Saturday was long. After meeting people at school, I felt lonelier than I had in the last few weeks. I probably should have gone outside and done something, but my mom was working at the hospital, and my dad was at the shop all day.
I ended up Facetiming Carla, who had Mike with her. We only ended up chatting for a few minutes because they were getting ready for a pool party. I tried not to feel hurt, but it makes sense that I would want to talk to them more than they want to speak to me.
They had each other, and I was alone.
I did end up finishing my latest romance novel and unpacking the rest of my closet.
Sunday afternoon, I decided I needed to get out of the house. There was no point in sitting inside the whole weekend.
I started walking in the direction of Old Town. I liked the aesthetics, so maybe I would take some pictures or just window shop for a while. The sun had that late afternoon glow by the time I arrived at the shopping area.
I was a bit nervous being alone since I didn't know the area well; however, there were a lot of happy families sitting on the grass and walking around, so I felt somewhat safe.
However, when I felt someone grab my hand, I squealed and jumped backwards, getting ready to run.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, but that was kind of funny."
Eli glowed in the sunshine. It was hard to see his face because looking up at him meant looking directly up at the sun. "Sorry for getting scared," I said.
He groaned, "stop apologizing."
Eli steps out of the sunshine. I can now see him, and he is wearing black jeans and a loose white v-neck. A regular James Dean.
"What are you doing here?" He asked.
"Just going for a walk. I was bored, and I have been inside all weekend."
He laughed, "had that much homework?"
I chuckled awkwardly, not wanting to tell him that I had nothing better to do.
"So, what are you doing?" I asked him.
"Oh, just on my way to meet some friends for pizza," he said lazily.
I smiled at him, happy to have an escape. I liked him a lot, but I felt a little awkward after what happened on Friday. "Oh, I will let you go then."
"Why don't you join us?"
I looked up at him, now that I could see his face. "Join you?" I asked in disbelief. Why would he want me to join him? Did he feel that bad for me?
"Yeah, why not? Might as well, if you have nothing better to do."
I smiled slightly; I guess I didn't care if it was because he felt bad for me; I couldn't deny that I wanted to be around him. "Yeah, sure, that sounds nice." I pulled out my phone and texted my parents, saying I was getting dinner with a few kids from school. I got a thumbs up text from my mom a second later. She was a very quick texter when she wasn't working.
I followed him towards the restaurant. "So, do you live close to here?"
"No, I live next to the University."
"Wait... so you walked forty-five minutes to Old Town? Don't you have a car."
"Ya, I do; I just wanted to go for a walk." It didn't seem that far to me. I would go for walks that long back in Arizona all the time. Usually not alone, but oh well.
"Okay, weirdo," he said smirking. He held the door open for me at the pizza place. There were already two of his friends there. I recognized one as Kyle, who I sit next to in Bio. The other boy I remembered as well, from my gym class; however, I did not know his name.
"You brought Betty!" said Kyle happily, I waved at him shyly. I had no idea he knew my name.
"I bumped into her wandering around the street and decided she looked lonely," Eli said while guiding me to a seat next to him, across from an empty chair. He sat next to Kyle, and the other boy sat across from Kyle.
I sucked in my breath when Eli placed his hand on the small of my back again. I think he heard me because his hand jerked back, and he looked down at me, questioningly.
"Do you have a bruise?" He thought he had hurt me. My cheeks turned the colour of strawberries again. I shook my head, and his eyes went wide, turning back to his friends. I could tell he was trying to hold back a smirk.
"So, how come you don't want to be my friend in class cutie? We could have had so much fun by now," says Kyle, which makes me laugh.
"Maybe I was waiting for you to make the first move?"
Kyle got a huge smile on his face and tried to lean towards me, over Eli, who smacked him in the head.
The boy who was sitting across from Kyle laughed. "My name is Matt Jones, but these morons just call me Jones," he said, introducing himself. I smile at him. "I can't believe that Eli brought you with him. He doesn't usually make friends."
Kyle laughed, "he's right; you're shit at it, Eli." Eli smacks him again, and Kyle starts protesting. Amid their fight, two other people came bounding towards the table. It was a boy and a girl. "Oh shit, the twins are here," says Kyle.
The girl came around and smacked Kyle on the head. "Owww," he whined.
The girl took one look at me, and a huge smile lit up her face. She pushed her brother from the seat he had chosen across from me, and he groaned and moved over.
"Oh my god! Hi! My name is Taylor, and this is Owen, he's my stupid brother. Who brought the girl?! I can't believe we finally have another girl. You look so cool, do you go to Yellowbrook Secondary too? I love your outfit! That green compliments your eyes."
I got a stupid grin on my face. I don't know if Taylor was going to let me get a word in, but I loved her energy.
Eli groaned beside me, "Oh my god, Taylor, take a breath, you're going to pass out!"
She shut her mouth, still grinning. Owen and Kyle look annoyed, but Jones was laughing. I laughed too. "Hi, I'm Betty."
"Hi, Betty," she said.
We ended up chatting for a few minutes, ignoring the boy's constant interruptions. We exchanged numbers and Snapchat quickly into the night. "Holy shit Taylor, how high is your snap score?"
Kyle sighed, "That was a mistake, Betty, she's never going to stop sending you pictures now."
The group asked me about my old life and my old friends. Eli keeps interjecting with things he remembered that I told him on Friday, and Taylor kept looking at him like he grew a second head.
"How are your friends enjoying their school year?" Asked Owen.
