A Girl In A Million

When Elsa walks into the living room the next day, both her parents and her sister are already up. Her mother is the only one who looks up as she sits down at the table. Breakfast has already been served and Elsa’s stomach growls at the delicious smells coming from the food in front of her.

“Did you come home late again?” her mother asks, her eyes following the movement of her daughter as she reaches for a slice of bread. Elsa ignores her mother’s eyes on her and starts to put butter in the bread.

“No, I didn’t. I came home in time,” Elsa replies before she takes a bit from the bread. That way, she won’t have to answer any more question, her mother hates people who talk with a mouth full of food.

“Why are you late for breakfast, then?” her mother asks, ignoring that her daughter is eating. “You know how much I hate it when we can’t eat together like a family.”

“Sorry, mum,” Elsa mutters. She’s holding her hand in front of her face so her mother won’t have to look at the food in her mouth. “I was just really tired. After the movie, Liam and I went for a walk and I guess that tired me out.”

“It better be all you two did,” Elsa’s mother warns her. Elsa can hear her sister Elizabeth scoff like she always does when their mother makes comments about Liam and Elsa maybe being more than friends.

It’s what Elsa’s mother is hoping for. Her mother really wants her oldest daughter to marry someone of their standing and Liam is the perfect candid. It won’t surprise Elsa if her mother prays for her to fall in love with her best friend every night before going to bed.

But she won’t stand for Elsa and Liam sleeping together before a wedding takes place of course. Her daughter has to be a blushing virgin on her wedding day, not a girl who’s already let boys see her naked.

“Yes, that’s all we did, mum,” Elsa replies. She lets out a sigh that ruffles the fringe hanging in front of her eyes. “Liam and I are just friends.”

“You really need to trim that fringe of yours. It’s getting too long,” Elsa’s mother comments. She ignores Elsa’s reply about her and Liam’s friendship like she always does. It is as if she thinks by ignoring what her daughter has to say about it makes it not so.

But it is like that. Elsa doesn’t see Liam as more than a friend. He’s a sweet guy and really not bad looking but she can’t make herself feel more for him than friendship. He just isn’t her type, unlike that Niall guy.

The Irish bloke hasn’t left her mind since she left the pub. He had been roaming around in her head the whole walk back home and had made an appearance on her dreams. He had played for her in the pub, with no one else around. He had leaned in to kiss her but then a bird singing outside of her room had shaken her awake.

Thinking about the dream, Elsa’s heart beats painfully, the way it had when Niall spoke to her for the first time. This has never happened to her before but she can’t say she minds. It’s quite pleasant, the feeling that you could float away any minute.

Elsa’s mother has returned to her food again. She must have realized her daughter’s head is somewhere else. Elsa wonders how her mother would react if she knew she was thinking about the singer she saw in a bar yesterday. She would probably get very angry and snap at Elsa about not mingling with the lower class. Her mother is really snobbish and she isn’t ashamed of it.

“Did you sleep well?” Elsa’s father’s voice suddenly asks from behind the morning paper. Her father always reads the paper during breakfast and only lowers it when he has to reach for more food.

“I slept alright,” Elsa answers her father. “A bird woke me up. He was right outside my window. It was a nice way to wake up.”

“But there’s no tree outside your window,” Elizabeth asked, her voice puzzled.

“Birds don’t only sit on trees, Eli,” Elsa tells her little sister. She smiles at the brunette sitting across from her. Unlike Elsa, she’s wearing a dress, something her older sister has stopped doing for the past five years. That is, inside the house. Their mother had refused to allow Elsa to wear jeans in public. Elizabeth has never worn jeans in her life. Their mother still has enough influence over Elizabeth to make her wear dresses even in the house. “This one was sitting on my window seal.”

“Didn’t it fall off?” is Elizabeth’s next question, once again reminding her sister isn’t the brightest crayon in the box. Even though she’s only three years younger than Elsa, she still asks questions a five-year-old would ask.

“I didn’t see it fall, no,” Elsa informs her sister. “I think its talons prevented it from losing its balance.”

“Oh, right.” Elizabeth nods her head and resumes eating her breakfast.

“I hope you remember I want to plan a party with you and your sister today,” Elsa’s mother reminds her. She’s finished with her breakfast and is now wholly focused on her daughter.
“Yeah, I remember, mom,” she tells her mother. “You’ve been talking about it all week.”

A week ago, her mother had told Elsa she was planning a big party for all the families of standing in London and she wanted her, Elsa and Elizabeth to organize and host it together.
Elsa had tried to talk her mother out of it, telling her she would be a terrible host, but she had been unable to convince her mother. So now, Elsa is stuck with having to organize and host a party. She doesn’t only have to unsure a bunch of snobbish people are having a good time, she also has to play nice with them. She’s just glad Liam is going to be there as well.

“Good, I want to start planning as soon as you’re finished with breakfast. We still have a lot to do,” Elsa’s mom tells her.

As Elsa finishes her breakfast, the rest of the family leaves the table. Apparently, they don’t want to wait for Elsa, not even her mother who was complaining about not eating breakfast with the whole family only a few minutes ago. Not that Elsa minds too much, she ’s used to her parents being far too busy to spend time with her now that she’s all grown up. Before she had graduated and started university, her mother never left her alone. She had kept telling her what to do and what was expected of her in the future. Elsa is happy that doesn’t happen anymore.

