FOURTEEN—SECRET-KEEPER
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HE FURROWED HIS eyebrows. "You're letting them stay?" He held his hand up in the air, a gesture that would have been harmless, had a gun not still been in his hand, probably loaded and ready to fire.

"Would you put that thing down?" I cringed, holding out a hand and taking a step back. I got virtually nowhere, though; I'd chosen to pull him into the linen closet furthest from the living room where my parents ended up. Given the stiflingly small space, my attempt at widening the distance between us was futile, pushing my back gently against the cold wall. "How did you even get it, anyway? I seem to remember that you avoided that certain question." I tried to cross my arms and jut a hip to one side but the narrow closet prohibited me from doing so. I only got as far as a twitching movement of my hips, stopped by the door to the closet.

Bucky cocked an eyebrow. "I've had them since I got here. In my room."

My room. How sweet. Hold on. Them?

"There's more than one?" I hissed, hoping my absence from my parents' eyesight hasn't been long enough to be unusual. Then again, I was supposed to be home alone. Arguing with a 1940s ghost story in my linen closet took it a little off schedule. I shook my head lightly. "Never mind. We'll talk about it later."

He sheepishly put down the gun, putting the safety back on and stuffing it in the waistband of his jeans. "Sorry," he whispered hastily, "I just thought..."

"I know. Me too."

He sighed shakily, his hot breath clouding my senses for a few glorious moments where I wasn't stuck in a closet with my parents nearly twenty feet away, unaware of anything out of the ordinary going on in their daughter's house. Where I wasn't me and he wasn't him and we were just two people, a measly six inches apart, so close I could touch him, hold him, if I so desired. 

But no. Life was much more complicated than that. 

"Your parents." His voice, had it been at a normal volume, would have instilled an icy waterfall down my spine. "Did you know they were coming?"

I shook my head vigorously, anxious for the coming days to play out. "No, I swear. If I did, I would have told you."

"Why are they staying?"

My eyebrows furrowed. "They're my parents."

He stared at me in the darkness. "So?"

I lifted my eyebrows, trying to relay a message without making too much noise. "So," I drawled in a loud whisper that threatened to float outside into the hallway, "I can't just send them back to Arizona. They flew across the country to see me for their anniversary."

"That you forgot," he pointed out, taking a hot poker and stabbing me through the heart with it. 

I rolled my eyes. "Thank you for that kind reminder." Waving a hand dismissively, I continued, "As far as they know, I've been living alone without a job, tending to my garden and being an anti-social lump of skin and bones."

His nose scrunched up in gentle disgust. "That's a bit morbid."

Nodding, I crossed my arms. "If it weren't for their money helping me out, I would have been out on the streets a long time ago, and you wouldn't have even met me." I pointed a finger at his chest, nearly brushing my fingertip against his shirt. 

"That doesn't give them an excuse to degrade your successes."

I covered my blush with a light chuckle. "There you go again. Dropping your wise words like it's nothing."

Bucky scoffed. "Forgive me for telling the truth."

"They're my parents," I repeated, "I owe them everything. For the next few days, you're just gonna have to...lay low. Stay out of sight."

He shifted on his feet, seemingly uncomfortable. "Nothing new, then."

My shoulders drooped. "I'm sorry, Bucky. But it'll only be for the weekend. Once they're gone, everything--"

"Elda!" I heard a muffled call for me, presumably from the living room where my parents were. 

I let out a breath. "That's my cue," I said begrudgingly. "Just stay in your room...or something. I'll get you some food later tonight." Then, more to convince myself than him, "It's all gonna be fine. We'll get out ahead of this. They won't find out."

As I opened the closet door and distanced myself from the warm space by Bucky, I felt my stomach clench in anxiety. Oh, how I hope they won't find out.

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When I entered the living room, I found my dad standing up, holding a remote and repeatedly pressing the 'on' button, then smacking it against his palm in an attempt to solve his problem. Spoiler alert: it didn't. 

My mother, however, who was on the couch, turned around to meet my eyes. "Where'd you go?" She asked and then pointed to Dad. "He can't figure out the TV again."

Dad mumbled something unintelligible, but his tone was laced with frustration. "The batteries are out again. Just like last time."

I shook my head. "No, Dad, you're using the wrong remote. That's for the movies, not the TV. Here, use this one." I reached for the correct remote, handing it to him. The screen switched on immediately. Dad only huffed, unable to accept that he was wrong.

A characteristic that, conveniently, ran in the family. 

"What took you so long?" Mom asked again, and I was unable to avoid the question.

Well, I was actually hiding in my linen closet with a trained, one-armed assassin from the 1940s who just so happens to be on the run from the CIA. Just the usual stuff, nothing strange at all.

"Uh...the bathroom," I said, stuffing my hands into my pockets. Great save, El. 

My dad turned to look at me, eyebrows raised in alarm. "You should probably get that checked out," he said calmly, in all seriousness. 

I blushed furiously and sat down in a chair. While my eyes were on the television screen, my mind went straight to Bucky, wondering where he was and what he was doing. Hoping that he wouldn't pull any stunt that would cause everything to crash and burn around us. Of course, I couldn't really do anything about that while I was sitting here with my oblivious parents. 

How good it felt to be lying straight to their faces, hiding something right under their noses. 

"Aren't you going to ask us if we'd like something to drink?" Dad interrupted my thoughts with his raspy voice, jerking his head in the direction of the kitchen. 

It took all of my willpower to keep a string of curse words from falling off my tongue. I clenched my fists for a second, then put on a sickly sweet smile and asked, "Would either of you care for a refreshment? Your options are water or hydrogen monoxide."

"Don't be smart, Elda, it's rather unattractive," my mother scowled at me as I stood up to fill two glasses of water.

"How many times do I have to tell you," I sighed, handing them the cups and putting my hands on my hips, "I'm just fine on my own. I don't need to be in a relationship, I'm not looking to be married just yet."

Mom sipped her water. "You know, I got married when I was twenty-two," she said, winking. 

I shook my head. "The answer's still no. I'm not looking for a life partner right now."

Bucky's face flashed in the back of my mind. An angry wave of confusion wiped it away just as quickly as it had come. 

Dad shrugged. "We're just looking out for you, Elda. We don't want you to throw your life away...like Cade did. We love you, that's all."

I nodded solemnly, the intentional mention of my brother acting as a punch to the gut. "I know." I sat down in my chair again and folded my legs beneath me. You've got a hell of a way of showing it, I grumbled inwardly. 

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thank you sincerely to uhhhsteve for kicking my ass and getting me to write this chapter. ren, you're the real og. (and spideyshots -celiasx , here you go loves, i told you i'd publish tonight!)

also, i have posted a contest under my book, 'get help'. if you are interested in entering(please do, i have like two entries so far), there's still plenty of time left to write a chapter/part/scene for the prompt! ten days until the deadline of june 6th, 2018! if you know of anyone who might be interested in entering, tag them in a comment on the post of the prompt, 'angst' in my book 'get help,' as said before. please please please enter, it will be so rewarding and super fun!

thank you for reading this long overdue chapter, i am so sorry it took two weeks. it will (hopefully) never happen again! love you guys!!!

xoxo laura

published on: may 28, 2018