Thirty-three #2
Eli had been gripping the bottle like his life depended on it, so I was surprised when he gave it up without a fight. Was it because he knew he was wrong, or was it because he knew I wasn't asking?
The tension in the room was so thick that it could be cut with a knife.
Eli had nothing else to say while I had too much to say, but nothing that I wanted to say would not be helpful to him.
I did not want to lash out, but watching him hurt himself and act like he was doing no wrong made my blood boil.
He needed soft voices and gentle words, but I was struggling to find that in me.
Sighing, I took my phone off the dresser and checked the time.
I needed to leave because time was ticking, but more so because I needed to cool off.
I was too worked up to not speak to him in a lecturing tone.
I needed to give myself a moment of pause so that I could come back with the compassion he needed.
Eli also needed a moment to himself. I had taken the bottle away from him and he had barely gotten a sip of it before I did. The threat was gone, and we could figure it all out when I made it back.
"I've got to go but I’ll be quick." I moved toward the door but turned around with a look of reassurance. "We're going to get through this. Okay?"
Eli nodded once.
I passed Gabriela on my way back to my car and was bombarded with questions about all of the commotion. I told her not to worry about it because it was nothing, but my sister was smarter than that. She knew that whatever was going on was not ‘nothing’ like I tried to make it out to be.
Gabi insisted that she would make sure Eli was okay in the time that I was gone. He did not need to be babysat, but my sister was adamant about helping. I guessed having someone watch over him couldn’t hurt.
Traffic was light so I got there in no time, but of course that meant that the line inside had to be wrapped around the checkout counter. There was one cashier working and at least ten people waiting to purchase their items. Great, now I got to spend the next minutes of my life standing in line.
Five minutes passed and the line moved up three people. Having nothing else to do but stand there, I kept checking my phone to make sure I didn’t miss a text from Eli. I hadn't and it should not have bothered me. He was not okay and wanted to be alone.
So why was there an uneasy feeling in my chest?
I felt guilty for being so harsh toward him. It just frustrated me so much to see him indulging in such a terrible thing, unaware of how much harm he was doing to himself. How could someone downplay something as serious as daily drinking?
I couldn’t even wrap my mind around how it could have gotten so bad.
He was constantly around both of his siblings, they shared a room for fucks sake, so they had to have seen it happening.
If one of my siblings had a bottle in their hand every night, there was no way I would let that go.
The twins—and their aunt, but everyone was aware of the fact that she wasn’t worth shit—were watching it go down firsthand. They should have done something.
I suppressed a groan when I watched the cashier walk into the back, leaving the line full of people unattended until her return. Great, more time to be spent in the clothing store.
"Javier?" asked a familiar voice.
Looking to my left with a raised brow, I found Ricky and Kailey. Ricky had multiple shopping bags in his hand. He struggled to hold them as Kailey waved.
"Funny seeing you here," Kailey said with a grin that reached her eyes. "Are you buying new clothes for the trip too?"
I shook my head. "I'm just picking up some clothes my parents ordered. You’re shopping for the trip?"
“Kailey insisted that she needed some new tops, and I really needed a belt.” Ricky raised the bags in the air weakly. “Clearly it turned into buying a whole new wardrobe. For Kailey, anyway."
"I still have so many other things to do!" Kailey exclaimed with a sigh. "I don't have any clothes packed at all, and I need to get a bunch of travel size items for the plane. I’m also trying to plan out our days at the theme park so we can get on everything we want to.”
"Meanwhile, I haven't even thought about packing yet," Ricky muttered. "All I can think of is how Eli and I are going to try every single dessert that they have. We don’t need clothes to do that.”
“You both need clothes,” his girlfriend grimaced. "And you will make yourselves sick trying to eat all of the park food."
"Exactly." Ricky winked. There was a pause in conversation and Ricky’s eyes searched around me. "Speaking of, where is Eli? I thought he went home with you."
"He did, he’s there now. He, uh…wasn’t in the mood to come with me."
Ricky’s carefree attitude turned tense as he eyes grew with worry. He immediately noticed the unusualness around my words. "What's wrong with him?"
