☆Blaze☽
Chapter 8:
"Elliot?" Mom called as I opened the front door. It wasn't too late at night, probably a bit past nine, but I cursed to myself silently. How had I just walked through the front door? Obviously she would be waiting for me to come home so she could yell at me for getting suspended.
I didn't answer, and tried to pull off my shoes and creep over to the stairs before she came.
"Elliot!" She was standing in the hallway in her blue, floral nightgown. Her hair looked like birds were nesting in it, and her arms were crossed over her chest.
"Mom, listen, I-"
"I can't believe you got suspended! What kind of people are you involved with? Huh? I told you to make friends, not-" Her eyes caught on my opened shirt, and in an instant she was trying to get a look at my battle wounds while I batted her away.
"Mom, stop! It's just a scratch!"
"If it's just a scratch than why can't you show me?"
"Because I'm a man, I can take care of myself." I think that might have just been the most stupid thing I ever said. Me, a man. Ha. Never the less, she backed up, her lips still pursed.
"Beth? Is everything okay?" I heard the familiar voice, the one I hadn't heard in weeks. He had a faint Irish accent, almost unnoticeable unless you were looking for it.
"Dad?" I smiled as I saw him appear from the basement, he looked exactly the same. His dark hair and grey eyes. But yet, he looked completely different. Worn, and tired.
"Hey, El." He stepped forward and hugged me, and I hissed as pain ran through my side. I wasn't a very affectionate person; I tried to avoid hugs at all costs. But I decided that I would make an exception since I hadn't seen him in a long time.
"Yeah, everything's fine, Owen. Just explaining what a curfew is to our son." I stared at her in confusion, why would she lie? She could have jumped at the opportunity to tell my father, and he wouldn't have talked to me until he went away on his next business trip. She knew she could, but she didn't. And I didn't understand why.
"He's almost eighteen, Beth. Go easy on him." He ruffled my blonde hair; not paying any attention to the fact my uniform shirt was wide open. I smiled at him before I turned and made my way upstairs. When I passed my mother, she sent me a look that said she wasn't going to let this go.
I went into the bathroom first, admiring the mark left by the firework. It was red and swollen, but didn't look to horrible. It would definitely bruise. I shed my shirt and ran the face cloth under cold water, holding it to my side.
When I opened my bedroom door, Hayden was there. Spinning in my desk chair like a small child. I was just starting to get annoyed at this point, I couldn't catch a break.
"What are you doing in here? You might catch the gay."
He stared at me; a momentary look of emotion passed his face. I didn't know if it was hurt or some strange compassion, but I chose to ignore it.
"Didn't know you had it in you, bro." He drawled out bro strangely, and then a bag went sailing from his hand, bouncing off me and landing on the ground. I groaned as I instantly recognized it.
"Weed, huh? And you don't even share." Hayden fake pouted as I picked the bag off the hardwood floor, tucking it back into my underwear drawer.
"What the hell were you doing in my room?!" He shrugged and grinned at me, lifting himself up from the seat.
"Needed socks."
"Get out, Hayden." And he did gladly, but I knew what this meant. I was his bitch now, because he had dirt on me.
"Sure, my dear brother." He grinned maliciously, leaving me in my room.
I felt like complete and utter shit.
I was about to just fall into my bed and sleep when I realized that Mi had been in it all day. The thought kind of disgusted me. I sighed and shred all the blankets and comforters off, falling asleep on the bare mattress.
"Hey, dickwad, breakfast!" There was a loud band on my door, and Hayden was standing in the frame. I could barely make out his blurry figure. I reached over and grabbed my glasses, catching a glance at my clock as I reached.
"Why the hell are you waking me up and five?"
"I have soccer practise at six-thirty." He smirked and turned on his heels, walking down the hall.
"Ugh!" I groaned and fell back onto my bed, feeling the bare mattress before remembering the events of last night. I looked down and felt disgusted that I had actually fallen asleep in my uniform.
The world hates me, that is why this is happening. That's the only explanation.