Fifteen minutes later Elsa is searching for her mother in the big house. It doesn’t take too long before she finds her mother as she knows all the places her mother is most of the time. Today, she’s in the reading room and Elizabeth is with her. Just like always, Elsa’s younger sister glows with contentment now that all of their mother’s focus is on her.

Elsa likes it when her mother pays attention to her too- even though her mother is a busybody and looks down on the lower class, she’s still Elsa’s mother and she loves her - but Elizabeth takes it up a notch. She’s eager for their mother’s attention and hangs on every word she says. Sometimes, Elsa wishes she was more like her sister because Elizabeth is growing up to be a woman just like their mother. She won’t be a disappointment, their parents will be proud of her.

Not that they’re not proud of Elsa. They’re chuffed their oldest daughter studies law and is good with their friends. But the problem is that that’s not what Elsa is. She’s not the perfect upper-class doll her parents think she is. She nods and doesn’t complain - she only did that when they wanted to stop her wearing pants - but on the inside, she’s screaming. Her perfect life makes her feel trapped, it doesn’t make her feel secure at all.

Because the world outside is changing and the old customs are dying. There’s a new generation who wants to do everything differently and Elsa, unlike her sister, belongs to that generation. It’s another reason why Elsa and Elizabeth are different and why the youngest will do their parents proud and the oldest will let them down eventually.

Elsa’s mother turns her head and smiles at her. “Come, sit down next to your sister. We were just talking about who is going to sit next to who at the party.”

So, that’s the kind of party they’re throwing. One with a food, wine and a lot of gossips. Elsa is going to have to hear whose daughter as fallen from grace this week or whose husband is in debt now. The upper-class ladies like nothing more than when one of them falls on hard times, it seems.

This is another reason why Elsa could never be open with them. She hates it when people land in trouble. She can’t understand why that would be something you enjoy. Maybe they enjoy it because the ladies are happy it isn’t themselves who are no longer Fortuna’s favorites. Elsa doesn’t know because she doesn’t think like they do.

Her mother goes on the explain what she and Elizabeth have come up with as Elsa sits down on the couch next to her sister but she isn’t paying much attention. She just nods as her thoughts wonderer off to Niall once again. She recalls how blue and intense his eyes had been as he looked at her. His mouth had been broad, his lips pink and so kissable. What would it feel like to kiss him? Elsa is sure he’s a good kisser, how can’t he be with a mouth like that.

Suddenly, someone is tugging at her blouse and when Elsa turns her head to look who the perpetrator is, she sees both her mother and sister are looking at her. Elizabeth looks confused, their mother looks irritated.

“I asked you something, Elsa,” Elsa’s mother tells her in a sharp voice. “I would really appreciate it if you could answer me. Where’s your head at?”

“It’s at nothing. I’m just still a bit tired,” Elsa lies. She gives her mother a smile in the hope her mother will believe her. “Sorry, what was your question?”

“I asked you if you wanted to sit next to Liam or do you prefer to sit with your father and me?”
Elsa doesn’t have to think about how to answer her mother’s question. “I would like to sit with Liam if that’s okay with you.”

“Can I sit on Liam’s other side?” Elizabeth asks before their mother has time to reply. She smiles at her mother with pleading eyes the way she always does when she has to persuade her mother to give her what she wants.

“I think it would be better if you sat next to Margret. my dear.” Apparently, their mother isn’t giving in to Elizabeth’s puppy dog eyes.

What goes unsaid is that their mother doesn’t want Elizabeth being in the way of the ‘courting’ she probably hopes Liam is doing. If Elizabeth wants to sit next to Liam, she would probably talk his ear off and he won’t get the chance to talk to Elsa.

“Why?” Elizabeth asks. She’s pouting, making her lips look even fuller.

“Because I say so. I don’t have to give you a reason,” is their mother’s curt reply. “Now let’s talk about food. I would really like to hear your thought about what we should serve, Elsa.”
The rest of the days is spent like that. Elsa’s mother asks her daughters about if they should let a band play and if they should invite few more guests or not. Elizabeth answers most of the questions, Elsa’s answers have to be dragged out of her. Her thoughts keep drifting and her mother keeps getting angrier.

Thankfully, Liam saves her before her mother can start shouting at her. He rings the doorbell and her mother sends Elsa downstairs. She has never felt more relieved to see her friend as when she opens the door. She drags him inside and mutters at him, “You have to save me from my mum.”

“It’s the party, isn’t it?” Liam asks with a snicker. Elsa had told Liam all about the party her mother wanted to plan with her and her sister. He’s the only one she can complain to when it comes to these kinds of things.

“Yeah. Now come upstairs and tell my mum you want to talk with me. I know she will let me go when you asks her.”

“Alright, I’ll try.”

Elsa is right. Her mother relieves her from her duty with a big smile on her face. Elizabeth looks a lot less happy when Elsa and Liam leave the room and Elsa knows it’s not because she doesn’t want to plan the party with their mother on her own.

Notes

Thoughts?