Hopelessly Falling [book 2]

Chapter Forty-One

Voicemail.

Did I do something? No, she would've said something to me... right? I mean, that's always been the case whenever we've had any disagreements or arguments. What could possibly be different this time?

I was worried earlier, but I remembered how she had been with her mom and Connor last night- it was pretty unlikely something could have happened to her. She was probably just sleeping- it was still morning after all.

"We're heading out now," Layla told me, pulling Jake behind her in a rush. "See ya after school!"

"Yup," I replied with a forced smile, my mind still elsewhere. She essentially slammed the door behind her on the way out, and I cringed hearing the car skid down the street knowing Jake was in there with her.

I sighed and trudged back into the kitchen, starting to clean up the huge mess she had left all over the place from her cooking. It took me a while to finish, and by the time I was done, I was in need of some more coffee.

I sent Crystal a text asking if she wanted to get some, but then remembered that she hadn't been answering. I didn't know how I'd momentarily forgotten.

Once I made myself some black coffee, I sat down on the couch and turned on the TV to see if there was anything good on. When I didn't find anything, I shut it off with another sigh. But then just as I was about to go back to sleep, there was a knock on the door. It sounded quick, desperate even. Thinking there was a chance of it being Crystal, I quickly shot up and rushed to it.

When I opened it, though, my jaw dropped a little and I froze in my spot.

Eli looked as though he'd just gotten the beating of a lifetime, but the condition of his knuckles made it seem as though somehow the other person got off worse than he did, even with his bruised cheek and bleeding lip. He looked like he was shaking, and trail marks were visible on his face from where there had been tears.

"C-can I come in?" His voice shook as he stuttered, clearly on the verge of tears. I closed my mouth and nodded, stepping aside.

"What the hell happened?" I asked once I shook off my initial shock. I closed the door and turned to face him as he stood there with a haunted look in his eyes. Then he looked up at me with the most pained expression I had ever seen on him.

And then he hugged me.

And I don't mean like the meaningless bro-hug type, or even just a sad hug. No.. he pulled me into him so tight that it was almost like he was squeezing the air out of my lungs. I felt him crying into my shoulder, and I hesitated due to the unexpectedness, but I hugged him back.

My eyes remained wide and concerned as he kept his arms around me. He seemed so broken. I couldn't even imagine what caused him to come to me for support with how things were between us right now, let alone cry in front of me. I didn't think he'd ever done that before.

A long while later, he finally pulled away and immediately began wiping his face off. I straightened my shirt out again and kept observing him, waiting for him to talk to me about whatever he came here because of. We might have been in a fight at this time, but I still cared about him more than I cared about myself.

"I'm sorry," he said to me, his voice hoarse.

"Don't be. I'm here," I responded, and he looked up at me again with sad, grateful eyes.

"I went in my house to get some of my stuff, and I-" he paused, the memory clearly coming back strong, "and I saw my mom, a-and she, my dad didn't have me there and he must have been mad so, so she had bruises on her arms and, and I-I couldn't not do anything about it so I, I," he was getting really worked up again, and I noticed the blood dripping down his neck from his ear.