Chapter 14: Call Me Eli

By the time I got home, I was completely soaked through my clothes. Daniel took one look at me and shook his head.

"Why do you do this to yourself?" he sighed as he handed me a blanket. "You can always say no. You don't always have to push yourself each time because Ms. Jackson will always understand."

I thanked him for the blanket while I shivered. "I'm not like you Dan," I said as I made my way upstairs. "Not everyone can always say what's on their minds without disappointing others." I entered my bedroom and went straight to the bathroom where I stripped out all the wet clothes and then got under the shower head, turning on the hot water. I kept smiling to myself as I remembered what had happened during the day. It was weird to think that we were back to being comfortable around each other. I knew that I still had a lot to figure out and one of those things being my feelings for Patience.

After washing up, I wrapped a towel around myself and made my way to my closet in the bedroom where I found my phone pinging with incoming messages. No longer focussed on the closet, I made my way to my bed and picked up the phone then unlocked it. It was messages from Elliot, Neil and Patience.

I opened the one from Patience.

Patience: How was your first day? Did you guys get along well?

Another one followed.

Patience: I missed you, xoxo

I felt guilty as I typed a quick response letting her know that it went well and that we had gotten along well even though I had left out so much. Then I opened Neil's message.

Neil: Dude, how was it? Does Elliot still hate us or what?

Neil: You know I didn't mean the things that I said. He can date whoever he wants and it's none of my business. I just hope he can forgive me.

Neil: Anyway, how did it go?

I laughed out loud as I made myself comfortable at the edge of my bed and replied to his messages.

Me: I don't think he hates you, just talk to him when you get the chance and don't say anything stupid because you will only end up making it worse for yourself.

Me: It went oddly okay, nothing to report here.

I sent the messages and then opened Elliot's last. It was just two words which made my head spin at the meaning behind it.

Elliot: Thank you!

Me: What for? Is this some hidden message I have to decode?

His response came in immediately as if he was sitting by his phone waiting for me to respond.

Elliot: lol, why would I do that to you?

Elliot: I just thought of thanking you for today, that's all.

I bit my lip to keep the smile in. He was kind of cute and caring now that I thought about it.

Me: Okay, you're welcome in that case

Elliot: learn to relax and not think too much about what I say. I'm usually a straight forward guy with what I want

Me: that's good to know, just don't make it a habit especially when you are around people because they might find your bluntness insulting

Elliot: Do you find my bluntness insulting or intimidating?

I paused, trying to think of the best way I could reply without it seeming like I was agreeing or disagreeing with what he was saying. I tossed my phone on the bed and grabbed my sweats from the closet along with a hoodie because I was starting to feel cold from wearing nothing but a towel. Once I was done, I flopped onto my stomach then picked up my phone. There was another message from Elliot.

Elliot: Did I scare you off already?

Me; No, I had something I had to do

Elliot: Like what?

Me: get dressed

Elliot: so you were naked and didn't mention, how disappointing to know

Me: to answer your question, no it doesn't intimidate me at all. I find it rather refreshing because I could never do it even if I wanted to.

I waited for his response but it didn't come in. I kept staring at my phone and checking to see if I had actually sent the message or not but I had and he just hadn't responded. I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling before sleep took over.

****

My phone ringing woke me up and I frantically searched for it with my eyes closed. Who could be calling me at such a time? Especially when it was the first time in weeks that I had gotten any form of sleep without having any nightmares. I slowly opened one eye and the room was dark but my phone's brightness reduced some of the darkness. I found the phone behind my pillow and pressed it against my head.

"Hello?" I asked groggily.

"Sorry, did I wake you up?" came Elliot's voice and I woke up immediately.

"No, well yeah, kind of," I answered, sitting up and leaning against the headboard.

"Sorry, I had to do something so I couldn't respond to your message earlier," he went on. "Anyway, I will let you go back to sleep. See you tomorrow then."

"Wait, don't hang up just yet," I shouted and then clasped a hand over my mouth not wanting to wake Daniel up. "What were you doing?" I could feel my eyes getting heavy with each passing second.

"Helping Em with her homework and then washing up the dishes," he answered quietly. "You sound tired, I think you should sleep. We can talk tomorrow."

I grabbed my pillow and placed it behind my head then pulled my covers over me. "I'm not tired, I'm very much awake."

Elliot chuckled lightly, "you are cute when you are being stubborn," he said and I could just see that smile on his face, brightening his face completely and making him look like his age and not one who had been through so much. "But you really need to sleep, so do I. I hope you haven't caught a cold from earlier because I won't be able to forgive myself if that was the case."

"No, I'm not sick," I replied and then sneezed, contradicting what I had just said. "That wasn't because I'm sick, there was something on my nose and it's normal to sneeze without you being sick." I know I was rumbling but I had to convince him that I hadn't gotten sick even though I could feel something was off with my body.

"Are you sure?"

"Very sure."

I heard him sigh on the other side. "All right then, I'm going to sleep then. You should do the same and make sure you keep warm, right?"

"Yes mum, I got it," I replied with an eye roll.

"Yeah, yeah, you will thank me when you end up not getting sick," he said. "Goodnight Luke."

"Goodnight Elliot."

"All the important people in my life call me Eli. Call me Eli," then he hung up.

I shook my head and then went back to sleep. Dreaming about what it felt like to be in his arms lying next to him and to have his lips on mine. Even though it was a dream, I knew that I wanted that deeply inside.