Twelve

Elijah:

‘I'm staying at a friend's house right now. I need some time to clear my head. I'll be back home whenever I'm ready.’

With that, Elijah turned off his cell phone and placed it on the coffee table, not wanting to know how his mother would reply to that message. Frankly, all he needed right now was to relax and he seriously wasn't in the mood for his parents' non-stop nagging. He didn't want to go back home because being in that mansion depressed him. It was as if the walls, the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, the floors, the furniture, everything there was looking down at him, almost mocking him. Reminding him of all the memories and the pain he had gone through. A home is supposed to be somewhere you feel safe, comfortable, reassured that you have somewhere to go back to at the end of the day. But what he felt in his own house was the exact opposite of that. It was like the moment he set foot in that mansion, he would be plagued with all this negativity and loneliness.

But Lucas' house was comfortable, cozy. It felt more like home than his own house.

Lucas walked into the living room a second later, throwing Elijah a carton of chocolate milk, to which the blonde raised a questioning eyebrow.

"What? I thought you liked chocolate milk." Lucas said with a silly grin as he popped open his can of soda and plopped down on the couch next to Elijah.

"I do. I'm just surprised you actually remembered that."

"That's because you're the only one in school who actually drinks it."

Elijah rolled his eyes as he shoved the straw into the carton and took a big sip. "Everyone at school is too cool for chocolate milk."

"Yeah I'm sorry no one at school is five."

"Do I look five to you?"

"Ahh give or take."

"Gee, thanks." Elijah rolled his eyes.

If there was one thing that Elijah liked about Lucas, it was that he wasn't treating him differently even after he told him everything. He didn't look at him with pity or treat him like glass that was about to shatter at any second. No, it was just like it was before he even said anything. Maybe the elder was just trying to pretend like nothing happened so Elijah wouldn't feel uncomfortable but the latter appreciated it anyway.

They stared blankly at the television screen for a few minutes before Lucas spoke up again. "Noah's leaving in a few days."

Elijah felt his heart sink in his chest but managed to keep his voice flat, "I know."

"I hope you didn't forget about the party I was planning to throw for him."

"I didn't. I was just waiting for the whole showcase thing to be over with first. But are you sure you want me there anyway? I mean, you guys are old friends. I wouldn't wanna be there and make it all awkward which is something I always seem to excel at."

Lucas scoffed, "Are you kidding? Of course you have to be there! You're the reason we were able to sort out differences in the first place. Besides, it's obvious the guy really cares about you."

Elijah lifted a brow curiously, "Really?"

"Of course." Lucas grinned. For a second, Elijah wondered if Noah liked him back. Noah had always been caring, but maybe that was just him being a good friend. The blonde didn't want to misunderstand his actions or get any wrong ideas.

What's the point now, anyway? He's leaving.

Every time the thought crossed his mind, his heart would clench painfully. Noah was his first friend, his first crush. And he was leaving just like that. Then what was going to happen to him? He knew he was going to miss him terribly. He wondered how different things would have been if only they met a little sooner. Maybe the elder would have liked him back and they could have been together, even if it was just for a short while. But Elijah knew that was just wishful thinking.

"It's a little weird, you know? Seeing a guy like another guy..." Lucas said with his head slightly tilted to the side as if he knew Elijah was thinking about the doe-eyed boy, "But when I really think of it it's not all that different from straight people."

"What would you know? I doubt you ever even liked a person before." Elijah scoffed, "You just sleep around."

"Of course I did. I'm not made of stone, you know?" Lucas said almost indignantly. "And hey, it's not my fault girls throw themselves at me. I'm a teenage guy with hormones, do the math."

Elijah rolled his eyes, "Whatever you say."

"So wait... You've never actually done it before?" Lucas asked, intrigued.

"I could act dumb and pretend I don't know what it is but I think I have a pretty good idea. So, to answer your question, no, I haven't."

"Wow." Lucas whistled, "You must be quite the catch. Girls love virgins. To them, you're like this untouched, neatly wrapped present just waiting to be unraveled. Too bad all the ladies don't know you don't swing that way."

