Meet me in the Middle, Please

I feel weird while standing in front of the tall metal gates at the front of the Meier house. Or a mansion might be the better word for it. A very tall stone wall separates me from where I want to be. Or at least I think that’s where I want to be.

I keep looking at the number on the stone pillar to my right and the text I got from Rowan earlier today with a reminder of their address. Fifteen hundred Bakerite Drive, they both match. But I feel so out of place that I’m almost scared to press the buzzer to let me in.

I breathe deeply a few times and then try to pep myself up.

“You can do it, it’s just the buzzer of a mansion. Okay, that’s not helping at all.” I sigh and then just press the buzzer before I can regret it.

“Hello?” I hear a distinctly male voice come through the intercom. But I know almost instantly that it isn’t Caleb or Xander. There is a lack of a foreign accent in the voice I hear over the intercom, unlike my two groupmates. I wonder who it is, and chills raise the hairs on my arms and back of my neck. I really hope that this is the right house.

“Uh, hi. I’m supposed to meet Rowan, Xander, and Caleb Meier for a group project.” I reply awkwardly and I can hear a few voices in the background before the man responds.

“Alright, I’ll buzz you in.” And then I see the gates opening on their own, slowly swinging inwards towards the house. I stare wide-eyed at it for a moment before stepping through them.

The inside is almost more extravagant than the outside. There is a vast garden on either side of me, brimming with flowers even though there is snow lightly piled up on the ground, lining either side of the driveway. The house seems to be about a kilometer away from the gate. Making the garden that spreads out from where I am standing truly enormous.

I make my way to the front door, though it takes me a few minutes, and then knock on the ornate thick wooden front door.

Through the frosted crystalized glass set in the door, I can vaguely see a shape moving and then the door opens revealing an older gentleman, his gray hair is carefully styled, and he is wearing what looks like a suit. I remember their father from when they all came to the diner, and this definitely was not him.

The man in front of me bows a little at the waist toward me which startles me enough to recoil slightly at the action.

“Greetings miss Eleanora, I am the Butler Grayson, the young mistress and masters are in the backyard. I can lead you to them if you wish.”

“Oh uh.” I stutter over my words in surprise before shaking my head a second. Snap out of it, Elle. “You don’t need to call me Miss, just Elle. And I would like it if you led me to them. Please.” I smile sheepishly at the man because I can already tell that if left to my own devices I would get lost in this house in an instant.

“Miss Elle, please follow me,” He turns on his heel and walks into the house. I have to jog to keep up with his quick pace. He doesn’t even give me a chance to argue against the fact that he called me ‘Miss’ again. At least he wasn’t calling me Miss Eleanora now. That address sounded way too stuffy. We make it to the back of the house after many twists and turns and he points me toward one of the doors.

“They are in there, Miss Elle. Do not hesitate to ask me or any of the other staff for any sort of assistance while you’re here.” He gives a little bow again and walks off. I look back at the sliding glass door he pointed me toward. The glass, like the front doors, is frosted. This makes it very difficult to see through it. So, I just get up the courage and slide it open.

Once I step through, I notice that it is a very large sunroom type place and that there is an exceptionally large indoor pool inside of it. But the sunroom’s one wall doesn’t completely close and allows the pool to connect to an outdoor pool. Though considering that the room was not cold during a mid-winter day, I would have to assume that the heating system was phenomenal. And expensive. An extravagant-looking room nonetheless, but there is an unnecessary amount of money spent on it.

I notice quickly that Xander is lounging on a chair off to the right, his headphones over his ears and his head bobbing along to whatever music he is listening to. I also notice that he is distinctly clothed, jeans and a light t-shirt, which don’t really fit into the ambiance of the room. Considering the pool and everything.

I also see Caleb swimming in the outdoor portion of the pool through the large glass windows along the back wall. Though, the snow on the ground makes me question why he would ever choose to do that. I shiver just at the thought.

I peer around again, looking for Rowan, and notice that off to the left there seems to be a raised platform with a hot tub, which is exactly where she is. Lounging by herself in the hot tub. Suddenly Caleb swims under the partition and sees me.

“Elle!” His voice echoes around the room, but not quite as much as other pool rooms that I’ve been to in the past.

“Hi,” I mutter sheepishly as both Rowan’s and Xander’s heads whip around toward me. I want to groan at the sudden rapt attention, but I decide against it because it would probably echo too if I did it, just like our voices. The grins on the three’s faces are huge and bright, making me feel a little uncomfortable. I was definitely not used to the warm welcome of my peers. Even if I take the warmth at face value, I can never be sure that it won’t go away at some point either. It always seems to.

