The Business Trip, Chapter Eleven
Chapter Eleven
As they approached the young group, Kelly introduced her. “Hey, everyone. This is Lizzie!”
Whatever potential ideas to get out of this had been forming in Elizabeth’s mind disappeared entirely as the four tweens turned to look at her. “Umm, hey,” she awkwardly said. Considering that she had been mistaken for a twelve year old all day thanks to the disguise June had talked her into, Elizabeth wasn’t surprised that these neighborhood kids believed it as well. Embarrassing as it was, it was starting to feel easier to just go along with it. She would never see anyone here again, and it would be a whole different kind of humiliation if she convinced them that she was an adult, only for them to laugh about her current image.
“Know how to play Manhunt?” one of the boys asked.
Elizabeth hadn’t even heard of the game. She grew up in a smaller neighborhood, and her interactions with her peers were more school-based, or with extracurriculars. When she said that she didn’t know, the group gave her a quick overview. It was more or less a hybrid of Hide ‘N Seek and Tag. There was an old swing set in the yard that would act as the base one team was trying to get back to, while jail would be on the front steps. By the end of the explanation, Elizabeth more or less understood; she wasn’t particularly invested, plus the other girls could always clear things up if she needed them to.
Honestly, her main thought was the fact that she was supposed to be an important manager at their company, and she was about to play tag with a group of tweens.
“Who wants to hide first?” one of the boys asked, “Oh, what about boundaries?”
“It’s just teams of three,” Kelly said, “Let’s just do the front and back yard. No hiding inside or cutting through the house.”
“Got it,” he said, “Okay, you’ve got a minute. Ready?”
Kelly nodded. “Ready. Come on, Lizzie!” Once again, she grabbed Elizabeth’s wrist and began tugging her towards the side of the house. Either she was being hospitable and doing her best to include the new girl, or perhaps just taking the game seriously. As she circled around to the front with Elizabeth in tow, Kelly said, “Okay, now the boys think we’re hiding somewhere over here. Let’s circle back and find a good spot in the backyard. Then we can rush right to the base when they start looking for us.”
Elizabeth got her wrist back once they made it to the front of the house. She was tempted to abandon the game with the door right there, except what was she going to do inside? June said they would be there for a few hours, and Elizabeth had already reluctantly promised to behave. She was still relying on her assistant for so many things at this point, not to mention how she wanted to avoid any more punishments that June thought were appropriate while they were in these aunt/niece roles.
For now, she stuck with Kelly. The girl led her back around the house, where she peeked around the corner to make sure the boys weren’t cheating. After verifying that they were facing the opposite way with their eyes covered, counting properly and no doubt assuming that they didn’t need to cheat in order to beat the girls, Kelly pointed towards the edge of the yard. “Okay. You climb that tree and hide behind the trunk a few limbs up. I’m going to squeeze between the fence and the bushes.”
“Umm, can we switch?” Elizabeth asked. Just because everyone believed she was younger didn’t mean she was committed to the role. The tree Kelly was referencing didn’t have many lower branches, and Elizabeth didn’t totally trust herself to make such a climb. She could probably get up there; it would just be awkward and wouldn’t come nearly as naturally to her as it would to the rest of the group she was stuck with for the foreseeable future.
“No way!” Kelly exclaimed, “I’m wearing a dress. You’ll be fine, Lizzie! But be quick, okay? They’re going to be done counting soon!”
Peer pressure from a girl Kelly’s age really shouldn’t have been so effective on Elizabeth. But between the insistence, the encouragement, and the fact that it was boys vs girls, Elizabeth begrudgingly allowed herself to be talked into the hiding spot. All she had to do was climb up to the first limb, anyway. As soon as the boys started hunting, she could hop down and run to the base. It also didn’t really matter if she got tagged; while some part of her wanted to win against the other gender, the more mature side of her didn’t actually care about the game.
Heading over to the tree, as she also couldn’t argue with the fact that her shorts/tee combo was better for this than the sundress Kelly had on, she frowned upon finding that she couldn’t quite reach the lowest branch. Instead, she had to hug the trunk and plant her feet against it, hoisting herself upwards until she could reach. Even then, Elizabeth didn’t have the upper body strength to simply pull herself onto it. Instead, she braced herself there and continued using her feet to slowly shinny up the tree. It was exactly as awkward as she expected it to be, and she could only hope that June was still getting the tour inside, rather than on the back porch watching her struggle.
By the time the branch was actually supporting her full weight, she only had a few seconds to position herself behind the trunk before the boys announced that they were hunting. Right away, she could tell with a discreet glance towards the other side of the yard that Kelly’s plan wasn’t as simple as it sounded. While two of the guys split up, heading towards opposite sides of the house to cover more ground without anyone being able to slip around the other way, one of them remained at the base, guarding it from anyone who did manage to make it back.
