Chasing Elliott - Published

chapter sixteen ... high and dry

Eucatastrophe (n.)
a sudden and favourable resolution of events.
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I awoke to the sound of harsh pounding echoing down the hall from the front door and groaned as I wrapped myself deeper into the blankets. My eyes were puffy and raw from the crying and my head ached from how much I had overworked myself. After the knocking continued, I screamed into my pillow before abruptly sitting up.

"El," I yelled with a raspy voice. "Can you please get the damn door?"

Another minute or so passed before I slipped out of the bed and wrapped my blanket tightly around my body as I stormed toward the door. Tearing it open, ready to chew out whoever it may be that was standing there, my voice caught in my throat as I stared at a very distressed Benjamin.

"You have some nerve," I mumbled as I turned on my heel and walked toward the living room. Falling down on the couch, I watched as Benjamin slowly entered the apartment and closed the door behind him.

"King-"

"I assume you're here to try and apologize for shutting me out, for what I'm sure is a ridiculous reason, and leaving me high and dry?" I asked as I stared at him, not allowing any emotion to find its way to my face.

"I am," Benjamin whispered as he sat down on the chair nearest me. I sighed and ran a hand over my face before gripping the blanket once more.

"What the hell happened?" I asked quietly, refusing to make eye contact.

"I saw a picture of you kissing that guy from the restaurant the four of us went to a week or two ago," he said sheepishly. My eyebrows furrowed together as I snapped my head up to look at him and saw a nervous expression covering his face.

"What, Johnathan?" I asked, confused. Benjamin nodded and I couldn't stop myself from laughing loudly which seemed to startle him. I shook my head and stood up from the couch and began to pace around the living room.

"But I know you didn't now, I know what Laura tried to do. I know that since she couldn't get to Elli directly that she decided to try and go after you instead."

I stopped pacing and slowly turned around to face him, anger starting to bubble up inside of me unexpectedly. I bit my lip as I tried to steady my breathing with no success as my eyes narrowed.

"She did what?" I snapped as I let the blanket fall from my shoulders before beginning to head towards the door. "That bitch is going to get a piece of my mind."

"Elli already took care of it," Benjamin informed me, cutting me off. I looked up before looking down and noticing her shoes were missing and my keys were no longer on their designated hook.

"What did she do?"

"Gave Laura a pretty nasty black eye and called her out in front of a shit ton of people," he said with a small smile that made one of my own appear before I let my face go back to showing no emotion.