+ LOVING ELIJAH MCCAY +
VOL. 1: CHAPTER FIFTY Pt. 2
The drive to Elijah's families restaurant was a little complicated, to say the very least. But, with the help of google maps and GPS, I finally arrived. I pull into the almost packed parking lot of the restaurant, nerves settling into my stomach. I had no idea what to expect once I opened the doors. But I also knew that Elijah would never put me in a situation that would make me feel uncomfortable.
I pull my key out of the ignition, and slide out of the drivers seat, shutting and locking the door behind me. I quickly fix my hair and clothes in the rear view mirror before making my way up to the large double doors of the restaurant.
I push the doors open, cautiously taking in the darkness of the usually well-lit building. The air is quiet, so quiet, that I can vividly hear the shuffling of my feet on the hardwood floors.
Just as I reach out switch on the lights, their abruptly turned on—and almost every single friend I've ever made stand to their feet and shout "Surprise!"
I'm in shock. So in shock that my hand comes to my chest, grasping at it as I try and catch my breath. There are streamers hanging from the ceiling, balloons tied up to booths and a banner hangs above me that reads, Happy 17th Birthday, Gage!
They don't don't give me much time to process all of it, Elijah almost instantly coming into view. My lips part to say something. Maybe thank him, maybe ask him how the hell he did all of this—but all of my words and questions fly out of the window when he smiles.
His smile renders me speechless.
I think that he can tell just how speechless I am, because he doesn't say anything, merely wrapping both arms around my waist in a tight hug. My arms instinctively wring themselves around his neck, allowing myself to be brought off the ground a few inches.
We hug tighter than we ever have before, and I cannot for the life of me stop smiling. When he finally puts me back down on the ground, and pulls back, I finally find it in myself to speak. "Elijah, how—when—I don't even—"
"Happy birthday, Gage." He says lowly, and I can't look away from his eyes. They're so welcoming, so green, so bright that I find all of the comfort and familiarity that I'll ever need inside of them. I've never loved a person so much—the feeling I get when I look at him now is so overwhelming. It's almost as if I can't breathe. Like if he were to ever look away from me my heart would stop.
I'm sure that he can feel the passion behind my stare, the intensity that radiates off of my body like a beam of light. Because he leans down close to my ear, tucking a piece of my hair behind it as he whispers. "We'll about it talk later."
When I'm swarmed by everyone who's come here to see me today, I realize that I hadn't even noticed them all while greeting Elijah. It takes me a moment to adjust.
Spencer runs over to my side, along with KJ, Terrance, and a boy that I don't recognize. Spencer is the first to hug me, KJ sparing me a quick nod of his head with a low happy birthday wish.
"How do you like the decorations?" Spencer shouts over the music now coming from the back of the restaurant. "I picked them all out!" He says with a large grin.
"It's not like you carried any of them in." KJ says beneath his breath, avoiding eye contact with Spencer.
Spencer whips around toward him. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you complaining when you were stuffing your face with all of the finger food." My lips purse at the sound of them spatting like an old married couple. Seeing as the last time I saw them, they hardly spoke due to rocky first impressions.
"I see you two are getting along well." I tease, watching KJ's face break out into a grossed out sort of look.
"We would be if Spencer wasn't such a control freak."
"I'm a what? A control freak? Because which one is the one who threw an entire birthday party together in less than a day." KJ rolls his eyes, pulling Spencer into his chest and capturing his neck in his bicep, rubbing his knuckles against his scalp.
I turn away from a protesting Spencer and a childish KJ, making my way over to where Terrance stood with a boy I'd never seen before. He had his arm thrown around the unfamiliar boys shoulders, bringing him close into his chest. I greet him with a surprised smile, and a quick hug. "Surprised to see you here."
Terrance scoffs, earning a light chuckle from the boy beneath him. "Like I'd miss your birthday party thrown by your new boyfriend."
"He's not my boyfriend." I say loudly so that everyone else who has those same suspicions, hears the truth.
I direct my eyesight to the boy who he's got under his arm, a friendly smile on my lips. "I don't think we've met before, but I'm Gage." I stick out a hand, hoping that he'll return the gesture and shake my hand.