Even as someone who wasn’t that invested in the game, Elizabeth thought it was a little bit unfair. Then again, the swing set was big enough that one person couldn’t cover the whole thing. It would be possible to get around him and make it back safely, though there was an equal chance of getting tagged in the process.
Elizabeth then looked down to where Kelly was hiding, pretty much relying on her cues since only one of them was familiar with whatever strategies were involved in Manhunt. She didn’t have to wait long. A few seconds after the two boys disappeared around the sides of the house, Kelly nodded and mouthed ‘Go.’
Getting down from the tree was a lot simpler. While Elizabeth didn’t trust herself to jump, she could at least use the branch to do the easy half of a pull-up and lower herself until her feet were brushing the ground.
As soon as she got there, Kelly jumped out from behind the bush and told her to run for the base. The two of them started out side by side, though it quickly became apparent that Kelly was the more athletic between them. Of course, the boy at the base saw them immediately, as there was nowhere to hide once they were blatantly in the middle of the yard. “Split up!” Kelly ordered, as they approached the swing set.
The guy guarding the base was either used to this maneuver, or quick on his feet. Choosing to go for the more experienced player, rather than the new girl, he ignored Elizabeth entirely and charged at Kelly. She tried to dart out of the way, but he managed to tag her before she could circle around to the other side of the swing set. Meanwhile, Elizabeth safely made it there, only for Kelly and their opponent to remind her that the game is only over when everyone gets to the base or everyone is in jail.
“Good luck,” he said, before walking Kelly around to the steps by the front door.
A few minutes later, he returned with the other two boys. “Both your teammates are in jail,” one of them said, “Want to surrender so we can start a new round?”
Elizabeth was able to connect the dots pretty easily. The only way to tag the captured girls out was to get past all three of the boys who now formed a semicircle between her and the rest of the yard. While she was safe while touching the swing set, it wasn’t possible to get to her team without instantly losing. So, they’d either stand there forever, she could try and fail to run for it, or she could accept the inevitable. It wasn’t much of a choice for a girl who didn’t want to be playing games with a bunch of teenagers at a BBQ anyway. “Whatever,” she shrugged, stepping away from the base and holding out one of her arms.
One of the boys gently slapped the back of her hand, tagging her and officially ending the game. “Want to get the others?” he asked the guy next to him.
“Sure. Be right back!” he said.
A minute later, the whole group was back together by the swing set. Kelly seemed a little bit annoyed that they lost and/or that Elizabeth had given up so easily, though she couldn’t really complain with the logic of it. “So, your turn to hide?” she suggested.
“Doesn’t your team get a penalty for losing so easily?” The guy asking seemed to be their unofficial team leader, mostly due to his immature arrogance. “Want to take a lap around the block? Admit that boys are better than girls?”
“Screw you, James,” Kelly rolled her eyes, “That’s not part of the game.”
“Oh, I know,” he said, “Why don’t we just penalize your weakest link? She didn’t even try to get you guys out of jail. How about . . . ” With that, he circled around behind Elizabeth and proceeded to pull her shorts down.
The pink shorts weren’t nearly as tight as the jean shorts she put on last night. Since she didn’t see the pantsing coming until it was too late, James was able to yank them all the way down to her ankles, revealing the plain pink panties June had picked out for her before bed. If Elizabeth hadn’t overslept, she definitely would have changed into something more neutral, though it wasn’t as if she expected anyone to see her underwear regardless.
All three boys burst into laughter, while she blushed and hurriedly bent over to retrieve her shorts and put them back on. She couldn’t believe he just did that! Even if she was a peer of his, which she wasn’t, a boy doing that to a girl was completely unacceptable. The fucking audacity!
“Pigtails and pink panties,” he commented, “No wonder you lost, Kelly. You teamed up with a little girl.”
As soon as her shorts were back in place, Elizabeth snapped, “Fuck you! I’m a fucking adult!” Deep down, she knew it was misdirected anger. June was the one she should be yelling at, rather than some teenager who was completely clueless to her situation. James just reminded her so much of some of the obnoxious guys from her own middle school years, and the frustrations of the day were finally bubbling over after suffering through a boy like him pantsing her like that. “Apologize. Right now,” she demanded.
Instead of apologizing, he laughed again. “An adult? You’re literally the youngest one here.”
“NO. I’m- Fuck you!” Before she could think her actions through, she lunged forward and gave him a hard shove. Her professional self would never explode in such a way, though it wasn’t as if anyone at work was ever teasing her like this. Still, she regretted it the moment he stumbled backwards. As the young adult that she was, pushing someone his age was definitely not okay.
