Fanboy (boyxboy)

Always Be

Eli sat in math class, chewing his cuticles. The skin around his nails was already cracked and dry but he couldn't stop. He'd done it. He'd gotten Maddox Bieber to follow him on Twitter and worse - he'd actually messaged him.

He'd always promised himself he wouldn't do it. That if Dax ever did follow back, Eli would just act like it was no big deal. Treat him like he was a regular person. If anything, Eli only ever planned to send him a few other people to follow.

But he'd had a bad night. His dad hadn't just come home drunk, he'd come home drunk and crying. As Eli was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that Maddox had followed him back -even two days after it happened- he'd completely forgotten that it was his parents' wedding anniversary. So not only was his dad out drinking but he'd started crying at the bar.

Some guys took pity on his dad and brought him home. The gesture should have been good for Eli, since it meant he wouldn't have to go get him, but actually it was worse. Not only was his dad destroyed over the memory of his mom but he was humiliated in public too. Eli watched as the men helped his dad into the house, still crying.

Through his own tears, Eli put on the Maddox Bieber song he used as a lullaby every night and painstakingly sent Dax one direct message after another. It took him hours to type the whole thing but once he started writing, Eli couldn't stop. He'd never opened up to anyone like that before.

Of course Dax hadn't written him back, Eli never expected that. But in the light of day, sitting in his math class, Eli felt like the biggest idiot on the planet. Why did he bother sending Maddox a message at all? It wasn't like Dax would ever read it so what was the point?

Someone brushed past Eli knocking his elbow out from under his chin. Eli was so lost in his thoughts he wasn't prepared and his head fell, smacking his face on the desk. The cracking sound reverberated throughout the classroom.

"Eli?" his teacher turned away from the board.

"Sorry," Eli apologized, rubbing his forehead. He could hear the rest of the class whispering and hiding their laughs.

"That was a pretty big hit you took, do you want to go get some ice?"

"Um, yeah, that's probably good," Eli agreed. He packed up his notes and left the room. The laughing continued.

"What are you all laughing at? What did I miss?" the teacher asked as Eli shut the door. As if she didn't know they were all laughing at him.

Eli's head did hurt as he started walking to the clinic. He wasn't sure if hurt was from hitting it or if it was actually from being so tired. Or maybe it was from the lunch he'd missed that day since someone - he didn't even know who anymore - had stolen his.

"You're late today, Eli," the nurse never looked happy to see him. She seemed to accept the fact that he would be in her office daily, like he was the postman or something.

"I just need ice for my head," Eli told her, filling out the log book. His name was one of the only ones in the book.

"If you have a head injury you have to sit in the chair, you can't lie down," the nurse pointed to the most uncomfortable chair Eli had ever sat in. He'd spent hours in the chair by this point in his high school career. It was where he ended up every time he hurt his head in some way.

Eli put his stuff down and sat. The nurse brought him an ice pack and he put it on his head until he couldn't stand the cold anymore. It was the best kind of pain. Ice hurt so bad and never left any marks.

The nurse went back to whatever she was doing on her computer when Eli walked in. She always looked busy but Eli could never figure out what she actually did. He looked down at his hand and realized he'd managed to rip his cuticle off so it was fully bleeding.