Loving Carter

3

I hope I never see her again. He thought. He was also lying.

Elijah hurried home, in the cold November air. Parking on campus was a pain, so he usually walked or took the subway to get to school.

As he entered his apartment, throwing his jacket on the couch, he noticed Porter lying on the couch, in his pyjamas, playing Call of Duty.

"Hey, Eli. You coming tonight?" He questioned; he was playing with his band at a small pub near their home at 7 PM.

Elijah walked to the fridge, pulling out a carton of orange juice and drinking some straight from the carton.

"Yeah, man. Del and I will meet you there." He had made plans to pick Della up for Porter's show.

"Alright bro." He replied, concentrating back on the game. Eli headed into this own room throwing his backpack on the floor and laying back on his bed to listen to music. May had been under his bed, and crawled up onto his lap.

He closed his eyes, ready for a nap when his phone went off. He checked the screen:

He ignored their conversation from earlier, reading the last message and responding. Raina lived with Della, and she had a crush on one of the girls in the band. A detail she had slipped to Eli when they were both drunk.

At 6:30 PM, Eli was ready to head to the pub. Porter had taken his car to carry the band's instruments. Eli didn't want to go early and set up with them so he decided he'd walk.

He was in the same ripped, black jeans, and his faded Rolling Stones t-shirt that he wore to class. He threw on a black hoodie on top.

He grabbed his wallet, and keys, leaving the apartment and locking it behind him. As he got down the elevator, he put his stuff in his pocket, putting his earphones in to walk through the street.

As he was a few blocks from the bar, he decided to cross through a short-cut in an alleyway through the opposite building.

Big mistake.

As Elijah walked through, he sensed people behind him. Glancing behind slightly, he saw three buff guys with their hoods on following him. They kept coming closer and closer, as he almost reached the end of the alley.

He turned around.

"Can I help you?" He said, disinterestedly.

"Yes, actually. You can." One of the guys came closer to him. He was shorter than Eli, but much more muscular. 

"Give us your wallet." The guy next to him said menacingly. He was much scrawnier.

"Sure." Eli shrugged, pulling his black wallet from his jeans' pocket and tossing it to the first guy.

He only kept $20 in there; he had lived long enough in the city to know that there was a very high chance of being mugged.

The guy was startled and fumbled with the wallet, barely catching it. He turned around to his two friends, unsurely.

"Uh. That's it?" His voice was not menacing anymore. Just curious and slightly shocked. "You're not gonna fight or beg or nothing? You're just gonna let us rob you?"

"I don't really care." Eli surveyed his nails, uninterestedly, as he spoke. "Well, if that's all, I'll be on my way." He waved his hand carelessly at them, as he turned to leave.

And then -

*ping!* his phone went off. Fuck.

"Wait a minute!" The guy yelled behind him. Eli walked faster, breaking into a run. Now, he was worried.

He didn't get far before the guy had grabbed his arm and whipped him around. "Give us your phone!" His menacing tone was back.

Fuck. Whoever texted him was getting blocked.

"No." Eli replied, trying to pull his arm free. The mugger raised a threatening eyebrow.

Eli thought for a minute. He went to the gym a lot. He could also fight, something he picked up in high school. But he definitely could not fight three guys at once.

But he was also not giving them his phone. It was the latest iPhone, a birthday gift from his mom.

"What do you mean 'no'?" One of the other guys came forward.

"I mean fuck you." Elijah shot at him. Was he stupid? Why did he say that?

The guy threw his head back in a laugh, pulling out a knife from his trousers. It glinted in the dark alley-way. Eli swallowed at the sight of it.

"Give us your phone or I'll stab you in the leg and take it myself." He threatened, waving the knife in front of Elijah.

Eli considered it for a second. "Okay, how about this: I'll let you stab me in the leg, and you let me keep my phone?" He offered his counter-proposal.

All three of the muggers paused. Was this guy serious? They thought simultaneously with their shared brain cell.

Eli opened his mouth to repeat his offer when another figure entered the alley-way.

The four of them whipped their head around to see the newcomer. They were far away and Eli wasn't wearing his glasses.

He squinted his eyes in the darkness, and all he could make out was a bright yellow sweater and blue shoes.

Wait a minute.

a/n haha who do we think that is?