Elijah scrunched face up in disgust. To him, sex was supposed to mean something, not just shoving your thing into whatever is willing to accept it. "How did we end up in this conversation again?" He asked, feeling uncomfortable with the topic.

"Oh please don't tell me you don't know about the amount of girls that would love to get a piece of you."

"Excuse me?"

Lucas gasped, "I took one fucking selfie with you and all the comments were about how handsome you looked. I'm almost jealous. Plus you should have seen the amount of fangirls last night at the showcase. They were losing their shit over you."

Elijah furrowed his eyebrows, "Over me? Why?"

Lucas shook his head and sighed, "Oh Eli, you're such a virgin."

Elijah glared at the brunette and threw a pillow at his face, "And you're such a whore."

"I get that a lot." Lucas grinned a shit-eating grin. Elijah wondered why the brunette was so proud of the fact.

"Anyways, what do you say we watch a movie?"

"Well it's not like there's much else to do except for having pointless conversation with you."

Lucas rolled his eyes as he searched through the DVD rack, "Horror?"

"Sure. As long as you're not scared."

"Bitch, please. If there's anyone that would be scared of a horror movie here, it'd be you."

"You wanna bet on it?"

"Sure."

Ms. Kim punched in the code for the front door and stepped into the house tiredly. It had been a very long day at work and all she wanted to do now was take a long nap. However, as she passed by the living room, she was surprised to see two boys fast asleep on the couch with the credits of some movie rolling on the large LED screen. One of the boys was her own son while the other, on closer inspection, turned out to be Elijah. She couldn't help but giggle softly at the adorable scene. Elijah was sleeping on the couch while Lucas's head rested comfortably on his shoulder, both in seemingly deep slumber. She contemplated waking them up as she knew the position was probably uncomfortable and they'd wake up with terrible neck aches but decided to leave them to the awkwardness when they awoke by themselves instead.

Smiling, she placed a soft kiss on her son's forehead. As she was about to go upstairs to her room, she paused and looked at the blonde boy. He always looked so sad for some reason, every single time she saw him. And from the way his parents acted when she visited them before, she knew they were neglecting him. They were your typical rich parents, and she'd had plenty of experience with those in her life, her own parents being the prime example. It was easy to tell from the way they talked exactly what type of people they were, because she precisely remembered being in Elijah's shoes as they bragged on and on about how proud they were of him and how academically excellent he was. She knew people like them very well, she'd seen them and their fake smiles many a times before. And it broke her heart because she believed that every kid out there deserved love.

She couldn't find it in her heart to just leave the boy so she placed a soft kiss on his forehead too before going upstairs to her room.

Elijah slowly opened his eyes, trying to adjust to the lighting. His body felt extremely uncomfortable and there was a heavy weight on his shoulder. Blinking a few times, he was met with the movie menu of the shitty horror movie they'd been watching. Being one of those typical horror cliches with a total of five seconds of thought going into the storyline, he had found himself falling asleep halfway through. Looking to the side, he almost jumped at the sight of Lucas's head resting on his shoulder as he snored softly.

What the fuck?

"Oye." Elijah slapped the brunette's forehead lightly, trying to get him to wake up. Lucas didn't even so much as twitch in his sleep. "Your head's fucking heavy." He grumbled as he tried to wake the elder up.

"Yah!" He yelled and harshly pushed the boy off of him, who fell back on the couch and continued sleeping soundly. If it weren't for the light snoring, Elijah would probably think the brunette was dead.

"How long was I asleep?" He muttered to himself as he turned on his mobile phone. He almost gasped when he saw that it was already 8:37pm. Then came the bombardment of notifications from the countless calls and messages he had received. Most of them were from his parents but some were from Noah. He saw that the older had tried to call him seven times and left him many messages.

Noah:

‘Hey. I tried calling but your cell phone was off :/

Is everything okay?’

Noah:

‘Elijah... I'm getting worried.

Are you there?

Please call me.’

Noah:

‘I went to your house... Your parents said that you were at a friend's house.

