Ella's Oneshots

[Ella]

Fandom: - 
Summary: written for creative writing course, focus on dialogue
Words: 859

A Happy Family

            “Can’t you tell that little shit to stop calling you?”
            “That little shit is my son, Alex, so that would be a no.” He had to remind himself how Alex had even convinced him to come with him in the first place. Bloody guilt-tripper. Covered in snow, the graveyard was even less attractive than usual. Cynthia Dornann’s grave was one of the few at the far end of the churchyard which hadn’t been cleared out yet. The silver lettering carved into the matt black stone had faded to a faint grey, recalling some words from Matthew about eternal life. John had never known Cyn to be religious, but then again he had also spelled her surname wrong for the past sixteen years.
            “Why not? If my kid was calling me all hours of the day I’d kick his ass,” spat the boy, who was sitting to his right, his fingers clenched around the edge of wooden bench they’d been sitting on for the past twenty-seven minutes.
            John sighed. “He’s seven years old, and you’re telling me to kick his ass? I’m glad you don’t have a child yet.” He did at that age. “Besides, I’m not that busy, am I?”
            “Right you aren’t. Can’t your wife take care of him for like two hours?”
            “She is taking care of him,” he said. He didn’t mind the phone calls, and he stared at the lock screen of his cell. Twenty-eight. Don’t look at the stone. John felt certain some god was judging him for giving Teddy his phone number with the explicit instruction to call him if he needed anything. The little boy was home sick and it wasn’t as if his mum didn’t have work to do. Someone had to take care of him. “I like the stone.”
            “When was the last time you came here?” There was an accusation in those brown eyes. He didn’t inherit those from his mother, unlike his short black hair and the subtle freckles on his nose.
            “Fuck, Alex, I hardly knew her, you know that as well as I do. Did you ask me to come here just to make me feel like an asshole, or what?” He regretted the words as soon as they left his lips, and was glad to be interrupted by the Totally Spies theme song (Teddy’s idea). “Sorry, gotta pick this one up.”
            “Course.” Alex gritted his teeth, breaking anything close to eye contact they may have had in the past twenty-nine minutes.
            “You won’t – hey Teddy, how’s it going? Is mum with you?”
            “Of course she’s with him, don’t think she’s gonna leave your poor little seven-year-old alone unattended for a single fucking second, right?”
            “Don’t swear, Alex.”
            “Pots and kettles.”
            “I’ll be home in an hour, Teddy bear, give mummy a kiss from me.”
            “I want to puke.”
            “Then do so – yeah, you’ll get a story when I get back. Be good.”
            “That was the fourth time.”
            “I know.”
            “Couldn’t you just put it off?”
            “Why?”
            “It’s not as if he’s gonna tell you anything important. He’s seven years old.”
            “Exactly,” John said. “He’s seven years old, everything he says is important.”
            Alex scoffed. He stood up from the bench, kneeling down in front of the grave and placing a bouquet of white roses in front of the stone. “You know it would’ve been her birthday today, right?”
            The date was the first thing he spotted when he sat down thirty minutes ago. It explained Alex’s tie. He wondered who’d taught him the double Windsor. “Yeah.”
            “Did you, really?”
            “Stone says so.”
            “You fucking prick.”
            “I didn’t know her very well, haven’t I told you that a million times by now?”
            “Haven’t you told your precious little Teddy a million times what time you’ll be home?”
            “That’s not the same.”
            “Sure isn’t,” Alex sneered. “I know you didn’t know her very well. You didn’t know her at all.”
            “So –”
            “But you don’t have to be a prick about it. It’s my mum lying there. And it’s her birthday.”
            John looked down at his hands. Thirty-two minutes. Alex was right. He was being a prick. “You brought nice flowers, I’m sure she would have liked them.” He had no idea and seeing the way Alex shook his head, the kid knew it too.
            “Here we go, here we go-o-o-o.”
            “If it’s that kid again, I’ll swear I’m going to strangle him in his sleep.”
            “Pretty sure that’ll land you in some kind of juvenile prison.” John pressed the phone to his ear. “Hey Teddy bear.” Alex doesn’t turn around, but he can see his shoulders tensing. “I’m a little busy right now. Your mum can take care of that, and I’ll be home before you know it, okay? Love you.” He rose to join Alex’s attempt to stare the stone away.
            “Dad?”
            “Yeah?”
            “I called you yesterday. You didn’t pick up.”
            John put his phone in his pocket and sat down next to Alex, in front of the stone. His ass was freezing and he could feel the snow melting underneath it soaking his underpants. “Happy now?”
            Alex smirked. “It’s a start.”