Out of place. That is the best way to describe how I am feeling right now. Very out of place.

“You’re a little late, aren’t you?” Rowan asks as she stands up and exits the hot tub. Grabbing a fluffy-looking towel set off to the side, she starts to dry herself off. I blush a little when I notice her bathing suit, which is barely more than a few scraps of cloth covering the most important bits.

She wraps the towel like a shawl around her shoulders and saunters over to me.

“I’m not late, I think?” it sounds like a question even in my own ears. Not that I meant it to be.

“I don’t know, what time is it?” She looks over at Xander and he shrugs.

“My phone says twelve fifty-seven. Though we only agreed after noon and not to a specific time.”

“See, I’m not late yet.” I tease a little, hoping to lighten my own awkward feelings, and Rowan rolls her eyes before moving toward Caleb.

“Get out, we need to shower off before we can do the editing.” She turns back to me and Xander who has just joined us after meandering over from his seat. “Take her to the media room Xander, we’ll join you asap.” She grabs Caleb’s arm and nearly drags him out of the pool by it. His protests are loud and many, but I just look on at the sight. Not really sure it’s my place to intervene or comment.

“Be nice,” Rowan chides at Xander before she drags a somewhat reluctant and still dripping Caleb out of the room behind her, toward wherever the showers were that she was talking about only a minute earlier.

“I’m always nice.” Xander huffs at her retreating back. Either she doesn’t hear him or decides it isn’t worth it to fight with her brother because she doesn’t even turn to acknowledge his grumble and disappears down the hall.

“Um…” I look at Xander and he rubs his forehead for a moment.

“Follow me.” He sighs before moving down the hall. We come to the kitchen and just across the hall from it there is a door. He opens it and I notice first that it seems to be quite dark behind the door and second that there are carpeted stairs behind it. I watch as he grabs for the railing, steadying himself on the landing before beginning his descent.

He leads me down the stairs and once we come to the bottom landing, I notice the big open concept basement.

There is one side of the room filled with a giant TV and several gaming consoles. Plush couches scattered facing the TV. On the other side of the room is a wall of computers. Or better two computers and I count seven monitors between them.

Between these two areas, there are several doors along the walls leading into other rooms that I have no idea what kind of treasures they hold. I’m a little scared to ask too considering how much money was probably spent on this room alone. The house just keeps adding to my surprise of the lifestyles of the uber-rich.

As Xander leads me toward the wall with the computers I pause, noticing several hanging picture frames, photographs, artistically taken ones, hang from the wall.

“Wow,” I can’t help but breathe. I’ve loved photography for as long as I can remember, and I love looking at other people’s photography as well. I can’t help but marvel at the pictures that are dotting the walls. I look around and see that much of the empty wall space is taken up by photographs like the ones in front of me.

“Do you like photography?” Xander asks from behind my right shoulder, and I nod.

“Definitely. I’ve loved it since I was a kid.” I say without turning to look at him. “I’m not very good or practiced, but I have always liked to take pictures. It’s hard to do though when you’re working with an older outdated digital camera.” I frown, remembering the camera currently sitting in my closet back at home.

It’s been several months now since I have even taken it out and purposely went photographing. There hadn’t really been the time or the motivation. Or even the ability to do any of that kind of stuff. I was too busy shirking around my mother and her habits and pretending to be invisible whenever I could. And school also takes up a good chunk of my time, along with my shifts at Barney’s.

Sounds like a bunch of excuses, even to me. So I decide not to voice any of what I just thought about.

The camera I own is also probably ten years old now, and it doesn’t even have adjustable lenses. If I want to do anything professional-like, I’ll need to save up for a better camera first and foremost.

“Did you take these?” I ask him, finally turning to look at him. He smiles, the first genuinely delighted smile I think I’ve seen from him since I’ve known him.

“Yes, most of them are older though,” he seems a bit sheepish as he unconsciously touches his eye, the one with the scar over it.

“What about newer ones? You probably just keep getting better if you were already this good a while ago.” I grin, excited that someone seems to share my own love of photography. I’m barely able to hold in my chatter about the lighting I like to use and the best angles to take the prettiest photos.

“Well, I kind of stopped for a while now. It’s a little hard because… you know.”

“What? Why would it be hard?”

“Well, my depth perception is off and all that since I’m blind in my left eye.” I pause for a moment, feeling stunned.

“Wait… wait what?”