I awoke to the noise of my phone ringing.
"Hello?" I groggily answered, without bothering to glance at the contact name.
"Hello, Ms. Johnson, it's me, Colin. I'm just calling to confirm that your heat's back on?"
Colin was my middle aged landlord, who surprisingly had yet to kick me out, considering the amount of late payments I'd given him. Upon sitting up in my bed, I was pleasantly surprised to realize that the heat in the house was indeed back on.
"Yes, it's on," I replied while rubbing my eyes. "Thank you so much, Colin! I promise, I'll pay for all my missing utility bills by next weekend."
"Oh, there's no need for that. Someone's already paid for you."
Confusion overtook me. "What? But... who?"
"I'm not quite sure, actually. I received a wire transfer just this morning on your behalf. The person didn't write their name, so I can only assume its anonymous."
"Really?" I was purely stunned.
"Yes. The person actually sent enough money to cover next year's rent, so you haven't got to worry about that either. Anyways, I've gotta go, but do enjoy the holidays, Ms. Johnson!"
It was a Christmas miracle. I could hardly form the words to speak as I bid my landlord a happy farewell before turning off the phone.
"What happened?"
I flinched at the sound of Chelsea's voice, for I'd almost forgotten she was in my room. After witnessing the state I was in yesterday, she refused to leave me alone, and so we had decided to have a sleepover.
"My landlord," I replied, "he just called to let me know that someone anonymously paid for all of my utility bills, as well as my rent for next year."
Chelsea's mouth dropped. "No way!"
"I know!" I nodded in agreement. "Clearly, there's been some sort of mistake here, because I can't think of anyone who would do something like that for me."
"Hmm," Chelsea began thoughtfully. "I highly doubt there's been a mix up. Isn't there someone you know who's incredibly loaded, and perhaps just wanted to do you a solid?"
My eyes lit up. "Actually, you're right—I know who it was!"
"Who?"
"Andre."
Before Chelsea could reply, my phone began to ring once more. I apologetically held up my finger towards her before picking up the phone.
"Merry Christmas, Daisy!"
I winced at the sound of Malcolm's loud voice and moved the phone further away from my ear.
"It's Christmas Eve, Malcolm," I giggled, "and, are you trying to burst my eardrums?"
"No, but that'd sure be funny," he cheerily replied. "Anyways, get dressed. I'll be at your house in approximately 5 minutes and 27 seconds. Actually, 26 now. 25. 24. 23—"
"Woah woah woah," I said in alarm. "Why exactly are you coming to my house? Uninvited, might I add."
From her position next to me, Chelsea raised her eyebrows inquisitively.
"Don't be silly. It's Christmas Eve, and I've had enough of your moping. You ought to spend the day with your closest friends. Which is exactly why I'm picking you up so we can go to Elias' house and binge Christmas movies with everyone!"
"Wow. That sounds cute, Malcolm, but I'm already with Chels—"
"Perfect, the more the merrier!"
"Wait, I never said—"
"See you in five!"
"Don't hang u—"
He hung up.
I glanced at Chelsea with a bemused look. "Looks like we're going to Elias' house..."
*****
"Can someone pass the gingerbread cookies?" Malcolm asked.
"Sorry, I just ate the last one," Chelsea offhandedly murmured back.
"What?" Malcolm screeched, only to be quickly shushed by everyone.
Malcolm narrowed his eyes and made a threatening gesture towards Chelsea, pretending to slice his neck. She merely blew him a kiss in return.
I stifled a giggle before adjusting on the couch and focusing on the movie we were watching, Home Alone. A moment of peace passed as Elias, Malcolm, Andre, Chelsea and me were wrapped up in fuzzy blankets on the couch, our faces illuminated by the light of the television and the glow of the Christmas tree. Of course, the quiet didn't last very long, as Malcolm just had to say something.
"Do you guys wanna know what I think?"
He was immediately met with groans and sighs of irritation.
"Not again."
"Would you shut up already?"
"Please leave my house and never come back."
Of course, Malcolm was undeterred. "I think this whole thing is stupid."
"Here we go," Andre sighed. "Please, enlighten us as to how this iconic, cinematic masterpiece that was produced years before your irrelevant existence is, in your words, stupid."
"Using made up words doesn't make you sound any smarter," Malcolm sneered.
