Thank god he was home. He nearly forgot how draining being in a classroom could be, and worst of all: he had history first thing in the morning. Declaration of Independence? More like Declaration of snooooooore.
Lunch was at a better time this year though. Like actual lunch rather than late in the afternoon when he'd be practically starving to death. Plus, he's actually seen some of the guys he met that morning in the halls. Although he never spoke up first, he would say hi when they did.
But oh, don't even get him started on Calculus. Right after lunch he had to walk all the way across the school from where he hid in the art hall to then be graced by the presence of probably the worst math teacher in history. Nothing the dude said made sense, he expected them to complete a 20-question worksheet in under 45 minutes and he never helped any students even when they asked for it, blaming them for their mistakes.
He went to the afternoon practice and talked a little more with the players his dad introduced him to, but he really wanted to leave.
It had been the first day of the second month of school for everyone else, but for him it was the first day of being in a classroom and in a school again in two years (plus one month). He wasn't gonna lie, he did not miss it. He didn't miss the crowded hallways, he didn't miss the anxious walk to class in fear of being late, he didn't miss having to slave over a desk and force his brain to pump out answers to questions he never cared about.
So anyone could guess that the moment Elijah got home he wanted desperately to fall onto his bed and take a nap. Which he would have. If his phone hadn't been ringing for the past five minutes. With an annoyed groan, he picked the wretched thing up and answered the call, not bothering to check the name.
"Who's this." it came off as more of a demand, but he really couldn't care.
"It's Matt from the football team!" Clicking his tongue he tried to put the name to a face.
Black hair? No, that wasn't right. Freckles? No, he was pretty sure Jase had that. "Uh...the guy with the chipped tooth, right?"
"Is it that noticeable?" He heard him distantly through the call. Someone answered him, but he couldn't tell what they said.
Elijah sat up abruptly. "Sorry, I have trouble with names. I didn't mean to make it sound like that."
"It's no problem. These guys took a week to remember my name when I first met them." Matt assured.
"We did not!" A few shouted.
He smiled, but it faltered as he wondered how Matt was able to call him. "How did you get my number...?" He remembered sharing to with Alex and Carson, did they share his number with the rest of the people he had met...?
There was some background noise and a different voice answered. "Carson gave it to us!" He couldn't tell who it was through the static.
"Yeah," Matt confirmed, "Me and the other guys were wondering if you still wanted to meet up? Coach has talked about you a lot during the first month of school, so we wanted to get to know this famous "straight-A shy kid" he kept mentioning." He sighed into his hand, a little embarrassed that his dad talked about him to the football team, but he did feel a sense of pride in himself that he was actually talked about positively for once.
"Did you reject Alex by the way?" a different different voice asked and the others in the car snickered when the said boy told them to shut up.
"Did I reject him wanting to probably have sex with me? Yes. I said I didn't want anything intimate right now." He smiled at the banter that had started between someone else and Alex, that someone else definitely starting it.
"Good, he's banged like half our grade." He recognized Diego's voice, it sounded a lot clearer than the rest of them minus Matt.
"Oh my god I have not, it was people from different schools."
Elijah cringed, but smiled still, remembering that Chase had said the same thing when they met. "Ew, I kind of thought he was-you know what? I'm not gonna say it." He smirked, knowing that it would strike their curiosity more.
"Oh no please do go on, I need more stupid nicknames to call this idiot." After hearing the voice again in a louder volume he recognized it as Anthony.
"Please don't he's so annoyi-ouch! Don't pinch me!" Elijah laughed, the two of them acted like kids.
He sucked a breath through his teeth to further Anthony's anticipation. "I mean, I could just tell you when I meet up with you guys, right?"
"Yes! One of us! One of us!" Carson began to chant in the background.
"He's insane, ignore him." Diego said with an obvious smile.
