_Chapter 18_
Elliot Warren
"What is it?" I slurred when I tried to fend off the weak attempts of trying to wake me up. "Ricky, stop," I complained. "Stop groping me!"
"Don't move so much," he groaned and pinched my heated skin right next to my belly button, making me sit up instantly
"I told you to stop," I shuddered and robbed my eyes in remaining fatigue. "Hey, wake up," I shook him numerous times. But I had no idea that he would surprise me by grabbing me and forcing me to cradle him all of the sudden. "I knew you were perverted," I told him.
"You call it perverted while I say horny," he laughed. "No, actually I like to cuddle when sleeping. So instead, of hugging the blanket I ended up hugging you."
"You call that hugging? That was sexual harassment!"
"No, it was not," he leaned his chin against my chest looking up to me. "It's called love."
I stared at him for a couple seconds in which he was just grinning at me. A wide and bright smile that was unconsciously warming my heart. "Cheesy," I blushed and looked away to avoid his eyes. Why was he always staring at me with these eyes? Didn't he realize how embarrassing that was?
"Cute." He suddenly pinched my nipple, causing me to flinch instantly and slap his hand away.
"Sometimes I just want to cut your hands off. For real, that's not funny," I scowled. Again he just had to let out a gloating laugh.
Then suddenly, the door opened and I already awaited Ricky's Mom, but to my surprise it was Liana storming with a huge stuffed animal. I think it was a raccoon, not too sure. "Look, look, look what I got from Daddy!" She grinned at us but it immediately faltered when she saw in what weird position we were both in. I mean I was basically sitting half naked on her also half naked brother.
"Li, I told you not to barge in, every time you feel like it!" Ricky sighed and gently pushed me off to stand up. Liana was still frozen in place, at least this time she was narrowing her eyes at the both of us and finally stopped resembling one of the acting shocked people from the mannequin challenge that was trending back in 2017.
"I knew it," she mumbled on top of it. "I knew you like Elliot." She pointed at her brother like she accused him of some crime. "I can't believe you stole him from me. I liked him first!"
"I didn't steal anything from you! He was mine to begin with!" He bickered. Hey, were they seriously fighting over me like I was an object?
"Okay, that's enough, please!" I waved them both off after grabbing my shirt that was close enough to put it on.
"Whatever," Liana sighed and tugged on her raccoon. "By the way, Dad wants to talk to you now. He doesn't look too happy, so be careful," she cautiously whispered the last part.
"Oh darn," he stood up and brushed through his hair after stretching himself. "First thing in the morning waking up all lovey dovey and then reality hits me hard."
"I'll keep Elliot company while you go get killed," she waved him goodbye with no sense of pity. That lovely seeming girl could also be quiet harsh, hm? He in comparison just remained quiet and left as soon as he put a shirt on.
"He will get in real trouble now, Dad is angry," she whispered.
Now that I think about it, he always seemed to be more of the stricter kind of parent. So, I could somehow imagine what he would go through. It was definitely not going to be as easy-going as it was with his Mom which is why I didn't have any fate in eavesdropping without the fear of getting caught this time.
"You think, your father will be okay with us being together?" I asked the seven year old.
"Don't know, he's always moody with Ricky, so I wouldn't know," she shrugged. "Sometimes he's really such a meanie and makes Ricky so sad that he just locks himself in his room for hours.
Way to calm me down even more. "Has it always been like that?"
"I dunno I've just been living here for almost four years now. You see, it's because I'm adopted." I instantly widened my eyes by her words.
"Seriously?? You really can't tell though. And it doesn't bother you?" She had the same hair and eye color as Livia so no one would know if not mentioned. But it still surprised me that she was so open about it.
"No, of course not. I love Mom and Dad and Ricky a lot and I still get to visit my real Mom every now and then." So they were still in contact. "And I like you, too Elly! I still don't get why you chose Ricky, though." She hugged me in a cute way.
I just chuckled and patted her head. "Well I'm not too sure either. He drives me crazy all the time! But that's just how he is, I guess. Annoying, persistent and super hot tempered and still he makes me feel funny in my belly." She frowned at me like she didn't understand what I was talking about. "Don't worry when you get older you'll understand."
"Sure that's what Ricky always says," she rolled her eyes.
Later Ricky returned and by the mere sight I could tell that he was feeling down. "What is it? How did it go?" He let himself fall on the bed before sending Liana away with tons of protestation from her side.
"Amazing," he sighed in satire with his eyes closed. "Let's just say, I'm hanging on a thin thread."
"That bad?" I bit my lips.
"Uhm just that as soon as my grades and overall output drop, dating won't be put into consideration. Moreover, there'll be strict supervision whenever you'll come over and the worst of all, the minimum of PDA which means no sex!"
As a reaction, I hit his head with my flattened palm in annoyance and a little embarrassment. "Shut up, I won't sleep with you!"
