The Love He Gave Me

Chapter One

I pulled on some damaged jeans from American Eagle and slid on a white tube top. My skin was fairly pale, so white brought out my skin tone making me look more tan than I actually am.
I turned to the large mirror hanging on my closet door. I examined my body, the outfit I was wearing. My dirty blonde hair was pulled into a sloppy side braid and my makeup wasn't the fanciest, it was left over mascara and eyebrow pomade from the night before. I grabbed a makeup wipe and wiped away at the debris of mascara laying under my bottom lash line.
"Damn, babe." Cameron had said. "I'm so glad my best friend is hot, you make me look bad." She scuffed.
"I literally look like I came out of a trash can, Cam. Don't even start."
"A trash can that came out of a runway show!" She exclaimed. "Now are you almost done? I'm getting tired watching you look cute" she said, spinning her watch around her wrist and tapping it, signaling that we didn't have that much time.
I grabbed my small side purse off of my closet door knob and whipped it on, then I slid my feet into a pair of burgundy leather birkenstocks and called it an outfit.
I started for the door, right when my father yelled from outside of his office doorway.
"Where are you two headed to today?" He questioned.
I hadn't realized how late it was, it was almost 9 p.m and I had a strict curfew of maybe 11 p.m.
"Uh— Cam and I are going to the annual bonfire party. Can I sleepover at her house afterwards?" I beckoned, cocking an eyebrow and leaning against my doorway.
"Sure, stay safe. Make sure to get home at a reasonable time ladies" he replied.
Cameron mouthed, one in the morning, and smiled. I rolled my eyes and stepped down the stairs slowly.
"Yeah dad, of course." I yelled from behind my shoulder.

Cameron followed me out of my front door to my navy blue Jeep Wrangler, and slid herself into the passenger seat, clicking her seat belt on.
"Are you gonna let me drive this thing ever? I let you drive Bertha all the time!" She mentioned in a questioning way.
Bertha was her old yellow beaten down and rusted Nissan x-terra.
"My car isn't rusted over half the vehicle, we both know you wouldn't mind crashing Bertha." I began, pressing the start engine button on the dash board and hearing the engine satisfyingly roar to a start.
I put the car in reverse and began rolling out of the driveway. I lived in a quiet suburban neighborhood, almost rich but not quite. The houses were big, but not huge. Most needed new paint jobs, otherwise the houses were fairly new.
I turned the steering wheel just enough to make it out of the driveway, I pulled to a stop and put the car in drive and rolled my way down the road towards the party.
"Bertha is my child, I don't know about you but crashing Bertha would just break my heart." Cameron smiled, saying with a sarcastic tone and looking at me with puppy eyes.
I turned my gaze towards her, and looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Keep your eyes on the road loser, we wouldn't want to crash your crazy cool Jeep Wrangler." She stated, and I removed my eyes from her and focused on the road.

Pulling into the parties road, I skidded to a stop and pulled into a parking space next to an old Ford Mustang.
Cameron and I hopped out of the Jeep, I locked it hearing the low honk of the horn signaling it was locked. We started walking towards the fire, the crowd around was a lot larger than it was at last years party.
"This place really grew on people I guess," Cameron said. "The party was almost empty last year, now there's tons of people. And tons of people, equals more fun." She winked and ran off towards the fire.
Great I thought. Now I'm alone.
I walked towards the fire, finding a seat next to Cara Loveletter. Yeah, that really was her last name. She was the most popular girl in school, the only girl who made the varsity cheer team in her freshman year of Seymour High School. We used to be close best friends, until Cameron came along and pretty much stole her place in my life.

