“he’s bad, y/n.”
you can tell that everything el’s been trying to tell you was purely out of concern. her eyes looked directly into yours, hoping you’d reconsider your decision about — well, dating “him.”
but you convinced yourself that it was going to be fine. it was only a party, just one night of being a stupid teenager, what could possibly go wrong?
spoiler alert — everything.
because now you stood in the center of a stuffed room with people a few years older than you, each one with their own stench of sweat and alcohol. it felt suffocating just being in there, and your “boyfriend” had left you to get some drinks with his friends.
he promised you he’d be back in a bit, though you’re pretty sure more time has passed than that. he seemed pretty upset that you wouldn’t take a drink with him, even going as far as raising his voice, which caused some people to divert their attention to the both of you. no one really did anything but stare.
you set the cup of water you were holding for the past fifteen minutes on a table, deciding you’d get out of the house for a while, catch some fresh air.
unbeknownst to you, el was already outside, trying to look for you, but her attempts were rendered useless as there were too many people.
she was just about to leave when she noticed a familiar face walk out through the front door. she immediately noticed that your boyfriend wasn’t with you. it was her perfect chance.
she made her way through the crowd, picking up a bit of speed as she got closer to you, and grabbed your wrist.
the feeling of a hand gripping your wrist caught you off guard. you turned your head to look at whoever it was, but she was already dragging you away from the house party.
“el?” you laughed awkwardly, “where are we going? my boyfriend’s still in there, i can’t just leave him—”
once you were at a far enough distance where you couldn’t hear the loud music or smell any more alcohol, el took hold of both of your hands, looking you dead in the eye.
“dump his ass.” it’s silent, for a moment, and she holds your hands tighter. “boyfriends lie all the time, but not me. i can be... a better boyfriend. for you.”
you can’t quite put to words what emotion you were feeling, but it was totally different from how you felt with your supposed boyfriend. you didn’t need to be someone else.
“okay.”
with el, it felt like home.
and you’re just realizing that’s all that matters.
