Dennis looked at the ground. “They’re the same.”
“No, they aren’t, actually. See, your online friends never do anything for you. They don’t visit you or call you or have coffee with you. They don’t feed you or let you stay with them, or do your laundry or take you out occasionally so that you see the sun. I do those things, and I’m happy to do it, but the one time that I needed you, you picked your online friends over me. Your sister.”
“It’s not like you didn’t get home. Stop being so dramatic.”
That was it. All the frustration that Elly felt over the past few months boiled up to the surface. Like a backdraft, she’d been sucking in the flames, night after night, and now, she was keen to explode. “Dramatic? You think I’m dramatic? Let me tell you what is dramatic. Showing up here, at my store, and assuming that I will take care of you. I’ve never met you, we’ve never even talked, and you just showed up and laid yourself at my feet. You became my responsibility, without ever considering how I might feel! Did you think that I had a life? Did you wonder if your sudden plea to care for the needs of a stranger might cause some undue stress in my life? Before you came, things were peaceful and easy, and now I’m up half the night listening to your troll raiding parties.”
“Those aren’t even a thing. You have no idea what you are talking about,” growled Dennis, his eyes widening.
“I don’t care. I don’t care about your games and your invisible friends! You don’t do anything around here! Would it kill you to wash a dish? Could you maybe do your own laundry? Could you leave the house once a week, maybe just so I can have a minute of quiet and space? Shower on a regular basis? Or maybe, I don’t know, I know this is a crazy idea, but could you maybe think about getting a job?”
“But, I don’t know anyone….”
“And you won’t, not until you try. You cannot sit in my guest room and waste your life while I try and hold everything together. And, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not.” Elly’s voice quivered. “I don’t have my dog. I don’t have my boyfriend.”
“It’s not my fault that Keith won’t let you visit his house. It’s not my fault that you guys are broken up because you won’t just talk to each other like normal people. I think you’re being totally stupid. Just because Aaron cheated on you forever ago doesn’t mean that Keith is cheating on you now. Also, Aaron seemed like a pretty cool guy.”
“Then why don’t you go live with him?” snapped Elly, instantly regretting her words.
Dennis whirled on her. “You don’t understand, do you? You’ve never understood.”
Elly put her hand on her hip, trying to calm her temper. “Then explain it to me, Dennis. Explain how I’ve done something wrong here, by opening my house to you. By providing for you. For trying to help you. Explain it to me.”
Then Dennis looked her dead in the eyes. “I hate you. You’re just like everyone else I’ve ever known. A shitty letdown.” Elly was shocked. The words had felt like a physical blow.
“Dennis! Do not talk to me like that in my home! What is wrong with you?” Her head was spinning with the implications of the word.
Dennis’s bright-blue eyes went red with tears and he began knocking things over on the table. “You don’t understand because you had a perfect life, with your perfect mother. You got the good parent, for no other reason than your mom chose to sleep with my dad, and because of that, you had a perfect upbringing. Tell me again how your mother sang you to sleep. Tell me how she had an amazing garden, and how you went to good schools and you never, ever knew what it was like to go to bed hungry or afraid. Would you like to know what my life was like with our other parent?”