The New Separation (Book 2)

Chapter 3

Elliot

"Come on, out of bed. Let's go."

I groaned and pulled the covers over my head at the sound of my mother's voice. I didn't want to get up. There was no point in getting out of bed today.

"Elliot, now. It's already noon."

Deciding not to get Mom even more upset with me, I sat up. She wasn't even in my room, although my bedroom door was wide open and I could hear her moving around in probably the kitchen. Technically, I could crawl back under my covers, but the next time she passed by my room, I knew she'd be really mad if I wasn't up yet.

It wasn't fair. This was my summer vacation. I should be able to stay in bed as long as I wanted, right? There was only a couple more weeks until I had to go back to school. I didn't have Colton to spend my time with and Jared's family went on a vacation, so he wasn't even around. I had nothing to do but lay in bed.

It took me a few more seconds to actually get out of bed. Then another few minutes to pull on some clothes and make myself look like I hadn't just spent the last thirteen hours in bed. Not that it mattered too much; I'd only be seeing my moms today.

"Oh, look who finally decided to join the world of the living," Mom said, barely looking up from the pile of mail she was looking through. "About time you got up."

I didn't respond to that. I had no response. Instead, I changed the topic. "Is there breakfast?"

Mom took her eyes off the mail to look at me. "Breakfast? That was hours ago, El. I ate breakfast with your mother before she left."

I sighed. "Is there lunch, then?"

"Only if you make it yourself. I'm meeting your mother in about an hour for lunch before the play tonight."

Right. They were going out. I had forgotten about that. So then why did she make me get up if neither of them were even going to be here?

"You should go out. Call your friends. Make plans. Do something, Elliot." I rolled my eyes, but she continued. "You've been hiding yourself away in this house for days. Go do something."

I sunk down into a chair at the table. "No one is around, Mom," I complained. "Colton's..." I sighed, shaking my head. She obviously knew where he was. "Jared is on a cruise in the middle of the ocean. And I don't have other friends to hang out with."

"You have friends." She tossed the mail onto the counter. "What about all the guys on the football team with you?"

I shook my head, watching as she pulled open the refrigerator door. "They all pretty much turned their back on me once I quit."

I didn't want to quit, but I honestly think it was the best option. Coach Salazar finally retired at the end of last season, but the new coach that replaced him was a bit too homophobic for my liking. Football didn't mean all that much to me - the way soccer meant the world to Colton - so it wasn't too difficult a decision to make. Actually, it took me about ten seconds to make the decision after he said what he said. Faggots aren't man enough to play this sport. I could have been a captain this year if I stayed, but I knew I wouldn't be able to handle another practice with him having those opinions. I would have been miserable.

I don't know why my teammates stopped talking to me after that. Maybe they just weren't really my friends outside of the team, and once I wasn't on the team anymore, they saw no reason to talk to me. It is what it is though. I still had Colton, Jared, and Emily. I didn't need more than that.

Except now I was wondering why I never made more. Colton was at college, Jared was on a cruise, and Emily worked all day long and didn't have time to hang out.