Living With Elliot | ongoing

ovi.

Much to my dismay, of all the people that could have been sipping coffee in front of me right this second, I would not have thought it would have been Mike.

"Are you, uh... like, planning on saying something, or uh... just, you know — going to be sitting there?" Mike looked up at me, his hands gripping the porcelain coffee cup tightly in his hands, I didn't know what to do.

On one hand, I could pour my coffee over him and leave, but my legs were paralysed. 

"CJ, I have a proposal for you."

A nerve-wracking feeling overwhelmed me, Mike and I had broken up a week before summer ended and the semester started, going back to High-school without Mike was torture, sure I had Alex but he was the main reason we had broken up. When I started dating Mike my feelings for Alex were... a little on the confused side, mainly being irrelevant but still present. 

Like an itch, you can't scratch. 

But towards the end of junior year and summer, I realized how much I really liked Alex, all the things about him that I enjoyed, his sandy hair and brilliant eyes and cute quirky smile and his outgoing way of making sure I was always laughing or smiling.

Things that I had lost at the moment.

Things I realized Mike didn't have, so when I had the epiphany; Mike did not take it well.

He accused me of having cheated on him with Alex, he threatened to beat Alex up, and he treated the break up like I had just left him at the altar on our wedding day.

"Uh... Yeah, sure, Mike- go ahead." He raised an eyebrow to make sure I was positive and started his idea, "So, I see that you're having troubles keeping your... uh... boys, at bay. So I think- we should start seeing each other... again, you know to--" 

The mug of coffee fell from my hands and broke on the floor, pieces of porcelain glass shattered and Mike stopped short of his stupid, stupid, STUPID thought.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND?"

I threw the paper towels they had left on the table at him, a poor reaction on my part, and stormed out the cafe, leaving Mike to pay for a broken mug, napkins and both our coffee.

What sort of thought process did that asshole have? First, he accuses me of cheating on him then he sees an opening for him to gain something, probably hurting Alex or Elliot, and he tries to swoop in, acting like my hero, saving me from my fucking 'boy troubles'.

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"Maybe excusing me and letting me in would help you calm down, if that doesn't work I could try kissing you somewhere other than your hand."

This sort of apology from Elliot was followed by three quick raps at my bedroom window, living parallel to the boy had proven to be full of surprises but this one was definitely my favorite. 

He was apologizing.

"CJ, c'mon, let me in. I swear, just let me explain and you'll see that I'm, not a complete asshole."

Things were looking good for him, "Christin Jacklyn--"

I pushed the windows open and pulled him over to my room, "Where'd you get my name?"

He laughed and eased my hands off of his collars, "I asked the students to see what the best way to get a girl to forgive you was; when I got around to your mother--"

"My MOTHER?"

He laughed and just nodded, "Yeah, I wasn't getting anywhere with our asshole of a high school and your ex-gorilla of a boyfriend Mike was threatening to saw me in half. So, I asked your mother. She said just apologize and call you Christin since nobody called you that I thought why not I do it?"

"Dylan calls me Christin Jacklyn."

"Who?"

"My boss Dylan Thompson."

Elliot nodded and opened his arms wide, "What?"
"C'mere."

He laughed and pulled me into a hug, suddenly i wished it was Alex. 

That it was Alex who was knocking on my bedroom window and hugging me and asking to kiss me and holding my hand and treating me like this, "What about Alex?"

"He uh.. Jesus, you really wanna know?"

I nodded, whatever it was i could handle it.

Elliot rubbed the back of his neck, the universal sign of nervousness. 

Anxiety was rolling off of him in waves, huge waves, his eyes were a shade greener and darker, his eyebrows were creased and he looked ready to pass out any moment. 

"Hey," I touched his arm and he recoiled, "Elliot, what happened? What did Alex do?"

"I really don't wanna be the bearer of bad news and you seem like the type of person who is proven to shoot the messenger. And you are not in the best possible place at the moment. You look like you might punch a wall and headbutt a mountain goat."

"A mountain goat?"

He stared me dead in the eyes and gave me a pitiful look, one of raging 'please dont punch me in the face'.

"C'mon, Elliot, just tell me what he did."

"Christin, I really don't think you even want to know."
"I do."
"I don't."

"Not a marriage, it's just one..." I trailed off, what were we? Friends? Acquaintances? 

Friends didn't kiss each other or come close to kissing each other, and they definetely didnt crawl into each others bedrooms at night and make up over hugs and... "--friend telling another friend what another friend might have or might not have done. So just suck it up, grow a pair and tell me what the did."

Elliot looked ready to throw up.

"Alex... fuck it, I'm not doing this. Send my regards to your mother for me will you?"

He pushed the curtains apart and crawled over to his window, he sent me a quick wave and dove into his room, "Elliot Quenting fucking Ryder. You get your ass over here or I swear to God I will come over there and whoop your sorry ass."

When I received zero response from his side I grabbed the window and hoisted myself over to his room, "Elliot what did Alex do?"

"CJ, dude, you really don't wanna know."

"What did he do?"

Elliot came closer and sighed, "He slept with Rayn."

That little son of a bi--

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