Fortunately for her, he didn’t go far. Just because she was pissed off didn’t mean that she was suddenly strong, even with the weight of her body behind the shove. Unfortunately for her, his age and immaturity meant that he had fewer reservations about being physical with a girl. At least, when said girl was the one who started it in that regard. “Evan. Tabletop.” Before Elizabeth knew what was happening, one of the other boys was diving behind her as James rushed her and shoved her backwards.
She didn’t have the chance to stumble like James did, as Evan was on his hands and knees in a way that made her immediately trip and start falling with no way to find her balance. Kelly caught onto what the boys were teaming up to do, and tried to keep Elizabeth from crashing to the ground. All she really achieved was grabbing Elizabeth’s arm and screwing with the petite girl’s momentum. Elizabeth’s body twisted sideways on the way down and, without one of her hands to stop her, her face ended up colliding with one of the wooden support beams by the swings.
The whole group winced at what happened due to the unexpected shift in trajectory. Elizabeth would have simply landed on her ass if Kelly hadn’t intervened. Instead, she awkwardly fell sideways to the ground after smacking into the swing set, where Kelly ultimately had to let go in order to avoid yanking Elizabeth’s arm out of its socket after failing to catch her.
Elizabeth was stunned, and her anger briefly faded in favor of concern for herself. What if she had a bloody lip? Or a missing tooth? It was more her mouth than anything else that had smacked into the beam. She scrambled to her feet, reaching for her phone only to remember that all of her pockets were empty; all of her important things were back at the airport, unless they had reached out to June since then.
She turned to Kelly, who looked incredibly guilty for doing more harm than good by trying to be helpful. “Just . . . fucking tell me,” Elizabeth said. She didn’t feel any blood, nor a gap in her teeth, though her lips could still be swollen.
“Umm,” Kelly hesitantly said, “Can I see your teeth?”
Right. Elizabeth showed them to Kelly, belatedly thinking about how running inside and checking out the potential damage in a mirror would be better.
Kelly stepped forward, taking a look. “Oh. Well, it’s not that bad. You just- Your front tooth is a little chipped. The left one.”
Elizabeth checked the left tooth with her tongue and didn’t feel anything. For a moment, she thought Kelly was imagining things, until shifting over to the right tooth. Kelly had just been talking about her own left, rather than Elizabeth’s. Aside from the lingering pain of falling mouth-first into the swing set, it didn’t hurt to assess the chipped spot, but Elizabeth could definitely feel what the girl was talking about. “Oh, my God!” she exclaimed. Was a dentist going to be able to fix that?! These stupid kids just ruined one of her teeth. “You-” she turned to James.
“Hey, this isn’t my fault!” James said. He pointed to Kelly, “She’s the one who made you fall sideways. And you’re the one who started this.”
“I did NOT!” Elizabeth yelled. Okay, she pushed James first, but he had technically started it by being an obnoxious boy. “Do you know how fucking expensive this is going to be to fix? If it even can be fixed?”
“It’s fine,” Kelly said, “Your mom can pay for it. Or your aunt, maybe?”
No, they couldn’t. Elizabeth was an adult. She paid for her own dental insurance, which really only covered routine cleanings and the occasional cavity. And if June was too cheap to buy her an outfit or two for the weekend, she definitely wouldn’t be able or willing to pay for something like this. “No, they fucking can’t!” Elizabeth snapped, “I told you, I’m an adult. I pay for my own shit, and-”
“Is everything okay over here?” It was Erica. Kelly’s mother. “Someone said they saw Lizzie fall down?”
“I didn’t fall,” Elizabeth said, “I was tripped. James and Kelly made me chip my fucking tooth!””
“Language, Lizzie,” Erica said, “And that doesn’t sound like Kelly. What happened, exactly?”
“She fell,” James asserted, “On the way to the swings.”
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. “You tripped me,” she insisted, “Tell her, Kelly.”
Kelly glanced between James and Elizabeth, and then to her mother. “Lizzie fell. James and I tried to catch her, but we weren’t fast enough.”
So much for the girl being on her side. While Kelly had been inclusive and supportive since they had been introduced, she was still a teenager. Apparently being blamed by Elizabeth was enough for her more immature tendencies to surface, like not taking responsibility for something that happened to a girl she just met. Maybe Kelly would have had a different response if Elizabeth had solely pointed the finger at James.
Similar the the way she had lashed out at James, Elizabeth couldn’t help but be pissed off at Kelly for claiming that this was all because she was clumsy or something. “Fuck you!” she yelled, “It wasn’t my fault; it was theirs!”
She didn’t realize it, but all the cursing was actually making her sound less mature, even though she really didn’t use language like that in her youth. Also, in the heat of the moment, Elizabeth didn’t think about how saying that to someone’s daughter wasn’t doing her any favors. “Enough,” Erica sternly said, “Lizzie, come with me. Right now.” She turned and walked away, back towards the house.
