Dancing in the Rain | ✓

Chapter 22: Home

Everything was quiet aside from the music flowing out of the speakers of Eli's cell phone. It was already past midnight but after the emotional roller-coaster the boy was unable to find any sleep so he was walking around the living room while listening to the soft music instead. Despite the late hour he was hoping that Sophia would still come back from her parents and spend the night with them so that Eli could talk to her about Henry as soon as possible.

Surely after thirty minutes of pacing the room back and forth and debating with himself whether the music was too loud or not, the front door got unlocked and soon Eli was able to hear Sophia's soft footsteps. The girl walked into the living room curiously looking around, clearly wondering why the music was on so late. When her eyes landed on Eli she raised her eyebrows but a smirk appeared on her face. "What are you doing, Eli?"

The boy shrugged smiling back at her. The sky was in the reddish shade of black and the snow seemed to be glowing in the dark which allowed Eli to see Sophia perfectly. "I just can't sleep."

"And why is that?" Sophia asked slowly approaching her best friend.

"I talked to Henry." Eli confessed softly, not wanting to keep anything from her.

Sophia's smirk immediately morphed into a full blown grin. "How did it go?" She asked, almost bouncing.

Eli couldn't help but chuckle at that. "It went well." He said thinking about the conversation. "I feel so relieved."

"I told you so." Sophia said grabbing both of his hands and squeezing them tightly. "You finally listened to me."

"Well, yeah." Eli said looking down at their joined hands.

They held hands for a few moments, just silently staring at each other. The moment was over though, when Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros came on and the bizarreness of the whole situation hit them. They both busted out in laughter but Eli quickly covered his mouth remembering that the rest of his family was sleeping.

Despite how weird it all felt Eli realized that the song represented a lot of his feelings. He did love Sophia after all, in a way that he could hardly comprehend. Sophia was the apple of his eye but most importantly she was his home.

When Eli looked over at Sophia and saw the cheerful glint in her eye and the way she was barely able to hold back her laughter, a wave of sadness overwhelmed him. "Dance with me, Sophie." He said softly pulling the girl closer to him.

Sophia raised her eyebrows, clearly confused by Eli's behavior but still obeyed wrapping her arms around Eli's neck. The boy put his hands on Sophia's waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. Letting out a long breath he felt his whole body relax. He closed his eyes as they slowly swayed to the rhythm of upbeat music.

"I miss you, Sophie." Eli said at some point wanting to stay right there for the rest of his life. He didn't want to open his eyes and discover that their friendship was still falling apart.

"I miss you too." The blonde admitted tightening her hold on Eli's neck. "I wish it could always be like this...like now." Her voice was quiet and enchanting while so full of emotions that Eli felt like in these few words was hidden the whole story of Sophia's life.

"Let's go upstairs." Eli said, regretfully pulling away from Sophia. She was looking at him questioningly but didn't say anything. The boy held her hand tightly pulling her through the house. They entered Eli's bedroom and the boy closed the door behind them. Everything inside was dark and the curtains were down so they could barely see each other. Despite that neither of them bothered to switch on the light.

They stood in the middle of the room facing each other for a few seconds. No one said anything but the air around them was thick with tension and Eli couldn't decide whether it was good or bad. After a while their eyes adjusted to the darkness surrounding them and Eli could see Sophia looking at him with desperation mixed with fear in her eyes.

"Sophia..." Eli trialed off, not even sure what he was going to say in the first place. He rubbed the back of his neck looking down at his feet and wondering what was happening with them. He wanted to make the distance between them disappear so that they would never be apart from each other again. "I..." He started once again but still nothing came out.

Before he had a chance to try to make sense of his feelings again and then possibly voice them, the most bizarre thing happened. The boy was still looking at the floor so he couldn't see anything but he did see the most spectacular firework show as soon as he felt Sophia's lips against his. The kiss was short and brief but it still managed to take him all the way back to that prom night. All that Eli had felt back then was somehow back and he found himself again in that damn gym decorated with cliché balloons and cardboard pink hearts. He could feel Sophia's tears on his face as her breath ghosted over his cheek and he didn't know why the girl was crying but for some reason he wanted to cry as well.

Eli felt like his whole body was on fire, like Sophia's touch was burning his skin in the most amazing way ever. He wanted to keep her in his arms forever and never let go. But after just a few short seconds Sophia's lips were gone, leaving Eli breathless and completely amazed.

They stood in silence for a few more moments until Sophia finally said. "I'm sorry."

Eli kept blinking, not quite able to distinguish reality from fantasy anymore. "For what?" He asked before diving in for another kiss.

Well...I bet you didn't see this coming...or maybe you did. Well...yeah. I hope you don't feel disappointed. Let me know what you think!

Thank you for reading!

Also the song I linked is obviously not sung by the original artists, but the Glee cast. I prefer this version only because Glee means a lot to me. I am where I am because of it.