"What? Why?" He widened his eyes as if I just declared the end of the world.
"Cause." I purposely didn't give him a proper answer, knowing that he wouldn't accept one anyway. Besides, I happen to secretly curse myself over wanting to date a close like pervert guy named Erickson.
"Sometimes I really wonder how on earth I could fall for you," he sighed.
"And there again, we have something in common."
Later on, we ended up changing and preparing before we left as planned to go head to Christo's. I don't know what it was that changed but the atmosphere definitely switched in one day to the other. And I could tell it wasn't because of our struggling relation ship. Well at least it wasn't entirely.
"Ricky?" I softly spoke when he stopped at a red light. "Are you still thinking about your Dad?" I couldn't help to be worried. Perhaps it was a good thing after all that. Going over to Christo, I mean. Maybe it could help him clear his mind a bit.
"Not really. I kinda get his point. And it's not like he said no." He honestly said which made me wonder what was going through his head then. "Why? Are you worried?" He grinned and started the car again when lights switched to green.
However, I didn't feel like it was a serious question to answer which is why I remained silent. Though, my gaze instantly dropped from his face down to my thigh where I felt his hand groping it. "Don't break your head over it," he smiled. "And about Christo and Derek, you don't have to worry, they already know. More or less," he added.
"You told them already?" I cocked an eyebrow.
"Not directly but they've already suspected it anyway. So, no huge coming out," he shrugged. Right, I knew that Christo had his hands in it but Derek, too? He wasn't even bright enough to notice his best friend crushing on him.
My attention swept back to his hand on my thigh once he slowly moved it upwards. "What d'you think you're doing?"
"It's called teasing," he chuckled.
"I don't like it," I pushed his hand back where it belonged. "And especially not while driving!"
He just laughed at it but thankfully kept his hands to himself until we stopped in front of a house that looked quite alluring if I may add. "This is it?" I narrowed my eyes in curiosity. He didn't answer, instead he just got out to grab my wheelchair, helped me get out, too as he stroked my hair back. "Again..."
"Again what?" He frowned after closing the door behind him and locking the car, pressing the bottom on his car keys.
"Stop looking at me like that." He had no idea how uncomfortable it made me.
"I don't know what you mean, how am I looking?" Was he really not doing it on purpose?
"Like, like you-" I bit my lips and looked away. "Nevermind let's go." I moved on towards the door to ring the bell. The time it took for him to catch up someone had already opened the door, revealing themselves as Chloe.
"Oh hey, you two! I didn't know you were coming, too. Nice to see you Elliot," she made space for us to come in. She was merely wearing some hot pants and a bright mustard yellow bikini top. Her hair was also a little wet, showing that she must have just been in the pool not to long ago.
"Who is it?" Another female voice, sounding a little older arrived. It was a woman probably around her late forties, with a soft and a light blue blouse, perfectly complimenting her blue eyes and blond hair. "Oh nice to see you again, Rick," she greeted him with a smile before her eyes swept over to me. "And you are Elliot, right?"
"Yeah," I nodded.
"Thank god, I guessed it right. You two might as well just head to the garden Christopher and Derek are already helping with the grill," she waved us all of.
From the background we could hear Christo's bickering. "Sorry about my brother, he's been whining for the past ten minutes straight," Chloe apologized and guided us to the garden.
"Why, what happened?" Ricky wondered when that answer solved itself when we saw Derek plastering Christo's finger.
"You damn idiot, you know it was hot why would you go ahead and burn yourself?" Derek sighed. His head turned to our direction, probably heard the door clicking when his annoyed expression relaxed. "Hey what's up? Took you two long enough," he sighed.
"Yeah we had some issues back home." Ricky greeted him with their usual handshake hug, or whatever you wanna call it. And with issues back home he meant, his father had obviously been in a bad mood, thus it was a challenge managing to convince him to let us off. If it wasn't for Ricky's Mom then we would have still been laying on the bed watching some silly shows.
"Elliot!! Look at what Derek caused," he held up his thumb marked with the white plaster in my face and whined.
"What?? Now it is my fault?" Derek instantly turned to him.
"Seems as if everything is fine," Ricky crossed his arms.
Anyway, everything calmed down afterwards. I got to know Christo's father and figured that Chloe wasn't so bad of a person. She was actually really outgoing.
"How come you can't walk when you can move you legs easily. Can you even swim?" She asked in curiosity and since I was sitting on the edge of the pool, I was able to let my legs dangle in the water. My shoes were off, somewhere in the grass, not sure where Ricky put them, but since I didn't swim he thought this was a great idea.
"Technically yes," I nodded. "But I'd rather not. I didn't used to be able to move my legs like I do now, though. It took almost half a year of physiotherapy. And for the walking part, my joints can't carry my weight yet. A third of it at best," I shrugged.
"Sucks really, but I'm sure you'll be getting better." She smiled.