Elijah couldn't help but laugh, these guys were definitely the life of the party. Or better yet; they are the party. Weirdly enough that didn't make him as nervous as he thought. In fact, it was refreshing to find new people to be around that weren't assholes or judgey. Like a breath of fresh air. He just hoped they weren't homophobic. Please whatever God is up there, I really need a break. Though that begged the question..."So is anyone else from the team coming or is it just you guys?" Saying the words he recalled asking Carson the same thing and mentally smacked himself.
"It's just us, we're Coach's "favorites" if you will, cause we always show up early and get our shit done. Which reminds me, D can you please talk some sense into Chase?" Huh, he never would've guessed, with how his dad would talk about them with such pride at the dinner table. Remembering what Chase had said by the bleachers, he guessed that he also had a bit of a "reputation" given to him courtesy of his dad.
"I'm free, the teachers went easy on me since I came to school a month late." His bed creaked as he stood up from it to put his shoes on and grab his car keys from his night stand.
"Nice, we can pick you up if you want." The offer was surprising. Elijah wasn't used to football players being this nice. Then again those ones had already graduated by now.
Oh, that's right. They would've graduated by now.
"I mean I can drive to you guys-"
There was overlapping chatter in the background, "Nope. It's decided. We're picking you up."
"But you don't even know where my house-"
"Coach told us. We're coming." And they hung up.
Well, looks like he had no choice. He took his earbuds off the charger after putting his keys back in the drawer and proceeded to go to the living room to wait. Sitting on the couch, he joined his step mom in watching a movie. Her wavy, auburn hair was undone and laid across her shoulders comfortably. "You have homework?" She spared him a moment from looking at whatever show was on.
Slumping on the blanket-covered, brown leather couch, Elijah sighed deeply. "I don't want to talk about it."
Clara chuckled, taking a sip of her Ginger Ale before she spoke. "You still need to do it, but I'll let you off the hook for now." He smiled at her over the couch before going on his phone.
It only took about ten minutes before he heard aggressive knocking on his door that the both of them jumped from. Clara gave him a quizzical look, beginning to set her drink down before Elijah quickly stood from his spot.
"FBI OPEN UP!" Someone yelled. That got a good laugh out of him as he approached the door, opening it to find Matt in front of him in the same sports jackets as some of the guys in the car parked in front of his house.
"Hello officer, no there is no crack in here." He played along, looking back at his surprised step-mother.
"Ha! I like him." One of them said from the car. Possibly being Carson. He looked over Matt's shoulder to confirm and it was in fact Carson, hanging almost half of his body out the back window of the dark blue Honda-Kia.
"C'mon. We're going to the park." He nodded to the car, looking over his shoulder for a moment. "Hi Elijah's mom!"
A bright smile spread on her face and she gave Elijah a we'll talk later look. He returned her smile before turning back to Matt. "The park?" Elijah echoed, shutting the door behind him. Walking up to the back door of the car and looking through the window, he saw Jase seated on the opposite side. Awkwardly-and a little excitedly-he got in and put his seatbelt on. "I don't think I've been to the park since I was in like, third grade."
The car had seven seats total. Jason, who was in the other seat next to him, looked at him like he said the sky was purple. "What? Seriously?" Elijah nodded, smiling at the surprise on his face.
"You're missing out, it's so nice over there." Matt declared excitedly from the front seat, putting the car in drive.
"Nice car." He liked the idea of being able to travel with all your friends in a single vehicle, despite it definitely being dangerous. Matt seemed to know what he was doing though, he got here just fine after all. As they drove off they unpaused the music and it started to blast. It was a little loud for his liking but he quickly recognized the song and paid the volume no mind.
Jason proceeded to explain how every now and then they'd go to the park and just walk around and relax. Listing the food places around and the stores that were nearby too, all in all it sounded like a blast. The others butted in at some points too and mentioned funny occurrences or just weird things they saw. Including a Karen who was going off on a lady who was walking her dog about "contracting rabies" or something.
Elijah decided not to drown out the background with music, in fact, he loved listening to all of them talk. "So, Eli-can I call you Eli?" Matt asked after discussing something about football again.
