Gold Rush, Elijah Hewson

016 Playing With Fire

"I know what you're doing Elijah.", Kennedy blankly told him.

He looked at her with a 'confused' expression, "I'm not doing anything, just making conversation."

"Interesting topic."

He shrugged, "Not really, just wondering."

"And it's not because you care?", she asked him raising an eyebrow as if she already knew the answer and was just stating the obvious. Pointing out that she was aware of his reasoning and it wasn't because he was simply curious.

Elijah glared at her at the insinuation and Kennedy laughed before taking a sip of her drink in victory. Josh who had his arm loosely around her waist shook his head, "Oh, he's made it very clear that he does not care.", he informed - exaggerating the seriousness on his face to show that whilst it was true he didn't believe him, "Told us repeatedly that he is not in love."

When the couple began laughing at him he rolled his eyes and muttered, "Forget I asked."

Kennedy stopped laughing. It was clear Elijah was annoyed but she could also sense the sadness in not being answered in his tone. That he was disappointed that his plan for information was foiled. She sighed and revealed, "He's annoying but he's a good boyfriend. Always taking her on dates and stuff. I don't like him but he clearly likes her and she likes him. I don't know what else to tell you.", she knew that it would hurt him for her to be so blunt but what those were the facts and he had asked to hear them.

Elijah didn't know how to feel. He was happy that she was happy - he genuinely was. He had always hoped that she would find someone good for her, someone that treated her well. Then a part of him also wanted Dolan to be awful. So he had an excuse to hate him instead of his jealousy. He knew that even if Dolan was awful that it didn't mean anything. It wouldn't help him in any way. His chance had passed and he just had to accept that - he'd just have to get over it. He'd focused on being happy for her.

He nodded in reply, not knowing what to say - worried it would show his feelings towards to situation. He could see the sympathy on their faces, he hated it. He wanted them to think he didn't care. He didn't want his emotions to be on full display. He quickly smiled and changed the subject, but then the sound of the door being knocked on caught their attention. His face dropped and he suddenly remembered why he had been nervous. Thankfully Rob was shouting that he'd get it.

"Keats!", October happily exclaimed when he opened the door, slightly relieved that it wasn't Elijah. She wanted to delay the inevitable awkward situation of introducing him to Dolan for as long as possible, even if it was just for a couple of minutes.

"Toe, you alright?", still lightly laughing at her reaction.

She nodded, ignoring the current issues prominently taking residence in her mind. Most notably having to deal with Elijah and Dolan. She didn't know what the outcome would be. She would've just not invited Dolan but she was confident that it would just cause more issues. He'd question why he wasn't being brought and she'd have no reason to give him. "Splendid.", she told him.

He burst out laughing and questioned, "Splendid? Did we go back to the 50s without me knowing?"

She rolled her eyes at him, "It's a fun word.", she defended, "Splendid.", she happily repeated - smiling as she said it, "And phenomenal is a good word too, they're my favourite at the moment."