Thankfully, he does, introducing himself. "Happy birthday!" He says sweetly, "I'm Rory." My brows raise toward Terrance, whose cheeks are beginning to dim. But just as I'm about to tease Terrance about the boy he's obviously in love with, my skin begins to crawl at the memory of him and I in his car.
Just after he and Rory had broken up. And even though I'm sure Terrance hadn't said anything, the awkwardness was almost eating me alive as I stood before the two of them. "I-It's really nice to meet you, Rory," I say with a shaky voice, "I'm gonna go say hi to some people—over there."
My feet are quicker than they've ever been as I excuse my way into the back area of the restaurant. I'm greeted by Corey and Cameron with a group hug less than a second later. They latch onto me like it's the last time they'll ever see me, and I laugh.
Cameron is the first to let me go, him landing a farewell pat on my shoulder. "Hey, where have you been, man?"
Corey is the last to pull away, but not before landing an innocent kiss on my cheek. To which I sent her my largest smile. "Same old, same old." I chuckle, feeling only slightly embarrassed that there's absolutely nothing going on with me.
But Cameron doesn't ask anymore questions, filling me in on everything he's been doing between work, college, and coming home when he has the chance. It makes me smile to see Elijah and his siblings so happy and productive. Especially after the year they've had.
I turn to Corey next, listening closely as she describes the day she's had, and how she just can't believe that Elijah has thrown me a birthday party but has never even given her a birthday gift over forty dollars.
I laugh loudly, feeling only a little sorry for her.
"It's okay—next year I'll make sure he gets you something for over fifty." Cameron chuckles, taking a sip from the unfamiliar cup in his hand as he listens in on our conversation.
"How about over a hundred?" She leans in closely, as if trying to negotiate.
"Over seventy?" I question. She takes a moment, head turning toward where Elijah is standing in the corner of the building, talking to someone who I don't recognize.
Corey nods, jutting out a hand. "Deal."
I stand there for another few moments, taking in the party going on around me. Everyone seems to be having such a nice time, smiling, laughing, talking. I still couldn't believe that all of my friends had gone so out of their way to throw me a birthday party—I had never experienced something like this before.
My eyesight connects with Elijah, who's still occupying himself several feet away from where I stand. Earlier he had told me that we would talk about my little stare-fest later. And when he signals me over, I realize that we're having that conversation now.
I begin to walk toward him, watching as he turns on his heels and makes his way out toward the back of the building. I follow him outside, shutting the steel door once we've made it out.
There are lights hanging over the rooftop of the building, and are shining their light down onto the concrete of the back alleyway where we stand. Elijah is carrying a red plastic cup in his hand, the other stuffed inside his the pocket of his jeans.
He stands beside a lamppost that shadows over the darkening alleyway. I follow suit.
"Gage—"
"Wait," I interrupt, tired of being shot down every time we get even an inch closer to being more than friends. I don't want to have to beg someone to love me—especially when I know that there's no chance they ever will. "You don't have to explain yourself. I know that I can be a little intense sometimes. It's just . . . It's just hard to keep pretending."
Elijah takes a step closer, an apologetic look written all over his handsome features. "Pretending what?"
"Pretending that I'm not in love with you," my throat threatens close up at my abrupt admittance about how I feel about him. But now that the balls rolling, I can't get it to stop. "Elijah, I think about you almost every second of everyday. You're there when I wake up—you're there before I fall asleep—I can't stop it. I can't stop the feeling that I get when you so much as look at me. It drives me crazy—the fact that I feel so deeply about you, and you don't drives me insane."
Elijah is silent. Not quiet, absolutely silent. His lips are parted, his chest is heaving up and down, and his eyebrows are furrowed. I'd never seen someone so at a loss for words. I didn't mean to make him feel uncomfortable or speechless, but the words had been on the tip of my tongue for months. They needed an out.
The two of us don't say anything for a few moments, him finding the nearest wall to lean his back against. "Come here."
My heart flutters, voice wobbling. "W-What?"
He holds a hand out, awaiting mine. "Come here."
