The Other Girl(BWWM)

Accepting

"No."

"W-what? What do you mean now?" Eli was now sitting up on the bed with a humorless expression on his face.

"You heard me. No. We agreed that we would focus on us and only us. Now you want to me to get involved again?" After realizing how my past with Justin was preventing me from opening up I had promised Eli to stop worrying about him. I was going down a new path in my life and right now there was no space for Justin and his drama.

"Look I know what I said but I think that you should just hear me out-"

Frustrated I harshly rubbed my eyes and groaned. "Eli we should let them be. Justin is big enough to fight his own battles. If they don't want to be together that's their problem. I'm sure they rejected each other by now."

"That's the thing though. They haven't rejected each other. Have you seen Justin at all recently? Have you seen Derek?" 

"No," I sighed. "I haven't."

Eli's voice started to tremble, "He's sick Bri. He can't get out of bed. It's killing him."

My heart dropped. I've never seen this side of Eli. He looked so scared, as if he would breakdown any minute. "O-okay. Why don't they just reject each other officially. Then they can move on with their lives."

"Don't you think Derek has tried!" My mouth gaped open like a fish only to close. I was speechless. Eli has only raised his voice to me once before. "I'm sorry Bri it's just...I'm scared. Justin refuses to go through with the rejection. He keeps saying he isn't sure yet."

"What do you mean Justin won't go through with it?" All of us knew that Justin was going through something internally but his refusal to open up to any of us prevented us from helping him out. It was time that he learned to handle his own problems. We, especially me, couldn't always be there to walk him through every obstacle in life. I was ready to let go.

But...seeing Eli like this physically hurt me too. If something happened to Derek there was no telling how Eli would react. Plus, Derek was family now, I would hate myself if he got any worse

 "Justin...Justin keep saying he doesn't know what he wants. A few weeks ago Derek and Justin had decided to meet up, to sort things out. Derek had said he was willing to try to work things out, to see if maybe they could be together but...Justin said he needed more time." I scoffed. I wasn't surprised by his behavior. It wasn't news to anyone that Justin was used to being babied. He hated making big decisions for himself and would always have us to help clean up his mistakes. "Derek gave him more time and even more time but Justin still refuses to make a choice. You know I wouldn't ask this of you if I wasn't desperate. It's either they accept each other or let each other go."

A million thoughts went through my head, trying to find any other solution that didn't involve me but I came up with none. If I put this delicate situation in the hands of someone else and it didn't work Eli would be distraught. "Alright but let me make myself clear. I am doing this for you. And Derek. And your family. No one else. You understand?"

I pressed a warm kiss against Eli's plump lips and was rewarded with a smile. "Of course."

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Eli and I immediately got to work. He had informed that the doctor said Derek didn't have a lot of time left and something needed to change. Eli would stay with Derek to make sure he was stable while I gathered Andrea, William, Chloe and Phoebe to meet at Justin's house.

"Oh well look who it is." After calling Andrea's cell three times she finally picked up, obviously irritated that I haven't spent much time with her outside of school. "So you finally decided to check on me. Would you even have noticed if I moved away? Or what if I decided to elope? Huh? You don't love me I really shouldn't be-"