Elijah nodded, opening the bottle of water Diego offered him. "Yeah, I don't care."
"Sweet. So, Eli, are you gay?" His stomach dropped and the water immediately changed course to his lungs, nearly coming out of his nose. Several wheezing coughs and a pat on the back from Jason later, he was able to breathe. Looking around at their expecting faces, not Matt's because he was driving, he began to clam up.
"Um, why do you ask?" It came out more quiet than he had intended, afraid to possibly get slandered by his new friends. It's happened several times in the past. He'd introduce himself to some people, they'd be friendly for a while, and then once he came out to them they called him slurs and avoided him ever since.
These were football players. Just like freshman year. They could spread rumors around the school, get people to hate him, ruin his life. He never should've trusted them, he should've stayed in bed that first day of school. I can't do this again, oh god.
"Just curious. You just seemed nervous around us this morning." Matt jumped as a peanut hit him in the side of the head "Hey! Don't throw peanuts at me, it was just a question!" Elijah looked at who Matt was glaring at through the rear view mirror and Anthony gave him a soft smile from the seat behind him.
"Don't worry, we're all chill." He shrugged, going back to eating the bag of peanuts he just noticed in his hand, "We don't care if you're gay, bi, all that jazz." After he calmed down from what would have been a panic attack, he relaxed his shoulders and sighed with relief. They're okay. It was fine. God I need to relax.
"You don't know how relieving that is to hear. Thank you." He didn't realize he was smiling before his elbow was nudged.
Carson, sat to Anthony's right, happily expressed their welcoming nature with a big, beaming grin. "Of course! What kind of friends would we be if we hated you just because you like d-"
"Carson!" He snickered when the whole group scolded him in sync.
"Yknow," Jason began, "Chase says he's bi but none of us really bi it." There was a prideful smirk on his face and he felt himself loose a year off his life from that joke alone.
Elijah gave him an unimpressed look, but his broken humor nearly made him laugh. "That was horrible, do better." Chase, bisexual? That could be a possibility, but after hearing about the girlfriend thing he doubted it was true.
His jaw dropped in fake offense, "Oh come on that was good!"
"It really wasn't." Alex groaned from his back corner, taking a sip of his own water.
"So, you don't think he's bi?" He briefly looked at Diego turning the AC down and Matt skip over a song. Diego telling him to change it back. It sounded indie.
"Doubt it. Man is straighter than a ruler." Jason sipped from his water. "There's this guy named Kayden who's actually bi, but he's a dick and if he asks you out it's to try to get on Coach's good side." He reached an arm back to Anthony who scoffed and gave him a peanut, taking the shell after he'd crack it.
Diego scoffed. "If anything that'd probably get him kicked off the team." Elijah shrugged. People were full of surprises. He could remember one time in freshman year he caught the straightest looking guy he's ever seen making out with a femboy in the bathroom.
"We're here." They turned and parked by a tree in one of the gravel parking spaces that were there.
Diego shifted a little in his seat. "We brought food by the way, if you want some." He held up a backpack to him. Elijah grew a hungry wondering what food they brought.
"Thanks, I'm fine though." They all got out of the car, Carson, Alex, and Anthony struggling a little as they climbed out of the back seats. Once all of them were out they shut the doors and it locked with a beep. "Speaking of Chase, where is he?"
Diego sighed, putting the backpack on and walking around the car. "He said he needed to talk to his girlfriend or something. He's coming, just later, so we told him we'd wait somewhere."
For some reason that was a bad thing, as Anthony scoffed and rolled his eyes. A hand buried in his store bought bag of peanuts. "His girlfriend is a bitch, I dunno why they haven't broken up yet." Walking over to the rest of them with Alex at his side, they began their journey to who knows where. Leaving the road and walking through the evergreen grass.
