Chapter 12
Cody's POV
Eli sighed as I repeated the question.
"I just want to know why you know the girl!" He fidgeted with his hands, as he looked everywhere but my eyes.
"Who?" I guess he's playing it dumb.
"Okay look, I really don't care who you fool around with-"
His eyes flared.
"I'm not 'fooling around' with anybody."
"Its none of my business-"
"and why I know her is?" he stood up and began to walk away.
"I need to know if she's safe with you." I admitted. He turned around slowly, not saying anything. he stared at me in silence for several minutes.
"You were the one feeding us, weren't you..." I said. He looked away.
"You were the one that kept her in the dark!" I was angry now. "She could've have died!" He flinched
"I didn't mean that to happen-"
"And what did you mean to happen?! were you just gonna wait till we both committed suicide?"
"No-"
"were the police just an inconvenience for you?"
"there weren't supposed to be police-" He desperately tried to explain.
"so you were just gonna leave us there!" My voice grew gradually louder.
"No."
"THAN WHAT!?"
"I WAS SUPPOSED TO SAVE HER!!" He sat down and covered his face in his hands.
"Why?" I asked. His outburst seemed to have calmed me down quite a bit.
"Because I love her." he looked up at me sadly. "You know what its like, when she she half smiles at you, when she laughs, and then she looks at you with her bambi eyes, and you realize that you love her." he looked up at me pausing. "You knew it the first time you set eyes on her, didn't you? I can tell by the way you look at her." He took a shaky breath, "And the worst thing is she looks at you the same way, Cody. That's why I did it. I came back with the hopes of telling her how I feel, but I saw her with you. I had no chance with her against you." He gulped " so I tracked down your dad, and told him where you two were staying. I made him promise that he wouldn't hurt either of you."
"He could've killed both of us!" He flinched at my words.
"but he didn't. He left after the first day, and I took over. I planned on leaving you down there for a week or so, but the police got there first. I thought that if I saved her, she would like me as more than a friend."
"That has to be... the stupidest thing I've ever heard! You could have gotten us killed, and for what?! So you're crush would like you back?! This is unbelievable!" I looked at him as he leaned back on the couch.
"I've gotta tell her." I decided.
"You can't!"
"Why not? So she can keep living her life in fear that there's someone out there that is trying to kill her? And you can keep pretending to be her best friend? Are you really that sick?"
"No, not that. This would break her, and as strong as she is, and with all that she's been through, she might not e able to recover from it. And you know it as well as me." He was right. She just barely started getting over her huge fear of the dark after that place. She would probably never leave the house if she knew.
"Fine. But, for your own sake. Stay away from her." I got up and went to my room. I couldn't believe that he was that stupid.
A few hours later
The door slammed downstairs. Carmen was home. After my brief episode with Eli, he had decided to go home. I couldn't blame him, and frankly, I wished that he'd stay there. I could hear Carmen coming up the stairs.
"Hey where'd Eli go? I thought we were all gonna go to Starbucks?" She said peaking her head in, her brown hair falling loosely past her shoulders.
" He.. wasn't feeling well. So he went home." Carmen nodded, and left. Eli was right in a sense, every little thing she does makes you love her. What Eli did was wrong. Very wrong. But I can see why he was so desperate to impress her.
