My Civilian Goddess

Chapter 6: A line in the sand

Though Eli requested to be allowed to travel normally, with a snap of her fingers Lilly brought them to the party, of course no-one mentioned how they appeared out of thin air. Though Eli did his best to enjoy himself, most of his time was taken up by Lilly trying to show off her new red swimsuit to him, or her generally showing off.

"You see that, Eli," she yelped from the volleyball net helping her team score the winning point while he was watching from the sidelines. Much similarly, Eli was trying to enjoy the water, she splayed in right next to him and tried to get as close as possible while he just wanted to float in the ocean.

It got to a point where finally, Eli yelled out; "Leave me alone, Lilly," in a somewhat regrettable fit of rage. After that, he had not seen her yet.

Instead he was being bothered by many people asking him why he looked so skinny. At least Eli had a proper answer to this; "I've been recovering in a hospital bed for a few months," he groaned when a girl from their class named Cassie asked near midnight.

Another girl from their class, Ellie, wrapped her arms around Cassie's waist from behind and kissed her on the cheek.

"Stop bothering him about it, honey," Ellie said. "He got out of the hospital only a few days ago."

Eli didn't remember too much about either Cassie or Ellie, but they seemed nice. Ellie once bought Kevin lunch when he forgot all his food at home.

Both the girls had darker skin, but while Cassie had long wavy black hair, Ellie's was short and blonde. The latter was also a few inches taller than Cassie. In fact, she was taller than Eli himself.

"I haven't seen Amber in a while," Kevin said, walking up to the group of three. "Does anyone know where she went off to?"

Though he said anyone, Kevin was clearly looking directly at Eli.

"Why would I know," Eli said while taking a sip from his soda. "I told her to leave me alone, didn't I?"

"Why though? Isn't she your friend?"

Eli side-eyes Cassie. "She suddenly showed up back into my life out of nowhere yesterday after I recovered from the hospital, made a deal with my uncle where I moved homes to be roommates with her against me knowing about it, and hasn't stopped trying to get my attention for the past forty-eight hours."

"Oh? I didn't know, sorry," Cassie said, seeming genuinely worried.

"Dude, she's clearly crushing on you," Kevin spoke up. "Did you think about giving her a chance?"

Eli threw his now empty soda can against Kevin's chest. He knew it wouldn't hurt him, but he was fed up. Far worse, though, he felt a bit bad. He knew he shouldn't feel bad. Yet why...

"Of course I wouldn't mind giving her a chance," he spouted. "But how about she gives me a chance to catch my breath and doesn't force me into it?!"

Kevin nodded slowly. "I'm sorry," he said after a bit. "Didn't know she was harassing you. Want me to find her and talk to her for you?"

There was a lot going through Eli's head. He wasn't sure what to say. He looked back and forth, before he spotted Maria walking around a rock face away from the party with two drinks in her hands.

"I'll go talk to her myself," he said finally as he walked away from the trio and up to the direction he saw Maria disappear too.

As Eli speculated, he found Maria and Lilly alone, sitting in the sand. Lilly was... crying into her knees, which she was hugging. Maria awkwardly sat beside her patting her back, but she clearly didn't know what she was doing.

"Why doesn't he want me," Lilly sobbed. "What am I doing wrong?!"

"Well girl," Maria started off, almost with a hiccup in her voice. (She wasn't used to comforting people) "Did you think about giving it some more time? I dunno how much time you used to spend together, but you just met up with him yesterday."

"Maria," Eli said in a deeper than usual voice as he approached the two. "Can I talk to Lilly... I mean, Amber, alone?"

Maria looked back and forth between the two of them, nodded, and got up quickly.

"Uhm, lemme know if you need anything," she said before awkwardly shuffling away.

Eli sat down next to Lilly, who had gone completely silent besides the occasional sniff.

"I'm not here to apologize, if that's what you thought, but I do think we should talk."

"Are you gonna tell me to leave," Lilly mumbled.

"No," Eli sighed. "Although you might deserve that. I'm going to ask you to be my friend."

Lilly looked up. There were still tears in her eyes which she quickly wiped away.

"What?"

"Friends."

"No, but..." Lilly pushed her long white hair back and slapped her cheeks. She blinked a few times, then took another pro look at Eli.

"What do you mean with that?"

"Lilly, I need you to understand you can't force me to like you. And the more you're going to control my life, the less I'm going to like you. I want to be my own person."

She looked away again, pushing her hair back to cover her face.

"I want to take care of you," she mumbled.

"I know it's coming from a good place," Eli went on. "But I need you to know what I want. And for now I just want to get to know the real you. Not the fabrication of you you want me to see."

Eli reached up and ruffled Lilly's hair, revealing her face again a bit more.

"Let's stay roommates, and let's get to know each other a bit better, but don't use your powers on me, my friends, family, or surroundings unless I ask you, okay?"

"Okay," Lilly said softly, as she leaned her head against his shoulders. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Eli said as he looked into the starry night sky in front of him. "If you want to live with me, it's time for you to learn how to live like a human."