Elijah, where are you?’

Noah:

‘Are you at Lucas'?’

Noah:

‘Please call me.’

Elijah immediately dialed in his friend's number and waited for him to pick up.

One ring... Two rings... Three rings... Four-

"Hey I'm so sorry." Elijah said the moment he heard that the boy answered.

"Eli, where are you?"

"I... I'm at Lucas' place."

"I was so worried... Did something happen? Why didn't you tell me anything?" The elder's voice was soft and caring like it always was and it made Elijah's heart clench in a bittersweet way.

"I just didn't want you getting worried about me... I know you're already stressed out these days."

Noah paused before sighing, "Please don't ever do that again. I thought something bad happened to you."

Elijah smiled ever so slightly, "I'm sorry. I'll tell you everything that happened as soon as I can."

"Your parents looked kinda mad when I visited..."

"Yeah... I may or may not have fought with them."

"What?"

"Let's meet up, okay? I'll tell you everything."

"Okay... Let's meet by the park in half an hour, okay?”

“Sure. Hey, Noah?"

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry again for making you worry. I really am..."

"It's okay, Eli. What's important is that you're safe."

There it was again. The butterflies in his stomach. The way his heart bloomed. No one ever made him feel that way before except Noah. He couldn't help the rosy blush that crept up his cheeks. He hated that he felt like a fucking teenage schoolgirl because of him.

"Thank you."

When he ended the call and turned around, he saw Lucas sitting up in the couch, eyes half-lidded as he stared at him with an unreadable expression on his face.

"You look fucking creepy." Elijah noted.

"Was that Noah?" Lucas ignored his remark and asked instead, voice thick with sleep.

"Yeah. Why?" Elijah asked nonchalantly.

"Oh... nothing." He got up and stretched, yawning unattractively.

"Listen, I'm going out to meet Noah. I'll be back later, okay?"

Lucas blinked a few times before shrugging, "Okay, I guess."

He couldn't help but stare at the younger boy as he walked out the door, asking himself the same question he asked himself a hundred times before.

Fuck does this guy squat or something? I wish my ass looked like that.

Lucas waited for Elijah to get back while blankly flipping through the television channels, pausing at one to admire Rihanna’s ass in one of her music videos.

"Elijah left already?" His mom popped out of nowhere, sitting on the couch opposite him.

"He just went to meet up with a friend." Lucas shrugged, "He'll be back though. If you don't mind, he's gonna stay over here for a while."

Ms. Kim furrowed her eyebrows at her son, "Of course I don't but why? Did something happen with him?"

Lucas sighed, placing the remote control down next to him, "He had a fight with his parents. Long story short, Elijah wants to dance but his parents don't approve of it and are forcing him to go to medical school. So he kind of fought with them about that today." The boy said briefly, not wanting to elaborate too much because surely the blonde wouldn't appreciate that.

"Poor kid..." She sighed, "His parents are those kind... too high and mighty for their own good. When you really think of it though, a big CEO and his wife who is a surgeon and has her own private practice surely would only want their son to follow in their footsteps."

"Yeah but what about what he wants? Isn't that just a little unfair?"

"If life were fair, there would be no rich and poor, no one higher in rank than the other, no disease and no suffering. But sadly that's not the way it is."

As much as Lucas hated the fact, he knew his mother was right, "So if you were to give Elijah some advice, what would you tell him? Because... I can sympathize with him. I love dancing so much and I couldn't imagine ever having to stop doing what I love."

"I think he shouldn't give up. The bigger the dream, the stronger the will to fight for it. Elijah is on a road with many bumps and cracks along the way. He's gonna have moments of weakness, he's gonna want to give up and just do what his parents ask of him. He could lose all his motivation and spirit in the split of a second. But it's definitely a journey worth taking because regardless of the end result, he's gonna look back and have no regrets. Because he tried anyway. Because he struggled for something that he loved."

Lucas silently nodded, letting his mother's words sink in.

