STRAY KIDS.

XXIV. DEFINE CRAZY

( STRAY KIDS! )
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR.
❛ define crazy ❜

     AND YET, throughout all this, she has the presence of mind to search any available pockets. or maybe it's just incidental, since she has to grab him all over as he swings them down each boulevard. her hands land in awkward places by default. she eventually discovers where he's stashed his phone. unfortunately, it's a tricky place between his waist and his lower pelvis.

"jesus! what are you doing?" he bellows.

    "holding you!"

    "but your hand is–!"and he doesn't know how to finish that. 

    he grinds them to a halt on the roof of a department store. they collapse on the gravelly cement, limbs interlocked.

   "eli—"

   "aha!"

  she's fished out his phone at last and she's scrolling through it at sweaty light-speed.

    "thief!"

    "i've been called worst."

    he grabs her arm and twists it around. she kicks him in the ribs, but he blocks her attack easily. still, she's moving constantly, making sure he can't parry all her hits. they wrestle for a while until he's on top of her. pinning her down, to be exact.

  "are you crazy?"

    eli licks her lips. "define crazy."

    "i can't believe you! we're defying gravity over here and you're trying to nick my phone?"

    "um, multi-tasking?"

    "i wanted to show you something special and you just—" he starts bitterly, but he's quickly silenced when one of her hands lands on his cheek.

    "it was special, parker."

and her eyes shine in a way that can't be faked. and he should probably get off her now. 

    "let's get going," he says, feeling stupid.

when he deposits her in front of her house, he's too worked–up to do anything else but say a wishy-washy goodbye, and he doesn't realize she still has his phone.

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