When it Stops Hurting (Royce)

20

Elijah's P.O.V.

"Let's go outside, away from here".

I allowed Aaron to pull me to Travis' backyard, it wasn't very big, and there were already a lot of people inhabiting the small space. I secretly hated that I found myself here, that I was still with Aaron after the shit he pulled in the park. I couldn't drop Aaron, he was the only person who showed me attention. I shouldn't have gotten high in the first place, if I hadn't gotten high, the night wouldn't have played out the way it had. It was all my fault.

The backyard was very much clustered, same goes for the inside of the house. I hadn't been to a party in a while, the last one I went to, I was a sophomore. The night ended pretty weird because Jacob and I kissed in a closet, it wasn't some seven minutes in heaven thing, we both weren't openly out yet, so the closet, I guess, was our best bet.

"Elijah".

"Hm?" I hummed, looking at Aaron, he was giving me a curious look. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine". I tried not to think about the night at the park as I looked at him, but sometimes it was all I could think about. Aaron guided me through the crowd of people, my eyes landed on his hand that was holding mine. I smiled a little, my smile seemed to fade when I looked up to find myself standing a few inches from Travis. Aaron was joking and talking with that Arianna girl, too oblivious to the way Travis was looking at me. He gave me a curious look, giving me a once over. I felt that uncomfortable feeling from the last time I was near Arianna, except for now I was feeling it because of Travis.

"Um..." I murmured, I tried to ignore the intense stare of Travis but it was honestly quite hard. I tugged on Aaron's shirt, he looked at me, I grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him down a bit, so he was closer to my level. I wasn't that short compared to him, but I needed him to bend down a bit so we could be face to face. I brought my lips close to his ear, "I'm going to, uh... Go inside, it's a bit cold for me" I lied. I didn't know if he heard me, but I suppose he did because he nodded a little.

"Don't take a drink from anybody" he said, "I'll be coming in soon, too".

I forced a weak smile, I retreated back into the house, trying my best to avoid any and everyone. I felt like a fish out of water, I hadn't been to a real high school party in forever. I recognized a few people, but we weren't friends, we only had the same classes and lunch. I only knew Aaron, and he was outside with Arianna and Travis. I frowned, thinking of the way Travis was looking at me, it was like he was undressing me with his eyes. I shook my head a little, shaking away the thought. I'm overreacting, right? I managed to get to the kitchen without stepping on anyone's feet, I grabbed a Solo cup and scooped myself some ice. I made myself a cup of water because I wasn't really trying to get drunk tonight. I suddenly had someone wrapping their arms around my waist, and I figured it was Aaron because he did say he would be coming inside soon.

"Aaron, your friend, um, Travis... He's kind of..." "Kind of, what?" My eyes widened as I realized it was not Aaron who was behind me, but Travis. "Nothing" I answered, I set my cup of water down on the counter, "could you, um, get off of me, please?" I asked.

"Oh, come on" he murmured, "you can tell me what you were going to say".

"It doesn't matter what I was going to say, could you please get away from me?" I was beginning to feel pretty freaked out, he was extremely close and I had only met him a few days ago. I worked to get his arms from around my waist, but his grip only tightened. "What do you want?" I stared blankly at the wall in front of me, wondering if people were noticing this encounter right now, they probably thought nothing of it. You know, just two guys showing affection in the kitchen, of course the boy with the arms wrapped securely around his waist is enjoying it. Of course. He couldn't be extremely uncomfortable, right?