"Elijah's a great kid. I want you to be there for him on this tough journey. You of people should be able to understand him, after all your dreams are one and the same. Be the one to console him, motivate him and lift his spirits. And he can stay here for as long as he wants."

"Thanks mom." Lucas smiled, "And I won't leave him alone."

Mrs. Kim beamed at her son proudly, "That's my Lucas."

"Ooh what do we have here?" Sam asked slyly as he saw Lucas and Elijah walking into the school building together, "I thought you guys hated each other."

"Oh please don't misunderstand." Elijah stated, looking at the elder boy beside him, "I still want to saw his head off."

"You see, Sammie?" Lucas grinned, throwing a heavy arm around Elijah, making the latter scowl, "We're like besties, now."

"Sure." Sam said flatly, rolling his eyes. "Well come on. We're gonna be late for class."

As Sam started pulling Lucas away, the latter hesitantly followed him and looked back at Elijah, "I'll see you around."

Elijah replied with a short nod before making his way to his own class. However, he didn't miss the looks people were giving him. Or more specifically, the girls.

"Oh please don't tell me you don't know about the amount of girls that would love to get a piece of you."

Now that Lucas had mentioned it, he couldn't help but feel a little self-conscious. Is it really true?

Just then, a pretty girl with long brown hair appeared in front of him with a shy smile on her face.

"Hi, Elijah. I just wanted to say your performance on Friday was really amazing! I didn't know you danced so well."

Elijah blinked. Well this is new.

"Uh, thank you." He said shortly, "I'm sorry but I have to go to class now."

"Oh sure! Go on ahead." She giggled, "Congratulations on winning!"

For the rest of the day, he kept getting stopped by people, both boys and girls (the latter more often than not), complimented him for his dancing and congratulated him for winning. It was a little flattering at first but it quickly got annoying. Elijah didn't think he ever talked to so many people in one day ever before and it almost gave him a headache.

"You should be happy." Noah said as he munched on a French fry.

"I'd rather just go back to being a nobody. I'm not used to all this attention."

Noah scoffed, "You were never a 'nobody'. People were just scared to approach you. But now that you won the competition, they have something to talk to you about. Besides, everyone was pretty shocked. Who knew the top achiever guy who never talked to anyone was an incredibly amazing dancer?"

Elijah felt a light blush color his cheeks as he stared down at his food, "You think so?"

"I know so." Noah smiled tenderly, "Never stop dancing, Elijah."

"...I won't."

A happy smile made its way onto Noah's lips, doe eyes twinkling as they bore into Elijah's. Elijah felt the air almost being knocked out of his chest as he stared at the elder. Noah looked a lot happier than when he first saw him. Of course there was that tinge of sadness in his eyes because he was leaving soon but he didn't have that distant look anymore. He looked like he was finally at peace.

Elijah thought he looked so beautiful.

"Sup." Their little moment was interrupted when Lucas took a seat next to Elijah at their lunch table, followed by the rest of his friends. Alex sat down next to Noah and they smiled at each other before naturally going into conversation. It was clear to Elijah that the two were really close and Noah seemed so happy he could finally talk to his friends normally again. Soon enough, the table was filled with loud chatter and laughter. Everyone seemed to get along so naturally, everyone except Elijah that is. He felt like some sort of third wheel sitting between them since they were all old friends except for him. He didn't really speak much, only laughing when one of them said something funny, but he felt awkward nonetheless.

Elijah smiled when he saw the wide grin on Noah's lips but soon enough it faded.

What am I doing here? He thought to himself.

Elijah realized he could never make the elder smile like that. He wasn't funny, he didn't have many words, he wasn't someone entertaining or amusing in the least. Coming to think of it, all he ever did was swarm Noah with his own problems. Use him as some sort of outlet for all his frustrations. Elijah didn't even know how to crack a joke. All he could do was be awkward and make everyone else around him feel awkward, too. But those other people at the table... they had known him for years. They were light-hearted, conversational, and funny. They were everything he wasn't.

He realized he didn't belong on that table, with those people.

"Eli? Everything okay?" Lucas asked him, frowning slightly. Everyone else at the table was busy talking and no one paid attention to them.

