Will You Love Me Then?

Chapter 5 - Elijah

"Thanks, Eli," Summer murmured as she gave me a slightly awkward side-hug. I assured her it was not a problem and watched her walk all the way into her building before turning and walking back to the parking lot of The Buttered Biscuit.

The walk back felt infinitely longer and unfortunately silent, despite the numerous people milling around. The quiet was much more pleasant when the quiet was also with her. Get a grip, man; she won't even give me her number.

Thankfully, my phone buzzed in my pocket and broke my thoughts surrounding a certain fascinating distraction. I took it out of my pocket and upon seeing it was Addy calling, I immediately picked it up, dread filling my stomach. She never calls when she is with her friends.

"Addy? Are you okay?"

She sniffs, "Not really. Can you come get me? I want to come home."

I broke into a light jog, "I will be there in fifteen minutes. What's wrong?"

"I just want to come home."

"Okay, I will be there soon. Do you want to stay on the phone?"

More sniffles, "Please."

I will hurt whoever has made my baby sister cry, "Are you safe?"

"Yeah, yeah. It's nothing like that. I...they are being jerks."

"Where are you right now?"

"On Hope's front porch."

"Alright, you are okay. I am almost to my truck and then I will get on the road and get to you as soon as I can."

"I thought you were at home? Where are you?"

I smiled, "I went to a café to have a better Wi-Fi connection. It was being slow at home this morning."

"Did you get any work done?"

"A little. It turns out that a café can be quite...distracting at times. It smells so good in there though; we should go sometime."

"Yeah, that would be nice," she sighs, "I miss spending mealtimes with you."

Fumbling for my keys, I finally got my truck unlocked.

"I know. Work has just been really busy lately. But we can have dinner together tonight for sure."

I clipped my phone into the dashboard holder and pressed the speaker button before setting the rest of my stuff down in the passenger seat.

"Ooooo, could we order pizzas?"

I put my key into the ignition and prayed that it would start. After a few excruciating moments, my old truck springs to life and shifting gears, I pull out of the parking lot.

I didn't work today so I don't have extra money for eating a whole meal out this weekend, so I suggested, "Or we could make homemade pizzas again and then go out for ice cream after?"

"Could we get ice cream on the way home instead?"

I laughed, "Sure. Which place do you want to stop?"

"Lacy's has the best."

"They do. But that is another like twenty minutes out of our way."

"If gas is too expensive, we can go somewhere closer or just go straight home."

I sighed as silently as possible, "You don't need to worry about that. If you want to go to Lacy's, we will. I offered, didn't I?"

"I guess so. How far away are you?"

"About twelve minutes. I will be there soon. Are you feeling anxious?"

She stayed silent for a moment, which was enough of an answer for me. I had a sneaky feeling it was why she called me in the first place.