"Manipulation, I've been telling you." Carson sung. Matt snorted and shoved him. Carson stumbled a little before smiling and innocently walking on, before tripping Matt in return. Matt shoved his arm, Carson shoved back as they started wrestling and having a kiddie fight.
"And the kids are fighting." Jason sighed dramatically, a smile on his face
Diego groaned and started walking over. "Children. Both of you." He complained , forcing them apart. "For God's sake you two be, mature."
"Matt started it." Carson defended childishly, grinning with now messed up hair he was currently smoothing out. Matt wasn't paying attention, now distracted by something in the trees.
Eventually they came to a large wooden bench surrounded by greenery. They could see the car from there, along with a few other benches scattered dozens of feet away from them. Sitting down at it, Elijah took out his phone to check if his dad texted him. Instead finding the same number texting him since last week.
Elijah, I need to talk to you.
"Bullshit." He muttered.
"Hm?" Anthony, who was right next to him looked over.
Elijah looked up, putting his phone away. "Nothing, just my ex."
"Block him." Carson suggested, but it was more demand, in a common sense sort of way. Diego was still standing on the far left end of the table as he dug through his backpack for something. Matt already sat down on Carson's left with Jase on their right, mentioning something about Government homework. Alex and Anthony sat parallel to them while Elijah chose the far end, not wanting to be squeezed between two people.
Elijah shrugged at Carson's words, indecisive before Diego pulled out a Nintendo Switch and four extra controllers. Beginning to set it all up on the wooden table, he held a controlled up. "You wanna play? I got Smash, Mario Kart, Mario Party, bunch of other stuff." As he listed his available games, Matt and Carson had already slid the little cartridge in and grabbed two controllers.
"No thanks." A gust of wind blew through and he relaxed at the cool breeze. It wasn't very windy that day, but it was cloudy and the sun didn't bear down on him that much.
Anthony offered a peanut to him, and he quietly took one out. It took an embarrassingly long amount of time for him to figure out how to peel a peanut, but he got it and put the shell in his open hand. "So, you were home schooled for two years?"
He nodded, crunching on it. "Yeah."
Alex stuffed a hand in Anthony's bag of peanuts, earning a glare that he pretended to not notice. "Why?" He asked as he peeled and tossed it in his mouth with a half hearted "thanks."
"I uh..." An image of the boys' bathroom came to his mind and he felt himself chill. The wind didn't blow though. "...rather not talk about it."
"No problem. What was it like?" Anthony gave up trying to glare holes into Alex's face and turned back to him.
"I got to eat way better lunch, that's for sure."
Carson snorted. "Oh my god don't get me started, Jase got food poisoning from their breakfast."
Jase looked far away, as though he had war flashbacks backs for a moment. "Never again." He whispered in horror.
Suddenly a buzzing entered the air and Diego pulled his phone out. Answering the call he leaned against the table. It reminded him of the way his dad would take calls. "Hey, you done making out with your girlfriend?" Some of them laughed. Diego smiled briefly at them. "...yeah, we're at a bench right now. Take the second turn in and you'll see Matt's car." The opening theme for Smash Bros rang from the screen across from him.
Diego looked up suddenly."...huh? What?" For a brief moment he looked at Elijah, and Elijah sat up, confused. "Oh, yeah Elijah's here, we picked him up." Diego stood straight and put a hand on his hip. "Yeah that's why Coach's address is in the group chat." He felt himself flush and very quickly he tried to scratch it away.
"Alex touch my peanuts one more time and I'm punching you in the dick." Alex scoffed and retreated his hand. Sneakily beginning to peel the peanut he managed to snatch.
Diego looked at them for a moment before laughing. "Excited much, okay you social butterfly, park by Matt. We'll see you in a few." He dropped the phone from his ear and ended the call. "He's a few minutes out."
"Finally, I wanna whoop his ass in Mario Kart." Carson grinned. He seemed to do that a lot.
"I got punched over Mario Kart once at a party." He recalled out loud.