"I'm fine. I'm going to class a little early, okay?" Before waiting for a reply, he quietly stood up, excused himself and slipped out of the cafeteria. He felt tight in his chest as he walked through the almost empty halls, fists clenched at his sides. He couldn't help but feel a little envious of them, of how easily they could make Noah laugh. But Elijah... he simply couldn't.

Why did he have to like the elder so much? If it already hurt so much now, how would he be able to handle it when he left?

As if his feet had taken him there at their own accord, Elijah found himself at the rooftop of the school building. He sat down at his usual bench and looked up at the sky, taking a few deep breaths as if to loosen the knots in his chest.

"You said you were going to class." A sudden voice made him almost jump up in shock. He heard a few footsteps coming towards him before a figure sat down on the bench next to him.

Elijah sighed. He really just wanted some alone time right now. "Why did you follow me?"

Lucas blinked a few times, as if he himself didn't know the exact answer to that question, "I... I don't know. You just up and left like that and it's obvious something's bothering you."

Elijah just sighed deeply and stared ahead without saying anything.

"...Do you want to talk about it?"

"No.

“Why not?” Lucas probed.

“Because I'm done burdening people with my problems. I need to grow up and face them by myself."

Lucas frowned at him, puzzled at the sudden outburst. "You've handled enough on your own, Eli. There's nothing wrong with talking about it. You of all people should know how hard it is to be alone."

"It's better than just depressing everyone in my way."

"That's not true." Lucas shook his head, "Friends are supposed to be there for each other and help each other out. Besides, think of everything you've done when you were alone. You let your parents push you into whatever they wanted. You didn't fight them. You let yourself into this black hole and you had no one to pull you out. Now think of everything you've achieved after you started opening up to people."

Lucas's tone softened, "You followed your dreams."

"Yeah everything's great for me. What about you? And Noah? All I did was use you guys as an outlet. Someone to vent to to so I can feel better about myself. What do you get from that? A friend is not just someone you talk about your frustrations. A friend should also be someone you would want to call when you just want to hang out, or have fun, or laugh with. I can't do that. I'm not… fun. I'd rather just stick to being alone so I don't spread my negativity to other people."

Lucas sighed as he thought of a way to make Elijah understand. Is he an idiot? For a smart person he sure is a idiot. He thought to himself.

"I like hanging out with you though." Lucas muttered.

"What?" This seemed to take Elijah by surprise.

"I like hanging out with you. You're not a bad guy. I like spending time with you. You're fun in your own weird, awkward kind of way."

Elijah blinked, trying to process the words Lucas just said. The latter sighed.

"Look, Eli. Friendship is not as complicated as you think it is. Why do you think I left all my friends and followed you here? Why do you think I bothered to listen to your problems and try to help you out in the first place? Why do you think I offered you to stay at my place? I wouldn't do those things if I didn't like you. I already consider you my friend, even if you don't. So stop over-thinking and over-analyzing everything and start living already. Time is not gonna wait for you."

Elijah was shocked to say the least. As dumb as the other boy looked and sometimes acted, he sounded so mature at that moment. Maybe it was true. Why would he go through all the trouble if he didn't care about the younger?

"You... are not as bad as I thought you were." He muttered.

Lucas grinned and flipped his hair dramatically, "I know I'm awesome. Now come on, stop being depressed and let's go back down to the cafeteria. I haven't finished my lunch."

"You go ahead. I'll catch up later."

Lucas rolled his eyes and stood up, pulling Elijah up along by the arm, "Nope. You're coming with me. You haven't eaten either."

"I'm fine." Elijah urged as he tried to pull away from the elder's hold.

"If you wanna dance well you gotta eat more. You're already so skinny." Lucas didn't want to propose his hypothesis that everything Elijah ate seemed to go straight to his ass because he literally had zero fat everywhere else. The younger boy sighed and gave up, allowing Lucas to lead him back to the cafeteria. However, he felt a lot more at ease now. It was crazy how Lucas could make him feel so much better with just a few words.