Jess and Elliot were still conversing downstairs, but rather than going to my room and waiting like a normal person, I decided to eavesdrop.

They were still by the door, so I could only go so close, but they were talking loud enough that I could make out most of their words.

"But it's not for me!" Jess declared. "I just want to get married to you."

"Jess..."

"Fine, I get it, you don't love me," Jess suddenly said. "If you did then you would want to get married as soon as possible like I do."

"That's not even what I'm saying."

"It is."

"Jess, you're not even considering my feelings in this."

"I don't like arguing, so let's just stop," she dismissed.

"We can't just stop, all I did was ask for an explanation."

"Sorry!" Jess suddenly exclaimed. "There. Happy? I've apologised for changing the dates and making the wedding sooner."

"I don't want an apology, Jess, how many times must I say that."

Jess groaned and said a series of words, too low for me to make out, but judging by Elliot's expression, they must have been harsh.

"...and you only ever think about yourself," I heard her finish.

I couldn't believe she was making Elliot the bad guy. She was the one who was being unreasonable and inconsiderate. From what I could see, he didn't seem ready to get married yet, but then again, if he wasn't ready, why get engaged in the first place?

"I've already organised everything," she said, her voice suddenly soft. "And I ordered all the things you like. So it will be fine."

"It won't."

"It will," she said with finality then stormed past him before slamming the front door shut.

Elliot cursed. Then cursed again. Then leaned against the door and hopelessly cursed again.

He couldn't talk to Jess, that much was evident. She didn't seem to want to talk about the serious stuff and always walked away when things got heated. It was clear that he needed someone to talk to. He couldn't talk about anything serious with his fiancé, but at least he had his cousin. If he was willing to talk to me. I would listen.

I slowly descended the stairs but stopped by the last one and waited until Elliot looked up at me before speaking.

"Let's talk."

****

Elliot told me that Harley was likely to try and eavesdrop, so he connected his phone to his speaker and started playing a song. He placed the speaker right by the door before taking a seat on his chair.

I took his bed.

The only sound in the room was coming from the music, and it took a long moment before Elliot started speaking. He seemed hesitant at first, weary, but he looked like he needed to get whatever he was holding in, out. He needed an ear, and I had two.

"I told you that we started dating in the last year of high school," he began. "But what I didn't tell you was that I had been in a relationship before that, and it had ended that same year. I had started dating one of my best friends from primary school in high school, and I asked her out in grade 8. It's funny because we hadn't gotten along in primary school, she was one of the people I could honestly say I disliked, which spoke volumes." A small, sad smile spread across his lips at the memory. "Fast forward and we eventually stopped disliking each other, but we still avoided each other until grade 6, which was when we miraculously became friends.

"Grade 7 was when I started to like her, and grade 8 was when I asked her out and we became official. We were together all through high school, and I'd like to say those were the best memories of my life, up until they were the worst." Elliot paused and sighed before continuing, "grade 12 first term, she cheated on me, I caught her, she apologised, I forgave her. But then she did it again in grade 13 with the same guy, I caught her, but this time she didn't bother to stop making out with him."

Elliot let out a humourless laugh and something in me broke for him. That was deep. It was personal. And it was ten times more emotional because the next song to play on the speaker was a sad song. I was too afraid to say anything so I just kept quiet and listened.

"That was the first time I ever beat a guy up. The second time was at a beach," he said with a soft smile and a glance at me as if there was something I was supposed to get. "Anyway, that break-up broke me. It hurt. A lot. And the reason my friends dared me to ask someone else out was to help me get over her, so I asked out Jess, she said yes, and I got over Diane, my ex, for a short time. But the pain soon came back and eventually, I started feeling guilty because I was using Jess as nothing more than a distraction, but when I wanted to break up with her..."

"Her parents told you about her nasty breakup," I finished.

"Exactly. So when—" Elliot suddenly paused and his brows knit together. "Wait, what did you say?"

"What did I say?" I asked, confused.

"I didn't tell you about her parents telling me about her nasty break-up," Elliot said, deep in thought. "At least, not since the accident."

"What do you mean?" I asked, and then it hit me. "You mean I remembered something?!"

"I think so, yeah," despite what Elliot had just been telling me, he smiled. A real smile. "Maybe we should talk more often."

"And by talk more often you mean staying home from work to talk to me?"

"No chance."

"Worth a shot."

Our smiles slowly disappeared as the story caught up to both of us. Silence engulfed the room again and Elliot took a deep sigh before continuing. "Long story short, I find it difficult to end things now. I never should have entered a relationship as soon as I did, never should have used Jess as a distraction. I just... I can't find it in myself to end it. I know what it feels like, the pain, and Jess does too, and we've been together for so long, you know? I can't just leave."

"That's why she's rushing the wedding?" I asked, understanding. "Because she doesn't want you to run away?"

"Exactly," Elliot said then scrunched his brows at me again. "Wait, how did you know she was rushing the wedding?"

I blinked, trying to come up with a reasonable excuse but failing, so I settled on the truth. "I might have overheard a thing or two."

A ghost of a smile appeared on Elliot's lips, "the eavesdropping in this household."

I couldn't help my answering smile. "Oh, and before I forget, Jess gave me a bunch of invitations to give to you." Elliot turned serious again, and I immediately regretted saying those words. "I don't have to—"

"No," he sighed. "Let me see them."

It took me a second to remember that I had left them in Harley's room, but as soon as I left Elliot's room I caught a glimpse of Harley slipping into her room.

I snickered, knowing that she must have been struggling to hear anything over the music.