Love Not Lost

Chapter 15

"Drunk in looooooooove, we be all night!" I sang through the open windows as I twerked in the passenger seat of Eli's car. He shook his head and laughed at me before turning into the Sonic drive- in and parking next to a menu pillar.

"You hungry?" He asked me before I nodded. I hadn't known that they were open 24 hours because it was like 3 am and all the lights were on and the sign blinked open.

"What you want?" He asked me after rolling down his window before looking over at me.

"I, I'll geeett what you get" I said to him, slurring my words in the process before he smiled at me and pressed the button for the person to take our order through The speaker.

"Welcome to Sonic, would you like to try our new blue raspberry slush?" Began the Sonic employee before she took our orders and Eli had swiped his card. He asked me my name again and started rolling a blunt and lightning it, taking a drag and blowing the smoke into the air.

"It's Nyla but my friends call me Ny" I answered inhaling the smoke that was filling the car quickly. The alcohol had subsided but I was still high as shit.

"That's cute, I like that" he said laughing which made me laugh a little before he passed the J over my way. I took a small puff letting the smoke enter and exit my body slowly before a knock on the window made both of us jump.

"Hey Shawn" a lady had said who was wearing the Sonic uniform holding a tray which had our food on it after he had rolled the window down to see who it was.

"I ain't know you work this late" he said to her as she passed him the food that he passed to me and setting the drinks in the cup holders.

"Yeaaa, I'm tryna help out around the house you know" she replied leaning into the window a little before looking up at me.

"That's wussup, Ny this is my cousin, Bria" he introduced as we smiled and greeted each other. She was pretty and you could tell her and Eli were related.

"She's pretty, Lijah" she whispered before telling him she would talk to him later and told me it was nice to meet me before he rolled the window back up and took one more puff before he offered it to me. I declined and he ashed it as I opened the bag and passed him his burger.

"What school you go to?" He asked me as he adjusted the seat back and started unwrapping his food.

"Well I'm graduating from Craddock next week and I'm tryna go to University of Georgia this fall" I answered popping a French fry into my mouth. He raised his eyebrows before licking his lips and nodding his head.

"So I guess you gone be seeing a lot of me? Huh" he said finally biting into his sandwich. I looked at him skeptically before asking how and eating another fry.

"I go to UGA" he responded taking another bite of his food. I was glad that someone I knew would be there if I need guidance since it was all the way across the country.

"That's ironic" I said more to myself than to him. He went to a school that I wanted to go to that was all the way across the country and out of all the schools in Georgia that he could've went to. It was just such a coincidence how that worked out.

"My dad and my aunt stay here and my grandparents live in Athens so I figured why not be close to my grandparents and come visit my dad and aunt when schools out..." He trailed off as he explained how he ended up there before I began eating my burger which was surprisingly good but it was bigger than I had expected it to be. I had to open my mouth as wide as I could to bite it making him laugh before I rolled my eyes.

"Why are you going so far just to go to UGA?" He asked me after awhile. I finished chewing and swallowing the food that was in my mouth before starting to speak.

"Honestly, not to be blunt or anything or ungrateful but I hate this town and I'm just trying to get away from my family . I don't have any aunts or uncles or grandparents of my knowledge since my parents never told me about them or even explained to me if they were dead or not. They degrade everything I do and I try to stay out of their way and do what I'm supposed to do to get them off my back a little. I make excellent grades and I do what I'm not a bad kid, I'm really not but I ... It's just frustrating..." I ranted not really realizing that I was expressing my whole life story to him. When I looked up towards him he seemed genuinely concerned and understanding as if he has gone through what I've been through. He had totally stopped eating and was starting straight at me with his head cocked to the side.

"You know, I understand where you're coming from. It used to be the same way with my family except my grandparents were cool. I couldn't stand my pops or my mom but after she passed away it was like me realizing that all they did was try to do right by me but I guess I was so wrapped up in what I wanted to do ... I guess I just was being selfish." He said. He stared directly into my eyes before opening his mouth to speak and closing it back up.

*
In multimedia: Elijah