I awoke the next morning to the sun shining into my eyes. I quickly remembered the conversation with Eli last night and groaned, wishing I hadn’t told her everything. I yawned and rubbed my eyes tiredly before leaning forward and flopping onto the floor. I reached my arms out into the pile of dirty clothes next to me and began to dig through it, trying to find a shirt to wear. My hands caught hold of my wrinkled blue Weezer shirt. After inspecting it for stains and odors and finding it satisfactory, I slipped my arms through the sleeves and wiggled my head and torso through it.
Noticing that my mouth was exceptionally dry and filmy, I headed downstairs to get a glass of water from the kitchen. “Morning, mom,” I said when I saw her already in the kitchen fixing lunch.
“Good morning, Bo!” she beamed at me as she churned a bowlful of ingredients I couldn’t see from where I stood at the refrigerator. “Do you and your friends want egg salad sandwiches? They’ll be ready in a minute, and I can send you up with a plate of them.”
“Nah, we’re good,” I answered as I noisily dropped ice cubes into a glass and shuffled over to the sink for water. “Thanks, though.”
“How about some chips, then? I can pour some into a bowl for your father and me, and you can take the rest of the bag up with you.”
My glass of water filled and ready, I strode out of the kitchen and headed for the stairs. “No, thank you, mom!” I called over my shoulder as I mounted the first step.
I slowly made my way up the stairs over to Eli’s room. After lightly tapping on the door, I let myself in.
“Hey douchebag,” she smiled at me. “what’s up?”
I shrugged, “Eh, same old, same old, I guess. You?”
“I’m doing pretty okay,” she continued to smile and sat up, patting the spot on the bed next to her. I walked up and sat down, sighing softly.
“You alright?” She asked me, scooting closer. I frowned, focusing my attention on her nightstand.
“Yo, fuckface, you okay?” She asked again. I stayed silent and kept my vision locked on the nightstand.
“Why won’t you answer me?” She whined.
“Talking with you doesn’t bring any real benefits,” I shrugged.
“Okay, that was pretty funny,” she laughs, her laugh growing stronger by the second.
“Alright,” I said finally, “it wasn’t that funny.”
“Oh, no,” she continued to laugh, “I’m not laughing with you, I’m laughing at you.”
I playfully shoved her to the side. “You’re a toolbag.”
“Takes one to know one!” she grins wide at me.
“But anyway,” she said, her smile quickly fading. “are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I nod.
“I hope so. I know opening up to someone like that isn’t always easy.”
“It’d be worse if I were telling someone else all of that.”
“I guess so. Hey, wanna smoke?”
“Yeah, for sure.” I answered as Eli perked up and grabbed the wooden box from underneath her pillow. As she set everything up, I began to stare at the nightstand again, studying the wood patterns. My attention was torn away once Eli handed me the pipe. I smiled a response and took it from her hand, digging a lighter out of my pocket before lighting up. Once I inhaled all of the smoke, I noticed that the window was still closed. I tapped Eli’s shoulder and pointed over to it.
“Oh, fuck, thanks,” she said as she hopped up and went to open in. I began to struggle with keeping the smoke in, I wasn’t used to holding my breath for so long. I looked over my shoulder to see Eli fumbling with the lock.
“One second,” Eli muttered, still trying to open the window. At that point, I couldn’t take it anymore. I went to exhale, but ended up coughing up smoke, scratching my throat. Once I recovered, I looked over my shoulder once again to see the window open and Eli standing next to it with a facial expression that said ‘oops’.
“My bad,” Eli spoke softly, making a goofy face.
“Don’t sweat it,” I chuckled and looked down at the pipe in my hands.
“What, does the pipe tell jokes now?” Eli smirked at me as she returned to her seat on the bed.
“Oh, ha, ha.” I rolled my eyes and tossed the pipe in her direction. To my surprise, she actually caught it.
“Aye, aye, this was expensive!” Eli said as she held out her hand in my direction, still smiling.
“Whoopsie-daisy,” I grinned, placing the lighter in her palm.
“So, I was thinking about getting a bass or something,” Eli said, changing the subject.
“Really? I think you should go for it. Bass players are really sexy, you know,” I joked, winking at her and nudging her arm.
“Yeah, the only problem is that I suck dick at bass.”
“You suck dick at sucking dick.”
“Shut up, nerd,” Eli pushed me to the side before lighting up and exhaling smoke into my face.
“You love me,” I grinned at her as she handed the pipe to me.
“Unfortunately,” she groaned.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” I smirked, bringing the pipe up to my lips.
“Wait, what?” I raised my eyebrows at her. She let out a loud laugh.
“You’re such an idiot.”
“Takes one to know one,” I sneered, mocking her before letting the smoke into my lungs and holding my breath before handing the pipe back to Eli.
“You know, you’re not as bad as some people say you are,” she said as she took the pipe from my hand.
“Really?” I asked, giving her a confused look.
“No, you are much, much worse,” she finished, looking at me with a dry expression.
“Ouch, hurtful,” I pouted, bringing a hand up to my chest.
“Aw, I’m sorry,” Eli spoke softly.
“Talk is cheap, but that’s okay, so are you,” I grinned up at her.
“Alright, I deserved that,” she nodded slowly, taking a long drag from the small pipe and setting it down on her nightstand.
I was about to reply when her phone started to ring, vibrating against her nightstand.
“God damnit!” She groaned, “My phone will not stop ringing, and when I answer it, it’s some guy speaking spanish,” she huffed as she unplugged her phone from the charger and ended the call.
“Just turn it off, it’s not like you have to go back in time and kill Alexander Graham Bell,” I said blandly. Eli slowly looked up and glared at me.
“Chill, chill,” I said softly.
“Do you want me to accept you as you are, or lie to myself and try to like you?” she replied coldly.
I laughed in response and scooted over closer to the window, breathing in the warm summer air.
“Hey, do you wanna like, listen to music or something?” Eli asked after a few moments.
“Eh, not really, but if it’s what you want to do,” I answered, leaning my back against the wall and turning my head so I could see her.
“I don’t really care, either way. I’ll put something on in a bit.”
“Alright, sounds good,”
“Awh, dude, I fuckin’ stink,” Eli said as she made a disgusted face.
“When was the last time you showered?”
“Like, yesterday,” I frowned, standing up and walking over to the other side of the room.
“Must be the heat, making you sweat,” I shrugged.
“Must be,” she mumbled as she took a bottle of perfume from the top of her dresser and began to spray it on herself.
“Dude, are you marinating yourself?” I gagged at the strong fragrance that was filling the room quickly. “You definitely don’t need that much.”
“Sometimes, I’d kinda like to see things from your perspective, but I don’t think I could get my head that far up your ass,” Eli snapped back quickly.
“Good one,” I rolled my eyes and reached over for the pipe. “Still got the lighter?”
“Yeah, hold up,” she replied, setting the perfume down and digging the lighter out of her pocket before tossing it in my direction. I caught it and held the pipe to my lips, inhaling a large amount of smoke before exhaling it out of the open window.
“Hey,” Eli said finally, “wanna hear a joke?”
“Nah, I’m good, you’re a joke all by itself,” I looked at her with a smug expression upon my face.
“I am going to hit you,” she growled, returning to her seat on the bed.
“I’d tell you to do it, but I’m pretty sure you actually would,”
“Yeah, I would,” she nodded and smiled sweetly.