Ocean Eyes

Chapter Fourteen

Love grows by giving. The love we give away is the only love we keep. The only way to retain love is to give it away.

~Elbert Hubbard ~

“Thanksgiving break you all are doing nothing.”

This was Eli’s opening line as he took his seat at the lunch table the following day next to Gemini, as usual.

“And why are we doing nothing?” Gemini asked, leaning her head on his shoulder.

“Because you all are invited to my lake house.”

My eyebrows shot to my hairline. “Really?”

“Yep. Just the three of us.”

“Three?” I questioned. “What about Roxanne?”

Eli shrugged. “She always goes to her grandparents in Greece for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I tried calling her but I couldn’t get hold of her all weekend. Either of you know what’s up?”

I shook my head along with Gemini. I wasn’t exactly close to her. “She always picks up her phone, though,” Gemini whispered. “I hope everything is alright.”

Eli snorted, rubbing up and down her arm. “I’m sure everything is fine. She probably just dropped her phone in the toilet or something. Roxanne has been known to do that from time to time.”

She laughed, but it was uncertain. “Yeah, maybe.”

I had gotten so used to never having a lunch that I wasn’t even hungry anymore at that time of day.  I was able to watch Eli inhale his cheese fries like some feral animal without my stomach growling even once.

“Wait,” Gemini spoke up suddenly. “How am I supposed to break the news to my parents? I can’t exactly just say I’m leaving for two weeks and not tell them where I’m going.”

Eli removed his arm from around her shoulders and turned her to face him. “Maybe tell them the truth?” he suggested. “That usually works.

She pouted. “I don’t know . . .”

“I do,” Eli stated, much more firmly. “We’re telling her. I’m tired of feeling like you’re ashamed of me.”

“I’m not ashamed!” Gemini gasped, horrified.

“Really? Because it feels like I’m being pushed to the back burner and I don’t like it.”

I leaned back a little bit, sensing a “healthy” couples fight, and cleared my throat. Where was Roxanne? If there was ever a time for her to make her dramatic appearance it was now. I hated being the third wheel. It offered a whole new perspective to the word ‘awkward’.

“I am not ashamed of you Eli Johansson and if you think I am then clearly there is something wrong in this relationship.”

He grunted. “Then why do you have such a problem letting your parents meet me?” he turned suddenly in my direction. “Do you see something wrong with me, June?”

Fuck. Why did they have to bring me into their relationship problems? I wasn’t exactly experienced in this area. I swallowed hard and shook my head, going for the appropriate response he was looking for. Eli smirked and faced Gemini again, who was frowning.

It wasn’t that I didn’t think her parents would like Eli. Eli was a great guy; fierce, protective, and loyal to a fault. But it was just the essence he gave off and his personality that all parents were engrained to tell their kids to stay away from. He wasn’t the smartest kid in school, which I always thought funny since he was in love with the smartest kid since Albert Einstein. But he had street smarts and sometimes those were more useful in real life. I had yet to discover what his real hair color was beneath the bright red dye, and he wore it short and spiky. He was good-looking, I would give him that, but menacing and definitely intimidating. He and Gemini were surely perfect for each other.