eli walters from school ~
i'll be there soon, come outside in a few mins
Casting my eyes over Eli's text, I quickly put my phone in my pocket and head over to the mirror to give myself one final look over.
Checking my hair and flicking away a few loose strands from my face, I can't help but reflect on how weird it is that I'm not dreading this as much as I thought I would be now that Sunday night has actually arrived.
I mean, when Eli had first proposed the idea, I had been worrying about our cinema trip as I know that Eli and I struggle to even have a civil conversation most of the time. But now that it's here and despite knowing that we're still likely going to end up getting on each other's nerves at least once tonight- I don't really mind it anymore. In fact, dare I say I've actually been kind of looking forward to tonight.
It sounds crazy, I know. But I think it's because I kind of need the distraction from he who shall not be named. I've actually been kind of keeping to the promise I made to myself yesterday afternoon to not think about him too much. Even without specifically thinking about him though, my mood has been kind of low the past day or so. So I think getting out of the house for a bit and going to see my favourite movie will definitely be the pick-me-up I need.
Realising it's been a couple minutes already of me getting lost in my own thoughts, I finally pull myself away from the mirror and towards my front door. I exit the house, making sure to lock up before I wait on the pavement and begin preparing myself for what will no doubt be a mentally tiring night to come as things usually are if Eli Walters is involved.
Soon enough, Eli's car pulls up and I quickly walk over to the black vehicle. Pulling open the car door, I open my mouth to greet him as I begin to get in before the boy himself rudely interrupts me.
'What the fuck are you wearing?'
I instantly freeze at his rudely spoken comment, unsurely lowering my body to sit in the seat after a few awkward seconds of silence. I turn to face him in confusion in regards to his question, my hand now hesitantly hovering near the handle of the still open car door.
'Clothes?' I sputter, giving him an odd look.
'Yeah, I think the fuck not. Go change.' He carelessly mutters, rolling his green eyes at me and leaning back further into his seat.
'What the hell? What's your problem?' I blurt in exasperation, pausing and taking a second to purposefully slam the car door shut before looking down to scan my outfit again.
Yup, just as I thought. No, the clothes on my body have not somehow magically fallen off or changed in the approximate minute it took for to me step out of my front door and get into the car.
Why is he so offended by my outfit? I'm literally just wearing an off the shoulder black tee tucked into fitted, gray joggers with converse. In fact, the only thing I can think of is that some people would perhaps argue that I probably should of gotten a little more dressed up for the occasion. But we're going to the movies, why would I dress up just to sit in a darkened room for a few hours? And besides it's not like I have anyone to dress up for either- not for myself and damn well not for Eli Walters.
But Eli just glares at me in return, practically shooting lasers at me through his eyes.
'My problem is a lot of a things. But right now, it's you in those damn clothes.' He snipes back, casting me an evil look.
His bluntly spoken words do little to soothe the fire currently blazing within me at the immaturity and rudeness he's showing right now.
'Yeah, well my issue is you and thinking you can dictate what I wear.' I begin to rage back, glaring at his causal figure reclining back in his seat as I silently curse him out in my mind. 'Why are you even being so weird about it? You have a lot of nerve considering you're dressed like-'
'Oh.'
My fierce rant quickly stops when my eyes lower to the rest of his body, any words I had in mind instantly leaving when I register his own clothing. An outfit that pretty much perfectly mirrors my exact own- gray joggers and a black t-shirt.
A long moment of me staring at him with my mouth open passes before my gaze eventually returns to his own. He stares back at me smugly, scoffing and raising an arched brow as if to say 'what were you saying again?'
'Exactly.' He grunts in a huff, rolling his eyes as if tired with my shit already. 'So go change because the last thing I want to do is to go out looking like a clown wearing a couple's outfit, especially with your ass.'
I recoil back at the mention of the word 'couple' linking Eli and I, frankly unable to think of anything that could be worse. Choosing to ignore the latter insult fired at me, I simply choose to scowl at him in return.
Internally agreeing that I don't really want to be spotted wearing clothing resembling any sort of couples outfit matching with the devil himself, I turn my body away from him and towards the door as I contemplate going back inside to change again.
I've just reached forward to grip the door handle, about to push the door open so I can climb out of the car when I pause and take a second to think through my choices.
Suddenly feeling a streak of defiance shoot through me at his bossy command, I soon make my mind up to rebel against him because why should I have to be the one to go change? I mean sure, I'm not exactly ecstatic at the discovery that we are indeed wearing similar clothes but does it really matter that much? It's not like like we're draped in really out there and colourful clothing that's going to make all eyes turn to us once we enter a room. More importantly though, Eli seems to really hate this turn of events so you can bet that I'm going to use this chance to really get on his nerves, even if it's not exactly my ideal situation either.
'No, you know what? No, I'm not.' I state firmly, shaking my head in opposition after a moment's silence as I pull back my hand in rejection of his suggestion to go change.
'No?' He grumbles in irritation as he sits up a little straighter, narrowing his eyes at my figure in the passenger seat.
'No.' I repeat a little louder, forcing myself to raise my chin and stare him dead in the eyes as I continue. 'Why should I have to go change? I agree, yeah, it's not exactly ideal wearing the same clothes and had I known, I probably wouldn't have dressed like this in the first place. But saying that, it's still kind of a stupid reason to make me go change again. I honestly don't care, I mean we're going to a movie theatre at the end of the day. And if you still want to be immature about it then why don't you be the one who should have to go change considering you're throwing such a hissy fit over it?'
