章 14: Fourteen
Lucas glanced at Elijah from across the cafeteria again. The latter was sitting alone, reading some book while eating his lunch. It was odd seeing him sit all alone again and Lucas kept contemplating over whether or not he should go sit with him. Not because he took pity on the guy but because he genuinely wanted to. But he couldn't just ditch his friends, right?
It had been a few days since Noah left and things sort of went back to normal. Except the fact that Elijah was still staying in the guest room at his place and that his mother was so oddly infatuated with the boy. She was so happy having him around at their home that she even told him jokingly that he wasn't allowed to leave anymore. Maybe she was just glad there was some new company around the house. Elijah, equally, seemed to like his mother too. As for things between Lucas and Elijah, they didn't really talk much at school, each busy with their own classes and activities. At home, they would occasionally watch some random movie together when there was nothing else to do but one thing Lucas was sure of was that Elijah spent a lot more time in his room after Noah left. He was a little more distant than usual.
"You know, you never really told us what was up between you and Elijah. I mean, you guys come and go to school together. And don't think we didn't notice you looking at him during lunch." Chris inquired.
"It's nothing really." Lucas shrugged, picking at his food, "We just got close recently." None of his friends actually knew that Elijah was staying at his place and he wasn't about to mention it to them either. The bombardment of questions would never end.
"Are you sure that's all?" Sam asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
"Yeah what else could it fucking be, genius?"
"I don't know, maybe you're going homo on us."
Lucas gasped indignantly, "Are you fucking nuts?"
"Nah Sam I doubt it," Miles said, "This is Lucas we're talking about. Don't you remember like a couple weeks ago he was ready to burn all gays to the ground?"
"I know a couple weeks ago he would have burned me to the ground if I said that." Sam snickered, "But seriously though, what changed? All you told us was that you fixed your shit with Noah and that you didn't hate gays anymore, but you didn't tell us how it happened."
"Let's just say someone talked some sense into me."
"We've been trying to talk sense into you for the past year and a half." Alex stated with a roll of his eyes.
Lucas hated to admit it but the elder had a point. These were his friends whom he had known pretty much all his life and they kept trying to get him to make up with Noah but couldn't do anything. Yet this one guy he hardly knew did it so easily. Or at least it started with him.
So what was it about Elijah?
"What happened happened. What's important is that it's over now." He said finally, shoving some fries into his mouth.
"Well since you guys are partners now, why don't we go sit with him? I mean yeah he's awkward as fuck and all but if he's your friend then he's ours as well." Miles suggested.
"No thank you. I don't want you guys ruining him." Lucas wasn't sure why but the words came out of his mouth on their own accord. As cold as Elijah was, he had the innocence of a five-year-old. He was almost a little too innocent for this harsh world. Lucas didn't think the guy had ever even kissed anyone before. Secretly, he was glad Elijah didn't drink anything in the party because if he got drunk, knowing the girls in his school, they would take full advantage of the situation. Even though the two were just a year apart, Lucas felt somehow protective of him. And he knew what too much exposure to the ratchet people at their high school could do to him (the sole reason he lost his virginity at fifteen).
But Elijah... he was like a breath of fresh air in that place.
"Oh, we'll ruin him? If anything we'd protect him from the likes of you." Sam retorted.
"Okay I know I'm a pig and everything but I definitely don't want him turning out like me."
"Why are we talking like he's some sort of toddler, anyway? I'm pretty sure the guy can take care of himself. He did it for this long." Chris cut in.
"Because he's a year younger than everyone in our grade." Lucas answered. Though it was true. Elijah was very much able to take care of himself. He wasn't one to be indented by what others said. He didn't feel the need to fit in or do something just because everyone else did it. Lucas knew he was perfectly capable of handling himself.
But he thought of it this way. Even if Elijah was bulletproof, Lucas didn't want the bullets hitting him anyway.
"Clearly smarter, too." Alex pointed out, "Well, I'm up for it. Let's go sit with him. A friend of Lucas is a friend of ours."
"Right behind you!" Sam stood up from his seat with his lunch tray and the rest followed suit. Lucas wanted to tell the guys not to because he knew how much Elijah liked his peace and quiet and these guys were anything but. But seeing that they were already halfway to his booth, he stood up with a sigh and ran after them, wanting to take the seat next to Elijah before any of the rest could. The latter jumped in surprise when he saw Lucas and four grinning boys plopping themselves down at his table.
"Hey!" Miles waved excitedly with his signature creepy grin, earning a confused look and a brief wave of Elijah's hand.
"I tried to tell them not to do this but they insisted." Lucas said apologetically in Elijah's ear, sighing.
"It's okay." Elijah shrugged as the book in his hand was suddenly snatched away by a curious Sam.
"Whatcha reading?" The boy asked as he examined the cover of the book before skimming through the pages, "It's gotta be interesting if you're reading it all the time."
"It's about the everyday struggles of a guy who lost all his limbs in a war." Elijah briefly explained, voice as monotonous as ever, making Sam freeze.
"Well that's... depressing." He stated, placing the book back on the table. Elijah was a little annoyed now that he lost the page he was on but didn't say anything. "I was gonna borrow it from you if it was one of those smutty vampire stories. Of course I was only gonna read the smut." He muttered the last part and winked like it was some sort of secret although everyone at the table heard it.
Lucas face-palmed as Chris and Alex simultaneously rolled their eyes at their openly perverted friend.
"Don't mind Sam. He'll never do anything for the sake of education. That is why, as you can see, he is mentally challenged." Chris stated as he took a sip of his soda.
