DIFFERENT -Eli Moskowitz-

15.0

written from Kay's perspective

"But what if I don't want to forget about it?" He asked me with a blush appearing on his cheeks. I was a bit taken aback seeing this sort of confidence from Eli. It was something I was not ready for, but I was filled with joy at the thought that he was becoming confident around me. A blush also rose to my cheeks upon hearing him say he doesn't want to forget the kiss.

"Well, then what do you want to do about it?" I asked him back, a hint of flirtation in my tone. Before answering what he had previously said to me, I thought back to what Aisha had said to me earlier about trying to be a little flirty and if it felt right to keep going, so that's exactly what I was doing now, just flirting a little bit. 

Eli looked deep in thought when I looked over at him, as if he was thinking about what to say in response. He took a deep breath in, and exhaled slowly while looking me in the eye. 

"I want to remember it, and I want to still be able to hang out with you without things being weird, but I also..." He trailed his sentence off, losing confidence in himself once again. 

"You also what?" I tried to encourage him to explain how he felt to me. 

"I just..." He paused to sigh, then continued, "I think I really like you Kay, but I know you don't like me back the same way, and I don't want this stupid kiss to ruin everything." He said sadly. It hurt my heart to know that he thought everything had been ruined, but I was also overjoyed at the fact the he just admitted to liking me.

"Eli-" I tried to start talking but he cut me off.

"Kay, I know what your going to say; that you only kissed me to make me feel better and that you don't actually like me as anything more than a friend, so just save me the heartbreak and tell me we can still be friends." He blew out a soft breath, followed by a weak smile in my direction. I couldn't help but smile back at him. By now we had both finished our ice cream, and his hands were sitting on the tale in front of him, so I reached mine out to grab his. He didn't make an effort to pull away, but he looked down at our hands and gulped, before looking back up at me with big eyes. I would say he almost looked nervous about what I was going to say instead of shocked that we were holding hands. 

"You are a doofus, have I ever told you that?" I asked him. 

"No..." He looked utterly confused, and a little sad thinking that I was going to reject him.

"Well you are. You think that a stupid kiss is going to ruin everything I fought to get? If I remember correctly, this friendship only happened because I put effort in to have it grow, because you're shy and I'm pushy, right?" I asked him laughing.

"I guess, yeah." He agreed, a little laugh coming from his mouth as he spoke. 

"Exactly, and who initiated the kiss?" I asked him rhetorically, "I did, which I wouldn't have done if I didn't want to kiss you. Now I know you're smart, so I'll make you figure this out on your own, but I'll give you a hint; why does someone kiss someone else?" I asked smirking at him. 

"Because they want to make them feel better, that's why you did it." He said back looking back down at our hands.

"Maybe, why else would someone kiss someone?" I prompted him to guess again. He thought for a second, thinking of another reason, when suddenly his eyes became so wide I thought they were going to pop out of his head.

"Because they like them?" He asked stunned at his realization. I let out a laugh at his childish reaction and excitement and nodded to him with a smile, and squeezed his hands before pulling my hands back.

"There, now you've gotten the right answer!" I exclaimed.

"Wait you- you like m- me?" He asked unsure if he was hearing me right. 

"Why else would I kiss you?" I asked him giggling. He smiled at me and my heart fluttered. I had made the boy speechless apparently as he couldn't find anything else to say, he just kept looking at me then to his hands and back.

"Eli?" I said, just to make sure he was actually listening before I started talking. He bounced his eyebrows up in acknowledgement so I knew he was listening. "Even though we've established that we like each other I think we should still just be friends-" his face dropped slightly "-just for a bit, until we know each other better-" his smile returned ever so faintly as he nodded understanding "-because we haven't known each other for very long, but I think we give everything time, and get to know each other better then we can talk about how we feel about each other then, okay?" I said smiling. 

"Okay." He said with a small smile and a nod. 

"Good. So are you feeling any better from this afternoon?" I asked, switching the subject so we wouldn't fall into a heavy silence. 

"I'm feeling better, but I mean I'm still not feeling great. Kyler's always been good at hurting me deep down, on top of everything that everyone else says." He said his smile dropping a little. I hated seeing him sad, and I wanted to make him happier, when the perfect idea popped into my head.

"I know what will cheer you up!" I announced excitedly, "A sleepover!" I said quite loudly. As soon as the words left my mouth he visibly gulped. 

"I don't think my mom would let us have one together..." His voice waivered as he spoke. I laughed realizing I hadn't been clear with my thoughts, so I explained further to ease his worry. 

"No, hahaha, not with me, with Demetri and Miguel too if you wanted to invite him. I think a boys night would help you feel better after everything that happened." I told him. He nodded and agreed it sounded like a good idea, and then his phone rang. 

"Hello," He answered it, "Yeah, okay we'll be there in a second." He told the person on the phone. I looked at him with a questioning look to ask who it was. "It was my mom, she's down in the parking lot to pick us up now." He said getting up from our table. I got up and followed him to his mom's car, and the two of us crawled into the back seats. 

"So how was ice cream?" Mrs. Moskowitz asked looking at us through her rearview mirror as she started to drive. 

"It was great." I told her with a smile, and she smiled back at me before looking over at Eli. "Mrs. Moskowitz?" I started to ask her a question. 

"Yes dear?" She answered. 

"If it's not too much to ask, would you be able to drop me off to my apartment please, Eli and I have had a great time, but seeing as I did miss school today to come, I've got some school work to catch up on, and I believe Eli has some other plans for tonight." I asked her, and once she agreed to taking me home I turned and winked at Eli. Small talk was made for the rest of the short drive to my apartment building, and I thanked Mrs. Moskowitz for bringing me home. I said goodbye to Eli, and told him I'd see him at school tomorrow before leaving them for the night.