Alex scoffed, snatching away Anthony's peanuts. Who, was unbothered this time. "Damn, talk about a sore loser." He dug through the bag, letting out a choke of surprise when he came out empty handed. "Ant, did you seriously eat all of these?"
He shrugged. "I was hungry, don't get pissy with me they were mine."
Elijah laughed, watching the banter unfold. Diego looked up suddenly and smiled. "Well look who's here."
They all turned around. Elijah included, whose jaw dropped seeing a white corvette pull up next to Matt's Honda. "Is that his car?"
"Yup." Anthony popped. "Girls love it. He likes the attention I think."
"No he doesn't." Diego denied sharply. "Quit making him look like a fuckboy, he's trying to be better."
"You make him sound like he's an addict." Elijah raised a brow, unsure of what to think. Chase seemed like a genuinely nice guy, but that could just be his charm messing with his head.
"Addicted to pus-"
"Carson, shut up." Diego deadpanned at Carson's laughter, but Elijah contained himself and refused to react. Okay he snickered a little, he has immature humor he can't help it.
Carson sighed, continuing to play against Matt on Diego's switch, "It's why he's late to afternoon practice. He tries to make up for it by being the first one there in the mornings, and lucky for him it works." He spammed a few buttons and Matt shoved him, a glare of concentration in his face, "He's on thin ice with Coach though, I'm surprised that meeting this morning wasn't to kick him off the team."
Now that caught his attention. Unfortunately for some people Elijah was a little nosy, and missing out on two years of high school tea if you will, has made him thirsty for drama. "Really? What was it about then?"
Anthony shrugged. "We dunno, probably just a warning."
Jase looked at Carson for a moment, then back at Elijah, "He said it was nothing and to not worry about, so we honestly don't know."
Well that was...weird. His dad's talks were never just "nothing". Something had to be going on. It's not your business Elijah, stay out of it.
"Oh, what were you gonna call Alex before we picked you up?" Diego asked with an intrigued smile.
"A manwhore."
The entire table burst out laughing, Anthony choked on his handful of peanuts that randomly appeared, Matt was hitting the table, Diego was trying to attempt to be mature and not laugh but he cracked and hid his face, Carson was quickly losing his air supply, and he just barely made out Jason saying that he was officially changing his name in his phone.
Alex was less than pleased, but his gaping frown quirked up a little at the sides.
Chase finally got out of his car and started toward them. He looked...less care free than he saw this morning, but that soon went away as he spotted them. "Hey, what are we laughing about?" He smiled curiously, setting some of his things on the ground.
"Elijah called me a manwhore!" Alex exclaimed, like a child telling on his brother.
He looked at Elijah with a smile before shrugging at a very clearly not offended Alex. "I mean, is he wrong?"
His voice broke in disbelief. Waving his hand in the air with a scoff he turned away from the topic. "You know what? Fuck you guys." The rest of them came down from their laughter and waved him off.
Chase let out a hearty chuckle, Elijah found himself feeling a little less anxious. "You love us, shut your trap." Carson boasted over Matt's cries of defeat. "Oh suck it up it was one round." He shoved Matt's shoulder who rolled his eyes in response.
"I'm a sore loser and you know it." Handing the controller over to Alex, he got up and came over. Anthony promptly took up the space and Elijah scooted over to make room for the late arriving blonde next to him.
Chase sat down and leaned against the table. "So, Eli, anything we should know about you?" Diego rolled his eyes, roughly ruffling his hair. Chase swatted his hand away, but he wasn't mad.
"Uh..." he tapped his finger against the wooden table, trying to think. "...well, I draw a little, and I'm an only child." He leaned his head against his fist. "My mom and dad divorced when I was seven, but my stepmom's pretty great and she works at a bakery a little ways away."
Carson's head perked up all of a sudden. Matt rolling his eyes for some reason. "Wait, what's her name?" As if on cue, he smacked him on the back of the head. "Hey what gives?!"
"You know what gives." Matt scolded.
