After her father's tragic passing, Nora Davis is forced behind the scenes, nothing more than a stepping stone for others in their journey to stardom. When an opportunity presents itself, Nora, trapped under her stepmother's heel, takes it as her cha...
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Please be careful around Felicity.
Nora's warning stayed with Eli well into the night and through the next morning. The moment he walked into Jostlin the next day, he searched for her. Whether she wanted some space or not, he owed her an apology. After he sat on their conversation, he realized how snappish he'd been. He'd been hurt – still was – but instead of controlling his reaction, he'd lashed out at Nora about her decision. He couldn't stand the idea she'd pick school over him, and so he'd been angry.
Looking back on his anger, he realized he'd been a bit of a spoiled brat. He was so used to people coming up to him and wanting to hang out with him; he didn't know what to do when they didn't want to be around him.
Clearly, he had his own growing to do. And he'd start that growing with an apology.
Along with an apology, he also had a million questions for Nora. He had to ask her what she meant by, "Please be careful around Felicity." Why would Nora think it bad that he hung around Felicity? Was it because of something Felicity did?
Was it...was Nora jealous?
His laugh hit the back of his metal locker and bounced right back to him. Grabbing his books, he closed the metal door. Nora wasn't jealous. He couldn't even imagine what a jealous Nora looked like. She was so...her own person. So independent he didn't think she knew what the emotion was. Besides, jealousy implied she had feelings for him.
If she wasn't jealous, then what?
There was so much Nora never told him. Not that he hadn't been eager to learn – he wanted to know absolutely everything there was to know about her. But she never gave an inch.
And yes, he was very frustrated with her after this weekend. But when he sat down and actually thought about it – he wasn't as angry that Nora hadn't shown up. More so, he'd been mad at himself for being so confident when it came to Nora.
The two of them didn't have any promises between them. Other than what was a slowly solidifying friendship and one big ole crush on his side, there wasn't much holding them together.
But, Creator, how he wanted there to be. He wanted to be the one to finally crack into Nora and find out what made her tick. Find out what really put a smile on her face, what made her sad. He wanted to hang out with her, not just an hour or two here or there when she could squeeze him into her crazy school schedule, but for hours. And perhaps what surprised him most was that he didn't want to take her to all the stupid social events or parade her around (though he wouldn't mind). He wanted to hang out with her at home, watch TV together, go for walks, or—
He'd asked his sister once what love was like. The rest of his siblings all found their Destined, and he, feeling rather mopey, opened up to Lizzie about it. She'd surprised him with her answer. "Love is," she'd glanced up at the ceiling briefly as she thought about it, "love is everywhere and everything."
