𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔹𝕒𝕕 𝕀𝕕𝕖𝕒

Chapter Five

Eli

A few weeks passed since I had watched Footloose with Aubrey... Since I had started feeling differently about him, and about things between us. Our movie nights went from twice a week, and then to sometimes three or four times a week.

Most of them were uneventful, but not all.

I didn't really know what I was doing, but flirting with Aubrey really lit me on fire. I wanted more of that. One night, I tried to hold his hand but he pulled it away the second my pinky brushed his. Like I was contagious or something.

I also tried running my fingers through his hair when we were watching one of his musicals, because it was already fucking messed up and I saw it as a decent opening. He slapped my hand away and looked at me like I was trying to desecrate him.

Another night, during one of my horror movie picks, I tickled him on the couch because he wouldn't stop covering his eyes. He sloppily rolled onto the floor, laughing so hard he was in tears. I grabbed onto his narrow waist and pulled him towards me while he tried to crawl away, considering doing even more in the excitement of the moment because that seemed to be working... Then his stupid roommate came home, and the moment was gone. Aubrey ran straight into the bathroom and when he came back out he sat far, far away from me.

Most of the time, we just ended up talking, venting about Wayne and Todd, or enjoying the movie in a drunken stupor... Most of the time, our nights together were uneventful.

Whatever was growing between us most often happened in sideward glances, prolonged eye contact, and his pretty, inviting, open grins while he tilted his head up at me.

I loved spending time with him.

Somehow, even four times a week wasn't enough for me.

It was clear I was falling for him really fucking hard after spending this much time with him, but I didn't know what to do with that horrifying revelation... What the hell was I supposed to do about that? He wasn't responding to my attempts to flirt during movie nights, and I figured it was because... Well, the brutal fucking reality was that Aubrey probably still hated my guts.

A few weeks had passed since I started working on Aubrey's old truck, too.

When he didn't answer any of my texts about the repairs I made last night, I decided just to show up at his work and check on him the next morning.

• • • • •

I walked into the coffee shop that Aubrey worked at around seven in the morning before I had to go into the shop for the day. I fully expected to see him, because he was usually scheduled for the chaotic morning shifts, but he wasn't there.

"Oh hey," a familiar face greeted me. Tall, thin, much younger. He had strawberry blonde hair, a piercing on his eyebrow and one in his septum. Pale with freckles, juxtaposed from Aubrey's freckled tan. His fingernails were painted a holographic purple that really struck me. It reminded me of the color of Ricky's Dodge Charger.

"You're Aubrey's friend," he suggested, leaning on the counter for a moment. "What's your name again?" He grinned, sheepishly. "You're not wearing your nametag... I totally forgot."

Did he tell his coworkers we were friends? He didn't say...acquaintances? Enemies?

Guy he wished would drop dead every morning when he woke up?

Maybe I was making progress...

"Eli." I reminded him plainly.

"That's right! I'm Patrick." He put a hand on his chest, next to his nametag. He seemed nervous and I wasn't sure why. Maybe he thought I was intimidating or something. Being as tattooed as I was led to that reaction a lot...