Stretch Marks.

Part 8.

Elijah's POV

November, 2016

"Nah nigga, I'm not sharing today." I laughed a little, at his facial expression, and kept shoveling the food into my mouth. I'd honestly rather be doing anything else than sitting here eating this garbage, but I'd made this choice. I was here because of me. Looking around for the clock, I realized I wasn't going to have time to finish this lunch anyway.

I pushed my tray over to one of the few guys I'd managed to make friends with, and got up walking towards my cell. I was expecting a visitor, and since time was so limited, I couldn't afford to miss any moments with them. Chilling out for the five minutes it was going to take them to call me, I looked at one of the drawings Sage sent me in her last letter. She couldn't draw for shit, but I thought it was cute that she'd at least tried. 

It looked like sadness, but her effort was note worthy and that was really all that mattered in the grand scheme of things. Hearing my name, I got up and prepared my self for the handcuffs. I hated it here. Prison was nothing fun, or special. It was the work of the devil, and I was in his hell hole.

Shuffling down the hall, making small talk with one of the guards, I tried to think of every positive I could. Getting to the visiting area, I genuinely smiled. There she was, pushing her hair out of her face. She usually wore it curly, but today it was straight. I knew it was bothering her, because she had taken up the act of bouncing her leg impatiently.

She noticed me a couple seconds later and removed her hand from her face, smiling widely. Her braces were now gone, and in their place were perfect pearly white teeth. She lit up every time she saw me during these visits and it always me smile childishly. I loved seeing her, more than I was willing to admit.

I wasn't a murderer, so I could at least touch her when she came to visit, and as soon as I was freed from the cuffs, I engulfed her in an quick overdue hug. I wasn't really supposed to, but since it was my birthday, the guard told me I could. I missed my bestfriend. I missed her more than anything. She was soft, and smelled like something sweet, and fresh laundry. Two things I loved.

Letting her go, and sitting down, I took that time to admire her. Everything about her was perfect, from her start to her finish. "Hi." It came out of her as a whisper, letting me know she was nervous, even though she didn't need to be.

"Hi, baby." I let my accent slip, because I knew she liked it, and every time I was with her, I never felt like I had to hide parts of myself. "I missed you."

I'd never seen someone smile and blush at the same time, but she did. She reached across the table to grab my hand, "Happy birthday, I miss you too. So much." I played with her fingers just making mental pictures of what she looked like as a whole. I wanted to remember her exactly.

"You look really good. The braces are gone. Your hair's getting long, and you have on something other than sweatpants." I leaned in closer to say it suggestively. "Was that for me?" Since she'd been in college, she'd been telling me a regular day consisted of sweatpants and ponytails. She wore neither today.

"No." A soft blush settled across her features. "I did not get dressed for you, Elijah."

"Damn." I feigned hurt. "A man could hope."

She chuckled. "Even though it is your birthday, this was for me. I really do miss you though. Like Vanessa had her baby, and he looks so much like you, it hurts. And Deja found a box of pictures of all of us, and it just made me wish you were anywhere but in here."