"None of those were m—"
"Anyways," Malcolm loudly resumed, "this whole issue could've been prevented if the parents had just set up a security system."
"Boooo!" Chelsea said in disproval.
"Come on, Malcolm, where's the fun in that?" I chuckled, tossing a piece of popcorn at him.
"You think a child being attacked by burglars is fun?" Malcolm said. "What kind of monster are you?"
"Okay, enough," Elias rolled his eyes, turning off the television. "Thanks a lot, Malcolm, for ruining my favorite movie for me. I'm gonna go bake something."
It was quite ironic, that the most frightening guy in town liked to bake in his free time. Pushing Malcolm's legs off of me, I stood up from the couch and began to stretch my limbs.
"I'll help," I offered, seeing as there was nothing better to do.
At this, Andre scrambled up and cleared his throat. "Me too," he quickly said.
Elias had began walking towards the kitchen, however, he paused to glance back at Andre. A look of realization flitted across his face. His eyes narrowed almost angrily. Why, though? Before I could question it, he stormily resumed his journey towards the kitchen.
I wondered what that was all about. Nonetheless, we all followed Elias over to the kitchen, and after some heavy debate, we decided to bake brownies.
"D, could you pass me an egg?" Elias offhandedly murmured from his position across the kitchen island. The sleeves of his black hoodie were rolled up, his dark eyebrows were pressed together, and his lips were pursed as he was in full concentration mode.
"Yup," I replied, popping the p.
I grabbed an egg from the carton and tossed it at Elias. However, due to my poor aim, the egg smashed against his cheek.
We all simultaneously gasped.
"Th-That was an accident!" I nervously stammered, widening my eyes.
Nothing could've prepared me for Elias' response. With an unapologetic smirk dancing across his lips, he grabbed a fistful of flour and threw it across my shirt. "Oops, that was an accident."
"Jerk, you did that on purpose!" I laughed, grabbing the flour and throwing it at his face. I quickly regretted it once I saw the murderous scowl on his face.
"Oh, now you've done it!" he quickly grabbed a handful of eggs and mercilessly launched them at me.
"Food fight!" Malcolm screamed.
Utter chaos ensued as the five of us began throwing random ingredients at each other. The air was filled with flying food as we each ran around, dodging and throwing whatever we could find. As the fight escalated, our clothes and hair became covered in food, and we were laughing so hard we could barely stand. I eventually collapsed on the ground, exhausted but happy, surrounded by the mess I had accidentally started.
Elias slumped against the wall next to me. "I'm not cleaning this up," he breathlessly said, grinning.
"Me neither," I laughed, turning to face him. My smile began to fade as we locked gazes.
"Elias?"
We tore our eyes apart at the sound of Alex's gentle, tired voice. She and Rocky were stood in the doorframe, clad in matching pajamas and watching the rest of us in confusion.
"Ah shit—I mean, shoot! Did we wake you up?" Elias approached his little siblings and crouched down to reach their height. "I'm sorry, it was all Daisy's fault."
"Was not!" I objected at once. "Look, Elias got eggs all over my pants. They're ruined!"
"Whatever, drama queen," Elias snorted.
"Drama queen? These pants cost a thousand dollars!"
"Really?" Malcolm skeptically questioned from behind us.
"No, it was three bucks at value village," I sheepishly grinned.
The corners of Elias' lips twitched as he suppressed a smile. "Alright, alright. I guess I can lend you a pair of my mother's old pants for the night."
I nodded, eager to rip off the wet yoga pants I was wearing. Without further ado, Elias began to lead me to the upper floor of his grand house. After making a pit stop in his mother's room to grab a pair of sweatpants, he guided me over to another room.
"You can change in here," he murmured, "I'll wait outside."
"Alright," I hummed.
Elias closed the door behind me. Meanwhile, I glanced around and took in my surroundings. With quickness, I realized that I wasn't in just any room—I was in Elias' bedroom.
The walls were painted a deep navy blue, creating a rather moody atmosphere. The windows were covered with blackout curtains, blocking out any natural light and creating a sense of privacy. Despite the darkness, the bedroom was very clean, free of the usual clutter or mess that one would expect from a teenager. The only detail that appeared slightly unorganized was the unmade king-sized bed. However, it appeared soft and plush, and I resisted the urge to jump right into it.
