Chapter 4 Elena

Standing at her station in the teller line, Elana couldn't help but think of her dream last night. The feeling of the needles on the tattoo gun, Kris' lips on hers, the cool air brushing over her nipples... it felt so real, almost like she was reliving a memory. She held a far-off look, almost dreamy underneath her carfully curated customer service smile.. The next customer stepped in front of her, a regular. His smile screamed creep, but Elena never faltered in her smile.

"Welcome back, Mr. Richards. What can I do for you today?"

The man stood before her smugly, holding an envelope in his hand. "How about that dinner you promised me?"

Elenas facade cracked slightly before she smiled back and retorted, "I never promised you a dinner. I told you I am already seeing someone. And I don't date-"

Mr. Richards interrupted her, his empty hand slightly raised as if he wasn't accepting no for an answer. "No wedding band. No wedding bells. That means you are free to do whatever you want and go to dinner with whoever you want. So how about it?"

The southern lilt would have been charming on any other person, except him. Elana could feel the heat rising up in her face. It wouldn't be long before she snapped. Her hand fell to the counter, fingers curled around the edge just a breath away from the silent alarm. Her knuckles turned white from the force of her grip. She ground her teeth behind closed lips before giving her answer.

"No." she said firmly. "My line is closed. Please wait for the next available teller."

As the other tellers were on lunch, his wait would be quite long, but Elena didn't care. she had enough of this man's audacity.

With all the grace she could muster, she slid the panel closed and logged out of her screen before turning to march into the office where the Assistant Branch Manager was on a call. Quietly, Elena closed the door and waited patiently for her boss to get off the line.

After 30 or so minutes, Elena emerged from the office feeling a little calmer. The assistant was awesome and always knew how to handle these types of situations. Mr. Richards account was suspended for reson of misconduct and harassment. He did not leave a satisfied client today and hopefully would never come back. His relationship with the bank had been terminated.

'Serves him right,' Elena thought, returning to her work station. She signed back in to see she had multiple messages from the other tellers and bankers congratulating her on standing her ground. This put a renewed smile on Elena's face as she greeted the next customer in line to take care of their banking needs.

At lunch, Elena enjoyed some leftovers and a redbull. She held her phone up, watching some reels and flipping through social media. A familiar face popped up on her screen. Kris. It was a friend suggestion, and she sighed, clicking on the profile.

There were pictures of a dirty decade old truck tilted in a deep muddy hole, fishing pictures with her and her father, pictures of Ben, and many MANY pictures of Kris and Chloe together: at the beach a Renaissance faire, comicon, around a bonfire... Disgusted, she closed the site and put her phone down. She knew social media was a lie. It only revealed the best in any relationship and never the truth. She wondered if Kris and Ben were truly happy.

'It doesn't matter anymore,' she thought. 'Kris made her decision and drug her son along for the ride.'

She packed away her lunch and was preparing to return to the teller line when she heard a familiar ding. It was Liz.

'They want to sign me for the whole series! EeeeEEEEEEeeeee!!! I'll call you when I'm on my way home and tell you all about it! EEEEEE!'

Elena felt a surge of pride for Liz. This was a big deal for her. She had been working on her books for nearly eight years. Elena only hoped they offered her a good deal.

The rest of her day dragged on. Images of her dream danced through her head in between clients. Once the day was done, she sighed, counted out her till, and left. The ride home was fairly quick, and she listened to her audio book half-heartedly. She needed to write notes and talking points on the book for her fans, so she tried to focus on the fanciful story being spun in her ears.

'Real Reads by El' had really taken off recently. It took the better part of a year, but her fans really enjoyed her five to eight minutes of highly animated reviews of the books she read or listened to. Liz helped her record and edit her videos. She sat in on every one of the recordings, so Elena had someone to recount the stories to and make it appear that she was talking to a real-life audience. The more raunchy or dramatic the book, the more animated she got with her hand gestures, facial expressions, and opinions. Her fans ate it up.

Finally, at home, Elena opened the door to be greeted by a black monstrosity with floppy ears and a rapid wagging tail. It beat at the wall and thumped a nearby cat in the face. She squealed in excitement over seeing her dog greet her at the door as he did most days.

"Who's a good boy! Who's a good boy!?!" she squeaked in her best baby talk. "You're a good boy! Aren't you? Sit!"

On demand, the excited dog sat and stared intensely at her, waiting expectantly for the next command.

"Good boy! Touch!" Elena extended her hand out, and the dog booped his nose against her hand, tail wagging in excitement. "Mustache!" she lilted.

Extending a finger in front of him, the dog placed his nose on it and held it there, looking her straight in the eyes.

She giggled before exclaiming, "Good boy!"

She made her way to the kitchen, the dog trotting closely behind. She offloaded her dirty lunch dishes in the sink and poured herself some water. Opening the message app, she typed out a quick message to Liz.

'When will you be home?'

'Soon! Just finished up at the college and am gonna take 3 rides to make a few extra bucks. Gotta pay for the gas I used today. How was work?'

'Ugh.'

'That good, huh?'

'Yeeeah. Do I have to go back?'

'Just a little while longer, hun. I'll see you soon. Love ya!'

'Love u.'

Elena rummage through the pantry and freezer to grab something easy for dinner. She settled on potstickers and ramen. But first, she needed a shower. She felt gross after handling hundreds of thousands of dollars throughout the day.

Letting the water warm up a few minutes, Elena stared at herself in the mirror, making faces at her own reflection. Once under the steady stream of water, she let out a sigh of relief. The warmth saturated her skin and ran down her back and legs. She thought of the dream again, and her hand reached for her inner thighs. She relished in the feeling of her hand running down her skin, just above the sensitive area between her legs.

"Meeeoooooow!"

Elena jumped, startled out of her daydream. She snatched the shower curtain back to see a greying scrawny tabby with wide round green eyes staring back at her. It never blinked. Just stared.

"Damnit, Bell! You scared the shit outta me!"

"Meeeoow." she replied, lifting her tail and tap taping her dainty paws on the tile as she sauntered towards the closed bathroom door. Turning abruptly, she sat in front of the door, letting out another elongated meow, obviously demanding to be let out.

Annabelle was Liz' oldest cat. She was nearly sixteen now and had the attitude to match her age. Everything with that decrepit old cat was an argument or demand. On very rare occasions, she crawled up and laid on your lap like a boney four pound weight, purring softly and contently. Liz, and honestly, anyone who ever lived with them had a love-hate relationship with Bell. Even Kris loved her and would often swoop her off the counter to sing her to sleep in her arms or tote her around in the pocket of a hoodie while she danced to music on the radio.

"I'll let you out when I'm done!" Elena yelled back.

"Meow." was the simple demanding response. Annabelle curled up on the tile, waiting for her human servant to open the door.

Rolling her eyes, Elena finished her shower. Toweling off and dressing, she let the old feline ou. Elena began cooking her dinner. The aroma of ramen and potstickers filling the room and drawing the dog to the kitchen.

"Zeeeuuus... out of the kitchen."

With the saddest puppy eyes and the droopiest face and ears he could muster, Zeus backed out of the kitchen and plopped his rear on the carpeted hallway. He watched Elena expectantly, a string of drool dangling from his jowls.

As the food cooked, Elena grabbed her notebook and took notes of the chapters she listened to today and her thoughts on the story progression so far. She ate alone in the living room, watching an anime to bide her time until Liz called or came home.