11 - My House?

After pulling on a pair of old Adidas shorts and a school gym, I walked to the bleachers and sat next to two girls, Vanessa and Claire.

"Hey, guys!" I said cheerily.

I felt a lot better now than I had earlier.

It helped that Vanessa and Claire were both lovely, and I guess they had not been at the party on Friday, or they just didn't care, because they didn't bring up my botched haircut.

"Alright, ladies and gents! The first half of the class will be fitness, then small games of soccer. So go pick a machine!" belted the gym coach. He seemed like a nice guy if a little bit short-tempered. But aren't all gym teachers kind of like that?

"Why is he always so red? Maybe he needs to stop screaming. I should suggest yoga again," said Claire as we walked over to the exercise bikes.

Vanessa giggled, "As if that would go over well!" She turned to me, "In freshman year, Claire suggested yoga and the administrators liked it so much they made Coach Jeffers try it. Let's just say it didn't go well."

I laughed, "what happened?"

"He tried to do the first pose and ended up dislocating his shoulder. He was fine; apparently, it happened because of an old sports injury, but it sure freaked out the whole class of freshmen." Said Vanessa.

"He made me promise to keep my suggestions to myself from now on," laughed Claire. "I never have, but I've left him alone because I don't think he has forgiven me."

Coach Jeffers walks into the room, and we stifle our laughs. We continued to joke throughout the first half of the class. I don't think we were working very hard on the exercise bikes, but that didn't bother me.

"So I heard you've been hanging out with Eli and his friends," said Vanessa. It was less of a question and more of a statement. My mind flashed back to the last girls who wanted to know if I was hanging out with Eli, and I got a bit nervous.

"Oh um," I said, smiling nervously. I guess Claire kind of saved me because she stepped into the conversation.

"Damn, I want to hang out with Eli. He's sexy," she said, licking her lips.

"And dangerous, he gets into a lot of fights. I mean, I heard it's all because his mom died. But Eli's always been a bit of a jerk." interjected Vanessa.

"Yeah, you're right. Remember when he dated Heather, and he ended up dumping her by leaving her alone at the beach? Something about how he was in a gang, and she found out."

Vanessa nodded as if she knew the story well.

I wanted to defend him, but I kept my mouth shut. They may not have known any better, and it wasn't my place to say anything. Eli wanted people to think of him like this.

Vanessa looked at my grimace and faltered, "He's still charming, though, I hope you get some of that."

I blushed. Dear god. I mean, I guess I wanted that too, but it seemed crude coming out of Vanessa's mouth, especially since she did not seem to like him very much.

Coach Jeffers called us all back over to the bleachers, and we sat there, waiting for instruction. We were going to go to the field to play the mini-games of soccer, which he had already set up for us. That would be nice; I think I needed a little bit of fresh air.

"Okay, get into groups of four, you're going to play mini-games of two on two."

We hopped off the bleachers and started down towards the fields. I walked near Vanessa and Claire, hoping I could be in their group, but before I could ask, I felt myself being lifted off the ground, which emitted a squeal from my lips.

"You're on my team," a deep voice whispered into my ear while my legs dangled in front of me. It was Eli.

He put me down, and I whacked him on the arm, "Oh my god, don't DO that! What are you doing here? you're not in this class!" I said. We lagged behind the group walking towards the field.

He grinned at me, taking my hand so that I would walk a bit faster. "I finished my quiz early, so I came and asked if I could play when I saw you were going to play soccer. Coach Jeffers is fine with it."

He waved at Coach Jeffers, who was staring at us with narrowed eyes.

I ripped my hand out of Elis, and he chuckled. "Come on!"

Owen and Kyle had already claimed an area near the back of the field. Owen was skillfully bouncing a ball up and down. I looked over at Vanessa and Claire, but they were already happily chatting with two other girls in our class, so I sped up to follow Eli towards the back of the field.

I found myself standing in the middle of three very tall boys; all of them must be over 6 feet tall. I looked up at the three of them, "I don't see how this is going to be any fair." I was barely 5 feet.

