Take Me Home (Revised)

Chapter Eleven: Breilah

     All the other guardies had gone and I spun and tossed my rifle in deep thought. If Ely likes me, then our entire friendship is ruined. He won't be able to just be friends and it would never be the same again. It just wouldn't be how we used to be. But if he doesn't, then my first kiss will have gone down the drain. I'll never have another first kiss. I released the rifle into the air with a flick of my wrist and turned to see the car honking at me. The rifle's thick plastic material struck my left arm and fell to the ground.

     "Ah-ow!" I cringed for a second, recoiling from the pain. I looked back to the car to see who distracted me. Speak of the Devil.

     "Oh shit, are you okay?" He panicked, rolling down the window. I rolled my eyes and picked up my rifle. Idiot. If someone is tossing, you don't talk to them until they catch, or the equipment hits the ground. I looked at my arm, just another bruise to add to the collection. Time to face him. I had to let him know I wasn't interested in dating him. At all. Period. End of story. I threw my crap in the back of the car and opened the passenger door to see a bag full of Taco Bell.

     "For me?" I asked, perusing the bag for my regular snacks. For someone who struggled with my weight as much I did, I tended to order a lot at once. No one said I ate it all in one sitting however.

     "Oh, yeah. I figured you'd be hungry." Ely to the rescue. I smiled and sat the bag on the floor by my feet and buckled into the passenger seat.

     "Hey." he said all sorts of awkwardly.

     "Hey." I was just as awkward.

     "So, about last night..." he started. The car rolled out of the parking lot and I prepared to have the conversation I didn't really want to have. On the bright side, he gave me the perfect opening. I was afraid I'd have to bring it up.

     "Yeah it was crazy wasn't it? What did we eat last night?" I asked, wondering if Mike had spiked our drinks or something, because I passed out on those stairs after. I mean, I was out! I barely remembered him carrying me up to his bed.

     He was the only person I'd ever trust to pick me up. I could only trust him not to drop me.

     "Oh, yeah. Crazy!" Ely stuttered, putting the car into second gear. Good, he thinks it was too crazy to be real too, so now I don't have to deal with the burnout, if for some crazy reason he liked me.

     "I mean, how much would we have had to drink to actually do what we did?" I laughed. Now that I really think about it, I don't think he had anything to drink. I drank like a bottle of diet mountain dew that was probably spiked with vodka, but I couldn't recall Ely drinking anything that night. That whole thing was fuzzy as hell.

     "I don't know. A lot!" He chuckled. I uncomfortably laughed along, trying to hold in any snorts. I dug into my bag for my phone to update Dana on our relationship status, or to be more accurate, the lack thereof.

     Now that was easy. Neither of us meant for it to happen, and we both agreed it was absolutely crazy and that Mike probably spiked something we drank or ate. And Dana actually thought there was something there. She knows Ely. He's my best friend that would rather go paint-balling with me over a fancy dinner date.

     "Um, one more thing. I mean, it was, what we did, I mean, it was kind of nice, huh?" He asked, avoiding eye-contact with me.

     Fuck.

     "Uh, I don't know. I mean, it wasn't, like bad or anything." What the hell am I saying?!? I couldn't even attempt to fix whatever the frick just happened, because all I could manage to sputter out was that mess. I didn't know what the hell to say after that, and neither did he it seemed.