Carson's frown reached his chin. "I was serious this time."
Diego scoffed. "This time. I still haven't forgotten how you acted meeting my mom for the first time."
Chase's phone went off as Carson's mouth almost fell to the grass as he mocked Diego's words like a child. Both Elijah and a few others looked over. The first thing catching his eye being two feminine names, each sending two different messages. Chase's face grew sour and he responded to them both. Leave me alone, we're not friends anymore. He told both of them. Carson managed to get a hold of a peanut shell and hit Diego in the forehead with it.With a fierce glare sent his way, Carson settled his chin over linked hands, innocently. The amount of immaturity Carson carried with him was unbelievable. "So as I was saying, where does your mom work?"
He thought for another second. "Desserts & Delights. She brings chocolate sometimes."
"Oh my god no way-I am in love with their powdered sugar donuts." Carson held onto the table as if he was a second away from flipping it over. "We have to go there."
"I second that." Matt raised his hand for a moment, Alex muttering a 'yeah' as he struggled to beat Matt.
Diego pulled his phone from his pocket. "It's twenty minutes away, if we want to stop by there."
Chase smiled, almost knowingly. "I'll pay."
Immediately their attention was grabbed and Elijah nearly jumped at how quick their heads turned. Carson put his hand on Matt's shoulder, as if speaking telepathically for a moment before Matt stood abruptly "Unlocking the car."
Cheers of excitement, dare he say delight, reverberated throughout the area. Startled birds tweeting in agreement, no doubt thrilled for crumbs. With collective enthusiasm they all gathered in their cars and raced to the little bakery.
It was wedged right between a smoothie bar and a coffee shop in a large shopping center. Elijah made it a habit to go there every Friday during homeschooling once he got his license and he smiled as it came into view. A cupcake with a giant cherry on top greeting them as they parked. "Will your mom be working?" Jason asked as they got out of the car. A few of them left their letter and inside after realizing how hot it was outside.
Walking around the front he answered him. "No, she usually doesn't work Mondays."
The bell jingled as they opened the door. The sight had to be a little overwhelming, seeing seven guys in letterman jackets walk into a usually calm bakery. Elijah went up to the counter habitually and waved a hello to one of the employees. Her name was June, a woman in her late 20's. She was super nice and worked every day except Sunday since that's when the place closed.
After they grabbed their deserts and delights of choice, they walked around the area. Talking about school, how their day went, collectively sharing a deep hatred for the new calculus teacher.
Chase most of all grew tense at the mention of him. "Oh my god don't even talk about him." He groaned through his cinnamon cake donut. "I can't understand a thing he's saying and I've had to cheat on every quiz so far."
Admittedly he couldn't really see why that was a bad thing, he's cheated countless times on tests, but then Diego clarified from up front. "Chase's parents are strict about grades and he's never had to hardcore study for a test before. Or cheat." Diego sipped on his boba tea. "Literally everyone is failing his class."
Elijah dug through his bag of donut holes, half covered in chocolate, half glazed. "I could help you. I basically decode the notes I take in his class and it's helped me tons already." He popped one in his mouth. "Can't promise success with future stuff, but yknow." He swallowed, Diego laughed suddenly at something Anthony said. Very briefly he noticed Alex roll his eyes at the same time.
"Please that would help so much, you have no idea." Chase craned his head back dramatically before looking at him, gaining his attention again.
"Must suck, we all dropped." Jason boasted from in front of them. "Let me tell you, getting that good old algebra refresher at the end of the day is like heaven compared to that war zone we were in."
"Fucking guy erased everything before we even wrote something down." Carson spat, walking beside him. "He needs to get fired." He was one of the ones who kept his jacket on, the other being Anthony. Looking on the right sleeve he noticed there was a football patch they both shared.
They all shared an agreement with that. "Why don't you guys drop?" Matt asked, looking over his shoulder.
Elijah shrugged. "I'm stubborn and it looks good on my gpa."
