Gage Cilleti has just begun his junior year of high school, and is becoming more and more involved in his school's activities, considering he'd been playing baseball since he was just seven-years-old.
Elijah McCay has just dropped out of school, du...
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Elijah is walking in front of me, and I've got my hands stuffed deeply into my sweatshirts pockets, watching as he walks both confidently and nonchalantly. Once we've made it over to his car, he pulls the passenger side door open, and waits patiently for me to sit.
Just like he had done when we hung out for the very first time. And the gesture never fails to leave me breathless, as cliche as it is.
I whisper a soft, "thank you," and hide my face into the crook of my sweatshirt, while sliding into the seat. The door is shut behind me, and he's rounding over to the drivers side.
Once we're on our way, I catch myself glancing over at him every few seconds, trying to get a reaction out of him. Was he nervous like I was? Or was he just fine? And for the life of me, I couldn't tell a thing.
The car is quiet for almost an entirety of twelve minutes—I had been counting—when he finally turned toward me, and began to speak.
"Fair warning," the car stops completely, when we reach a red light. "My closest buddy, KJ, can be a lot at times. But he's a good guy, once you get to know him."
I nod quietly, wondering if this so-called KJ and I would get along. I could only hope. "Is that all who'll be there?"
He shakes his head. "No, no. My cousin, Jenny and her girlfriend, Taylor will be there. They're really cool, I think the three of you will hit it off. But be ware, they're very prone to PDA." Elijah chuckles softly toward the end of his sentence.
I can't help the smile that overtakes my face when I hear that his cousin's got a girlfriend. It's nice to hear that I won't be the only one there, who's attracted to the same sex.
"A girlfriend, huh? That's pretty cool." I lean onto my left side, knees pointed toward Elijah as he drives, now indulging into conversation.
He only nods, "yeah, they're good together."
I can't help but ask one more question. I want to know more about him, more about his friends, his life—and I want him to feel comfortable sharing these things with me. "And do all of you go to Michigan State together?"
And my heart becomes joyful when I realize he's speaking again. "Yeah, I'm in my second year there. KJ, too. But Jenny and Taylor are freshman's."
I nod, gathering whatever information he's feeding me, so that I'm able to contribute to upcoming conversation later in the night, and not sound like a complete idiot.
My eyes catch sight of the Ferris wheel first, and there's lots of children and adults riding it, with joyous smiles on their lively faces. I watch as Elijah struggles to find a parking space, flipping someone off in the process.
