Symbiosis

Chapter 9

Alex and the black haired male who identified himself as Eli walked side by side in the direction of Alex's parents' house. After their unexpected encounter, Alex had told Eli about his staying at his parents' place for the night and asked if Eli wanted to accompany him to the edge of the park, which Eli accepted after a moment's hesitation. Since then, the two had been walking mostly wordlessly, save for some idle remarks from Alex, trying to strike up a conversation. Mostly unsuccessfully. After a decent amount of awkward time had passed, the two found their way out of the forest area and at the edge of the park itself. Alex sighed and the two came to a stop.

"Alright man, I'm gonna split off here. Still have another solid hour of walking I need to do to get to my mom and dad's. Again, sorry about scaring you earlier."

Eli just nodded without meeting Alex's eyes. "Be safe," he said simply.

Alex just gave another sigh and a nod before turning around again to leave. 'Not a very well spoken person, apparently,' he thought to himself as he started his walk again.

"And um, thanks."

Alex stopped again and turned around. Eli had his hands in his short pockets and he was shuffling in place a little bit. Alex raised an eyebrow. "For what?"

Eli bit his lip. "For, well, keeping me company for a bit. Not freaking out at what you saw me as too much."

Alex frowned and took a single step back in Eli's direction. 'There has to be more to that statement he made just now.' "Well of course. I mean why would I? Yea, the situation itself is freaky as hell, but it's nothing you could control," Alex had to stop himself from saying any more to keep himself from rambling.

Alex saw a slight ghost of a smile on Eli's face for the briefest of moments. "I know, but I still appreciate it. And uh, sorry for startling you too."

Alex chuckled. "Nah, don't be sorry. That wasn't at all your fault. I was the one who snuck up on you out of nowhere." Eli said nothing and kept his gaze away from Alex. Alex pursed his lips in brief thought, before continuing with a question. "Did someone else also catch you by surprise before me?"

Eli glanced at Alex before sighing and looking down again. "Not exactly. I kinda got a couple bad reactions from some people when they saw what I was. Nothing too big."

Alex narrowed his eyes at the explanation. He thought that sounded way too vague for there to have nothing more to it. "How so? Do you know who the people that flipped on you were?"

Eli gave a small shrug. "Well yea, but like I said, it's not a big deal. I think they were just scared cuz they didn't recognize me. That's all."

Alex stared at Eli for a moment before continuing. "Look man, if there's something bothering you, I don't mind lending an ear for a bit."

"Dude, I'll be fine. It's nothing I can't handle on my own."

Alex had the faintest of smirks. "So you admit something about it is still bothering you."

Eli started stammering a bit, then caught himself and shot a small glare at Alex. "Okay, fine. Something's bothering me, but what if I don't want to bother you with it?"