Hopelessly Falling [book 2]

Chapter Eleven

Eli looked a little taken aback for a brief moment at something I said- probably the crazy-hot-sex thing.. I often forgot about that whole 'think before you speak' thing- it was pretty overrated in my opinion.

"You can't be serious- Ashton would legitimately murder me with his bare hands.. or Kevin for that matter," he laughed, "he knows us well enough to know we're not good enough for you." When he said this I let out a laugh.

"Ten-year-old me is sobbing somewhere," I joked and he gave me a confused look. Realizing he had no idea what I was talking about, I continued, "back in the day- you know, before I was disowned for existing at an inconvenient time for mother dearest- I actually thought you were really cute." His eyes essentially popped out of his head at this.

"Me??" He pointed to his chest, and I laughed.

"No I'm talking to the ghost in front of you," I replied sarcastically. He laughed and then looked into my eyes with a slight smile, as if I had told him that I currently liked him. "But then you got ugly, so there's no need to worry about Ashton killing you with his bare hands anymore," I added. He let out another small laugh and shook his head.

"It's still kind of weird to see you, you know. Like for so long I had heard Layla and thought of twelve-year-old you, but now you're like.. well you're not twelve anymore," he told me.

"Yes, yes. This is true," I agreed in an insightful tone. "Very well, young grasshopper," I referenced 'Karate Kid'.

One of my foster families had that movie running 24/7 on a little tv in their living room.. they claimed it taught valuable lessons or some shit. Really all it taught me were random quotes and references that most people wouldn't understand or give a damn about. They were fun to whip out and confuse people with, though.

"You know what I mean," he told me.

"You think that's weird- try coming home for the first time in years to see your older brother and all his friends post-puberty and 2 feet taller, and your baby brother now in elementary school knowing more profanities than you did when you were twelve," I extended the list on, "that last part's Ashton's doing.. and this is all on top of the fact that while you were gone, your family- what was left of it- actually lost your house because your mother-" I cut myself off, the memory of Ashton telling me what she did catching me a little off-guard. When I stopped talking, I looked up to see Eli staring at me with sad eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely. I didn't know about which part, but it honestly didn't matter. I gave him a small smile and shrugged it off.

"Hey- I don't take anything seriously, remember? I'm good," I told him, and I wondered if he picked up on the fact that I was saying it more to myself than to him. There was a little pause.

"Aren't you supposed to be like super emotional when you're on your period?" He asked, and for a moment I was confused before I remembered how I ranted about my period to him for 5 straight minutes just to make him uncomfortable. What?? It was funny and I'm not a bad person if it was for comedic purposes.

"You know what, you're right. I'm very sad.. do you know what would make me feel better?" I asked and sent him an innocent smile.

"Ugh, what?" He knew I was going to say something like...

"Cousin-Parker's number," I responded with a smile. He rolled his eyes again.