Alone

Chapter 13

Placing the box on the table, an impatient Jacob snatched it away and ripped it open. Taking a handful, he passed it on to me. To say Jacob loved pop-tarts would be an understatement. All three of us had a liking to pop-tarts, which is another stupid thing we somehow bonded over.

Once Jacob got over the excitement of seeing the pop-tarts, the peaceful silence that surrounded us was broken by his constant chatter with his twin. I watched as they argued while simultaneously consuming the pop-tarts. I lived for moments like this in my otherwise bleak life.

My life would be dull without them, and I didn't want to lose them which is why I decided that now would be the right time to tell them everything.

Getting their attention was difficult, they were so engrossed in their argument that they didn't hear when I called them.

"Oi." I yelled. They both looked at me in surprise, finally. "I need to tell you something." I said solemnly.

"Oh! Are you going to tell Caleb about yesterday's nightmare?" Jacob muttered while taking another handful of poptarts, completely oblivious to the death glare I was sending him.

"What nightmare?" Caleb asked with a hard tone. He wasn't happy with being kept in the dark. 

Before I could answer, "Lizzy had another nightmare yesterday and called me up to talk about it—" Jacob answered for me, unaware of the tension in the room.

"Jacob, shut the hell up." He finally looked up from his pop-tarts and shrank back when he saw the anger on my face.

"What fuck is he talking about, Lizzy?" 

Jacob sat quietly like a scolded child while I tried to figure out a way to explain. There was only one way, the truth.

"I did have a nightmare yesterday. It was the first one since I've stopped my meds. It's nothing I can't handle, you don't need to worry. Maybe that show must have triggered it. I'm fine." I tried to reassure them, but it didn't do much. Caleb's face was devoid of any emotion and Jacob looked at me with pity. This is why I didn't want to tell them.

"Lizzy, you need to start therapy again and maybe even your meds." Caleb urged.

"No. This is just the first time; it won't happen again." I didn't want to go back to therapy, if I did it meant that I was back to square one. It indicated that I hadn't made any progress at all.

"Eli?" Grey stepped into the room interrupting our conversation. He was wearing one of the twin's sweatpants and had no shirt on with the bandage on display. He was surprised when he realized that we had company. He nodded at the twin's and they returned it with a nod of their own.

"Dude, you looked fucked up." Jacob said breaking the tension in the room. Caleb shot me a look telling me that the conversation wasn't over. He then left to take a shower. Greyson took a seat on the couch while Jacob sat quietly, which was a first.

"I think you need to go to the hospital; you probably need stitches." I nodded towards his wound.

"Okay...um, I think I'm going to head to the bedroom." He said as he awkwardly pointed towards the bedroom. "God, the sexual tension here is through the roof." He muttered under his breath as he left.

Awkward silence.

"I can take you to the hospital if you want." I said, breaking the silence.

"Are you sure?" He looked shocked at my offer to help. I was surprised too because I blurted it out without a second thought.

"Yeah, the twin's will be leaving in sometime, so we can leave after they go." He didn't get the chance to reply as Caleb walked into the room with Jacob behind him who was staring at us curiously.

The four of us spent the next few hours bickering about random things and laughing at each other. Finally, Caleb announced that it was time for them to leave. They would be back in the evening for a sleepover though.

Once they left, I let out a loud yawn followed by a demonic stretch. I heard a chuckle, "You look tired. I'll find some other way to go."

"I need to get out anyways, so I might as well take you. It's no big deal." I said as I threw him his jeans and an old shirt I had.

I dressed into my black jeans, a white tee and my trusty old black converse. I walked out to see Greyson struggling to put on his shirt; it made me snicker.

"I'm glad my pain amuses you."

"More than you can imagine." 

Once I helped him with his shirt, we left the apartment and walked to my car with one of his arm over my shoulder for support. Having him this close to me made my heart race and those butterflies in my stomach fluttered way too much for my liking. Once we reached the car, he got in with a lot of grunting and groaning since he refused my help. When he finally settled down, we made our way to the nearest hospital.

I glanced at Greyson and was once again struck by how effortlessly he managed to look so beautiful with the sun shining down on his messy brown hair and face; making his grey eyes more prominent. The swelling on his face had gone down, and he could see with his other eye.

His face was covered with black and blue bruises along with small cuts, but that did nothing to dim down his beauty. It made me wonder how many women threw themselves at him.

Once we reached the hospital, the nurse provided us with a form and looked at us like we had grown two heads. Fortunately, she didn't question us when he told her that Greyson had a minor accident and sent us off into a waiting room. As Greyson entered his details into the form, I glanced around to see that there were quite a lot of people.

I let out a small groan at the thought of waiting. Hearing a chuckle beside me, I looked to see Greyson looking at me with amusement in his eyes, "You can leave if you want. I'll get the stitches and go home."

"No, it's fine. I'm here now and I have nothing better to do." Letting out a yawn, I continued, "But you have to be my pillow." Resting my head on his shoulder, I closed my eyes without waiting for an answer and let my sleep to take over.

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"Eli..... Eli." The voice sounded like it was underwater. "Wake up, lazy bones. I'm next." This time the voice was more clear. "Elizabeth, wake up." 

I cracked one eye open to see white walls surrounding me. Rubbing my eyes, I finally came to my senses and realized that Grey had an arm around my waist and I was tucked into his side since there were no arm rests. Clearing my throat, I tried to create some space between us, but Greyson had other plans, he pulled me tighter into his side. I looked up to a daring look in his eyes and a hint of amusement.

"Let go." 

"What if I don't?" He asked smugly.

"Then you'll have to suffer the consequences." I had turned my body towards him while his hands were on my waist, holding me in place. He leaned in close as if to challenge me, thinking that I would back down, but I didn't.

His eyes flickered momentarily to my lips and then back to my eyes making my heart thud rapidly in my chest. He continued moving closer, slowly inch by inch closing the distance between us and waiting for me to give up. He was just a breath away, his intense grey eyes keeping my dull green eyes locked in place. I could feel the ghost of his lips on mine and my eyes instinctively fluttered shut.

We were interrupted by a voice calling out, "Greyson Blaise." We jumped apart from each other and in the process hit our foreheads against each other, making me yelp in pain.

"Fuck, Eli. Are you fine?" 

Brushing it off because I was still trying to understand what just happened, I said, "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Come on." 

Getting up to help him, I bumped into someone. Turning around to apologize, I was met with the face that I had learnt to forget because I thought I would never see it again. A look of recognition passed through his face and I knew he had recognized me. I need to get out of here. Fast.

"Alex?"