Chapter 35: 33. 𝓂𝒾𝓈𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔

Did you get enough love?

my little dove,

why do you cry?

And I'm sorry I left,

but it was for the best

though it never felt right

- Sufjan Stevens

·*:༅。.。༅:*ﾟ:*:✼✿　　✿✼:*ﾟ:༅。.。༅:*·

it had been one full week since my first day at West Valley.

I really liked it, even though sometimes it would all feel so unfamiliar. If it did, I would run straight towards Skylar, who reminded me so much of my past.

Eli had been m.i.a after the first couple of days, rarely coming into school. I found myself sadden by his empty seat in math class.

"y/n," The teacher moved my attention to her after I had been staring at Eli's unoccupied desk for a while.

"Yes," I stood up from my desk, picking my things up before walking towards her as the other students were leaving.

"You know Eli right?" She added while looking through the papers facing her.

I only nodded.

"Do you know why he's been absent lately," She looked up at me, grabbing some papers.

"Um...no," I gulped.

I've been wondering the same thing.

"Do you know where he lives?"

I nodded again.

"If it's okay with you, could you bring him these papers? I really want him to succeed, especially since I know how good of a student he is," She said in an almost motherly way that made me smile softly.

"Yes of course, I'm sure he'll be back in no time by the way," I reassured the worried looking woman, who gave me a sweet nod as I walked out the class and into the crowed halls.

"Y/n!" I heard Miguel's voice from behind me, making me turn. "Hey," He caught up to me.

"Hey," I giggled.

"Seen Hawk around?"

Miguel hanged out more with Sam while I stayed with Demetri and Skylar, making us rarely talk.

"No actually, I was gonna ask you,"

"Weird, I tried texting him and stuff but no response," He looked down confusingly, making my brows furrow.

"I'm gonna go see him tonight, to bring him math papers... and to make sure he's okay," I sighed, making Miguel smirk teasingly.

"What?" I laughed with a disbelief look on my face.

"Nothing," He kept smirking while shaking his head.

~

Has I worrying too much?

Probably.

It didn't stopped me from driving myself at his house during lunch though.

I halted myself when I faced his house door, wondering if it was my place to do this.

I could've given the papers to Miguel, but honestly, I wanted to see Eli, especially since he was missing at school.

I took courage into my hands, knocking softly before hearing faint footsteps coming closer towards the door.

He opened slowly, and my face dropped at the sight; He had a swollen face that was marked with tear stains that fell from his glossy eyes, looking like a sad, lost puppy.

"Eli-" I spoke from under my breath before connecting us in a tight hug. It took him a while to hug me back even tighter.

I don't know what came over me; it was like something was forcing me to hold him in my arms until all of his troubles went away.

My body was thrilled by his touch that it had been cravings so much, but my heart was shattered at the sight of his sad expression.

"What- Where- Are you-" My eyes closed tightly as I tried to speak a sentence. I took a deep breath, "Where were you Eli?"

"I'm not feeling well," His voices sounded blurry as he looked down with a shrug.

"Are you sick?" I brought my hand up to touch his forehead.

"I'm fine y/n,"

"Well clearly you aren't," My eyebrows furrowed while I was trying my hardest to read inside his mind like I used to do so easily. "What happened?" I asked more softly.

He only shook his head, not wanting to talk about it.

"You know I'm here if you want to talk right?" I tried to reassure him but he only looked sadder.

I hated seeing him like this.

I hated it with my whole being.

Eli was a sweet boy inside, you only needed to know him, I started to understand Demetri more and more each day about how he always excused him, even after the awful things he had done.

Because at the end of the day, he only needed help.

I wasn't here before, but from what I heard, he wasn't treated like he deserved.

And no, I wasn't excusing him for anything he had done, but I was becoming more understanding towards him, and I knew anyone could change if they really want to.

He nodded, still avoiding my eyes.