I almost feel a little breathless once I finish my rant, looking away and swallowing to clear my dry throat. Biting my lip slightly at the awkward silence that follows, I cautiously raise my eyes from my lap to catch a glimpse of the look on Eli's face, expecting one of either patronising boredom or annoyance. Instead however the one I'm met with is a look of amusement as he tilts his head at me, a small smirk playing on his lips.
'Damn.' He observes in a low voice, clicking his tongue in apparent admiration as his emerald eyes search my face. 'I love it when you get all fired up like that.'
I almost choke at his casually spoken comment, eyes as big as saucers as I groan out in embarrassment and cover my face with my palms.
'E-Eli! Seriously? Did you even hear a word I said?' I stutter with flaming cheeks and breathing in through my nose in an attempt to forcefully calm myself down.
'Yes.' He huffs, a corner of his lips still raised upwards at my bashful reaction. 'And I guess you're right. It's not like we're going out to eat or anything and besides, can I really come at you for having such good taste in fashion?'
I roll my eyes at the brown haired boy who cockily shrugs his shoulders at this, seeming incredibly proud with himself for his self compliment.
'I mean, it's literally like the most basic outfit, what is there really to-'
'Are you insulting my taste?' Eli suddenly scoffs, snapping his head towards me as if in a warning to watch myself and how exactly I reply back.
'What?' I blurt, aghast at how he is able to twist my words like that and surely thinking he must be taking the piss now. 'No, look okay. Let's just agree to forget about the whole clothes thing, yeah?'
He stares at me for a long second, bored eyes analysing me as if pondering whether or not to just call it a truce already.
'Whatever.' He eventually manages to grumble out making me grin in delight at how fast we had already managed to overcome our first obstacle of the night. 'Look at us, already solving our issues and getting on like a fucking house on fire.'
'Well I'm just glad you're not throwing your little tantrum anymore about how 'I stole your clothes' to be honest.' I nod in agreement with a little scoff, a smile drawing on my face when he finally begins to pull away from my house.
'Yeah, well at this rate, you may as well just fucking wear my rings well you're at it.' He sneers beneath his breath in distaste, shaking his head to himself in thought as he drives.
'...Can I?'
'What?' He grunts, shocked eyes flashing over to me to meet my own hesitant ones for a brief second before turning his attention back to the road.
I can't help but swallow in nervousness at his short and questioning tone, wondering if it was actually worth saying what I had in the first place. But seeing as I have already voiced my thoughts and that he is still wearing a look of incredulousness (and mild disgust, might I add), I decide to just commit to what I had asked in the first place anyway.
'J-Just the black one you always wear, just for tonight.' I begin to quietly explain, suddenly feeling a little unsure of myself as my eyes dart to the ring of topic resting on his right hand. 'It's cool, I've- I've always wanted one like it but I can never seem to find a good one that actually fits.'
Don't ask me why I know that he wears that black band of his everyday. It was just something I had noticed one day when he had been hassling me and something that my eyes have always naturally drifted to ever since.
Maybe it's because I really do want a black ring just like it and haven't seemed to have much luck in securing one for myself. Granted, I'm probably not looking as hard as I really could be though I guess.
Eli appears to be a little taken aback at my confession, seeming to struggle to find his words for a second and taking noticeably longer than usual to reply to me.
'And you thinks mine's going to fit your freakishly small fingers?' He eventually sourly taunts, pulling his eyes away from the road to glower at my hands for a second.
Scrambling to hide my hands away from his criticising view for a moment, I gasp at his insult but I'm honestly not really that surprised considering how Eli-ish of a sentence it was.
'I'm going to pretend you didn't say that.' I state quietly in warning, glaring hard at him in the hopes he'll be able to feel my heated gaze on him as he drives. 'And maybe it might, I can try wearing it on my thumb I guess. So can I?'
Looking at him with hopeful eyes while he makes his decision, I'm not really expecting him to give in, especially with how almost repulsed he seemed when I first suggested it.
Which is why I'm so surprised when he proceeds to hold out his hand with a roll of his eyes a short moment later.
'Whatever, I don't care.' He quietly mumbles in a stiff tone, seemingly refusing to make eye contract with me even when we stop at a red light a moment later. 'Here, take it.'
I snap out of my state of shock at his bluntly spoken prompt, leaning forward to pluck the ring off his hand and onto mine with a smile.
I mean it's only a ring at the end of the day and he's literally just giving it to me to wear for a couple hours but to say I'm still gobsmacked that Eli Walter is even doing this for me is an understatement.
'And I'm warning you now, damage it in any way tonight and I'll break you in return, you hear me?' Eli warns in a brisk tone as I glance up to see him sending me his usual look of annoyance and warning and instantly making me nod my own head in agreement, it's almost become like second nature to me at this point to just nod along with whatever he threatens me with since I've just so become so used to him so casually threatening me.
There's a moment of quietness in which I'm holding up my hand, happily scanning the ring and how it looks on me as I catch him staring at me with a look of indifference from the corner of his eye until he breaks the silence.
'Oh, yeah. Talking about rings by the way, I think I might have dropped one at your house the other night.' He casually remarks.
My head snaps to his, confused for a moment as I'm still not used to the concept of Eli just being at my house for whatever reason even days after that little night visit he had made.
'You mean when you were choking me?' I sassily and almost silently snort beneath my breath, still busy fiddling with the ring on my finger and not actually meaning for him to hear me in any way.
'What was that?' Eli suddenly booms in a curious voice, making my blood run cold when I look up to see a wicked smirk on his face as he teasingly holds his hand up to his ear, both signs of which by the way tell me that he had definitely heard me.
'N-nothing.' I falter in a higher pitch than normal as I quickly abandon any of the confidence I previously held, making Eli snicker in satisfaction.
'That's what I thought.'