Whose Fault? (Editing)

Chapter Nine

I cut off his rambling with another kiss. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he placed his hands at my waist. He licked my lips in attempt to deepen the kiss, but instead I pulled away. If he wanted to do this then it was going to have to go slow.

"Easy killer." I giggled, before getting serious. I might have been about to ruin this before it even started, but I needed to say it, "I like you... a lot, Eli. But this has to go at a kind of slow pace. I-It's hard for me to explain, but rushing things like everyone seems to be doing now isn't going to work for me. I don't think I can do that." I awkwardly left it there.

He just smiled at me, "like I said. I want to be with you to spend more time getting to know what makes you... you. I understand and it's okay that this is how it's going to be."

There was something about Eli that I just couldn't stay away from. I was so drawn to him and his personality, like a moth to a flame; it was just hard to believe that he really wanted me to be with him.

~~~

Life seemed too good to be true the next couple weeks. I was still anxious as ever, but other than that things were going well. I had been able to keep up with school and doing really well. And work, though busy I was having fun with it. Xavier wasn't bothering me. Chloe was thrilled and would not shut up about me and Eli being "the cutest couple she's ever seen." And I could tell Max was grateful I had let someone new into my life, even if he was still hesitant to trust them.

I was trying my hardest to keep my guard up but I wasn't perfect, it did slip more often than usual. It was weird; I had always been very good at keeping people at a distance, for some reason though Eli had been different. I almost didn't want to shut him out. It wasn't a feeling I was used to at all. I knew it was something I needed to be more mindful of. Just because we were together didn't mean that all of that should've gone out the window. I still didn't really know him. Well... I knew a lot about him based off of what he had told me and what I had seen, but I'd yet to figure out if that was really him or not. Most of the time people were not as they seemed or who they portrayed themselves to be. I just had to keep myself prepared for things to go to shit at all times.

Eli and I were headed to his place to finish our biology project and to hang out for a bit. We were almost done with it. All we had to do was make a few adjustments to the model of the cell we made and edit our paper, then it would be complete. It's weird to think that this all stemmed from us being paired up for a project. Who knew if we would have even met if we hadn't been.

After we finished with our project, Eli said that he had to go pick his sister up from preschool, "do you want to hang out here? Or you can come with me if you want!" I thought about it for a second before realizing how weird it would be if his parents or brother came home and there was just some random girl sitting in their house.

"I'll go with you."

While on the way, he told me a lot about this sister of his. Sadie was four years old, almost five, and she was a spunky little thing. She said whatever was on her mind and didn't seem to ever care what other people might have thought about it; she was very emotionally driven. She was currently into anything and everything Moana and Hotel Transylvania related. Her favorite toys were her stuffed animals - she had several teddy bears and tons of Disney plushies. "...She'll probably act like she doesn't like you very much at first, but she'll come around quickly." He finished up as we were heading into the building.

"Sounds like someone I'd enjoy getting to know." I told Eli, smiling.

When we walked inside, there was a reception area where Eli signed Sadie out before the woman at the desk let us head back. The room he led me to was sky blue and covered with clouds all around. It was like we had walked right in to Andy's room from Toy Story. Children's artwork was hung up and there were many handmade posters about letters, numbers, colors, and shapes. The kids were scattered around the room, playing in different centers.

Almost immediately, a little girl with short and straight light brown hair ran up to Eli yelling his name. He picked her up and engulfed her in a hug. After adjusting her over to his hip, Eli found her backpack and slung it over his shoulder before making his way back to the car. The second Sadie noticed I was following them she asked me, "who are you?"

I looked towards her and for some reason my brain stopped working. I'd imagine if someone were to take a look inside of it to see if there was any brain activity going on, it would have looked a lot like something from the episode of SpongeBob when Squidward told SpongeBob to forget everything but fine dining and breathing; the scene where SpongeBob was asked his name and he couldn't remember. That's how I felt the moment she questioned me.

It was stupid, right? She was just a four year old girl. Wrong! She was Eli's little sister and he adored her.

Eli glanced back at me and decided it might be best for him to introduce me, "this is my friend, Wren. She was bored and she likes how I make things into adventures, just like you do!" Sadie nodded her head as Eli buckled her into the car. I ducked into the passenger seat with my head down, a blush warning up my face.

The ride back to Eli's house was quiet, the only noise was from the radio and Sadie's humming. When we got back to Eli's house, I asked Sadie if she wanted to hang out and watch a movie with me.

"Can we watch Moana?" she asked hopefully.

"Of course we can! I love that movie," I told her excitedly. It wasn't a lie either. Moana was such a good movie. Disney did an outstanding job with it. Also, The Rock? Singing? Playing a tatted, buff, and selfish "hero?" Genius!

Eli wandered into the kitchen and as I put the movie on for us, Sadie asked if I would sing and dance with her. I quickly agreed, but insisted that she showed me how it was done with the first song.

She sang and spun around the room, sometimes stopping to copy the motions of the animation, and I quickly realized how theatrical she was. Like Eli had said, she didn't care what anyone might think of her. She sung the words at the top of her lungs and if she stumbled or fell, she got right back up without even hesitating.

While she was in the middle of her first performance, Eli emerged from the kitchen with a big bowl of popcorn. He sat it on the coffee table and sat next to me as we watched Sadie finish up. The two of us applauded her and she took her bow before squeezing between us on the couch.

As the movie went on, Sadie and I sang, danced, and acted out the movie. Eli joined us for a couple quick scenes, but other than that he stayed put on the couch with an amused smile on his face. I attempted to be as overdramatic as I could to appease Sadie and she seemed beyond thrilled that someone was doing this with her. I'm sure Eli and his brother didn't enjoy this part of having a younger sister, especially since she had a knack for theatrics.

When the movie ended, I was completely worn out. I plopped myself down on the couch as Sadie jumped up and down in place and begged to watch another movie to sing and dance with. That wasn't something I could even think about in the moment. I glanced up at Eli, silently begging for him to calm the beast that was his sister.

He chuckled and told her, "maybe another time. Go wash up for dinner and I'll make some mac n cheese and chicken nuggets."

She nodded excitedly and when she was out of earshot asked, "mac n cheese with chicken nuggets?"

"Yeah, it's her favorite." He stated, "why are you questioning me? You were the one who gave into her by agreeing to sing and dance! I should be hearing 'thank you, Eli!' or 'you're the best, Eli!' or even 'you're my hero, Eli!'"

"How about 'you're pushing it, Eli!'?" I said, laughing at his impersonation of me.

"Fine, fine." He said as he got up from the couch, he made his way into the kitchen and I followed him, grabbing the empty popcorn bowl to wash while he made Sadie dinner. "But in all seriousness, you definitely won her over. More quickly than anyone else. I wouldn't be surprised if she went around telling everyone that you are her new best friend!"

I smiled to myself, "I guess I'm just that good." Eli hummed in response as he came up behind me and kissed my cheek.

Mission accomplished!

💜❤️

Hello everyone!

This chapter is 3,134 words! I hope you enjoyed it! If you did, leave a vote or a comment, or both to let me know what you think. It truly helps me out a lot!

Thanks!

TM