her friends as they came out of the school, laughing and dancing to the music still echoing through the hallways. She'd been looking forward to it all spring; prom was supposed to be the best night of the year for seniors, like eighteen-year-old Faye, but she couldn't help feeling like it would have been better if she hadn't gone alone. She hadn't been asked by anyone, despite being a pretty young woman. She suspected it had to do with the fact that she was allegedly 'intimidating' to guys her age.
Faye was, like most teens, mercurial and thought she knew everything. Like many her age, she already felt disappointed by the world, adopting an outwardly nihilistic viewpoint that had ended up with most of her friends being goths or art kids. The goths had pretty much sworn off prom, and the art kids were nice but it was a distant niceness that meant there wasn't a spare date to be had. In the end, her cousin had taken pity on her and offered her a lift, otherwise she'd have been the pinup on public transport and that came with a host of potentially undesirable situations.
Now, as Eli waited, the trio of girls stood chatting sharing the memories of the evening and he watched them as the car crept closer to the school entrance. They giggled, surreptitiously passing a small flask back and forth, careful to avoid being spotted by teachers or parents picking up their teens. He spotted a flash of light reflecting off the surface of the silver flask and knew all too well what that meant, as he came to a stop and leaned across to unlock the passenger door for Faye. She said a quick goodbye to her friends before tottering his way, heels unstable on the worn concrete sidewalk.
"Hey cousin, I grabbed you a coffee. Thought you might need a pick-me-up after your big night out," he said as Faye climbed in elegantly, careful not to flash anyone or pull the bows that held the tight, black backless halter neck dress in place; the dress made her feel sexy and dangerous. She'd ordered it from a pinup girl clothing website out of their clubwear section, utterly transfixed on the idea that she would wear a floor-length backless gown like some sort of femme fatale. Faye loved the archetype - a feminine and ruthless woman that played the game just as well as a man, often besting them, to the delight of her suitors.
She routinely absorbed movies with femme fatales as central characters, wondering why they never seemed to get the man; more to the point, they never seemed to need the man. It wasn't a lesson she'd learned yet, but she'd adopted some of the mannerisms of her idols and had ended up as a rather precocious young woman. Because of her fixation with the femme fatale look, when she stepped into her heels she felt transformed into a better, more glamorous version of herself.
Pulling out into the line of slow moving traffic that had locked up the parking lot, their faces lit by the tail-lights in front of them, he asked, "Did you have fun? Seems like a good crowd made it out tonight."
"Prom was fine, there were a couple of people who got super drunk and decided to mosh, and they played Cotton Eye Joe at least twice... but aside from that it was good. The food was nice," Faye added at the end, remembering how her mom always told her she complained too much so she chose something nice to end on.
"Thanks for the coffee, you even remembered my order." Faye smiled, impressed that he'd remembered that she was a French Vanilla girl.
Eli had always tried to be kind and thoughtful. He wasn't book smart the same way that Faye was, never did particularly well in school, but he was good with his hands. Back in highschool, he always ended up in tech classes like shop and autobody and the pretty goth girls or cute little art girls never gave him a second look, even though they were exactly his type. Lots of guys in those courses would give you the shirt off their back, even if they were rough around the edges.
He was like that, the kind of guy who would pull over and help change a flat, or come by on a Sunday to help move furniture out of the basement. The kind of guy who would give up a Friday night to pick up his little cousin after her prom. Those haughty girls never knew what they were missing.
Faye was different: she had noticed. That was part of the reason that she and Eli got along: she noticed when he was going out of his way. Faye wasn't used to people going out of their way to help her so when Eli offered to pick her up after prom, she was pleasantly surprised. Faye saw Eli as the cool older cousin, the one that she knew she could be honest with and not risk getting told off for doing something she shouldn't.
Faye felt like she could be herself around him, and as a self-conscious goth girl with ambitions of becoming a femme fatale, being herself was a precious opportunity. She bloomed into the best version of herself around Eli: gregarious, sweet and soft-hearted, though she'd never admit as much.
"Yeah, of course I remembered, you mentioned it twice at the family reunion in the spring and then Uncle Ray still totally fucked it up. Anyway, it's the least I could do. I'm glad you had fun and at least you didn't get too drunk," he said, gauging how much of a bad girl she really was.
"Oh my god, Uncle Ray fucked it up sooo bad," Faye laughed. "I'm not too drunk, no; but don't rat on me anyway," she grinned. "I had a little bit, but I knew you were coming to pick me up, so I wasn't gonna get slaughtered."
Kittenishly, Faye curled up in the passenger seat, facing her cousin as they drove through the dark streets towards home. She liked going for rides, just travelling for the adventure itself, and it was nice to have Eli with her for company in the low slung little coupe. He had a way of just being there at the right time, when she needed someone - he was consistent and calm in a way that she never experienced in her home life. She enjoyed spending time with him and just talking about whatever, so her tired, overstimulated brain could rest while he was there.
Sipping the sweet coffee appreciatively, she stole a glance over at him with a smile. "Thanks for doing this, by the way. You didn't have to go out of your way, but you did. That's cool."
Faye looked equal parts gratified by the subdued way he'd met her, happy to see him and nervous that she was going to look like an idiot in front of the coolest guy she knew. She twisted some of her dark hair between her pale fingers, sipping on the coffee as she tucked herself up in the seat better.
