The Sweetest Summer

Chapter Twelve - Love Game

"I'd like that." He kissed my hand once. "Goodnight, Avery."

"'Goodnight, Connor." I smiled, opening and closing the door and waving at him once as he drove back down the driveway and through the gates.

I suddenly felt so freaking tired, wanting nothing more than to crawl into my bed and sleep for the next three days. I climbed the stairs like a zombie and down the long hallway, past my parents and Collin's bedrooms, and to my own closed door at the very end.  I pushed the door open, inhaling the sea breeze through my open window, not entirely recalling leaving it ajar.

I almost screamed when I noticed the man sitting on my bed. The scary movie still worked my nerves, and I slapped a hand over my mouth.

"Christ, Eli! You scared the shit outta me." I hissed, closing the door quietly, now noticing the way his eyes were narrowed as he scanned my bare mid drift.

"Where were you?" He demanded, crossing his arms over his white t-shirt. Normally, I would've appreciated the way the light fabric made his tan skin even more pronounced, or the way his dark hair was tasseled in that way I found irresistible.

"On a date." I shrugged, crossing my own arms in response. If he wanted a showdown, he was going to get one.

"Okay, so let me get this straight." Eli laughed without humor. "You mess around with me last night, and then end with some douche bag's tongue in your mouth tonight? So fucking classy, kid."

Tears immediately pricked my eyes, betraying the way his words stung me. How dare he slut shame me after what he did last night. After sneaking around with Denise, and then acting so high and mighty. Who the fuck did he think he was?!

"Okay, yeah. You know what, Connor kissed me and I really fucking enjoyed it." I snapped as if I wasn't dying on the inside. "But let's not try and act all innocent, baby. I'm sure Denise kept you quite warm last night too. When you were finished with me, you were finishing in her. Real fucking classy, Elijah." I countered, using his full name for the first time in years. He had to know I meant business, and that he had no right to show up like this and challenge my virtue.

He stared at me for a few moments, processing my rebuttal, picking his response carefully, not that it mattered. I was done. I pulled the hoops from my ears and the tennis shoes from my feet, feeling exhausted.

"So, you saw Denise this morning?"

"Yes, Eli. I saw her."

"It's not what you think."

"It doesn't matter what I think."

"Of course it matters." Eli crossed the room, trying to grab my hands, but I swatted him away. "You don't understand. I wasn't getting back with her. I was breaking things off for good..." He laced his fingers with mine, and I let him.

"Wha-what?"

"She wouldn't leave me alone last night, so after I dropped you off, I asked her to come over. I told her that I wasn't into her anymore, that I was too far gone over someone else, and it was time she left me alone." His thumb rubbed the back of my hand, but I barely felt it as my mind raced a mile a minute.

"We talked all night, about everything and anything. We ended up coming to a good place, where she's happy for me, and we agreed that what we had, however long lasting, was over."

"Oh." Was all I could manage to say. Eli didn't sleep with anyone else. He hadn't betrayed me...

"You went out with Connor tonight because you thought I'd slept with someone else?" He guessed, and I nodded numbly. "I wouldn't do that to you. I'm so freaking into you I can't even look at anyone else." He pulled me closer to him, wrapping his arms around my lower back so our eyes were so close that his blue orbs almost looked like one giant sapphire. "Just promise me you won't go out with him again. I don't think I could handle it..." He smiled so sadly, I nodded.

"Alright. I won't go out with him again." I relented. Eli exhaled and moved his face even closer to mine, trying to kiss me senselessly, but I wasn't ready to give up...not yet. "But you have to promise me something. Promise me you won't just disappear again."

"Aves."

"I'm serious Eli. That really freaking sucked. It made me feel like I wasn't enough. Like you regretted it."

"How could you even think like that?!" His voice was full of disbelief. "Avery, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"Okay, well then where did you go?"

"What?"

"Last week. When you disappeared. Where did you go?"

"I...can't." Eli shook his head, taking a step back from me and looked utterly freaked. Whatever it was, was bad.

I hesitated for a moment, not knowing how far I wanted to push him, but knowing I needed to know the truth. However ugly.

"Eli," I urged gently, approaching him like he was a wild animal that could bolt again at any given moment. "I want to trust you, but in order for this to work, we can't keep secrets from each other. Please just tell me, I promise I can handle whatever it is." I reached out and squeezed his fingers once.

"I don't know if I can. Handle it that is." He sighed, pulling his hand from mine to run it through his hair. I was right. Whatever it was, was not good.

"Come on, lets go for a walk." I suggested and he nodded, following me out the window, grabbing a blanket from my bed at the last moment.

We climbed down the trellis and crept along the grass down to the ocean, not that we necessarily needed to. My parents wouldn't think anything of Eli and I being out together late at night on the beach. They trusted him, knowing he didn't see me that way. He was not a threat to my virtue.

"So where did mister golden boy take you tonight?" Eli nudged my shoulder as we walked toward the waters edge.

"To a movie."

"How very vanilla of him." He barked.

"Hey! It was my idea."

"We could never go to a movie, because I wouldn't be able to keep my hands off of you." He wiggled his eyebrows in my direction. "And Lord knows you don't know how to be quiet, so I'm sure we would get kicked out..." I shivered at his sinful words, and the ocean breeze that lapped against my skin. My black crop top and yoga pants were not a good combination when paired with the Pacific breeze.

"Here." He pulled his white fleece sweatshirt over his head and handed it to me so only he stood in his T-shirt once again.

"Won't you be cold?" I asked, but he shook his head as he shook out my blue plaid blanket on the sand.

"Nah. I'm used to Vancouver at this point. A little breeze is nothing." He smiled his megawatt smile at me as he sat and I joined him, looping my legs up under me and inside the sweatshirt as well.

"Okay, so we have successfully discussed my date, and the weather, and everything in between. Are you done deflecting?" I teased, but he frowned looking out to the water.

The moon was larger than most nights, overshadowing the stars and bathing us both in an eery translucent white. My stomach sank like a stone as I watched the worry crease his face, drawing his eyebrows together and his lips into a hard line.

"I wasn't totally honest about why I came back this summer..." Eli's voice was barely a whisper above the crashing waves.