I scoffed, "If they stayed with me on the phone for more than two minutes, I would know," The boys laughed, but Taylor looks at me sorrowfully, and I realized what I just said.
I covered my mouth with my hands, "Oh my god, that was so mean. They're just excited about school starting. We had all these first week traditions, so they're probably busy with them. I'm sure they're having fun."
I sunk into my chair and took a bite of pizza. That was petty. The group promptly moved onto another topic, but I was barely listening, I shouldn't talk about my friends like that.
I took a deep breath. Okay, Betty, calm down. Be nice and make these people like you.
The conversation got quiet after a few moments, and I asked how they all met.
Owen told me about how he and Taylor moved to New Mexico from Ohio during middle school. It was traumatizing, but at least they had each other.
"Yeah, you are handling a move much better than I did," Taylor scoffed.
Owen laughed, "Isn't that the truth. I made friends with these guys quick, probably because I just thought Eli was dreamy, but little miss chatty over here had trouble making friends of her own and decided to weasel herself into our friend group."
Taylor laughed, "Oh shut up, Owen. Believe me, I made other friends once we made it to high school, but middle school girls just couldn't handle me."
I laughed with her.
"And the three of us have been friends since diapers," said Kyle proudly.
"Jury is still out on if I'm friends with you, though," said Jones. Kyle threw a crust from his pizza at him.
Strangely the rest of the night felt normal. Like I was with a group of friends and not a group of kids that I barely knew. I had been so hopeful that this is what my new life would be like, but after this week, I was also scared this was somehow not real.
When the night started to fizzle out, we paid for our pizza and headed outside.
Unfortunately, it was then the night got more interesting because we bumped into a group of college students just outside the door. Owen, Taylor and I had been giggling from a stupid joke, and three of us walked right into their group.
"Move." One of them said. It was not polite.
Owen grinned at them and blew them a kiss, "Oh, aren't you just charming."
Both Taylor and I started to giggle. It was funny. Until one of the stupid college guys loudly called Owen a fag. I stood there shocked, but I was more shocked when Eli screamed RUN before punching the guy in the face.
The rest of the group took off, laughing and running down the street, but I only joined them when Eli grabbed my hand and pulled me along. Once we were far enough away, we stopped to catch our breath.
"What the hell was that?!"
Eli laughed, "it's fine. I didn't punch him that hard, but it's always safer to run from a group that size. I'm an asshole, not an idiot." The group of them laugh. Sure, what that guy said was wrong, but you just can't go around punching people.
Taylor and Owner hugged me, and Kyle and Jones waved goodbye, leaving me standing there with Eli. He was still laughing. "Oh, don't be upset, Betty. That guy was a dick."
I nodded. He was, but the fact Eli's first reaction was to punch him unnerved me. The only kids like that at my old school I avoided. What would my parents say?
I looked around, uncomfortable. It was dark out. I didn't mean to stay out this late because now I was going to walk home in the dark.
"Thanks so much for letting me hang out. I guess I will see you around."
I did not think this is going to be a regular thing, but hopefully, I would be able to hang out with Taylor.
He looked at me, confused, "what do you mean?"
I blushed, maybe he doesn't want me around at all.
"I'm driving you home, Betty, you're not walking home alone in the dark! I'm not a monster."
My mouth popped open into an oh. I wanted to protest, but honestly, I would much rather get a ride, so I sucked it up and said thank you, following Eli to his car.
Even if the walk would have been long, the ride was short. When we get close to my house, I asked him to drop me off at the corner.
'Don't be silly, Betty," he said chuckling.
"No, it's okay, I can get out here," I said as we passed the corner.
"Why don't you want me to drop you off at your house?" he asked skeptically.
"Cause my parents will want to meet you," I said shyly.
I knew that would scare him off, and I wasn't sure my parents would be so keen on me being around him or his friends if they knew about his reputation. Which after what I just witnessed, it was something I was a bit nervous about myself.
Hopefully, he would just drop me off at the corner and then by Monday, he'll have forgotten about me. Even if I do think his eyes are dreamy and his touch makes my stomach clench.
What I wasn't expecting was for him to break out in a giant grin. "Great! I will come to the door, then!"
"WHAT!" I almost screamed. "No, you will not! Just drive away as fast as you can."
He said nothing as he pulled into the driveway. Before I could protest again, he got out of the car and started walking to the door.
I scrambled after him, "Eli! What are you doing?"
"Embarrassing you," he said, and he knocked on the door. "It is kind of fun."
"Oh my god," I groaned, and I moved around him to open the door. Both of my parents were standing at the door already.
"Hi! I am here to deliver your daughter," said Eli. I was naturally nervous about what my parents would think. He was very tall, and he looked quite a bit older than me, even though he was only a year older.
I wanted to shut the door on Eli's face, but my mom was already trying to get him inside. He laughed, "No, it's okay, I have to get home, but I just wanted to make sure she got in safe."
My mom looked like she was about to swoon, and my dad sent him off with the cookies that he just made.
"Bye, Betty," he said grinning.
I just glared at him from behind my dad's shoulder.
My mom shut the door, and they turned around to me.
"You two are embarrassing!" I said and ran up the stairs.
"I like him!" screamed my mom.
That might be worse. Especially when I am sure Eli will forget about me. This was just a weird week - that's all.
I got upstairs and flopped on my bed, taking out my phone.
One new DM
---
2355
"I don't wanna go to school tomorrow
I can't study
Thinking about you" - Lonely God
please comment and like and maybe let me know what you think? :)