Was it right for me to tell them? It was Eli's business, but Ricky and Kailey were two of the closest people to him, especially Ricky.
I stuffed my hands into my pockets. "His aunt put him out."
Kailey's jaw dropped and Ricky's hardened. Kailey muttered, "That cunt."
Ricky’s eyes narrowed accusatorily. "And you left him alone?"
Maybe that wasn’t the best idea.
"Eli needed space and I needed to cool down, alright? I caught him with a full bottle of alcohol.”
Ricky’s hand cupped his face as he let out a distressed groan. He began pacing in small circles as his hands clenched by his sides while Kailey stood idly. I watched her face form into a frown as I broke the news to them.
“It's alright, I took it from him before he drank any. It's in my car right now,” I explained. “And my parents' liquor cabinet has a lock on it. Not that I think he would steal, I’m just saying.”
"I thought you talked to him," Kailey's eyebrows furrowed as she spoke firmly to her boyfriend.
"I did.” His hand pressed against his chest. “He said he was getting better, he said that he was fixing it.”
“Clearly not!” her voice rose and earned concerned looks from the people around us.
I took a step forward to fill the gap in the line that formed when we were not paying attention. Those around us were doing a poor job of hiding their blatant ear hustling of our conversation. They were all nosy. Then again, we weren’t speaking very quietly so maybe that was on us.
I gestured to the three of us. "He did fix it, he fixed it in front of us. He thought what we couldn’t see couldn’t hurt us.”
There was a dramatic pause as the realization hit Ricky and Kailey like a slap in the face just like it did me.
“I’m scared," Kailey said faintly. "It’s not an option anymore; we have to tell someone. It never was an option."
“He’s not going to want us to,” Ricky grunted.
“I don’t care. I'm telling my parents tonight when they get back from their trip." I took a step forward as the line moved again. “I’m going to try and talk to him again. I need to see where his head is at because he hasn’t been all there since the situation with Macy.”
"Can we come?" Ricky asked, though his firm tone indicated he wasn’t taking no for an answer. “I know that Macy kicking him out hurt him more than he wants to believe.”
I would never deny them from seeing their friend. Anything to prove to Eli that there were multiple people who cared about him.
We waited another fifteen minutes before I was able to check out and leave the store.
The couple followed me back to my house and wasted no time rushing out of the car when we made it.
I opened the back door of my car and began taking out the bags of clothes that I had picked up and Ricky gave me a hand.
“Let me go find Eli,” Kailey said as she held out her hand for me to give her the keys. I handed them to her, and she let herself into the house while her boyfriend and I hauled the clothes inside.
The bags were so full I wondered if Alan had ordered the whole store. When Ricky and I dropped the clothes on the counter with a huff, Gabriela was by our side instantly. She began rummaging through the items with eagerness.
Gabi held up a pink blouse in her hands. "Cute!"
"Has Eli been okay?" I asked as I ignored how she held the blouse to my chest and imagined me in it.
She put down the top and bit her bottom lip nervously. "I asked him if he needed anything, but he barely responded to me. He’s been watching TV in the guest room."
I rubbed my hand on my sister's shoulder in comfort. "Thanks for watching out for him."
"I was going to whether you wanted me to or not," Gabriela said steadily, her eyelashes fluttering as she blinked.
Ricky tapped his finger on the counter repeatedly as his breaths came out with force. "Are your parents going to let him stay with you? If not then he can stay with me, my parents won’t have a problem with it. I think he would want to stay with you, though. Maybe he can alternate?"
Eli’s best friend's mind was clearly wracked with rapid thoughts running through it. The way his eyes focused blurrily on the counter showed that he was deep in thought. He was trying to come up with solutions to the new problem at hand and it was overwhelming him.
“Hey,” I said, causing his eyes to jerk up at mine. “We’ll get it figured out, Eli won’t…”
I trailed off when I heard the loud sound of running footsteps from up the stairs. Ricky and I’s heads whipped around in a sharp motion to be met with Kailey's panicked face staring at us all.
"You guys have to see this!” her voice cracked as she shouted. “I…I don’t know what to do.”