The desk was clutter free, with only a few books stacked neatly to the side. Although, upon closer look, I realized there was a framed photograph that was placed facedown. Curiosity got the best of me, and so I flipped the photo upwards.
It was a picture of Elias and his father. Elias couldn't have been older than the age of five. Despite being so young, he didn't carry the same radiance or joy that a child should have. He looked straight-faced—emotionless, even. So did his father. I wondered why that was.
Now that I was thinking about it, I realized that Elias had never actually told me how his father had passed away.
Shaking my head, I willed myself to stop thinking about things that didn't involve me, and so I flipped the photograph back down. With that, I gingerly took off my pants and began to change.
I jumped as the door to the bedroom was suddenly banged opened. "D, I forgot to ask—"
Mortified, I squealed and scrambled to cover my legs up.
"Ah, fuck—sorry!" Elias hastily slammed the door shut.
Despite his apology, the damage was done. For, I'd seen the way his eyes had darkened as they unintentionally wandered over to the long gash on my leg, which ran all the way from my upper thigh to my knee. The very same mark I'd done well to hide from everyone else.
After putting the clean pants on, I nervously hollered, "you can come in now."
Elias gently opened the door open. It was the first time in my life I'd ever seen him look embarrassed. "I'm sorry, D. I assumed you'd finished changing. I should've knocked first."
"That's alright," I shyly shuffled my feet. "What was it that you wanted to ask me?"
"What? Oh, right," he shook his head, running a hand through his tousled hair. "It just came to my mind; did you end up applying to college?"
"I did, actually," I answered after a moment, pleasantly surprised he remembered the conversation we'd had weeks ago. "I applied to a scholarship for this one business program at Columbia. Although, its an incredibly long shot, so I won't keep my hopes too high."
"Don't do that," he roughly ordered. "If they're giving that scholarship to anyone, it's you. You're probably the smartest person I know... after me, of course."
I bit the inner corners of my lips to keep from smiling. "Sure."
His eyes wandered down to the ground, almost as if he couldn't quite bear the sight of me.
"You don't have to pretend," I sadly smiled. "I know you saw it."
He glanced up and cocked his head to the side. "Saw what?"
"The scar on my leg," I looked down, so that he'd be unable to see my eyes watering. "It's the reason why I didn't want to take off my shorts in PE class... I mean, it's hideous."
Elias listened attentively, and then slightly placed a hand underneath my chin, rendering me no choice but to look up. "I understand how you feel," he spoke uncharacteristically softly. "But to me, your scar isn't hideous. Look, I don't know what's happened to you in the past, Daisy, but I know you overcame something difficult. That scar is a symbol of your strength and resilience. It's a part of who you are, and I think you're beautiful, scar and all."
Beautiful? No one had ever called me that word before. Elias' words allowed me to feel comforted and supported in a way I'd never felt before. Before I could stop myself, I launched forward to embrace him.
"You know, I've come to realize that you're not the delinquent bad boy jerk you portray yourself as. You're just a big teddy bear."
"Thank you?"
I chuckled. "What I'm trying to say is, we may have gotten off on the wrong foot, but the truth is, you're an amazing friend. So, thank you, Ellie."
"Anytime, D," Elias grinned back as he draped his arms around my waist. "But just to reiterate, we're not friends. We never have been, and we never will be."
"Obviously not," I sneered, letting go of him. "Boys have cooties."
"Exactly," he sneered back, before furrowing his eyebrows in realization. "Wait—"
"Ha! Too late," I said.
We simultaneously stuck our tongues out at each other.
"Whatever," Elias huffed, "let's head back downstairs. It's getting strangely quiet, so either Malcolm fell asleep, or Andre finally had enough and strangled him."
I laughed, to which Elias gave me a blank stare.
"I'm not joking, it's happened before," said Elias.
I blinked. "Downstairs it is."
And downstairs we went.
*****
QOTD: is your room usually messy or tidy?
AOTD: tidy
Hey guys! I know I know, still lots of unanswered questions from last chapter, but don't worry, the truth WILL come out!
Just to clear the air bc I've been getting a lot of questions about this: I don't have an updating schedule but I usually post a new chapter about 1-2 times a week.
I'm so sad the spring break is already pretty much over I really don't wanna go back to school. Thankfully only 3 more months and then I graduate!
Leave a vote or comment if you enjoyed this chapter, it means a lot!
Love, Emmanuela
03/17/2023