― 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅.
❝ you never knew the stars had
a flavor until you first kissed him.
it turns out they taste like ambition
and ancient fire, desperation, and
dark matter, and the mind-numbing
fear of bei...
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STARCROSSED (book one). °• CHAPTER FOURTEEN •°
" DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU'RE APOLOGIZING FOR? "
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LOVE COMES IN SO MANY DIFFERENT FORMS. Elijah Wolfhart couldn't possibly count them all. There were too many actions that had been done for him to count using the five fingers on each hand. Maybe a calculator would help out. Maybe then he could keep count. Then again, he'd have to keep track of everything the ones he loved had done for him. The heartbreaking way that Nevaeh felt as if she had to keep her secrets from him. She couldn't bear to burden him. Or how Tobia spent years drilling into Elijah's head that feelings were important, that crying even when you're a man is okay. But there are happier, bright sides to it. Like when Jonathan refused to leave him alone because he knew his best friend secretly hated it. Nevaeh and Nancy showing up on the mornings it's hard to get out of bed with toast and orange juice. Or how none other than Steve Harrington read books on stargazing just to keep up with his doting for the cosmos.
And it'd be just as hard to keep track of how Elijah showed love. His heart could explode with how much endearment it carried. For starters, having given up his own health and wellness just so they don't have to bear pressure on themselves. That was a major one. Tobia, Nevaeh, even Steve - they didn't have to feel for a second how much Elijah could carry with him every day. He spared them of that pain by sustaining it just so they wouldn't have to. It was love even when it hurt, a lot.
For Nevaeh, Elijah carried her since the day she was born. He walked her to and from school even if it made him late. He would forget to do his own homework the nights he made her dinner, braided her hair, and tucked her into bed. Elijah also continued to look out for her even when she was old enough to do so herself. He made sure she was staying sober. For Tobia, Elijah filled in the role of a father figure even when he was too young to do so. He even took care of him on the nights he'd get home from work late. And Steve? God, there wasn't a thing he didn't do for him. He kept the painful burden of his secret. Because Elijah loves them so, so much. Even when it hurts.
Elijah isn't exactly sure what hurt more. Carrying these burdens or getting smacked into by Billy during their first-period Gym class all over again.
It didn't take long for Elijah's blood to start boiling and it certainly wasn't from the heat rising in the gymnasium. It didn't help this was the first morning he's taken the medicine Doctor Owens prescribed him. He mentioned that the first three days are going to be the toughest compared to the two weeks of symptoms he'll have to adjust to it. Elijah would usually brush it off because he's long decided other people's opinions on him don't matter, but he was seconds away from wiping Billy's smug expression across the floor if he doesn't knock it off.