The blood drained from my face when I saw the pure terror on Kailey’s. Once she had gotten our attention she ran back to where she came from as fast as she could, leaving no time for questions from us.
All thoughts went out of the window as my legs took off. Ricky was right behind me as we rushed up the stairs, and I heard questions from Gabriela but I was not listening to them.
I searched through each bedroom for Kailey and Eli. The lump in my throat was rising as I tore through doors like my life depended on it. There were only five rooms in the upstairs of my house, but right now it felt like I opened fifty doors that led into the abyss.
It wasn’t until I stumbled past the bathroom that I spotted them. Kailey’s hand was gripping the sink as tears streamed down her face. I eyed her nervously as I tried to understand why she was standing frozen in the bathroom. Where was my Eli?
It took me following her frozen gaze to spot him.
There was Elias, body slumped and head draped over the toilet bowl.
I couldn’t tell if he was conscious or not and his entire body being limp raised major concern.
I practically slid over to him on my knees.
My head cupped the back of his head as my arm wrapped around his body to make him lean on me.
Eli’s skin was clammy, cold, and his eyes were barely open. My mind forced me into thinking the worst until I saw the faint rise and fall of his chest. His breaths were shallow and irregular, but they were there.
Ricky stood idle in the doorway with a blank stare. It was like his body was glitched, he couldn’t move, speak, or feel anything. Then, to my surprise, he left the room. I did not have the time to wonder why instead of taking action to help his friend, Ricky chose to flee.
No, my priority was the broken boy lying in my arms.
"Call an ambulance,” I said hoarsely. When Kailey made no moves, my voice grew louder. “Hurry, Kailey!”
That was enough to shock Kailey back into reality. With shaky hands she dialed the number and put the phone up to her ear. "Hello? My…my friend isn’t okay. I don’t know what happened, but he’s barely awake and we don’t know what to do!”
I inhaled deeply to try and calm the pounding in my chest. When I did, I was hit with the strong stench of liquor that I had not noticed before.
The smell was so large that one would think he had bathed in it.
Maybe that was just because my face was so close to his and the tension of the moment was exaggerating it in my head. Regardless, he reeked of alcohol.
“His breath smells like…” I trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. Kailey eye’s hardened, I did not need to spell it out for her. We both understood what was happening.
I caressed my hand against Eli's cheek as Kailey spoke with the operator. His skin was cold to the touch, it was like he had ice pressed against him. I tapped his face a couple of times to keep him awake and it caused his eyes to grow wider. Eli let out a faint groan as his hand found mine.
"Hi." A faint smile formed as he watched me and struggled to speak. The grin on his face was genuine despite how terrible the circumstances.
"Hi, mi amor," I whispered, my voice wavering as I felt tears starting to swell in my eyes. I blinked them away and stayed strong. “Why’d you do this, Eli? I told you we were going to get through it. Didn’t I?”
Eli’s body squirmed in my arms, and I adjusted positions to keep him comfortable. I knew he wouldn't respond to anything I was saying, he probably wasn’t even comprehending it. Still, I had to try.
Kailey's breath hitched. "Yes, yes he's more awake now. Keep him awake, Javier."
"You hear that, baby?" I scratched the back of his head soothingly. "You've gotta stay awake, alright? Okay?"
Kailey had the phone pressed firmly against her ear. "How much did he drink?"
"I don't know, I don't even—"
"At least half a bottle of whiskey," Ricky’s voice sounded firmly.
I did not know when, but he had returned to the bathroom and was holding up said bottle.
There was only about a quarter of it left.
"But it could be more because I don't know how much was in here to begin with. I thought you took it from him?"
"I did!" I shouted in exasperation. "He must’ve had another bottle stashed."
I noticed a head peeking from behind. Gabriela stood in shock, her hand pressed against her mouth and her eyes open wide.
"Gabriela," I said her name sternly, causing her attention to break from the barely conscious man on the floor. "Go call Mamá and tell her what’s happening. Don’t come back into this bathroom."
"But I—"
I did not want her to see any more of this than she already had. "Go!"
Her lips pressed together firmly and I thought she was going to protest, but she left without another word.
"They're almost here," Kailey announced.
Please hurry, I can’t lose him.