The last few lessons of the day went by quite quickly, mostly because I was daydreaming throughout most of them but that didn't bother me too much. I couldn't help but wonder what Eli's parents would be like. My main worry was that they wouldn't like me or that they wouldn't be as nice as Eli.
In the end, worrying got me nowhere as I found myself walking towards the gate where I could already see Eli waiting for me patiently. He smiled when he saw me and pushed his hipster glasses further up on his face, a habit I found quite cute.
"And you told me not to be late." He said, starting to walk.
"Girls are always fashionably late, Eli. You should know this." I answered.
"Sexist!" He stated but then smiled.
We continued walking down a few streets, talking non stop about anything and everything until he finally stopped in front of a house. It was in the nice part of the neighbourhood, I noticed.
The garden was neatly decorated, small garden gnomes lining the colourful flowers that had been planted in flower beds under the windows of the house. The house itself looked modern and well taken care of. The door had fresh paint with not a hint of being chipped and the windows were all bright with not a single mark on them. The house suited Eli more than I would have thought.
He opened the door and held it for me as I stepped inside nervously, my heart doing little flips as he then closed the door behind me. Quickly I took my shoes off when I noticed him doing the same thing and I looked at the nice carpet leading down a hallway into the kitchen.
"Elijah, is that you?" A woman called in from the other room, walking out to see me stood there.
"Yeah, it's me. I brought a friend too if that's okay." He answered.
Eli's mum was a pretty woman. Her dark hair came just below her shoulders in little curls and her eyes were warm and slightly crinkled at the sides where she had been smiling. Instantly I saw that her and Eli's eyes looked very familiar.
"It's always fine to bring your girlfriends home!" She replied, grinning as she came over and gave me a hug. "It's only polite to introduce them to little old me."
Both me and Eli were blushing by this time, looking at each other in humiliation.
"We're not dating, mum..." He mumbled, looking away for a second to hide his blush.
"I'm Ash," I said finally, trying to break the awkwardness.
"So you're the special Ash I've heard so much about. He's mentioned you a lot!" Her expression brightened and I looked back at Eli curiously.
"He mentioned me?" I urged her to continue.
"Oh yes, so much. It started a few months ago I think." She explained. "He wasn't lying when he said you were pretty!"
A few months ago was when we first met in the corridor. When he bumped into me and we introduced ourselves. That meant he took notice of me before he found me on that bridge.
I looked at him questioningly, knowing that I would ask him about this when his mum wasn't there to listen.
"Mum," he muttered in an annoyed tone, "she doesn't need to know about all that."
"Okay, I suppose I'll have to stop embarrassing you now." She rolled her eyes, walking back into the kitchen. "I have some snacks in here, I'll bring them to your room in a bit."
"Alright mum." Eli said, taking my hand and leading me upstairs.
The wallpaper was creme upstairs with a red border around it. On the walls were several photographs which contained family photos. There was Eli with his mum and dad but also another boy always with Eli. His brother?
"Sorry about her." He chuckled, his cheeks still tainted red.
We were in his room now which had the same theme as the hallway. There were just a lot more posters and decorations in his room. He sat on his bed and I sat on the chair at his desk.
"A few months, huh?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
"I guess so." He smiled, embarrassed. He didn't meet my gaze so I pushed the chair forward.
"Why did you never speak to me apart from that time?"
"Well when I first saw you I only noticed how beautiful you looked at first with your pale hair and pretty face but then, I saw you in class. You were always alone and something about you was just so intriguing." He blushed an even deeper shade of red and laughed nervously. "I always came home and told my mum when I saw you in the halls or something."
"You never talked to me." I said quietly.
"I was scared." He replied. "I mean, have you seen me? I'm just a little nerd and I was scared that you wouldn't like me if I spoke to you. You'd probably find me uninteresting or something so every time I was about to say something, I stopped and ended up saying nothing at all."
He continued. "But then I saw you on that bridge and without thinking I rode my bike over to you, not thinking about the outcome of it all. I didn't have the time to overthink, I just did it."
"Maybe if you'd spoken to me before, I wouldn't have been on that bridge." I say suddenly, not thinking of what I was saying. "That time when you told me your name in the corridor, it brightened my day. Maybe even my whole week."
"I'm sorry, Ash." He answered finally. "I'm just pathetic. And then today I got so jealous because of Robin but really, you'd be better off going out on a date with him than with me."
"Why?" I question. "You were the one that saved me, not him."
"He would have done the same. He probably would have even spoken to you long before I did."
"Maybe he would have but I don't care about that." I smile suddenly. "I would much rather go out on a date with you, Eli."
His face lit up and for some reason, this caused my stomach to feel as though millions of little butterflies were fluttering around inside it and making me feel warm inside.
"Then, would you like to come out for dinner with me?" He asked, his face turning light pink in nervousness.
"I would love to." I smiled, making him relax as he saw that I accepted.
Abruptly, the door opened and a boy walked in. I instantly recognised him as the boy in the photographs in the hallways. His dark brown hair was slightly longer since the pictures had been taken and covered his right eye slightly. He looked at me, his light blue eyes glimmering with curiosity as he then looked back at Eli.
"I'm home." He announced, unclear of who he was actually speaking to. "Who's your pretty friend, Eli?"
"Her name is Ash." Eli stated bluntly, his tone annoyed.
"Nice to meet you, Ash." He smiled a dazzling smile in my direction before looking back at Eli, his light eyes darkening. "Mum wants you downstairs for food."
He then made a swift exit out of the room, closing the door quietly after giving me a flirtatious wink. I turned back to Eli looking confused.
"Who is he?"
"My brother." He growled, standing up. "Jett. Don't ask about the name, my parents wanted it to be a little different."
