Not That Bad #Wattys2018

Chapter Seventeen

When the doorbell rings, I run to the window and look out. Eli is drenched in the brown goo. His hair sticks to his face and his shirt to his chest. I laugh at him for a whole five minutes before I let him in. Then with a serious face I say, "No volunteer work today, Eli?"

"Actually yes. You." Eli says, playing along. He wipes some goo off his face with the back of his hand and that's when I realize that there's no way in hell that he can sit on Mom's white couch.

"You need to shower, pronto." I say and point upstairs, "Leave your shoes here."

Eli obeys and goes upstairs and I run to my parents room and get one of the white T-shirts that Dad never wears because he's kind of messy, and khaki pants. They're new and they still smell like the store. Then I get a towel and go to the bathroom. I sit on the floor outside the bathroom and wait for Eli.

Somehow I start to wonder what kind of guy Eli is in the bath. Like, does he spend hours and hours or does he sing, like Chase does. The bathroom is silent except for the sound of the shower, so I guess Eli is the type of guy who thinks in the shower. Or maybe he's an entirely different person at his house.

The bathroom door opens suddenly and Eli sticks his head out. "Towel please." he says.

I hand him the towel and he disappears inside the bathroom for a while. When he pops out again, he only has the towel wrapped around his waist, like some hunk in an ad for, I don't know. Like a dripping wet Abercrombie model. His hair is wet and it has a few waves.

Eli smiles down at me and his dimples look deeper than ever.

"Give me your dirty clothes." I say, breaking away from his gaze. I'm thinking that we'll make a quick exchange, I'll hand Eli the clean clothes and he'll give me his uniform or whatever when he suddenly grabs both my arms and kisses me. It's soft, open mouth kisses. But also sure kisses which make my stomach lurch. I instantly think about Imogen. It's one thing for me to kiss Eli, once, but an entirely different thing for HIM to kiss ME.

I like it.

Eli has me pinned against the wall and I've dropped his clothes somewhere on the hallway floor. He has his hands on my wrists, holding them together, but then, they're tight around my waist. I place my hands on his neck and they get wet from the water dripping down his back.

I like it a lot.

But I'm the one who pulls away first. I don't want to be anybody's side anything. I can't look at him, so I say, "I need you to test my French vocabulary." and then I bolt. I can feel his gaze on me as I run down the stairs. I can also still feel his lips on mine.

This is wrong.

Then again, I don't want to be cliche, but I kinda don't want to be right this time.

After Eli has changed, we sit at the kitchen counter and the tutoring session starts. French is such a romantic language, you know, so everything I say sounds like I'm flirting.

Even when I say something like: Avez-vous essayé le fromage crossaint? Il est très savoureux! 

                                                                  Have you tried the cheese croissant? It's very tasty!

And then Eli says something like: Oui, il est tellement incroyable! Encore mieux quan il ait chaud.                                                       Yes, it's so amazing! even better when it's hot.

And he says it like he's not talking about croissants AT ALL and he looks me in the eye and makes me think that I'd really really like to try whatever it is he's talking about.

***

"Au revoir!" I tell Eli as he gets his stuff. I go and get his uniform from the dryer and give it to him. I watch as he chucks it into his bag. His books go in after, but it doesn't all fit so Eli takes everything out and puts in his books first. I stand by the door until he's finish.

"That wasn't so bad, today." Eli says, after he's zipped his bag, "You're really good now." 

At french? I can't help but wonder what he's talking about.

"Well..." I shrug, deciding that the topic must be french, "I've been watching a lot of those over dramatic french shows that play after the news. You know, Baguette!"

Eli laughs, "That's my mom's thing. Ah Phillip..."

"Embrasse-moi fort!" I finish. Eli and I both make loud kissing noises. He even wraps his arms around himself and throws in a little tongue. It's like he's having a hot make out session. It's exactly like what happens in the french show, Baguette!  We laugh and then there's a heavy awkward silence between us. Look at me, I think, laughing with Eli Graham like we like the same things. Who would have thought? I stare at somewhere on the wall behind him and through my peripheral vision I see him staring at the floor.

"About the clothes..." Eli says, after a while, pulling at his shirt,"I'll bring it..."

I don't know how to say keep it in french, not yet, anyway, so I say it quickly in english. It's not like my dad will miss it anyway. And besides, I'm getting a little nervous about Eli and clothes.

"OK."Eli says, "Merci." Eli lowers his head a little. A smile. Another quick unexpected kiss. An undeniable feeling of guilt in my gut. Eli looks fine though. I watch him as he gets into his truck and drives away.