Elizabeth didn’t really have a choice. There was no reason to stay with the group of teenagers, especially now that she had tried to get them in trouble. Rightfully so, but still. All this time, she had wanted to go inside anyway. Now it just had the price of being in trouble herself, despite how Erica was around her age and shouldn’t be treating her like a child.
Erica strode across the porch and into the kitchen, only stopping to look back once she was opening the sliding door. Trailing behind, Elizabeth flushed when she saw that Erica was blatantly waiting for her to catch up. That, and how a couple of the other attendees were looking at her with a combination of concern and judgment. While at least one of them had seen the rough fall, but apparently not how she had been blatantly shoved and tripped, any number of them could have heard her swearing from across the yard.
To make matters worse, June was sipping on a bottle of beer and chatting with someone in the kitchen, meaning Elizabeth wasn’t going to have a single moment to breathe before having to deal with however her ‘aunt’ was going to react to all this. Sure enough, Erica had gotten her attention by the time Elizabeth was stepping inside, and all three of them went to a room around the corner for a bit of privacy.
“What’s going on?” June asked, “Please tell me Lizzie didn’t cause a scene or something.”
Of course she would assume that. Because a ‘scene’ would be Elizabeth being fed up of how dressing up and pretending to be June’s niece had extended well beyond her expectations. Both in the sense of time and everything the act entailed. “It’s not-” she started to say, before Erica took over.
“For starters, it sounds like Lizzie chipped her tooth. I don’t think it’s that bad, since she isn’t in pain or anything, but still something you should check out,” Erica said.
“What happened?” June asked.
“The kids say she tripped,” Erica replied, “There might have been a little rough housing; I don’t know. Lizzie was just swearing and starting to have a tantrum, so I wanted to separate her from the others.”
That wasn’t- While Erica at least mentioned that she didn’t fully believe that this was all Elizabeth’s fault, it didn’t matter. Thanks to the petite redhead’s reactions to everything, June was hearing a side of the story that was missing so many important parts.
“It’s not like that!” Elizabeth exclaimed, “They-”
“Lizzie, hush,” June said, “The adults are talking.”
‘But, I am an adult!’ The words were on the tip of Elizabeth’s tongue. She just couldn’t bring herself to say them, when Erica wouldn’t believe it and June would dismiss it. Between the way she looked, the lines she had written, and the fact that she had just played a version of Tag with a group of middle schoolers, Elizabeth didn’t have nearly enough confidence to assert the reality of who she was supposed to be.
As for the conversation between adults, there wasn’t much else to say. Erica pointed out that it would probably be best if Lizzie was kept away from her new friends until she had calmed down, and also offered a solution to the chipped tooth. One of Amanda’s guests was a dental hygienist, who had a good working relationship with the dentist at her practice. At the very least, the woman could take a look herself and offer her expertise. The office was closed over the weekend, though she could always snap a photo and ask her boss’s advice for how June should proceed.
Of course, Elizabeth didn’t mind the part about not being around the teenagers who she did not consider her friends. She hadn’t wanted to hang out with them in the first place. Unfortunately, the cost of getting that wish was June being informed that she had been causing problems. As for the hygienist, that was good news. She would take a free consultation, though there were still no guarantees in terms of what it would end up costing her to actually get her tooth fixed.
June seemed to agree. “Let’s get her tooth looked at first,” she said, “Just in case it’s more serious than we think. But that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook, Lizzie. We’ve already discussed how swearing isn’t appropriate for a girl your age, especially in public. And you’re going to have to apologize to the others. Anyone in particular?”
“James and Kelly,” Erica said, “Lizzie tried to blame them, instead of taking any responsibility herself.”
Elizabeth was a lot more tempted to argue this time. While Kelly had been trying to help, it was somewhat her fault that Elizabeth ended up falling face first into the swing set. And James? Not only did her shove her and orchestrate the backwards tumble with his friend, but he pulled her shorts down!
The only reason she bit her tongue about June’s suggestion was that she wanted the hygienist to check her out ASAP. It would be just her luck if the woman left the gathering while Elizabeth was pushing back on something else.
“James and Kelly,” June echoed, “Lizzie, a mature girl would start thinking about her apology right now. As soon as we’re done getting you checked out, I’m going to take you back out to the others to make sure it’s a good apology. If you don’t mean it, you’ll have to start over. Now, let’s go.” With that, she took Elizabeth’s hand in the usual patronizing manner and walked her back towards the kitchen and out to the back yard where most of the guests were still mingling.
To a whole new circle of people who perceived Elizabeth as a tween. She wasn’t sure which was more embarrassing–adults her own age believing she was June’s niece, or the group of teenagers still hanging out by the swing set.