Oblivious

15 // Hoard of butterflies

Luftmensch
(n.) an impractical dreamer with no business sense; one with their head in the clouds

-Elora-

Sitting on my bed, legs crossed under me I glare at Elijah who stands at the edge of my bed blinking at me.

My book that Elijah dropped is sitting safely in my arms as I run my fingers along the spine. "Apologies."

Elijah blinks at me 3 times before rolling his eyes with a huff. "Elora, for the 3rd time I'm not apologising to your book."

Elijah's getting agitated I can tell. I don't care. He dropped my precious book, he needs to apologise for it. "Elijah you could have seriously damaged it."

Elijah makes a move to sit down on the bed, I stick my leg out to stop him. He can sit when he apologies. "I wouldn't have dropped it if you didn't jump on me."

"I wouldn't have had to jump on you if you gave it back when I asked." My arms tighten around the book and I can feel my cheeks heating.

Only a moment ago Elijah had this book in his hand as he read what I read. As he smirked down at me and I blushed up at him.

Elijah blinks at me once, glares and makes a move to sit on the floor. "stupida bella ragazza." (Stupid pretty girl)

I blink at Elijah, entirely stunned. "What does that mean?"

Elijah watches as I place the book down and lean over the edge of the bed. "It's Italian for sorry."

Narrowing my eyes at Elijah he only blinks back. "Are you lying?"

Elijah shakes his head at me, eyes a little wider then usual. "Good."

Rolling and doing some sort of ninja move I land in front of Elijah on the floor. "You speak Italian?"

Elijah stares at me for a moment, watching as I place some of my hair behind my ear then realise I did that and undo it. "Not fluently, my dads half Italian."

Nodding at him I place both his hands in my own. "And your mum?" I glance at Elijah before looking back down at the palms of his hands. He's got a few scratches and they're not as soft as I expected them to be.

"She's British." I nod at him. Half Italian half British, cool. Letting go of his hands I lean back behind me and shuffle around in my makeup bag before pulling out my bottle of hand cream.

Elijah watches silently as I take his hands again, squeezing a little into his hand and massaging it through with my own. "What is this stuff?"

"It's makes your hands soft. Smells like oranges too." I hold one hand upto Elijah's face. "See?"

Elijah takes hold of my hand and brings it to his nose as he tries to smell the oranges.

He nods and let's go of my hand. I finish massaging it into his own.

"Do you have any siblings?" Elijah half smiles down at me. "I've got two. An older brother and a younger sister."

I already knew he had an older brother but I didn't know he had a sister. I wish I had siblings. Sometimes being the only child gets lonely. Especially when my mums always in work.

I release a sigh and twist one of the rings on his fingers. It's a simple ring. A silver band. I can never manage to keep hold of my rings I always lose them.

"Whats their names?" Elijah half smiles again and shifts so his legs are spread out on either side of me. "Adrian, he's 24 and Eleanor, she's 8."

I'm still spinning Elijah's ring and he doesn't seem to mind.

"What's your mum do for work?" I blink, a little surprised Elijah has asked a question about my life but then I grin. Happy to talk about my mum. "She's a doctor down at the hospital. Emergency room doctor to be precise."

"She must be really smart to be doctor." I twist Elijah's ring again before dropping his hand and fiddling with my own fingers, not wanting to be annoying. Elijah frowns slightly. "She is. Like crazy smart. Smartest person I know for sure."

Elijah nods and opens his mouth but I beat him to it. Needing to ask the question before I forget. "Are you a floor person?"

I tilt my head to the side and bite the inside of my cheek as I study him. He doesn't seem like a floor person.

Elijah chuckles and leans back into his arms. "Not really but I think I could be." I lean back on my arms too, stretching my legs on in front of me so our ankles cross over each other.

"I'm 100% a floor person." Elijah stares at me for a moment, tilting his head slightly. "You seem like a floor person."

I grin at him, my stomach does a cartwheel and there's a hoard of butterflies trying to escape my throat. He made an observation. He looked at me and took the time to decide I seem like a floor person.

It's a small thing I know. But to me it feels bigger then it probably is because nobody's ever toke the time to make an observation about me before. Nobody's every looked at me hard enough and thought or even said out loud you seem like that type of person.

"It's just comfier, you know?" Elijah shakes his head at me, smiling slightly.

Twisting my lips to one side I try and figure out how to articulate my thoughts. "Like I dont know but if there was an option between sitting on the sofa and sitting on the floor, I'd chose the floor. But not every floor feels the same, like the bathroom floor is superior especially when I'm on my period. And the kitchen floor is okay at times but it depends on the mood and the living room floor is only okay during films, you know?"

Elijah leans back on his elbows and tilts his head at me. He stares for a moment, smiles a little more then opens his mouth to speak. He doesn't get the chance though because my names is called from downstairs.

"Elora? I'm home." My eyes widen and I glance towards the clock to find she's home early. My smile widens and I'm out the door before Elijah has time to question me.

I only manage to make it the top of the stairs before a chill runs through me. "Elora Daisy Owens."

She used my government name. Freckles.

Elijah's behind me in a second, I can feel his chuckle against the skin of my neck. "Your middle names Daisy?"

"Yeah ma?" I half hope she doesn't hear and I'm too scared to take another step down the stairs. "Why are there males shoes down here?"

~