ELUSIVE (Book 2)

CHAPTER 23

"Sorry, was sleeping." I lie.

"Well everyone is waiting and I'm starving so hurry up."

Once down stairs I try to avoid eye contact with everyone.

Everyone is already sitting at the table and my only two options are to sit between Jospeh and Sawyer or Joseph and Lauren.

I don't want to make things awkward and stand by the kitchen island, so I choose the seat between Joseph and Lauren.

I catch Sawyer watching me as I sit down, and he gives me a 'What the heck are you doing' look, but I ignore it.

Jospeh on the other hand stands up as soon as I sit beside him.

And we look up at him confused.

"I need water." He awkwardly declares out loud.

I can't help but feel he doesn't want me sitting next to him.

It's not long until he comes back and subtly moves his chair slightly away from me.

My stomach churns, and I feel my face tinge red.

No one is talking, which is odd. Jospeh does all the talking and Avery but the only sound is the clanks of our spoons and forks.

Evan usually chimes in but he's reading the newspaper.

Lauren clears her throat, "Are we still on for tonight, Sawyer?" She questions, a smile on her face.

On for tonight? Sawyer can't go out, not when he constantly has fevers that gradually get worse through out the night.

My head snaps to Sawyer so fast and I catch Jospeh looking at me, just waiting to catch some sort of reaction from me that proves I like him. And I keep a straight face. When Sawyer smiles at her with a nod.

I take a bite of my eggs.

"Okay? Am I missing something?" Avery cuts in, watching every single one of us. She raises an eyebrow at me.

I shrug.

After the excruciatingly long breakfast, I go looking for Sawyer. I walk into the second living room and see Jospeh sprawled on the couch. When he sees me he jumps up.

"Oh, sorry." I mumble and turn to the leave the room.

"Hey, can I talk to you?"

I stop and turn to him, and give him a nod.

"Will you forgive me?"

I look up at him, "Isn't that supposed to be my question?"

He shakes his head, "No, you did the right thing. You quickly realized what you didn't want. You made it known and I was the asshole who stomped off and left you alone. I'm sorry. So sorry." He pauses and takes a step closer to me, "So, are we okay?"

A sense of relief washes over me, "We're okay, but I am sor..."

He holds up a hand and cuts me off. "Look I can't be mad at you for confirming something I already suspected. I beat him to it, gave it a shot. It didn't work out. I'm not going to say I'm fine with it, but..." He shrugs, placing his hands into his pocket. "I like you, Opal. And I'm not going to be those guys who if it doesn't work out we never speak again, I'm not like that. So I'm hoping we can skip the whole we tried dating and it blew stage and dive into being friends." He says and I nod with a smile.

"Please. I would like that." I tell him and hug him.

When we get upstairs, we find Sawyer looking through his clothes drawer.