I don't waste another second, walking over to where Elijah stands perched up against the brick wall. I slip my hand into his, watching as he brings our joint hands close to his chest. He holds them there, lips parting to speak. "I know this sucks, Gage. But like I've said before—"
"I know," I sadly whisper, "one day, I'm going to find a great guy who loves me for me." The words are sour, and hurt to say. But I know it's the truth.
Elijah chuckles softly. "Exactly. And I really wish that you could see in yourself, what I see in you. You're smart, kind, athletic, funny, beautiful," my heart flutters. "You should never have to sit around waiting for someone to love you back. You deserve the kind of guy who will look at you, and just know. And in a perfect world, maybe I would be that guy. But it's just . . . We're just not right."
I nod understandingly, embarrassment pouring out of my skin. I can't look him in the eye, knowing that I've probably ruined our evening with my little outburst. But when Elijah walks over to the middle of the alleyway, our hands still caught in one another, I'm frazzled.
He wraps both arms around my waist, after placing mine around his neck. We move in a steady pace, in tune with the music lightly coming from the restaurant.
We dance for what feels like hours, my face being buried inside of his neck, as he takes the lead. My throats bobs as I whisper, "I really wish you could've been that guy."
"I know," He whispers back, landing an innocent peck on the side of my head. "But he's just right around the corner, I promise."
Nodding in agreement, I try to take my mind off of the two of us for a moment, and simply enjoy the music echoing throughout the alley.
We're interrupted when the steel door leading to where we're stood, is pushed open, revealing KJ. He averts his stare once noticing how intimate our movements are. "Hey, um, it's time to cut the cake."
Elijah pulls away, our hands separating once and for all. "Of course. Gage, you go."
I comply, marching my way toward the heavy door, I don't shut it behind me, subtly asking Elijah if they're following me inside. He waves his hand, "yeah, we'll meet you in there."
The door is closed behind me, leaving me to finally breathe alone. Being beside him is a lot sometimes, so now being alone—it makes it a little easier to breathe. I walk back out to where everyone is standing around, waiting for me to come blow out the candles.
"Gage! Gage, come and sit!" I do as told by Spencer, who is pointing down toward a chair that has a balloon tied to it that reads, Happy Birthday!
Once I've settled, Elijah and KJ are making their way into the building again, shutting the door behind them. Elijah sends me a look that tells me everything will be okay, signaling me to blow out the candles lied out before me.
But I don't, knowing that Spencer would—without a doubt—kill me if I did so before letting everyone sing me happy birthday.
So they do, and a moment after, I'm blowing out seventeen neatly placed candles on a large birthday cake that has my name written in on it in beautifully big block letters.
Once the cheering begins, I can't stop the warm smile that erupts over my face. I have everything that I've ever wanted—well, minus one tiny detail. Actually, one very large detail. I mean, I knew that getting over Elijah wouldn't be easy. But it necessary. It was something I needed to do.
But I still had so many new things to be thankful for—Spencer and his ability to throw together a beautiful birthday party, KJ, and his ability to make any situation sour, and Rick—my best of friends until the very end.
I missed him so, so much but I was happy to hear that he was finally having a good time making new friends, seeing girls, and rebuilding his relationship with his father. It's all I've ever wanted for him—and he was finally getting it.
Even Terrance, who seemed so happy to finally be back in the arms of the boy he loved. I was just hoping that he wouldn't mess it all up again.
And Elijah, who stood in the corner of the room like before, shooting me a confident wink. I chuckle, shooting him one right back.
Everything was finally falling right into place and I genuinely couldn't be happier. Well, for now at least.
THE END.
For now -
NOW FOR MY EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT! THERE WILL BE A SEQUEL!!!! I saw that a lot of you already predicted there would be one, so that was exciting lol. But all in all IM SO EXCITED TO START WRITING IT!!!
Elijah and Gage's story is NOT over yet and the rest will take place about a year and a half from now, when Gage is starting college.
The very first real chapter of Elijah McCay and Me will be posted on JUNE 1st!!!
I hope you're all as excited as I am—SEE YOU IN JUNE <3