Twelve #2
There were so many people in the house that it had to be unsafe. It had to break the fire code. If people were to be startled and begin to panic, it would be complete chaos. People would no doubt trample each other.
"Cops!" a kid screamed. That chaos that I just described was now unfolding before me.
People began pushing past each other left and right, not caring who they hit or what they knocked over as they did. Some were running out of the back door, others were opening windows and jumping out, and one guy was hiding behind a couch as if that was going to shield him from the police.
The last thing I needed was to get looped into the consequences of minors with alcohol in their possession. I was sure Eli did not need those problems, either. So, I took Elias' hand and pulled him through the crowd and toward the back door alongside me.
We ran through the backyard which to our luck was not fenced in.
Well, I ran, Elias stumbled. By the end of our escape I was basically carrying him to my car.
My arm was wrapped tightly around his waist and lifting him up with all the strength I had in me.
My car was parked down the street, not in front of the house.
That was lucky because the front of the house was where the police cars were.
We had successfully evaded the police, and we were both panting like worn out dogs by the time we reached my car.
I wasn’t totally sure why Eli was since he had done none of the work.
Eli wasn't just breathing heavily, though, he was laughing too.
I had seen him laugh the most tonight than I had seen him laugh in the four years I had known him.
I ran my hand through my hair as I watched him laugh, and I couldn’t help the grin that made its way onto my face.
His brunette curls bounced with him as he laughed, hitting his forehead each time they moved.
Now that we were away from the danger, I could let loose and laugh with him.
Running away from the authorities was more exhilarating than I thought it would be.
I opened the passenger door and pushed him inside before getting into the driver's seat. He was laid in the seat slouched and eyes shut. His head was tilted slightly downward in a way that let his curly brunette hair drape over his eyes.
I decided that I would drop him off at his own home because I did not think bringing him to mine was the best decision for either of us. As I drove down the road, I watched Elias out of the corner of my eye. He was still chuckling, but this time it was more to himself.
"What's so funny?" I asked out of curiosity.
"Do you like waffles?" he slowly asked. He attempted to sit up in the chair as he spoke. “I could really… go for waffles.”
When I stopped at a red light was when I noticed he hadn’t put his seatbelt on.
I leaned over the seat and grabbed hold of the belt, and then I pulled it across his chest. My arm accidentally brushed against his chest in the process and his head jerked up when he felt it.
His eyes met mine and then he gulped, his Adam's apple bobbing as he did.
“I like waffles, but I don’t think that's what you need right now.”
He over dramatically sighed, his arms flailing outward like a cartoon character. “Oh, because you definitely know w…what I need.”
Eyes focusing on the road again, I asked, “Do you really think waffles is what you need right now?”
“Maybe not, the world is spinning,” he muttered.
Damn, I hoped that didn’t mean he was about to be sick. My parents would have my ass if I had to explain to them that someone puked in my car.
Eli’s mahogany brown skin glowed under the moonlight shining through the window as he rubbed his eyes aggressively. He attempted to adjust himself in the seat, but he couldn’t find a comfortable position. That showed me just how drunk he really was. How could his friends leave him like this?
I cleared my throat. “Do you know where your friends went?”
“Dunno, probably to the store,” he mumbled groggily.
I raised a brow and stifled a laugh. “I mean why were you alone at the party, Eli? Where did your friends go?”
“Oh. They were watching me.” He licked his lips as he gathered his words in his head. “So I moved so they couldn’t see me anymore.”
Ah, so they did not ditch him, he ditched them.
If they were watching him then that probably meant they had a reason to.
They were looking out for him. Perhaps they were too overprotective and he needed a break, so that was why he walked away.
Or maybe they had a real reason for watching him as intensely as Eli made it seem.
I settled for a nod in response. He was not capable of giving me answers in as much depth as I wanted him to, anyway.
“Are you bringing me home?”
“That’s the plan.”
I caught the frown that made before he turned his head away from me.
“Do you not want to go home?” I asked. “Your home where you can change into your comfy clothes and get into your comfy bed?”
Eli snorted. “Nothing about that place is ‘comfy.’”
I gripped the steering wheel and my nostrils flared. There was more to that statement, there had to be. But I was not in place to ask him to elaborate.
The car ride was silent for the next few minutes, but it felt longer. I watched Eli out of my peripheral vision as I drove to be ready in case I needed to quickly pull over.
