Dancing in the Rain | ✓

Chapter 24: Locked out of Heaven

Eli kept listening to Amanda and answering her questions every once in a while but his mind was miles away. It was right there beside Sophia in their apartment. He had no idea how he was going to explain it all to her. Avery was gripping tightly his hand and laughing at something Hailey was saying while Eli was slowly but surely falling apart.

"Auntie?" Eli heard a quiet voice and looked up to see a tiny boy standing in the doorway. He looked a little startled and unsure of his surroundings. Despite his obvious shyness though, his blue eyes were wandering all over the room and observing everything carefully. Eli couldn't look away but when he felt his hand being squeezed he looked over at Avery and noticed tears in her eyes.

At first he didn't know why she was so upset but then he realized it. The little boy wasn't asking for his mother but rather for Amanda. The woman looked a little uncomfortable as the boy walked over to her and made grabby hands at her but she picked him up anyway and put him in her lap. "What's wrong, Chris?"

The boy looked much more content now that he was with his aunt and Eli could see just how much Avery was struggling with it. "I'm hungry." Chris said quietly, clearly talking only to his aunt.

Amanda smiled brightly at the boy before looking at her niece. "Well, why don't you then ask your mommy to make you something to eat?"

The boy looked at his mother, as if trying to figure out if talking to her was still in his safe zone or not. At last Amanda put him down on the floor and pushed him lightly towards Avery. Chris slowly walked over to her with his finger in his mouth. "I'm hungry." He said looking at Avery with huge round eyes.

"Why do you want to eat, sweetie?" Avery asked, her voice shaking.

"Animals!" Chris almost shouted scaring all of them.

Avery stared at the boy for a few moments blinking her eyes a few times. Then she finally glanced at her aunt, as if asking for guidance. "He means jelly and peanut butter sandwich. I always make them look like tiny animals."

Avery slowly nodded her head and for a moment she looked as though she was going to start crying but then she pulled herself together and made the sandwich for her son, clearly doing her best to make it look like a cat.

They all watched sadly as the boy declared that it looked nothing like a cat and therefore he wasn't going to eat it. Avery didn't do anything and instead asked her aunt to make him food. Even though the girl was obviously doing her best to mask her pain, Eli could see right through her disguise and it broke his heart when he thought about causing her even more pain with his own revelation.

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Eli dreaded coming back home so he spent some time just walking around the city even though it was snowing. He kept trying to come up with what to say to Sophia, how to explain everything to her without hurting her but he didn't come up with anything. Sophia definitely had a strong personality and she would somehow deal with it but Eli didn't know how she would treat him from then on.

If Eli was to keep going out with Avery for some time he wouldn't be able to date Sophia. The worst part of it though was that he was not only breaking Avery's heart but also Sophia's. It would be so much easier if he had only discovered his still existing feelings for his best friend a little bit sooner. Eli knew he wouldn't be able to keep up the façade for much longer but he didn't want to break up with Avery at least until the competition.

Avery cared about winning more than about anything else and the prospect of competing with Eli, the guy that had broken her heart, would probably not help with it. Eli didn't want her to hate him also for contributing to her losing something so important. They would do their thing, win the whole competition and then Eli would come clean to her. Hopefully Sophia would understand that.