Obsessed(19)

She moved straight to the bathroom, passing Deck and the line-up. He turned his head and watched her disappear around the corner. His gaze remained there for several unnerving moments before he finally turned back around and paid.

*

That evening, she dragged me to a romance movie. I sat in the middle of the theatre with dozens of swooning girls.

“I think the show is you at this rate,” Elise muttered before kicking at the chairs in front of her, startling all the girls that’d been spying on me. “Stop staring! It’s rude!”

“She’s got Tourette’s,” I lied to them before pulling her legs back. She fought with me for a few moments, until I started digging my fingers into her thighs, tickling her mercilessly. “Be civil, El.”

“Okay, okay, okay,” she cackled breathlessly, pushing me away. “I’ll stop.”

I let go and we settled back into our seats. The ads consisted of her throwing popcorn at the girls in front of us whenever they turned around. I tried not to smile, but fuck, her childlike behaviour was infectious, even the people around us laughed.

When the movie started, the theatre war ended and everyone stared on tentatively. The movie was fucking terrible; I wasn’t even going to lie. Some dude with a chiselled six pack was running around being a manwhore, slipping his dick into anything that moved. At the same time, he was pushing away his ridiculously sexy best friend who was so fucking obviously in love with him. She was there, in front of him, ready and willing, and he turned her down every time, pretending to feel indifferent when he was really battling his emotions.

And the chicks were lapping this shit up! Including Elise, who’d pressed her body as close to me as possible. When shit got emotional, I wrapped an arm around her shoulder and lightly stroked her hair. The hero professed his love eventually, but it was too late. A bunch of melodramatic shit followed, and tears…lots and lots of tears. The ending was fucking vicious, and nobody walked out happy.

I left feeling a little aggravated on the drive home. In the back of my mind I knew what was pissing me off. That fucking movie with those chiselling abs and blaring white smiles hit a chord in me. I had Elise so clearly revolved around me, waiting for scraps of my affection. I wasn’t whoring around, but I wasn’t any different in how I treated her. I was spending so much of my time pretending I was indifferent.

I was a coward, wasn’t I? I was so scared of losing one thing, I wasn’t being man enough to take the leap. Fear was bullshit. You could be strong as I was, it didn’t stop that fear of change.

Somewhere within me, that frightened child I used to be sat there, darkening every corner. I wondered when that child would finally toughen the hell up and chase what he wanted.

Because, one day, it might be too late.





8.



Elise

Knock. Knock.

My eyes opened just barely, and I turned my face to the wall. Why was Aston knocking on it now?

I knocked back, confused.

“You awake?” he asked me through the wall, his voice quiet.

“Now I am,” I groggily answered, yawning. “What’s going on?”

“I’ll be right there.”

Suddenly alert, my eyes really flew open now. I sat up quickly and ran my fingers through my hair, tidying up the blonde knots just as the door quietly creaked open. It was dark save for the moonlight coming through the window, and I watched in surprise as he tiptoed into my bedroom.

At eighteen, Aston went from quiet, invisible boy to ohmygodheisSOhot. He was big. Unnaturally big for his age, and Dad chalked it up to genetics, but I knew the real reason. He went to the gym, lifted as much weights as possible to get bigger than all the rest of the guys. I suspected he lifted so they’d leave him alone, and the results were spectacular. He was confident and sure of himself, and the only guy in a library buried in a textbook that was this ripped. If he wasn’t so goddamn smart, he would have been the star of some modelling agency.

At the same time, he was an absolute gentleman. Just…a really nice guy through and through. Not like the typical jocks from school who snickered at the small kid in class and used girls for sex. This was largely thanks to Dad, who always preached to respect the girls and look after the weak. And like Dad, Aston became a leader, someone you’d prided to have in your corner. It still took a lot for him to smile, but that just added to the Aston appeal, and the girls melted in his presence.

And me?

I was a tumbleweed, directionless and hormonal. I pined for a boy I couldn’t have, who didn’t treat me yet with the affection I yearned for. Despite that, he was involved, interested, and there whenever I needed him to be. He stared at me with a depth that made me wonder what he was thinking about inside that complex head of his.