Thirty-two
Javier
A little over a month had passed and it was now the beginning of March.
It had passed by in a blur full of bliss and sweetness, it was magical.
My life since getting to know Eli, and I mean truly know him, was wonderful.
I got to see a side of him that he never showed to anyone else and it was the cutest thing.
I convinced my parents into helping him into therapy. Well, I shouldn’t say ‘convinced’ because they agreed the first time I brought it up. I never went into detail about his life, but they could see the signs.
Eli had only had his first appointment two weeks ago and a second one a couple of days ago.
When I would ask him about how it was his responses would be vague.
He would say things like ‘The therapist is nice,’ and ‘I think it went well.’ I did not think he was lying, he may have just been slightly embarrassed about it all. He got embarrassed fairly easily.
This past month he had been a lot happier, it was apparent in the way he now carried himself. He still had a complicated relationship with his siblings and his aunt continued to be a bitch, but he was getting better about talking about it to get it off his chest.
I found that he was actually a very attentive and affectionate person, despite how he presented. I got sick one weekend. It was just a cold, but if you asked Eli he would have told you I had pneumonia and needed to be hospitalized.
I was supposed to go on a business trip with my parents.
It was a day trip, but because I was sick they let me stay home.
Thank God, because I did not want to go in the first place.
Anyway, Eli insisted that he stay with me since no one else would be home.
I told him no because I didn't want to get him sick too, but he insisted that he come over anyway.
It was raining and I refused to come get him, so I thought that would make him give up.
Until I heard the doorbell ring. There he stood with damp curls clinging to his forehead and wet clothes dripping on the front porch.
“Eli,” I said dryly.
“Javi,” he chirped, a smile painting his face.
I sighed before letting him in and moving quickly to find him a towel to dry off with. I handed it to him forcefully as I berated him for walking in the rain without an umbrella. Eli laughed it off dismissively, saying he did not care because he just wanted to be here.
"Anyway," He threw the towel on the chair, his body now a little less wet than before. "What do you want to eat? I can’t make much, but I can try."
"What I want is for you to stop acting like I am on my deathbed.” I took a seat on the couch. “You didn’t need to walk in the rain.”
“You’re acting like it’s pouring outside when it’s only drizzling.” Eli took off the soaked hoodie and tossed it on the chair. "It doesn’t matter. I’m here now, so answer my question."
It was unnecessary. If I could not take care of myself then my parents would not have left me home alone. All he did was risk himself getting sick by walking in the rain and being around me.
But it was his way of showing he cared.
I sighed in defeat. "There's ramen noodles if you really want to make something. Doesn’t need to be fancy, just put it in the microwave."
Eli perked up at my cooperation. "Okay, cool. Go get in bed and I'll bring it to you."
I complied and went upstairs to not piss off my very adamant guest. I heard lots of loud bangs and slams as I waited in my bed. I was confused as to whether he was cooking or fighting off a burglar. Hoped it wasn’t the latter, he would lose that fight.
I didn’t comment on it, though. I let him do his thing because surely he could not mess up microwaved ramen noodles. Fifteen minutes went by before he finally came up with the bowl. He was walking one slow, meticulously placed step at a time to not spill it.
When he handed it to me the first thing I noticed was how the water almost spilled off the side. No wonder he was walking so slow, it was filled all the way to the top.
He noticed my confused expression. "What's wrong with it?"
"Uh..." I drawled as I scratched my head. "It's a lot of water, is all."
His teeth clenched as his lips stretched into a tight, awkward smile. "Too much?"
"Little bit."
"Okay, less water. I'll remake it." Eli instantly moved to take the bowl from me and scurried off before I could say anything.
It took him another ten minutes to come back and there was significantly less water this time. A little on the dry side, but I wasn't going to make him do it again.
He watched eagerly as I tasted it, his leg bouncing as he leaned forward. When I tasted it, though, it tasted bland. It had not an ounce of flavor in it.
I was going to force myself to eat it because I didn’t want him to feel bad about it. Unfortunately, I couldn't stop the harsh furrow of my eyebrows when I realized it was just plain water and noodles.
Eli bit the tip of his finger. "What's wrong?"
