Eli Borrelli

29: Healing

Diego POV.

I woke up on the softest bed I had ever had the privilege to sleep on, and we used to go to Ikea a lot to just test out the beds. It took me a while to remember, where I was, but as I groaned myself awake and saw Eli still sitting on the sad little bench, in front of the window, I remembered clear as a day.

"Morning," I said startling Eli from their thoughts.

They quickly his it with a smile, and wished me a good morning.

"What time is it?" I asked groggily sitting up on the bed,

"Eight-thirty, my brothers are probably gonna come in soon, since I have to be in school at nine," they answered getting up with a false smile, that anyone could see through.

I knew better than to ask if they were okay. I also knew better than to ask, what was wrong. I knew the answers to both questions. They hadn't moved an inch all night, so they most probably didn't sleep at all, they always got up so early, I don't think God was up yet, and they never skipped their morning run and shower.

"Antonio's home today, since it's Tuesday, so there's someone here if you need anything," Eli called from the closet.

"You can do whatever you want to," they ended, as they walked back into the room.

They had changed into black jeans and a dark red hoodie.

"Eli! Are you there?!" A panicked voice called from the hall.

"Yeah, I'm coming," Eli just answered before turning to me one last time.

"Eat whatever you want to, and you can borrow my clothes if you need some. To be honest, you can take my clothes I have way more than anyone will ever need," they chuckled lightly before walking out of the room.

Gabriele POV.

The one thing we knew for sure about Eli, was that they always went on a morning run. Always. So, when they weren't downstairs, when I got there it was weird, but I didn't think anything of it. At eight we all started to panic, so Antonio, Matteo, and Lorenzo ran outside to look for them.

When Alessandro went to check their room, none of us thought they could actually be there, so when they came down the stairs looking like they hadn't slept, we were even more concerned, than before.

"Are you not feeling well? Do you need to stay home for the day?" Matteo asked with his arms crossed.

"No, I just didn't feel like running," they answered making us all look at each other searching for what to do next.

Lorenzo quickly took Eli's temperature, but it was perfectly normal. We ended up just letting it go, and going to school, but it was still weird.

"So, what's really going on?" I asked as we drove to school.

"Nothing, I just didn't sleep well, that's all," they shut me down.

During the day, I kept an eye on them. They weren't their usual cheery self with their friends, which got them worried too. 

Jess POV.

Eli was acting weird. They weren't cracking jokes or making fun of Abby and Manny as they smooched in class. They didn't really talk and spent most of the day just staring at their desk. I thought it might be because of our kiss, but that was ages ago.