Anxiety Attack

Chapter 5

"Wait, Fin!" Eli shouted.

Refusing to turn around for fear of being faced with a puppy dog face, I kept walking.

"Finley!" Eli said, touching my shoulder lightly, making me turn around and face him warily. "Look I'm sorry," he said, looking down at his feet. "I'm not making you come. You don't have to if you don't want to."

As Eli sneaked a peek up at me, scuffing his converse across the floor, I felt rather ashamed, for some reason. Maybe it was the fact that I hated saying no to anyone, or the fact that Eli just looked so adorable, being all shy and abashed. I sighed and before I knew it, I heard myself saying, "Alright, I'll come with you."

Eli instantly perked up, a broad smile across his face. "Thanks Fin! See you after school!" With that, he pecked my cheek and left me standing in the hallway in shock.

...

I put my books away, trying to subtly scan my surrounding area for Eli. Why I agreed to this little... whatever it was, I have no idea. I'm not a very social person, and I stutter talking to anyone.

I should just bail, I thought before immediately feeling guilty. I'm not that kind of person; I can't just say I'm going to do something than disappear. Sighing deeply, frustrated at my niceness, I turned to come face to face with Eli, causing me to scream and topple backwards.

Eli made a wild grab for me, but missing completely and my back came in contact with the floor. Groaning and looking up at Eli, I saw that his face was scrunched up in an 'ow' face.

"Sorry," he apologized. "I didn't mean to scare you. And I tried to catch you."

I could feel a laugh bubble up from inside me. "Y-You don't have g-good hand-eye c-coordination."

"Hey!" Eli said sounding and looking indignant. "My hand-eye coordination is spot on!"

"Then why am I on the floor?" I teased.

Eli's eyes sparkled. "You didn't stutter."

I looked down, fiddling with my fingers. "C-Can we go now?"

...

"F-Frozen yogurt?" I said, looking up at the sign in front of the cute little parlor Eli had brought me to.

"Yup," Eli said, coming to stand next to me. "It's my favorite place."

"I-I don't like y-yogurt," I confessed, brushing a strand of my dark hair out of my face.

"Me neither," Eli said casually. "Shall we?"

He held open the door for me like a proper gentleman, and I walked inside, taking in the small restaurant. It had colorful walls, a hot pink with green trim, which surprisingly went well together, and a little half circle cut into the wall where little dispensers were, where you could pick your frozen yogurt flavor, I'm assuming, and tray after tray of toppings. My eyes widened at the wide selections of toppings. Nuts, sauces, candy; fruit... the possibilities were endless.

"Wow," I breathed, taking in all the choices.

"I know," Eli said. "I still haven't tried all the toppings."

I smiled up at Eli and he smiled back, before my stomach growled loudly, having not eaten since breakfast. He lead me to the bowls, and I quickly picked a flavor, setting on something called Cable Car Chocolate, but it looked like regular chocolate, so I was okay. Once I stood in front of the huge table of toppings, however, I was dumbfounded. What do I pick?

Eli chuckled at my misfortune as he piled his strange looking concoction with sprinkles and headed over by the sauces. I picked some M&M's then getting more confident; I added Swedish Fish and cherries, not real ones, but those lame fake ones that I can't remember the name of but are delicious nonetheless. Joining Eli where we pay, I started to dig out my wallet before Eli pushed it back into my bag, shaking his head.