Five Steps Away

Chapter 19

*Mild trigger warning: child abuse

I don't know if he didn't hear me telling him that I was gonna drop him off at his place, but when Elijah sees that we're at his house, he doesn't unbuckle his seatbelt.

"Is everything alright?" I ask, genuinely concerned at the look of pure dread on his face.

He lets out a breath, before unbuckling his seatbelt and opening the door. When he gets out, he trips and almost falls over again. I get out of the driver's seat and help him steady himself.

We walk to his front door, his arm encircling my waist to help him walk straight, but when we get to his door he pauses again. I turn to face him, worried.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"Can I—" he starts. He doesn't get the chance to finish before the front door opens violently, revealing a man who I'm guessing is his dad, fuming with anger.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, coming home this late?" He shouts, his eyes fixated on Elijah. His dad looks even drunker than him.

"I'm here now aren't I?" Elijah says, annoyed.

"Are you drunk? Did she get you drunk?" He looks almost accusingly at me. Before Elijah can reply, he points at me.

"Who the fuck are you?" He asks, his attention shifting between Elijah and me. I'm petrified. Not finding the words to reply to him, or the strength to move. He looks ready to kill.

"Will you just shut the fuck up for once?" Elijah says. I gasp, knowing that that probably wasn't the best thing to say. His father moves dangerously closer to him.

"What did you say?" He asks. At that point, I know it's time to leave.

"Elijah, let's go..." I say quietly, slightly tugging at his hoodie. But him and his father seem to be focused on each other, like they were daring each other to say something.

"Repeat it! What did you say?" His father shouts and I flinch.

"Elijah, please let's just go," I say, pulling him harder, but he doesn't budge.

"I said shut the fuck up." He says. At this point, there's no calming down his father, as he grabs onto Elijah's collar, ready to punch him. I look at Elijah, and this time I forcefully pull him away.

"Let's go," I say, pulling him to the car, leaving his father at the doorway.

I go into the driver's seat and start driving once Elijah's in the passenger seat. I look to him, expecting to see anger, hurt or even fear in his eyes. Instead, all I see is numbness.

"Let's, uhmm, go to my house..." I say, trying to fill in the silence. But Elijah doesn't respond, only looking straight ahead.

***

"We're here." I say as we get out of the car and into my house. "Are you hungry?" I ask nervously. He hasn't said anything throughout the whole ride here and I'm worried.

He doesn't reply.

I ignore this and sift through the fridge, looking for something to eat and finally settle on ice cream. I grab two spoons and make my way to the couch where Elijah is sitting, staring at the blank tv with his jaw clenched.

"Hey, I got Ice cream." I say, putting the tub on the coffee table.

He glances at it, before looking back at the tv, not saying a word.

"Elijah... please." I say, but he doesn't budge, seemingly completely sober.

"Elijah, talk to me." I'm met with silence. So I keep quiet, replaying the scene in my head, his angry eyes, his hands holding onto Elijah's collar. He looked ready to kill. Is that what Elijah meant by 'family stuff' when he didn't come to school all those days?

I look deeper in his eyes. It's like he's holding it all in, like he doesn't want to show any part of that to anyone so I hug him, in hopes to make him feel better.

He doesn't hug me back that second, for a while it's just me with my arms around him. But after a bit, he lets me in and hugs me back, holding me tighter.

He lifts his head up to meet my eyes. "Elijah..." I manage to say before he crashes his lips onto mine. I'm shocked at first, but it doesn't take long for me to lean into it, his lips feel like ecstasy, and our mouths move in sync. He wraps his arms around my waist as he pulls me closer, our bodies touching.

Before I know it, he's laying me down on the couch and crawling on top of me, deepening the kiss. But instead of feeling weird, it feels... familiar, yet new. As if I were exploring new parts of a place I have known for years.

We separate for a second, catching our breaths, and when we do, we look at each other. My eyes take in his face hovering above mine, as if for the first time appreciating his features. His lips are smeared with my lipstick, his lips are soft and thick, and finally, my eyes meet his. And something clicks, like the world stops around us, like nothing, absolutely nothing else exists, his eyes look at me, longing, and all these other emotions that he seemed to keep bottled up for himself dissipate, and before I can stop myself, I pull him closer and our lips meet again. I close my eyes as his hand moves to my hair, messing with my braids, playing with them.

He breaks the kiss momentarily, kissing my neck, but before anything more can happen I pull away and look at him. There's a dreamy look on his face. I can feel a stupid smile involuntarily make its way onto mine as I look at him.

"It's getting late." I whisper. He stays on top of me, his eyes fixated on mine, before he stands back up.

"Yeah..." he replies.

"You should sleep over. I mean, if you want to." I sit up on the couch.

"Yeah, thanks." I nod and get up, looking at him one more time before going up to my room, hearing his footsteps following behind me.

When we're in my room, I turn my lamp light on and look at the bed. Does he mind sleeping on the same bed? I'm probably overthinking this, but would he want to sleep somewhere else?

I mean considering we just made out on my couch I doubt sleeping on the same bed would be a big problem.

I change into pajamas in my bathroom and when I get out, Elijah's already in bed, eyes closed. As I look at him, I can't help but let my mind whirl. He's properly beautiful. And when he's sleeping he looks so peaceful, almost angelic.

"So are you just gonna watch me sleep?" he asks, his eyes still closed. I let out a small laugh.

"Yes."

He opens his eyes. I walk to the bed and lay close to him. He looks at me, leaning in to wrap his arm around me and I feel tingles run up from my toes to my head as he does so. He closes his eyes again, and I slightly move toward my nightstand to turn my lamp off, before allowing myself to sleep.

A/N: i'm so fucking single 

Anywayysss, just a heads up that the next chapter is extremely intense, and there will be another trigger warning at the beginning.

Have a nice day/night lovelies <3