Earth to Eli

Chapter 2

                             ~Charlotte~

Studying with Eli is proving more difficult than expected. He seems to have the attention span of a squirrel and appears much more preoccupied with giving me intense eye contact and drooling all over the flashcards. I try to ignore his obvious crush on me and focus on the task at hand.

"Have you ever been to a party before?" He questions, catching me off- guard. I had in fact been to many parties but I wasn't going to encourage his Saturday nights out with that dirtbag demon, Vance, or whatever his name was. The thought of him instantly brings a surge of emotion I wasn't sure I was still capable of.

"Yeah, you're not missing out on anything, trust me," is all I say while looking down at my textbook to make it clear that study hall is supposed to be silent. Of course, Eli misses the social cue and continues talking.

"In high school, I never fit in enough to go to parties, it means a lot, what Vance is doing for me," he overshares. I roll my eyes and let out a laugh at the mention of Vance. "Yeah, right, what he's doing for you."

Eli's eyes light up for a moment and my heart sinks when I whip around in my seat. Speak of the devil himself.

"What are you doing here, bro, I thought you were seeing that one girl today," Eli asks. I can feel my eyebrows lift as if they have a mind of their own. "Yeah what are you doing here exactly?" I ask, hearing the irritation in my own voice.

"Well, I finished things up early today and just thought I'd take Eli here to get a little makeover, maybe a new haircut, some contact lenses, new kicks," He replies with a smug look on his face. It takes me every ounce of love and light in me not to use a textbook to snap off both of his ridiculous horns.

"Fridays are study sessions we agreed on that," I seethe, my voice now showing every ounce of my anger. His grin only grows in size as I watch him feeding on my annoyance.

"Come on now, Charlotte, we both know I tell a white lie every now and then," He quips, his words laced with an insulting double meaning. Before I can stop myself, I'm digging my nails into his wrist and pulling him roughly towards the door.

"Woah, that wasn't very angelic of you," he jests once we get out of ear shot of Eli.

"Are you out of your mind? I knew you were a manipulative psychopath but sabotaging my mission just because you want revenge on me? That's a new low, even for you." I lash out, finally able to let out all of my hostility.

He lets out a dry chuckle, devoid of all humor. I watch as his eyes turn from soft brown to pitch black. Clearly, I've hit a nerve.

"You're the one who was trying to sabotage my mission. Creating a pathetic study group to keep him from getting laid? I may be a psychopath but you're right there with me angel," he retorts.

Once again, I'm reminded that there's only one person who can still elicit the emotion hatred from me and he's standing right in front of me.

"You should just go back to hell, where you belong and let Eli do good in school," I rant.

It's only then that I realize how up close and personal we are at the moment. So close I can feel the tension emanating off of him in waves. So close I can see every minute detail of his neck tattoo. My breath catches in my throat for a second and I feel like I can't speak.

"Don't fight over me, y'all are starting to sound like my divorced parents," Eli interrupts, for once saving the day.

I let out a frustrated sigh when I look up at the clock. Could the hour have passed so quick?

As if reading my mind, "oh would you look at the time, how about that makeover Eli, we're going to get you any girl you want," Vance interjects before leading Eli out of the library.

Okay serpent, you want to play dirty? We'll play dirty.