Owen laughed, "Oh, Betty, trust me, it will be fair. Kyle SUCKS at soccer. He's worse than most toddlers. So, even though I am better than Eli, I guarantee you're better than Kyle, even if you've never played a day in your life."

Kyle grinned sheepishly.

"He got kicked off the soccer team when we were in 7th grade," said Eli.

I laughed at that. How do you get kicked off of the middle school team?

"Hey! I'm good at Baseball, though! So you'll see in the summer that I am not totally useless." Kyle said proudly. He glanced at Eli, "Then I'll be the one showing off in front of little Betty!" Eli hit him in the stomach.

I grinned. Despite all of my newfound hesitations with Eli, I like the idea that they would be friends with me in the summertime.

I watched as Kyle and Eli started wrestling, and Owen tried to set up the game while breaking up the two boys. When we eventually started playing, I discerned that Owen was right. Kyle DID suck.

I do not understand how a person could trip over the ball that much. I swear we spent more time laughing than we spent playing.

For once, I was disappointed when Coach Jeffers hollered over that it was time to clean up. The gym class was fun for once.

At the whistle, Eli began taunting Owen that we won and that made Owen chase Kyle back to the school, claiming that it was all his fault. There was no denying that it was Kyle's fault.

Eli and I both laughed, cleaning up the game and walking back towards the school. I was sweatier than I would like to admit, so I walked a little farther from Eli than I would normally.

He gave me a curious look, and I sheepishly said, "I smell." He laughed and plugged his nose while moving closer to me.

"What are you doing now?" He asked me.

My stomach grumbled as I started to think about what I was going to do after school. I guess skipping lunch wasn't the best idea in hindsight. "I think I am just going to head home; I am pretty hungry."

Eli looked at me, guilty. "That's my fault, isn't it?"

"Your fault?" I asked incredulously.

"You skipped lunch because you didn't want to see me," he said matter-of-factly. I guess it was true, but I wasn't going to blame him for my poor decision making. I just shrugged.

"Are you eating dinner with your parents tonight?"

I shook my head, "no." My dad is with the overs at the store, and my mom has a double shift tonight. "I think I am alone all night."

His face lit up. "Great! I'm coming over! I'll follow you there, wait for you to shower, and then we are going to go out for tacos!"

"You want to come to my house?" I said.

He did a double-take, "I mean, yeah, is that okay?"

I smiled, "yeah, of course, I just.. I don't know." Tacos did sound good.

"As I said, Betty, I want to be friends. I like hanging out with you. You haven't done anything to weird me out yet," he said before bounding away.

I changed out of my gym clothes and put them in my locker before grabbing my belongings. I thought about what Eli said when I got in my car. I thought of my house as compared to his.

I KNOW he is not materialistic, but I still couldn't help compare my house to his. I was in love with my vintage style and the essence we had in our home, but I don't know if Eli would think the same way? Would he think it is weird? I don't know what would be odd to him.

I started to get even more nervous when I saw his car following me home.

I parked in the driveway, and he parked behind me. We both got out of our cars, and he had a big goofy grin on his face, which calmed my nerves significantly.

Why do I listen to anyone when they warn me away from this boy? Why can't I trust my instinct? That smile doesn't look aggressive to me.

Eli followed me inside the house, and I took him over to the living room, which, due to the TV and sound system, was probably the most normal-looking place in our house. "Um, I am going to quickly shower and change." I handed him the TV remote and rushed upstairs, my heart racing.

The warm water felt good on my skin as I washed away today. I did not wash my hair, just my body and wiped the sweat off myself. I was probably only under the water for three minutes, but I already felt like I had left Eli downstairs for long enough.

I got out of the water and wrapped myself in a huge fluffy towel. Feeling strange because for a moment as I had been naked in the same house as Eli.

I peaked in the hallway, hoping that Eli had not made his way upstairs and was thankful when I saw it was empty. I rushed to my closet and shut the door.