I eventually got up and took off my clothes from last night, throwing my shirt into the garbage bin; it wasn't worth the effort to fix.
I showered and put on my uniform, making sure the tie was hung loosely around my neck. I sighed in the mirror at my hair, I didn't think there was ever a way to make it look good. I ran my fingers through it a few times before giving up and heading down the stairs.
Hayden was standing in the kitchen with his uniform on, his soccer bag slung over his shoulder and he was filling two bottles up with tap water.
"You said breakfast was ready." I groaned and leaned against the counter, using the cupboards to support my head.
"No, I said 'breakfast'. You're making breakfast." Hayden smirked at me as he screwed the tops on the bottle and put them into a pocket of his bag.
"Hayden, I'm not playing these games-"
"I'll tell Mom." His eyes displayed the momentary worry. I had always done what people had told me, I wasn't this person.
"Go ahead, I don't care anymore."
"But, Elliot-"
"You heard me, Hayden. Go find someone else to be your bitch. I'm done."
I stormed out of the kitchen, but not before noticing the shocked expression on his face. I grabbed keys of the side table and slammed the front door shut behind me, letting reality crash down around me.
"Holy shit." I muttered. What the hell had I just done? I stood up for myself, but at what cost? Hayden would tell Mom, and I would be grounded for life. She was already mad enough at me.
I was so screwed. So unbelievably screwed.
I'm an idiot. But yet, I didn't wish I could go back and change it. I would still do it all over again.
I leaned against the bricks and allowed myself to catch my breath, closing my eyes. It was so dark outside, it could have been midnight.
That was how I found myself sitting in a Starbucks, well into my third coffee, and picking at a brownie. I decided to skip my first two classes. Stupid? Extremely
The thought bothered me though, that I was changing. This wasn't the person I was last year, or even last month. Who even was I anymore?
I groaned and glanced back down at my phone, looking over my science classes' website. I had now missed two; if I didn't catch up I would surely fail.
But who cared anymore? I didn't want a number on a piece of paper to be what defined me.
I want nothing more than to skid by this last year with barely passing marks, and actually be happy. You know, up until the part where my parents disown me.
I feel like I'm on a tightrope, wanting nothing more than to jump off and be submerged into the water below me. Even though if I do I will never be able to get my head back above water. I know I have to get to the other end, but I can't even see it. It's a game of what means more. Happiness or grades? Me or my family?
Everything in my head tells me to jump, but I don't let myself. I just drag down this tightrope that is my life. Maybe I will get pulled into a river of nothingness at the end. Given a nine-to-five job behind a computer screen. I will be just another uniform, no one will know my name. Except for the illegible signature at the bottom of a document, that could be me.
But if it were, I would find myself at the end of a completely different rope.
I let my head fall into my hands and growled, pushing my coffee away and collecting my stuff. If I don't leave right now, my thoughts will drive be to the brink of insanity. I looked down to my watch and see I'll be able to get there just in time for lunch.
I never thought that sitting down at our usual table, the one I'd be most inclined to talk to would be Mi. Because even though he hated me, he had no hand in the drunken firework incident.
Everything got silent as soon as I sat down, they started at me awkwardly. Like I was a bomb and they were waiting for the explosion. They weren't going to get one though, when I got angry I tended to keep things inside of me and shut people out. The worst part was that I would always end up forgiving them and they wouldn't even know I was mad. And then I would just get hurt again. It was an endless, vicious cycle.
"Hey, Lake." Whiskey said with a smile, looking up from his sandwich. I returned the smile, and decided that I would make a point to talk to everyone except Beatle. I doubted he would even notice.
"How are you feeling, Mi?" I asked cheerily. There were still the faint lines of a handprint on his cheek, and he shot me a look that said 'what the fuck do you think?' He took a bite of his apple and nodded.
"Fine."
"Lake, I-" Beatle began, but I cut him off before I could hear it and start to feel bad.
"Wow! Is that English trifle?" Whiskey nodded with a smile as I pretended to be completely enthralled with it.
