Five Weeks to Forever [BxB] (WILL NEVER BE FINISHED)

Chapter 3.

A week had passed, and so far, I hadn't made much progress.

Sure, Matthew would acknowledge me if we passed in the hallways, maybe wave at me across the cafeteria during lunch, but besides that, we were practically still strangers.

And it pissed me off.

"I don't know what I'm doing wrong, Eloise." I groaned, thumping my head against the back of the leather couch I was seated on. It was Sunday afternoon, Eloise's and I's movie day, and The Rise of Gru was quietly playing from the television in front of us. "I feel like nothing I'm doing is working."

Eloise gave me a mildly concerned look, tossing back his half-eaten bag of Sour Patch Kids and dumping a few dozen more into his mouth. I had no idea how he did it, I could only have a few of those before my tongue felt like it was starting to melt.

"Okay," He spoke in between chews, "What exactly have you been doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, what have you been doing to catch his interest, y'know?"

I thought about it for a moment, chewing on a handful of chips.

So far, Matthew and I met up on Wednesday and Saturday evenings, where we would spend a few hours working on the project. Things like finding quotes, references, and making our slides for the powerpoint. Then we'd go our separate ways afterwards.

I told Eloise this, causing him to roll his eyes dramatically and flop from his side onto his stomach, swinging his feet in the air behind him.

"That's your problem, Elli." He said, making me raise an eyebrow. "You're not doing anything to get the ball rolling. I get it, you want to be the helpless damsel in distress, waiting on your prince charming to sweep you off your feet-"

"I do not!"

"-but it won't work like that, not with Matthew."

He leaned in closer now, pinching my nose lightly.

"You need to make him fall for you. You need to show him why you're so much better than that stinking pile of fish Veronica."

Which was a whole other problem. Matthew might be more approachable to me now, but I'd have to get past his iron wall of defense first: Veronica.

It was pretty much impossible to get Matthew alone. If she wasn't glued to the side of his hip, she was blowing up his phone with text messages or spamming him with facetime calls until he eventually answered. At least twice during our study sessions, he'd have to stop everything to respond to her, lest he face her wrath, or something like that.

And what was worse, Matthew seemed perfectly okay with it. In fact, when she went more than five minutes without snapchatting him or sending him a tiktok, he'd grow worried and check his phone. He'd make kissy noises at her and call her cutesy doll names. They were the classic lovey dovey straight couple. The type that starred in Christmas hallmark movies.

It made me sick.

"I don't know Eloise, what if he's not even gay?"

I shouted when Eloise proceeded to smack me harshly in the arm, shaking his head violently.

"Nope! You can't think like that! You can't give up after all this time!" He shoved himself onto his back again, reaching his hands up to the ceiling. "Besides, everyone has a little gay in them. Everyone."

"Everyone?"

"Everyone."

"Alright. If you say so." I tried to hide the hopelessness in my voice, but Eloise, ever the watchful, caught it and reached over to fluff up my hair good-naturedly.

"Don't you worry your pretty little head about it, Elliot. I've got a plan. A plan that'll make you irresistible."

I cocked my head at that, sliding my glasses back up the bridge of my nose when they started to fall down.

"A plan? What kind of plan?"

"A really good plan." He grinned maliciously.

—

"This is a really bad plan, Eloise."

It was Friday of the same week. Instead of being at home, curled up in my bed while reading a good online book, I was stuck out in the freezing cold at our school's football field. Students and faculty alike mingled about, some sporting our team's colors of dark maroon and black in their outfits.

I was not one of those people, simply in a pair of flared jeans and a tight green turtleneck, but Eloise certainly was. He had enough glitter on to put a little five year old girl into a comatose.