Deep inside of me, I knew that I loved him, not knowing quite in what way anymore; We tried and failed so many times. I couldn't figure out if he was the right person at the wrong time or if it was written in the book that our relationship was only meant to be platonic.

Besides, I was more than okay with being just friends.

Maybe that was all we needed to be.

"I know you have school or whatever," His voiced choked up, "But can you stay?" He finally met my eyes.

How could I say no to him?

In this moment, he reminded me so much of the boy he was when we first met; the boy I had foolishly fallen in love with.

"Of course I can stay," I sighed, trying to force a little smile even with everything that was going through my mind.

Life used to be so much more simple back home, but I didn't regret meeting him, I knew that once we made it through this rough patch, we would be fine.

I followed him inside.

He crashed into the couch while I looked around curiously. I remembered vividly the last time we were on this exact couch...

Flashback

"Want something to eat princess?" Eli cooed in my ears from behind me while my eyes were clued on the movie we had been watching.

"No, I'm fine," I laid the back of my head even further in the crook of his neck before turning my head slightly towards him, our eyes meeting.

He gave me the sweetest little smile while his eyes traveled around my face, looking at my features.

"You're just so beautiful y/n..." He whispered while tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, his fingertips grazing slowly from my ear to my neck, making my skin shiver from underneath his touch.

He then lowered his head, gently connecting our lips together in a delicate but passionate kiss.

I had the 3 letter phrase at the tip of my tongue, waiting to be lifted off my shoulders, but I kept my mouth shut in fear of messing up the entire moment.

"Is there something wrong?" A wave of concern painted his face.

I guess I wasn't so good at hiding my thoughts...

"There's absolutely nothing wrong,"  I looked deeper into his eyes, melting into him before placing my lips on his soft addictive ones, kissing him again.

That was the problem; there was nothing wrong.

End

"I brought your math homework by the way, I understand if you don't want to do it though,"I said while sitting next to him, shaking off my previous thought, "I can do it for you if you'd like?"

"Can we not talk about math?" His mesmerizing blue eyes fell in mine.

I only nodded in response.

"What's up with the beanies? I feel like I haven't seen your hair in forever..." I asked with a smirk, wanting to light up the conversation.

But, even that seemed to hurt him.

"Shaved it all off," He sighed while taking it off, avoiding my gaze.

My mouth felt slightly agape, as it was the last thing I had expected while he looked terribly embarrassed.

there was a short pause of thinking.

"It looks good on you," A smile finally appeared om my face, wanting to cheer him up a little; but he only gave me a small, forced smile, still looking down at his feet.

"What's the matter? You don't like it?" I brushed my hand gently against the back of his hair to the back of his neck, making him finally look at me.

He kept his mouth shut.

"It's just hair, It'll grow back..." I removed my hand from the bottom of his neck.

"It doesn't matter y/n... I ruined my reputation, I talked a big game, and then I just proved I was an asshole,"

He had me speechless; In a way, he was kind of right. At least he was self aware.

"To Demetri, to Miguel, Especially you..." His eyes traveled my face, searching for some kind of response.

"I'm ready to forgive you Eli," We both looked into each other's eyes intensely, almost making me forget my words, "I know you think that mohawk defines you, but it didn't, not to me. Eli, Hawk, none of that changes the fact that you're a good person in here, you're my little dove," My finger gently poked at his chest, demonstrating his heart.

His face was so hopeful, like it was brought to life again with a wide smile, that brought joy in my heart.

"Ready to be friends again?" I childishly handed out my pinky with a soft giggle.

Oh how I had missed my little dove.

"Friends," He smiled connecting his pinky with mine.

a/n: This chapter made me so soft ngl... sorry the writing is shit :/...I hope that you still enjoyed it! If you did, feel free to leave comments and votes, it's always greatly appreciated:) Next chapter shouldn't be out in too long!

I hope you'll have an amazing day/night, thank you for all of your support! I love you all so much,

-C<3

them<3

Peyton is so pretty wth...