Lydia
Eli: I’m drunk and can’t stop thinking about this really pretty girl I met at a party tonight
It’s been a month now, and he’s texted me every day since. Good morning texts, funny videos, late-night long, deep thoughts.
It feels like every time we talk, my guard gets let down a little more with him, and it’s scary how much I enjoy it.
Eli: You ever met someone and knew you were never going to get good sleep again because of them?
Lydia: Is that your way of telling me goodnight or warning me?
Eli: Both
Lydia: Bold of you to assume I sleep anyway.
Eli: Insomnia?
Lydia: Overthinking. You?
Eli: Thinking about you
Lydia: Smooth
Eli: Just being honest
Lydia: Dangerous combo
I didn’t expect him to be so funny and sweet.
He’s also been so good at making me forget how shitty I normally always feel.
I didn’t expect him to slowly start to become…
my person. And that doesn’t take away from Simone at all…
she’s still my person too. But…it’s different with Eli.
I really like him, like…I like like him.
I always want to talk to him or sneak a hug from him at school.
I crave to be around him, to make him laugh, to know all his favorite things.
Any time I’m not with him, I’m thinking about the next time I’ll get to see him again.
I’m deep in my thoughts about Eli as I’m lying on Harper’s bed with my head in Simone’s lap, staring at the ceiling.
Katie and Harper are getting dressed and doing their hair and makeup for a cheer competition they have today.
My phone buzzes, and as soon as I pick it up from the bed to read it, Simone snatches it from my hands.
“Hey!” I playfully shout. “Give it back!”
She holds it out of reach while typing in the passcode she, of course, knows while laughing.
“That boy has you glued to your phone 24/7. I need to know how good these conversations are. No boy has ever caught your attention before, let alone the ‘preppy, popular, jock boy’ at that. I feel like I’m living in an alternate universe, or the Twilight Zone,” she says, laughing.
“I don’t know who my best friend is anymore. ”
Katie and Harper both laugh, watching us.
“The fact that I haven’t seen Eli Harrison flirt with a single girl at school since the night of that party is crazy!” Harper says, dramatically.
“Okay, saying his first and last name is kind of weird, y’all. He’s just a normal person, not some celebrity.”
“At school, he might as well be,” Katie tosses over her shoulder, looking at me in the mirror while she does her makeup.
Simone is giggling, scrolling through my texts, when she suddenly gasps. “SHUT-UP!”
“What?” I ask, sitting up, confused.
She starts to read the text he must have just sent out loud. “Lydia, I just want to finally confess my undying love for you, and tell you that I think you are my soulmate, and—”
“Shut up,” I tell her, rolling my eyes and laughing. “He did not say that.”
She giggles. “No…but he did ask you out on a date this weekend.”
I snatch my phone back from her. “No way?”
Eli: Let me take you out on a date this weekend. Dinner in NoDa, maybe?
I’m instantly blushing, and when I look up, they’re all staring at me.
“What?” I ask, trying to hide my smile.
“You looove him,” Harper teases.
“I do not love him. I barely know him.”
“But you definitely like-like him, right?” Katie asks.
I shrug.
“Girl…” Simone looks at me like she’s telling me she’s not stupid and she knows me better than that.
“Fine,” I say, flopping on my back, holding my phone in front of me to type back a response. “I maybe…might…like him…a little. I don’t know.”
Simone and Harper squeal in unison.
“Y’all are so annoying!”
Simone shoves me playfully. “Listen, we’re just happy for you.
I mean, I was starting to think you might be a lesbian, which, hey,” she says, raising her hands, “no judgment, totally support you either way. I was just starting to wonder why you never talked about any boys. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you even have a crush on someone before. ”
“Yeah, well, that’s because boys are a lot to deal with.”
“How would you know?” Katie asks. “You’ve never talked to or dated one.”
I roll my eyes. “I listen to all of you enough to know boys suck; they’re so immature, and just play with girls’ emotions.”
Harper nods. “True.”
“Hey, not all of them are like that,” Simone says defensively.
“Okay, Tyler is the exception. You two will probably be that kind of young love that actually makes it and gets married one day.”
“And Eli could be the exception, too,” she tells me.
“Eh, I don’t know. I don’t know him well enough yet. I mean, I feel like we literally talk about everything already, and he’s so sweet…but…we’re just an odd pair, don’t you think?”
Harper shakes her head. “No, I think you two weirdly work. You would be so perfect together. The high school football star and the black cat,” she says, laughing. “You’re so opposite that it’s cute.”
“Yeah, and if he’s giving you this much attention,” Katie says, “you need to lock him down. Every girl at school wants to date him.”
I scrunch my nose up. “I don’t know if I want that kind of attention.”
“Let them hate. They’re just jealous you’re prettier than them and cooler and a bad bitch.”
“Simone…I am definitely not a bad bitch,”
“The baddest bitch I know,” she says with pride in her voice.
We all laugh, and I realize I haven’t responded to his text yet. “Crap…what do I say back?”
“Here, give me your phone,” Harper says. “I’ll reply for you.”
I give her a suspicious look, and she gives me a pointed one back, reaching her hand out in a ‘give me’ motion. I toss my phone over to her, and she barely catches it.
“Let me work my magic,” she says, hovering her fingers over the phone like she’s thinking. “Eli, love of my life, I would love to—”
“Stop!” I yell at her, laughing.
“I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Okay, okay…let’s go with something laid-back, not too eager-sounding. How about ‘Sure, I think I can squeeze you in’?”
I shake my head, not being able to come up with anything better, and then sigh. “Okay, fine,” I huff. “Hit send.”
She does and then tosses it back to me.
“I love this for you,” Simone says, running her fingers through my hair.
I think I love it too, but it’s kind of scary. I’ve never felt like this before.