"Lake, listen-"
"Who was I supposed to deal to? I completely forgot." I turned my attention to Trick, and he began to explain to me how it was needed by Royce Holders for a bridge party. I already knew that though. I had it organized in my room as to which bag was his and how much it would cost.
"Lake-"
"Hey, look at that." I looked around the cafeteria at nothing in particular. All the guys seemed to have a guilty expression on their face, except for Mi, who looked confused as hell.
"Why are you being ten times more annoying than usual?" Mi began to rub one of his temples with two fingers while he continued to bite his apple.
I felt a strong grip on my arm as I was being yanked from my seat by Beatle.
"Lake and I are going to go talk."
His fingers loosened slightly as we reached the exit of the lunchroom, and I tried to pull my arm from his grasp, but he wouldn't let go. We walked down the empty corridor to the wheelchair accessible bathroom that hadn't been used in forever since there aren't any students with wheelchairs.
Beatle pushed me inside and stepped in right after, switching the lock on the door behind us.
"Are you still mad about yesterday?" I tried to think of some sarcastic response, but nothing came to mind. I leaned back on the sink and looked up at the ceiling, ignoring him completely.
He took a few steps closer to me until he was inches from me. I felt his fingers at the bottom on my shirt and I pulled away, letting out a breath I didn't know I had been holding.
"What are you doing?!" He smirked at how flustered I had become, and I felt my cheeks burning.
"I wanted to see the damage." Beatle's eyes softened and I took a step closer to him. I grabbed the hem on my shirt and pulled it up to mid chest, exposing my side.
"Holy shit." It looked a lot worse today than it did yesterday. It was much more swollen, and starting to turn a black-purple. He traced his fingers around it and I shivered at the touch, backing away and dropping my shirt back down.
"Lake, I-"
"was an idiot." I finished for him, and he nodded even though you could tell he didn't want to. He kept clenching and unclenching his fists, giving away how much he hated the situation.
"You should have just let me shoot it into the ground." Beatle sighed and I raised my eyebrows at him. If I had than he wouldn't be standing here right now.
"You would have shot off your own foot if it wasn't for me! You were holding the fucking thing upside-down!" He looked startled at me sudden outburst, honestly, I was too.
"I know! I'm so sorry, Lake. It was dark, I was drunk-"
"And you thought she was me?"
"Did you actually just interrupt my apology to make a lame joke?" Beatle laughed and I bit my lip and cast a glance towards the floor.
"Maybe."
"You're such a pain in the ass." He ran a hand through his raven hair shakily, taking a step closer to me.
"Then get rid of me." I whispered up at him, we were so close that a normal volume felt like yelling.
"God, I wish I could." He placed his hands on my hips and used them to back me into the wall of the bathroom before pressing his lips against mine.
It was different then the last one, it wasn't soft and sweet, it was urgent and rough. Teeth clashed but neither of us seemed to care very much. I tangled my hand into his hair and he moaned into my mouth, causing me to smirk into the kiss. I could feel my lips becoming red and swollen from the attack, but I didn't care. It was so... exhilarating.
His stubble scraped across my skin, and our noses bumped a few times, but it was all ignored. I grabbed his shirt and used it to pull him closer, a centimeter suddenly felt like a mile.
Beatle's hand went under my shirt, his fingertips feeling across my chest. I moaned, and he smirked, placing a teasing kiss at the corner of my mouth.
His hand brushed across the colourful and swollen part of my stomach and a flinched trying not to let it show how much it actually hurt.
Beatle's whole demeanour changed as he pulled his hand away and stepped back, "Are you okay?"
"Fine." I bit my lip to hold back a smile he raised an eyebrow at me.
"We should get back before they get too suspicious."
"They're probably too busy eating our food and stealing our money to care."
"Very true." He took my hand and pulled me out of the bathroom and into the hallway again.
a/n A bit shorter than normal. I typically have a 3000+ word rule, but, eh.
Lelliot kiss! How y'all feeling?
Hope you liked the chapter :D