"You're so nice. What on earth happened with Christo?" I joked, making her laugh a little.
"I heard he told you already. You know, his feelings for Derek. Do you think he'll confess eventually?" Chloe said with her eyes fixed on Christo, staring at him. It was so damn obvious if you knew already but not even the slightest if you don't. I guess it'd take years of practice for that.
"I don't know. I just think it's sad, though," I sighed. "And frustrating, I can't do anything about it."
"Yeah, tell me about it. At first, I thought he was just joking with me. But at the very beginning, the time where Derek was seeing a girl, he came home depressed on the verge of tears almost every evening. That's when I knew how serious it really was." She looked up to me, since she was still in the pool supporting herself on the edge right next to me.
"I can't imagine that somehow," I tilted my head. Christo just had that bubbly character in my eyes. But you don't say, 'the ones that smile the most are hurting the most', for no good reason.
"Hey, what's so interesting?" Ricky butted in our conversation when he went and crouched next to me, he handed me a cactus Popsicle, those ones with a green tip that prickle on your tongue. "Here," he smiled and again he was looking at me like that. He was so incredible sometimes and no, I don't mean the good kind. Still, I took the Popsicle out of his hand and looked away. "What, no thank you?"
"Piss off, you klutz," I waved him off.
"So, what were you talking about?" He completely ignored my words as his interests moved on quickly.
"My brother actually," Chloe confessed.
"Right, you know it, too," he said when I widened my eyes.
"Wait, Christo told you, too?" He looked at me a little puzzled. "Guess that means everyone but Derek himself knows," I stated.
"I'm still a little pissed that he told you before he told me," Ricky huffed and shook his head.
"If it makes you that jealous I can assure you that he didn't mean to tell me in the first place," I nudged him, brushing his bare arms, seeing as he as well was just in his swimming trunks.
"Still, he took his precious time with it," he pouted at me and crossed his arms when he suddenly grabbed my hand with the Popsicle and licked the bottom of it. I just stared at him in disbelief as much as Chloe seemed surprised at his unpredictable move. "It's dripping, maybe you should hurry up a little," he chuckled.
"That's mine!" I purposefully held the Popsicle as far away as possible, preventing him from another successful attempt.
"Want me to give it back," he pursed his lips as he was reaching out for a kiss when I just pushed his face back with my hand.
"Pervert," I mumbled.
"What's going on between you two?" Chloe frowned, highly suspicious. "You act like two love birds."
"That's cause we are," Ricky grinned and put an arm on my shoulders. No matter how much I didn't approve of the way he told her, her expression was priceless regardless.
"Are you effing kidding?!" She gasped and straightly got out of the water. "Oh my god!" She shook her head as if she couldn't believe it. "Is being gay a trend now or what? That's ridiculous. Do they know already?" She pointed at Christo and Derek.
"Not quite," I shook my head.
"I don't believe this," she shook her head again only more drastically.
Ricky just laughed. "Should we demonstrate it for you?" He went to kiss me again but I pushed him away almost instantly with my face almost beet red.
"Are you crazy?" I gasped. "We're not going out yet."
"Keyword: Yet," he smirked.
"Okay, this is so weird," she just left a bit traumatized, I think.
Thus, I threw a soft or maybe not so soft punch on his arm. "Look what you did! Why must you be so insensitive?"
"I'm sorry." He mumbled, so bad that it was barely understandable while rubbing his arm that slightly turned red.
"Hey, what's going on? Why did you scare my sister away?" Christo asked from afar still standing with Derek in front of the grill but eventually let his father take over and approached us. "What happened, she looked like she just saw a ghost?"
I just lowered my gaze, at that and unconsciously fiddled with Ricky's hand. "I guess, it is time to tell them, right?" He looked at me. I just nodded, since there was no way around it anyway. Besides, I didn't have a problem with those two knowing. "So," Ricky started. "Elliot and I are dating now."
"I told you, we aren't yet!" I sighed but he didn't care about it. Derek and Christo remained silence for a moment in which I seriously doubted my previous thoughts of them not having anything against it.
Well that was until Christo beamed with a wide grin and half yelled. "I KNEW IT!" He laughed. "Ha, I knew it! You see, Derek, didn't I tell you, they were gonna make up after yesterday?"
"Who would have guessed that it'd happen so soon though?" He rubbed his neck.
"Now tell me who did the first step?"
Ricky and I both looked at each other and frowned. I seriously didn't know. I guess I confronted him first, however he took the initiative and kissed me first. So, it was kinda hard to tell.
"Don't know, all I remember is that we get caught by my mom and I was pulled out by my ear before things could escalate."
"No fucking way!" Christo couldn't hold himself anymore when I added, "With a boner on top of that." That's when both of them tumbled over laughing their ass off. I merely smirked while, Ricky just released a sigh.
"The food is ready!" We heard Christo's father call us from afar...
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~J👻