I felt it was safe to park in his driveway when I didn't see another car parked there. I had no idea if he was allowed to be out tonight or not and I didn't want to be the reason he got in trouble. An empty driveway most likely meant no authority figures were home.
We slowly but surely made our way to the front door. The door was locked so we ended up going through his bedroom window which was left cracked open. He climbed through it, but his foot got caught on the windowsill and he ended up face-planting on the carpet.
I climbed through after him and pulled him to a stand. "You okay?"
I sat him down on his bed and then sat beside him. He nodded and hummed in response to my question as he chewed on his lip.
Eli’s light grey eyes met mine. In the darkness of his bedroom, his eyes were the brightest light in there. It was very unique to him, and I liked it.
I liked him .
I wasn't shocked that I liked guys, I figured that out a few years ago, but I had never been with a guy. Diane was the only relationship I ever had been in, but I was still aware of my attraction to men.
I was just shocked that I liked him, my rival who hated my guts. Elias Richardson would probably rather feed me to a pack of wolves than spend an extended period of time around me, let alone like me. I had feelings for the one person in my life who wanted to see me fail.
Eli never had anything nice to say to me, he always had a bad attitude, and he walked around mean-mugging everyone who looked at him for too long.
His brows would knit, his face would scrunch up, and his breathing became heavy when he was angry.
He would grind his teeth together and shoot daggers with his eyes like they could truly kill.
Elias thought his mannerisms were intimidating, but it was quite the opposite to me.
His hate toward me turned me on.
I was being a shitty boyfriend to Diane.
I truly did have feelings for her, part of me always would because we had been together for so long.
She was my first everything. Well, everything besides sex because she wanted to wait for marriage.
I was waiting with her because I loved her.
But, at this point, I was staying with her while longing for someone else.
Maybe she knew it, maybe that was why she disliked Eli.
It was not right of me to continue with her, but I feared she would view it as another one of our breaks instead of us being over for good.
It was a huge mess.
"You're staring at me," Eli said, his voice barely above a whisper. A soft smile painted his lips, and it was refreshing to see. It sucked that I only got to see that side when he had alcohol in his system.
I knew that under all of that anger and defense was a sensitive but caring person.
He was more sensitive than he wanted people to believe, and he thought he did a good job at hiding it.
Others may not have been able to tell, but I could.
It was proved to me that night I found him alone in the night, hurt and scared.
Eli’s knee brushed against mine and my eyes darted downward. Now our knees were resting against each other and neither of us made an attempt to move. His eyes were still on me, I could feel it without having to look. Soon enough, I let my eyes fall on his again.
But he wasn’t staring at my eyes anymore. No, his eyes had wandered down to my lips. Eli’s focus was intense in his drunken state. His lips were parted slightly and I watched as his tongue glided along his bottom one.
I felt my rival’s fingers on my bicep. His fingers carefully and gently ran along my arm before he squeezed. Somewhere in the heat of everything we managed to move closer to each other, and now his face was only inches away from mine.
I wanted to smash my lips against his, and it was obvious that he wanted it too. I hadn’t expected that from him. The naive part of me was thinking that his hate for me was just another way of masking his more complicated feelings.
But there was no way that was the case.
Either way, he wanted it right now. So did I.
My hand caressed his chin before I pressed my lips against his. Eli responded immediately, his lips matching the rhythm of mine with ease. His mouth tasted like straight liquor, but I didn’t mind it. Mierda , I was kissing Elias Richarson.
I sunk into the kiss as his hands found their way to my back. His hands felt around while my own found their way under his shirt and to his chest. Eli let out a soft moan, and the gentle sound sent a jolt through me.
That was when I remembered how incredibly drunk he was.
I carefully pulled away from him and when I opened my eyes Eli was staring at me with parted lips, lips that weren’t ready for the kissing to end. I did not want it to end either, but it was not right of me to let that continue when he was not sober.
I laid him down in his bed and tucked him in. He didn’t protest, and that told me that the moment his head hit the pillow he would be fast asleep. Once he was cozy under the covers, I squatted next to his bed and rested my head on my folded arms.
I wanted to stay to make sure he was okay. He was already drifting off, so I was basically staying just to watch him fall asleep. It was also my way of stalling. I had no desire to leave my enemy alone, but eventually I couldn’t justify my lingering any longer.
"Goodnight," I whispered as I stood on my feet. Every bone in my body wanted to kiss him once more, but I knew better than that. I shouldn’t have even kissed him in the first place.
Elias Richardson would be the death of me.