Whose Fault? (Editing)

Chapter Five

My face warmed up and I tried to hide the rising blush on my cheeks from him. That was the last thing I needed him to see. To distract myself, I spoke without thinking, "we can go to my place. Watch a movie or something." Idiot. He's going to question the living arrangements.

A smile lit up his face, "yeah! That sounds good."

The drive to my place was quiet. I was stuck in my head, arguing with myself about my own stupidity and Eli seemed to have all his attention on the road. The silence was starting to make me uncomfortable, but I tried to ignore it as I figured out my excuse as for why things were the way they were at my house.

By the time we got there I was no closer to having a solution than I was when I got myself into this mess. But it was happening, so I had to come up with something quick.

As I unlocked the front door, Eli spoke, "you know, I just realized I've never been in your house before. We always hang out and do class work at my place."

Anxiously, I replied, "yeah. Haha, you're right. Well, there's a first time for everything!" Eli simply smiled and nodded.

Should I give him a tour?

No, dumbass. It'd be like digging my own grave. I thought to myself as I made my way upstairs. I put my things down on the kitchen counter then made my way to the couch, trying my best to ignore how Eli was still standing by the door at the top of the staircase taking it all in. This was a mistake.

I turned the TV on and pressed the button to get Netflix to come up. As I was waiting I made my way back to the kitchen, "you want some popcorn?" I asked, trying to diffuse how uncomfortable things were. However, it seemed Eli was in his own world. I had to repeat his name, for him to snap out of it. I giggled at his confused face before repeating my question.

To which he dazedly replied, "sure." I shook my head and put the popcorn in the microwave. I did not like the way the atmosphere immediately became uncomfortable. It was a few seconds before Eli said anything, but when he did, there was no beating around the bush, "so you pretty much have your own little apartment up here, huh? That's pretty cool!"

I nodded and came up with something, quick on my feet, "yeah. The house was built with this mother-in-law thing up here. My mom and I started to butt heads a lot and she wanted me to learn some responsibility and shit when I was younger, so it kind of worked out." Lies. Lies. Lies.

"That's pretty cool. Your dad thought the same too?"

I tensed and probably took too long to reply, "he's... not around anymore."

"Oh, shit. I'm sorry. You don't have to say any more about it." I nodded, and it was awkwardly quiet for a minute or so. "So, what do you want to watch?" Eli asked as he made his way to the couch. He sat down and started scrolling through the options.

"It doesn't matter. You pick. I'm gonna make another bag of popcorn then I'll join you." I told him, placing another bag in the microwave. I poured the first bag into a big bowl, then watched Eli search for something to watch.

"How about Men in Black?"

"Never seen it."

"We're watching it," he said, matter-of-factly. After the second bag of popcorn was done, I poured it into the bowl with the other and joined Eli on the couch. As I did, he pressed play. When I asked what the movie was about he looked at me incredulously, "you really haven't seen it or heard about it?" To which I shook my head. "It's about aliens living on Earth without the whole world knowing and stopping the aliens that are a threat to exposing their existence to humans."