Cara moved, of course. Smells of alcohol and pot lingered in the air. I sat alone, looking around and realizing everyone had a beer. I scanned the area, and found a small cooler laying against a tree on the dirt. Before making my way over there, I saw someone I've never seen before. He didn't go to Seymour, he didn't look familiar and everyone that was invited went to Seymour.
His body was built, he had muscular arms and you could tell underneath his clothes he held a nice pack of abs. His jawline was sharp, and his facial expression was serious. His hair was fluffy dark brown, and parted to the side. I couldn't make out what eye color he had, but whatever it was he was gorgeous. But, he looked like trouble. He was wearing a black sweater that seemed like it was from hollister, with black Levi's and some black old skool vans.
Before examining him any longer, I stood up to my feet and dragged myself to the nearest cooler. I grabbed a beer, and before I turned around I bumped shoulders with the boy I didn't quite know. A rush of excitement ran through my body, I could feel the blood vessels in my face warming.
He smirked, almost laughing.
"I'm sorry— I-I didn't know you were there." I shuddered. What was wrong with me? I never tripped on my words before, nor have I ever blushed like this.
"Don't worry about it, love." He winked, smiling and grabbing for a bud light. "What's your name?" His voice was crisp, almost heavy. I didn't know what it was about him, but he made me feel reassured. Safe.
"My name? It's Alyza," I began. "Alyza Martins."
"Pretty name for a pretty girl? Your mother is a smart gal." He smiled some more, cocking his eyebrows up. His facial expression was soft, his eyes were a diamond blue color. They were gorgeous, and I knew I was obsessed with them.
   "Do you go to Seymour High School?" He questioned.
"Yeah, I'm a sophomore." I replied, locking eyes with him.
"A sophomore? I would've taken you as a senior."
"Are you a senior?"
"Indeed I am, Love."
I Had a bad feeling every time he called me love but, something in my body told me I liked it, too.
"So, do you go to seymour?" I asked as he propped himself against the small tree behind the cooler.
"I do now, new student."
"What school did you come from?"
"A private school north of here, you wouldn't know of it. It was a quiet school, nobody really knew of it."
"Why did you transfer?" A part of me thought he was lying, there weren't any private schools north of Portland.
"I figured I needed a new start, in a public school. Meet new people, new grades. New girls." He winked once again at me, smiling. My mind lost control, my heart started pounding and a nervous feeling grew all over me.
"What's your name?" I asked, scanning his body. His hand was wrapped clean around the beer he had grabbed after me; he twisted the cap off and took a sip before replying.
"My name is Elliot. Elliot Williams." He said, and I knew he was mocking me and the way I introduced myself.
I groaned softly, "The way you said your name sounds quite familiar." I remarked in a joking tone making sure he knew that I knew  he was mocking me.
"Why thank you, I copied the cutest girl in town." The corners of his mouth crept up one again, he thought this was so funny that his crystal white teeth showed through his smile. He took another sip of his bud light.
"Very funny." I beckoned, rolling my eyes.
"What's funny?"
"You flirting with me."
"I'm flirting? I haven't even started."
"So, you own up to actually wanting to flirt with me?"
"Who wouldn't want to?" He smirked some more, which was actually kind of alluring.
"I think I should go, it was nice meeting you." I replied.
"You too, Alyza. I'll see you in school."
"I'm sure you will," I replied sarcastically.

On our way back home, Cameron and I stopped at the McDonald's near her house. I haven't mentioned meeting Elliot to her yet, she'd freak and try to make me interested in him considering my taste in boys was very peculiar. Not that I wasn't interested in him, he was pretty good looking. But I needed to focus on school, and on my grades. I had to stay as far away from him as possible, and that couldn't be hard considering I've stayed away from everyone everyday at school for the past two years.
   "So who was that kid you shared a beer convo with?" Cameron asked. My heart dropped, I didn't want to tell her anything about him.
   "Uh— some kid talking to me about Seymour High School. He's new." I reassured her, trying to sound as believable as possible.
   "Ooo!" Cameron sounded surprised. "A new boy? He was cute! What was his name? How old is he?"
   I realized I never got his age, but I believed he was somewhere around 17 or 18 years old, considering he's a senior.
   "His name is Elliot, he's a senior." I replied, tightening my grip on the steering wheel and pulling into the McDonald's parking lot, stealing the first parking spot I saw and putting the Jeep in Park.
   "A senior? Hold on babe, I'm gonna go get our McDonald's. When I come back tell me everything!" Cameron jumped out of the car and jogged her way into the McDonald's entrance.
   I didn't want to tell her everything, especially the sensation he had given me. He was odd, something about him was off. He didn't seem good, and I was drawn to it. Something made me want him, in ways I couldn't have him.

   Before Cam came back, I heard something in the bushes in front of my car. I turned my brights on, sitting forward and looking for any source of movement. A rush of anxiety flew through my body, I tried telling myself everything would be fine. I noticed I was too serious tonight, and way too overprotective. It was Elliot, he made me feel safe with him and alone in danger without him. I haven't even gotten to know him, but I still felt drawn to him. I sat back in my seat, turning my brights off and cranking up the radio. Girls just wanna have fun blared through the speakers. I eased my breathing and propped my elbow against the window. In the side mirror I could see Cam exiting the door with two McDonald's bags in her hands, at that moment I was relieved to leave the area soon.
   Cam hopped back in the car, setting the bags between her feet on the floor of the Jeep. "What up be-otch." She screamed.
   "You're drunk aren't you?" I questioned. I couldn't believe I didn't notice she was drunk. The fact she had multiple beers and I didn't stop to think about it made me feel like I lacked intelligence.
   "You're drunk aren't you?" She mocked sticking her tongue out.
   "I had one beer actually," I smiled at her and she laughed. Usually I'd be the one drunk and she would be the innocent one drinking only one beer. Tonight was the other way around.
   Cam grabbed fries out of one of the bags and mercilessly spilled them everywhere. With Cam hysterically laughing about the situation, I put the Jeep in reverse and started to back out. I put it in drive once in a good position, and started my way towards Cameron's house.
   Cam's neighborhood wasn't necessarily a neighborhood. She lived alongside a long dirt road that practically lead to no where, and driving on it at night was lifting my anxiety.
   Halfway down the dirt road, I hit something on the road. It looked human almost, but I knew it couldn't be. It had to of been a deer or something. I screamed slightly and  hauled the Jeep to a stop. I looked to Cameron, to my surprise I noticed she was asleep and wouldn't have seen what I saw. I hopped out of the Jeep and looked behind the car to see if there was a leftover corpse to whatever I had ran over, but nothing was there. Almost as if I imagined it, almost as if it disappeared.