Off to Neverland

Off to Neverland (37)

I opened my eyes, and I wasn’t surprised to see that they hurt from all the crying I had done the night before. I let out a sigh, about to sit up until I realized that I wasn’t lying on the couch.

Instead, I was lying on something hard, yet comfortable at the same time. I only laid there for a moment before looking up to see exactly what I was lying on.

Eli. I had actually fallen asleep on Eli the night before, and now we had both fallen asleep on the couch… like we were a couple or something.

I really hoped that no one saw us. My dad left for work early in the morning, and I knew that it definitely wasn’t early in the morning. It was probably even afternoon now. I wasn’t exactly sure what time Claudia and Courtney woke up… But I was sure one of them would have woken me up if they saw Eli and me like this.

“I see you’re finally awake,” Eli suddenly said, causing me to jump right off him and into the chair diagonal from the couch. How long had he been awake for? “It’s about time. It’s twelve o’clock in the afternoon.”

I rubbed at my eyes, which only made them feel even sorer. I had rubbed them too much the night before.

“Well, I didn’t exactly go to sleep early last night,” I sniffed, really hoping that he wouldn’t go back to his asshole self after what he had done for me. I then looked over at the coffee table, where my mother’s necklace was. It was crusted in mud. “I kind of wish I could have slept longer.”

Eli frowned at me, but said, “Your dad’s at work, and Claudia and Cassidy went out shopping a while ago.”

So they had seen us sleeping together on the couch… That definitely wasn’t good. They all knew that I was dating Jack, and none of them knew about what had happened the night before, expect for Cassidy. I definitely didn’t want to know what she thought… And I really hoped she didn’t tell Courtney, because I was sure Courtney would have gone and told Jack.

Both Eli and I didn’t say anything now. All we did was stare at each other, both of us obviously having no idea what to say. When my phone started to ring, I almost fell out of my chair.

“He’s going to think you’re dead or something, you know,” Eli informed me as I pushed my phone away from me after I had looked at the caller ID. “Just pick up and tell him what you heard. You can’t just avoid him.”

“Yes, I can,” I countered, not picking up no matter what Eli did.

“Well, if you avoid him, the next person he’s going to bug is—” Eli cut himself off when his phone started ringing. He shoved his hand in his pocket and dug it out, groaning when he looked at the caller ID. “—me.”

“Don’t pick it up if you don’t want to,” I shrugged, trying to act like I didn’t care at all. But honestly, I kind of wanted Eli to pick the phone up. I wanted him to yell at Jack for me so I didn’t have to.

Eli picked up, rolling his eyes as he pressed the phone to his ear and said, “Hello?”

I gulped as he waited while Jack spoke, and I was really glad that I couldn’t hear his voice. That accent always did wonders on me.

“No, dude, she’s out with her friends right now,” Eli excused, giving me a look. “No, I’m not lying to you. What do you mean I never call you dude? I call you dude all the time, dude.”

He was covering for me, and I was so grateful to him that it wasn’t even funny. He knew how much I didn’t want to talk to Jack. He lied to his best friend for me…

“You know she’s not used to that cell phone,” Eli continued, looking bored out of his mind as this conversation continued. “She left it here, like the idiot that she is.”