Chase balled up the paper bag used to hold his now non existent treat. "Same, I'm so close to getting a 4.0 and I am not giving that up."
They came upon a crosswalk and waited as a black SUV drove past, then a maroon Toyota began to slow down. "What's your grade right now?"
Chase finished his donut and licked his fingers clean. "A seventy something." As they crossed sidewalks he sighed. "I'm passing, but still." He nodded, the stress not unfamiliar to him.
"Right now I've got an eighty, so that's the most I can do for you." Coming up on a trashcan, they all threw their empty bags and cups away.
"Trust me, that is more than enough." Chase assured, tossing his trash. "I can face the wrath of an eighty."
Diego gasped. "No way are you finally getting help? After I've been telling you for weeks that you're going to want to kill yourself if you don't get a tutor?"
"Okay, that's a bit excessive..." Chase frowned.
"Dude you cried over a sixty-five."
His face flushed as Elijah struggled to hold back a snicker. "He didn't need to know that-and it was one time, I was sleep deprived!"
Diego raise a brow, cocking his head to the side sassily. "Yeah, from working on a forty question worksheet."
With a roll of his eyes he flung his hand dismissively. "Anyways, you'd be willing to help me out?"
Elijah shrugged. "I mean, yeah, I don't see why not." Maybe because I've literally known these guys for a day, but hey dad trusts them enough to talk about me.
His smile brightened and he flinched when he side hugged him. It was starting to become apparent he had a knack for doing that. "Thank you so much. I swear I'll pay you."
"You mean repay?" He asked quizzically.
"No he literally means he'll pay you." Diego clarified.
"Right." The topic ended there and they continued to roam around for a bit.
Time seemed to fly by unnaturally fast as he talked with them. Stopping by stores just to look at some stuff before leaving, a few of them grabbing something a little extra to eat just because. He laughed and joked, and had a surprising amount of fun with them. He felt...comfortable. Next thing he knew the sky was turning orange and his dad texted him.
The Big Man: Chicken Parmesan for dinner if you want to help me make it.
They were sitting in the town square, gathered at a park bench. Elijah chose to stand with Diego, Chase, and Anthony while Carson, Matt, Jase and Alex hogged the bench. They were talking about football or something, he didn't know. Carson was busy showing Matt something on his phone, but Alex continued to pick on Anthony with little remarks and what not.
"I gotta head home." Typing back that he was on his way, he pocketed his phone. "Hey, Matt?"
Matt looked up with a smile. "No problem, we all have to head out anyways." Carson laughed at something on the screen while Matt stood up. "C'mon, guys, we're taking Eli home."
"Damn, just when I was about to ask if you wanted ice cream." Alex winked.
Anthony rolled his eyes from where he stood by him. "Quit acting like a manwhore." The raven haired boy let out a choked noise of offense and Anthony smiled at him. "Thanks for the name by the way."
Elijah laughed at Alex's scowling face. "No problem."
Heading back to Deserts & Delights, they all gathered in Matt's car. Chase getting into his Corvette.
On the way to his house, Elijah found himself talking a lot more than when they first picked him up. After spending just a few hours with these guys he felt surprisingly comfortable with them. It almost pained him whenever that pulled up to his driveway. Chase had to head home, so they waved at his car as he revved the engine farewell.
Putting his phone in his pocket, Elijah opened the door and stepped out. Walking along the pavement he waved as they shouted dramatically tearful-from just Carson-goodbyes and a couple of see you tomorrow's. Stepping onto his porch, he smiled hearing the car leave. Walking inside and closing the door behind him, he turned to go to his room before he jumped at the sight of someone in the kitchen, breading one of the three chicken breasts that they'd be eating for dinner. "So, you have fun?" His dad smiled. Elijah let out the breath he'd been holding, thankful he wasn't being robbed by a stranger.
Recalling what they had gotten up to maybe an hour or so ago, he laughed. Not in amusement, but in disbelief. "Yeah...I did."