our last summer

in which elliot visits elise

She keeps thinking about him.

She hasn't seen him since the incident. Not in the neighbourhood, or inside his home. His room isn't across from hers like in all the movies, so she only has to assume he's in there. She wonders if he's still high. How long does Adderall keep you high? She wonders. She wants to know, and she wants to try it. She's always so restless, she can never calm down. But when she does calm down, she calms down too much. She shuts down.

She's been shut down for five months.

But now there's this unfamiliar feeling in her stomach, unsettled. She feels awake, alert, like she's found some sort of a solution to her problems. She feels awake, alive. She feels rejuvenated. Older. Wiser. Like she can do anything and everything.

She doesn't want to be high right now like she does almost every other night. She doesn't want to dream. She wants to be real, right now, in this moment. She wants to feel real, because being real feels so much better than her dreams at this point.

She feels like the dreams and the sleeping in bed for ages and staring up at the stick on stars was ages ago. She stares at the ceiling. It's white, pure white, like snow. Her dad put up glow in the dark stars, the kind that glow for a few minutes and then disappear. Her dad is gone now, always at work, so the stars are all she has left of him, she supposes. Of her family, really. But she's stayed in the dark so long they're not even there anymore.

She wants to turn on the lights, get up and dance. Turn them on for so long that when she turns it off she'll be able to see the stars again.

It's like there's something in the air, something brought by Elliot Thornton sitting down in her living room. There's an exciting energy surrounding him, and even though she knows it's wrong, she wants to follow that energy. She wants to know where it's coming from.
How is he so awake?

She has been up all night wondering where Elliot Thornton is. How is he? Will he come again? Will he whisk her away from this dream and show her the reality of the world?

Maybe not.

She hopes he comes back. She stands in front of the mirror, a little pill in front of her. She crushes it up slowly and thinks of him, hoping he comes back. She doesn't know what kind of pill this one is, except that Justin said it'll make her feel calm at first, but when she peaks she'll be rising, rising all the way up. He said to be careful, because at one point she might feel insane. Despite the precautions, she snorts it anyway, hoping Elliot Thornton comes back.

A sense of calm goes over her almost immediately, but her nose is bleeding, thanks to railing it. She cleans up the blood and drinks a glass of water before slipping into her bed, hoping he comes back.

He comes back.

She hears the knock first, and then her heart freezing and standing still, her blood rushing to her face. Everything slows down for a second, and then speeds back up when she hears the second knock.

When she opens the door and contemplates him, she notices there's something different about it. He's neither high nor sober, sort of in the middle. He seems cool and calm and collected, like the popular guy at school. Confidence oozes from him, and she thinks that if he stays around long enough, maybe it will ooze onto her, too.
He has sunglasses on, and she says, "Why are you wearing sunglasses?"

He frowns at her, but a smile plays at his lips. "It goes with my image, Elise. Don't ruin it." He motions past her. "Elise, when someone shows up at your door, you don't stare at them until they ask to come in."

She stares at him.

He lets out a loud sigh. "Elise, may I have the honor of coming into your humble abode?"