finding the stars- hawk x female reader

chapter 5- Eli

"my mom asks if everything's okay, and I say of course. Drowning is a quiet, desperate thing."
- Brenna Twohy

Eli was completely and utterly confused. He watched in despair as Iris walked down their street with a bag in one hand and her wired headphones in the other. Her skirt was lifting ever so slightly when the wind brushed against it. Her bare legs were covered with thin black tights, dark enough that her skin couldn't show through.

"You can't keep watching her walk up to her door. It's weird." Demetri stated, sitting on Eli's couch with a comic book. Eli sighed and slumped down beside him. His sweater clinging to his back, "That's rich, coming from you."

Demetri flipped the page of his comic and snorted, "Everyone watches Yasmine."

Eli mumbled a few words along the lines of, "I don't."

"I just wonder when she will realize we live beside each other." He continued, catching himself by surprise as he began to speak about Iris yet again.

Demetri shut his comic book, "Here's an idea. Why don't you ask to walk her home tomorrow." He pointed to his window that was facing hers. The thin white curtains were shut tightly, only allowing a figure of shadows to shine through.

"And risk embarrassing myself? No thanks."

Demetri didn't even try to convince him otherwise. He just thought for a moment before saying, "Yeah you're right" and opening back up his comic book.

Eli didn't take offence to his words. That's just how Demetri is. Always concerned with the negative side of things, or as he likes to call it, "the harsh truth."

The harsh truth in this situation would be that Iris Thorn is way out of Eli's league, and there's nothing he can do to change that.

Right?

༶•༶•༶

Okay well, maybe Eli had spoken too soon. He was currently face to face with none other than the most beautiful girl he had ever laid his eyes upon.

Iris Thorn was clad in a dark green sweater littered with stripes. The sleeves reached just past her wrists and her fingertips were poking out. Her skirt was short and rested just above her mid-thigh. She was wearing her black tights again. The kind that looks thin enough to keep her cool in the 90-degree weather. She wore loads of bracelets and different coloured rings that matched her outfit and stood out in the best eye-catching way. Her hair was pulled up into a half-up half-down hairstyle which revealed her eyes more than ever before. The soft, chocolate colour lit up in the sun and Eli had to will himself to look away.

She was smiling. The kind of smile that makes you want to smile too. And that's exactly what Eli did until he caught himself. He looked down, hiding his lip from sight.

"Are you stalking me, Moskowitz?"

Eli looked up frantically, "No- I-well, I" Iris let out a playful laugh, "I'm just teasing you! I take it you live next to me?"

Eli nodded his head, sliding his sleeves down to his fingertips where he played with the fabric, willing his mind to stop. How could you stutter like that? She must think you are weird.

"Well, in that case, walk to school with me? I still haven't figured out the whole walking to school everyday situation." They both fell into step with one another and Eli instinctively grabbed the straps of his black backpack.

"You never walked to school where you used to live?"

Iris laughed again, "Back in Canada? No way, I was lucky if I didn't hit a patch of ice and fall." Her smile slipped for a moment, almost as if she was sad bringing up her home country. Eli noticed it and changed the subject as quickly as he brought it up.

"I fall a lot too. I mean, there isn't any ice here yet I still do." This made Iris smile and Eli was grateful for it.

He didn't care that he had lied. He didn't exactly fall on his own, he was usually pushed. Eli grimaced at the thought, hoping that today would be better. Maybe he could blend in and Kyler and his group would finally leave him alone.

Iris adjusted her bag that was slung across her waist. "I'd like to see that."

"Ouch." Eli joked, nervously putting a hand to his chest to mimic the feeling of pain.

"I wish I could say I was joking." Iris smiled, letting a giggle slip past her lips which in turn made Eli smile with her.

As they continued laughing with each other, Eli couldn't help but steal glances at the girl beside him. The way the sun highlighted the strands of her hair and put a sparkle in her eyes. He had never truly wanted to look at a girl like this. Sure there were little crushes here and there, but he always had that same fear, what if they make fun of my lip?

But he didn't think that with Iris. Maybe it was the way she offered him soft smiles, or genuinely laughed at the jokes he told. He felt like she was different.

But he was so lost in thought that he didn't realize Iris had asked him a question. He turned to her and apologized.

Iris opened the doors to the school and grinned, "It's okay- I just asked if you knew that your family invited mine over for dinner Friday."

Eli knew already. In fact, he was extremely nervous. He had never had a girl over. Sure her family would be there too, but it felt different.

"Yeah, it will be fun."

"My moms are really excited."

Iris held back for a moment, she cowered before the stares her and Eli received and just as the bell rang she offered a soft smile, "and I am too."

With that, she waved him off and said that she'd see him at lunch.

Eli stood there for a moment, watching Iris disappear into the crowd of students. Her reddish hair was no longer visible.

He let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.

Being around Iris felt natural. Like he was someone else. Not the weird kid with the lip, not the weird kid with the ugly sweaters, but Eli Moskowitz just a normal teenage boy.

He wondered if Iris felt that way too. He felt his cheeks flush at the thought.

Eli was getting ahead of himself. Way ahead of everything, because just as someone bumped into his shoulder and he snapped out of his thoughts, he realized that this life he was living, never ends well.