"Well..."
"Is there not enough water now? Tell me."
I put the fork down and spoke cautiously. "Did you add the flavoring?"
He blinked and his shoulders slumped. "What flavoring?"
"The flavor packet that comes with the ramen. It is literally in the pack of ramen," I spoke slowly, but not condescendingly. "So you didn't add the flavoring?"
"I thought the noodles were already flavored. I didn't know I had to add it," he muttered. “I have never had ramen noodles before. Macy doesn’t like them because she says they look like worms.”
I was laughing. "Okay but how do you miss it? It's seriously right in front of your face when you first open it."
The light-heartedness in my laughter made Eli laugh too. He took the bowl from my hands again. "I don't know, babe. It's fine, I will try again for the fourth time."
"Fourth?"
He gave me a sheepish smile. "The very first time I forgot to add water into the bowl. I thought I was going to burn your house down."
He left again, determined to make the ramen to the best of his ability. I commended him for trying so hard. If I wasn't aware of how much this meant to him then I would have told him to forget the ramen, I was not that hungry to begin with. However, I knew he just wanted to be helpful.
Eli gave me the bowl with hesitation this time. "I did see the flavor packet this time. I think I saw it the other times too, but I kinda thought it was instructions or something."
I smiled softly before tasting it while he waited for my reaction. Luckily, he did it right this time. It was nothing special, but it was edible ramen noodles.
"It tastes great, Eli. You did great."
His lips rolled into a straight line. "Are you just saying that? I can make it again if it's bad."
“I promise it’s great,” I assured him. He finally relaxed once he understood that I meant it and was eating it.
Elias spent the night with me. My family had gotten back early that night, but he asked if he could stay over anyway. He had been staying over more often than not lately. I was not sure how he had been making that possible with his aunt’s craziness, but he assured me all was fine.
It felt like he was asking me every ten minutes if I was alright, and I had to repeatedly tell him that my condition hadn't changed from ten minutes prior.
Eli pulled his knees into his chest, an embarrassed grin on his face. "Sorry. It's just that...you're always making sure that I am okay. I wanna do the same for you."
I felt bad for asking him to stop. His persistence was annoying but came from a place of care. When I let him know that he did not need to ask every second, he listened by waiting two seconds to ask instead.
Eventually I fell asleep and woke up to him still awake.
That always happened. Eli never went to sleep until really late into the night—practically the morning.
He always downplayed it as nothing but him being restless, but it had to be more than that.
I knew it was, I just couldn’t get him to admit it.
It was now Friday and school had just let out. Eli was coming home with me, as he did most days now. He was rambling about how excited he was for the student council trip which was a little over a week away.
“I can’t believe I get to fly on a freaking plane!" he was leaning over the console as he spoke eagerly. “Are you excited? I’m so fucking excited.”
His giddiness was heartwarming. “I’m glad you’re excited. I’m kinda scared of planes, but I’ll manage."
Elias reached into my lap and put his hand into my free one. "I will hold your hand the whole ride. Does that mean I can have the window seat?"
I squeezed his hand. "Of course."
"I've been trying to downplay how excited I am for this trip, but you have no idea how long I’ve been ready for this. I get to room with you, Ricky, and Paxton for a whole week. Can time just hurry up?" he groaned dramatically.
My mother was the chaperone for our room.
We got to pick who we wanted to stay with, but it could only be four students in a room.
All students had to be the same gender, so that cut out Bella and Kailey.
Justin made the decision easy when he said he already had other people he was sharing a hotel room with.
"Have you ever been to a theme park?" Eli asked after a beat.
"A couple of times, but I was really young. I don't remember most of it."
"Well, are you excited?"
"Duh, I get to miss a week of school to go to an amusement park with my favorite person," I said joyfully as my thumb rubbed the back of his hand.
“Same.” Eli was doing that lip-biting thing he would do when he was flustered, I saw before he turned his head to the window. “Hey, can we stop at my house? I need to get clothes for tomorrow since I'm spending the night at yours."
I especially wanted him to spend the night at mine because I was planning on asking him on a date. We had been in the weird limbo of acting like a couple but not officially being one for much too long.