Sunsets and Constellations | B X B

• T W E N T Y E I G H T •

E L I J A H

"Oh and I'm sure Arius is envious that I got a higher grade last exam, just in philosophy though. Metaphysics kicks - wait, are you even listening to me?" Elijah blurted out mid sentence.
He's met with nothing.
Ryder was staring at her phone screen with narrowed eyes and was positively fuming.

Elijah threw a pillow at her as gently as he could, but hard enough to reach her across their room.

"Ry? Is everything alright?" Elijah sat up straight, getting serious.

"What? Yeah yeah, I'm good!" She shook her head slightly, standing up and stretching.

"You know you can talk to me right? What's wrong? I can tell something's bothering you!" Elijah asked stepping up near the stand from where he grabbed the Neck Deep hoodie and threw it at Ryder who shot him a pained smile as she put it on. It was her comfort blanket, she always wore it when she was feeling upset or sad.

"Nothing's wrong, I'm fine, believe me!" Ryder smiled, this time looking scarily convincing.
Elijah was really worried at this point, Ryder never held back from telling him when something was bothering her, but clearly this was different. He wanted nothing more than to be there for her but she wouldn't let him. And Elijah couldn't do anything about it.

They turned off the lamp and lay in their beds, a thick, uncomfortable silence suffocating them. Elijah was wide awake, his senses hyper alert to any movement in the room. He knew Ryder was awake as well.
He looked at the ceiling, waiting with bated breath for Ryder to say something, anything, but it didn't come.
Just as he was drifting off to sleep, he heard a tiny sniffle and the rustling of covers. And then another sniffle. That was it, he wasn't having any more of this.
Elijah grabbed his comforter and stalked up to Ryder's bed.

"Ry, scoot."

Slowly, Ryder moved a little bit, making space for Elijah to lie down while she faced the wall. He wrapped his arm around her waist as she broke into tiny, silent sobs. She spun around and all but hugged him gently, with shaking hands as he cradled her form, holding her to him as lovingly as he could. Elijah's heart broke for Ryder in that moment, her breath escaping in short gasps. She buried her face in his chest, fisting handfuls of his shirt and crying her heart out.

"I'm just so t-t-t-ired. Make it stop, please." She mumbled into his chest, tightening her grip. His shirt was soaked through, the liquid settling on his skin.

"I'm here, whatever this is, tell me when you're ready and I'll do whatever it takes to help you. But for now, let's go to sleep. You need to rest Ry." Elijah rubbed her back.

She nodded against his chest and closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry for messing your shirt." She mumbled, a tiny smile appearing on her face.

"You owe me one, I'm sure I'll wet yours pretty soon, maybe on our next re-run of some depressing romance movie." Elijah chuckled, hugging her tighter for a few seconds before loosening his grip.
They fell asleep eventually, wrapped up in a comfortable embrace.

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Elijah was late to breakfast the next day. He'd allowed himself to oversleep since it was the weekend.
By the time he'd collected his ham sandwich and coffee everyone else at the table was clearing their plates.

"Slept in today?" Arius asked from across him, his usual half smile gracing his face.

"Rough night man, I didn't sleep till like, 3 am."  He replied, taking a bite out of the sandwich.