My life

Chapter 8

Chloe spent the rest of the day playing games and laughing with Laila.

"You're so good at this" Chloe commented, focusing on the tv displaying the car racing game they were playing

"Yeah? You're not bad yourself" Laila said mockingly. Truth was, Chloe was very bad at it and Laila had spent majority of the time reminding her of that.

"A few more practice and I'll be kicking your ass"

"Sure" Laila snickered.

Laila smiled triumphantly as she crossed the finish line, making it 12 times in a row she beat Chloe. Chloe rolled her eyes and dropped the pad.

The door bell went off and Laila excused herself to go check it out. Chloe heard more than one footsteps coming back and it made her nervous till the door opened to reveal Laila and Elliot.

"Um hey" she greeted awkwardly. He nodded at her.

"I'm so sorry, I gotta run an errand. I'll be back real quick" Laila apologized and went out the door, shutting it before Chloe could protest.

"What was that about?" She asked Elliot who already had his eyes on her. He shrugged in response, casually averting his gaze.

Chloe blushed and looked around the room awkwardly at the realization that they were left alone in a room. He was sitting on the bean bag beside hers.

"Do you play?" Elliot asked gesturing to the PlayStation

"Yeah" she responded

"Yeah? Where did you learn?" He questioned in surprise

"My brothers and I used to play"

"Oh"

The room became silent again

"You got any siblings?" Chloe asked, breaking the silence.

"A little sister"

"Oh" she paused for a second "wanna play?" She gestured towards the game. He shrugged and picked up the pad. They decided on FIFA. Chloe was as bad at it as she was at car racing. He chuckled when he scored his fifth goal.

"You and your brothers used to play? You play like you have no experience" he laughed, not taking his eyes off the tv "I mean seriously, who can you win against?"

"Maya" she grumbled under her breath, trying really heard to get the ball from him.

"Who's that? Your imaginary friend?"

"You're an asshole"  she cursed. He dropped his pad, doubling over in laughter. Chloe stared at him with a mix of confusion and amusement. In that moment, he was nothing like the grumpy boy she had met at the lake.

"I guess I am. Sorry princess" he chuckled, calming down. The game ended, Elliot scoring three more goals.

"Just so you know, I let you win" Chloe said as she dropped the pad.

"Sure" he chuckled "who's Maya tho?" He asked curiously

"Is it your business tho?" She countered instinctively.

"I guess not" his smile dropped and he averted his gaze from her.

"She's my friend" she answered

"You have a friend?" He asked, sounding surprised

"And that's surprising because?"

"You're always alone. No offense"

"None taken. I do have a friend, Maya. She and I are what's left of our friendship group. We've been friends since elementary school. She attended a different high school but now she's out of town"

"Friendship group huh? What happened ?" His tone was curious.

"We broke off" she answered quickly, her expression hardening.

"Is that why you were skeptical about us?" He continued, ignoring her reaction to his last question. He was too curious to stop, he wanted to know her, to unravel the secrets behind her beautiful brown eyes.

"Were? Who says I'm not anymore?" She joked. He smiled half heartedly, knowing that her joke was an attempt to lighten the mood, to change the conversation. Whatever happened to her was obviously deep. He decided to let it go for now.

"You should be skeptical. I want to steal you" he said sarcastically. The room was silent for a moment, then they both burst into laughter.

"That was so lame" Chloe laughed.

Elliot smiled, watching her. Her smile was so wide, and her frown from just a moment ago was completely gone, washed away by mirth.

Laila opened the room, staring between them suspiciously.

"What's got you smiling?" She directed her question at Chloe who just shook her head, chuckling softly.

Laila couldn't contain her smile too, noting how Chloe was slowly warming up to them.

"So where'd you go ?" Chloe asked Laila

"Out, running errands" she responded vaguely, walking to sit on her bed. "Looks like my absence wasn't felt" she added, referring to their obvious good mood.

"At all" Chloe responded.

"That's mean"

"I gotta go" Chloe announced, getting up. "It's getting late"

"You know your way back?" Elliot asked

"Sure. See you guys around" she picked up her bag and waved, walking out the room and closing the door behind her. She was tempted to stay there a bit, to know what they were up to and why Laila left but she decided not to snoop.

Walking home, she had time to think. She decided that having friends wasn't such a bad idea after all. As she came closer to the park, her steps increased on instinct. She saw the spot were Elliot had intervened, rescuing her. She wondered what would have happened if he hadn't showed up when he did.
She realized she never thanked him. She took out her phone and typed a thank you message but hesitated to send it. She didn't want to bring back that topic so she deleted the message and slipped her phone back in her pocket.

She got home and was surprised to find her elder brother Calvin sitting on the couch. He looked up from his phone and smiled at her. She realized that for the first time in a while, he wasn't high.

"Hey you" he greeted.

"What's popping? What's the occasion?"

"Occasion?" He asked

"Yep. You're hardly ever home by this time"

He chuckled

"I've been busy"

" I bet" she didn't want to pry.

"How's school?"

"School's school" she answered, walking to the kitchen "nothing new. Just the same old annoying teenagers and tired teachers"

"I can imagine" he chuckled "any new friends?" He asked, turning back in the couch to look at her in the kitchen.

"Not really" she answered vaguely

"Not really?"

"I met some people. But I don't know if I can call them friends yet" she poured herself a glass of water.

"Why?"

"Because humans are unpredictable and prone to fuck ups" she put the cup and chugged down the water.

"You know Chloe, it wouldn't help to be a bit optimistic"

"Optimism isn't realistic"

"That's not true"

A moment of silence fell over them, and he turned back around and focused on his phone. She had no reason to linger but she also didn't want to leave. She opened her mouth to say something when he stood up and turned to say goodbye.

"Gotta go, see ya"

"Sure" she said disappointedly "be safe"

"You too Chloe"