Now I have to decide what to wear. My heart was doing flip flops. All weekend I thought I was done with this boy, and now he is at my house.

But he has already seen me at my worst, why am I worrying so much?

I grabbed my hairdryer and dried my hair enough so it wouldn't drip and wrapped it in a towel while I figured out what to wear.

I pulled on a pair of thin black leggings and a faded yellow crop top, as well as a faded, large cardigan that I think I stole from my grandma the last time I had visited her in New Jersey.

I looked in the mirror and fluffed my hair out with the towel. I let it fall, and it was still damp, but at least it didn't look soaking wet anymore. I put a scrunchie on my wrist. I would throw it up in a ponytail later. If I did now, it would look greasy.

I put on some moisturizer and forced myself to smile. No makeup. I am fine.

I never wore a lot of makeup, but somehow, after just showering, I felt vulnerable.

Grabbing my phone and wallet from my bag, I took a deep breath and wandered downstairs to find Eli. I was expecting to see him in the living room, but the TV was off, and he was no longer there.

Did he leave?

"Eli?" I said, half expecting not to get an answer.

"Over here!" My heart skipped a beat.

He was still here.

I found him in the hallway staring at a unique piece that my dad had found not too long ago. He had not put it up in the old house even though he had been so excited about it. He was waiting to hang it in the new home.

"This is so cool! Your dad does vintage, right?"

I nodded.

He stared at me, and my stomach flipped. "Is that why your clothes are so cool?"

I kept myself from grinning like a moron. "Um, yeah, I guess so, thank you."

He laughed, "you're so cute! Don't look so nervous! I've seen your Instagram! I know you are obsessed."

I giggled, I did not think he would notice. Most boys didn't until I made them. But maybe most boys just didn't look hard enough.

"Your house is awesome, Betty," said Eli, staring at another significant piece in the hallway.

"Are you ready to go?" He asked, turning to me.

"Yep!" I said, happily.

He gestured for me to lead the way, so I did, and I locked the door behind me.

I got in Eli's car, and we drove off. "To tacos!" he screamed.

It was nice to have an early dinner with Eli. We ordered and paid for the tacos and sat down in a booth. He had insisted on paying this time.

The taco place we ended up at was cute and casual. Any awkwardness I had been feeling with Eli washed away as soon as we started talking. Talking with Eli was nice. I was interested in what he had to say, and he listened to me.

"What was your test in?" I asked him once our faces were not stuffed with tacos.

"AP Calc," He said, grinning at me.

I couldn't help but be shocked, "sorry, what?" I asked. I mean, I never thought he was dumb or anything like that, but he didn't exactly give off AP Calculus vibes.

He grinned, and reached over, touching my nose, "you didn't realize you were hanging out with someone so smart, did you?"

I laughed. "So, what are you going to do after high school?" I almost didn't want to ask because his leaving should be the farthest thing from my mind, but my curiosity got the better of me.

"Oh, I am already committed to the University of New Mexico."

I couldn't help but grin. The university is right next to my house.

"I did early admissions last year, and even though they don't accept a lot of early admissions, I am pretty smart, soo.." he trailed off.

"I guess so!" I said.

"I'll still live at home. I don't want to leave when Brodie is still in school. He'd be fine without me, but I don't know if I would be fine without him."

I was surprised by his honesty.

"What are you going to be taking?"

"Computer sciences. I want to create apps. Then when I get good enough, I can create apps for nonprofits."

I swear, I almost fainted. Is this boy too good to be true? "That's cool, Eli." I almost choked.

"Yeah, I think so," he said, smiling. "My mom worked with nonprofits her whole life, and I know it would make her proud."

"I can only imagine it would."

Why didn't he let his classmates see this side of him?

We talked a bit about what I wanted to do after school. I wanted to take business classes, and I wanted to grow my online business.

Once we had eaten enough tacos for five people, he drove me back home.

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2590

"I just wanna be someone

Well, doesn't everyone?" - BANNERS

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