Sam scoffed, "Says the guy who needed a calculator to find two plus two."
"At least I'm not the one that used to think octopuses were reptiles."
"Are you seriously gonna hold that against me for the rest of my life?" Sam asked indignantly.
"Until the day I die."
"I hope you die soon."
"Oh my God can you guys shut up?" Lucas groaned. He was just as crazy as his friends really, but he still couldn't help but feel second hand embarrassment at the moment. However, when he saw that Elijah had a small amused smile on his face, he found himself smiling too. It had been a while since he saw Elijah actually smiling. He had tried so much to cheer the guy up for the past few days but nothing seemed to work. Who could blame him though? Someone he really liked and had feelings for had left, probably to never come back ever again. Elijah was handling it quite well on the outside to be completely honest, but it was still obvious that he was hurting.
"These two are always like that." Alex said with a snicker, "Anyways, how are you finding dance classes, Elijah?" He asked, being the only other sane person at the table.
"It's uh... A lot of fun." Elijah wasn't lying, dancing was the only other thing that made him happy, now that his friend was gone.
"I know, right? I used to go too, but I stopped when I realized I wanted to be a pilot. Dancing is great and all but aviation is my true aspiration."
"Oh, that's great... What about you guys?" Elijah asked the others at the table, wanting to keep some sort of conversation going and not being an awkward turtle for once.
"Me and Yoda here are also going for performing arts." Sam said, pointing at Miles, "Music, to be exact. He might not look it but he plays the guitar and the drums and I'm an incredible singer, not to brag of course."
"Right." Lucas muttered under his breath as Elijah laughed softly. Lucas couldn't help but notice how his eyes scrunched up into little crescents when he laughed. Like, it was something he always knew was there but now he was like noticing noticing it, like really paying attention to it, if that made any sense.
Eye smile and a sweet fucking ass. Can I kill this guy?
With charms like that, Lucas wondered how the blonde was even still a virgin. How come Elijah never noticed the way girls, super hot ones at that, ogled him? Lucas swore he could see them undressing him with their eyes sometimes and all he wanted to do was throw a blanket over the guy and sprinkle holy water on those girls. And he wasn't even a religious person. As he said before, he was starting to feel protective of the younger and hated the way girls stared at him like he was a piece of meat. Lucas would rather they stared at him like that instead, but not at Elijah. Elijah was too pure for this world.
"I'm just gonna finish school and become a model." Chris said with a shrug.
"Yeah, he's too confident for his own good." Sam commented. It was obvious to Elijah those two liked to bicker a lot.
"My looks are something I'll never question. Plus I got the height for it." Chris said with a cocky grin.
"No you're just freakishly tall."
"Ladies, you're both pretty." Miles cut them off, "But I think we should get to class now. Lunch break's over."
"Aw man, but we just got here!" Sam pouted, "Well, Eli, don't freak out if you see us sitting here again tomorrow. See ya around! Come on, Yoda." Sam dragged the giant along with him by the ear as the latter grunted in pain.
"You guys go ahead. I'll walk Eli to class."
"I can walk by myself." Elijah mumbled under his breath as he stood up, waving at Alex and Chris who were leaving.
"Come on, partner. What do you have now?" Lucas asked as he led them out of the cafeteria.
"Chemistry. I can go alone, you know. You'll be late for class." Elijah said.
"That's okay. I'm known for being fashionably late, anyway." Lucas grinned, "Sorry about my friends, by the way. I know they're really crazy and all but they're harmless."
"It's okay. They're pretty funny. Just a little too noisy."
"Well you can always read your vampire smut some other time." Lucas remarked, smirking.
"It's not vampire smut. This a real story with a message. But you're too dumb to understand that kind of stuff anyway."
"Says who?" Lucas gasped, offended, "Of course I can!"
"Oh really?"
"Yeah! In fact, I'll read the goddamn book to prove it."
Elijah froze, turning to look at Lucas with a raised eyebrow, "Really? You're gonna read a book?" The words sounded almost alien to the blonde.
"Yup! I'll finish it off in a week, too!" Curse Lucas for being a little too competitive for his own good. He just always had to prove himself no matter what, even he if he knew fucking sucked at some stuff. That didn't stop him.
Elijah looked at him, amused, "Okay." He nodded slowly, handing Lucas the book. The first thing Lucas did was turn to the last page and he gasped.
"Six hundred fucking pages? What the fuck?"
"So you give up then?"
Lucas scoffed, "Lucas Kim never gives up."
...
"Make that two weeks though."
"Your class trip will be next week." Ms. Johnson, their homeroom teacher, announced, "We're gonna go camping for three days."
Elijah tapped his fingers against his desk in disinterest while the rest of the class cheered excitedly. Soon after, everyone was engrossed in giddy conversation about their plans for the trip. Elijah didn't really care much though, he had never gone on a class trip before. Ever since he was young, his parents told him it was a 'waste of time'. That's simply how it's been for so many years that he simply didn't care anymore. After their homeroom teacher dismissed them, Lucas quickly made his way over to the blonde.
"So you going on that trip?"
"Nah." Elijah replied with a shrug, making the elder pout.
"Why not?"
"Yeah, why not, Eli?" Sam appeared from behind Lucas, throwing an arm around the younger, "No air conditioners, no Wi-Fi, peeing and pooping behind bushes, tons of mosquitoes and the best part, five guys sleeping together in a cramped tent alongside spiders and cockroaches. What's not to like?"
Lucas scowled and pushed Sam's face away, effectively unwrapping his arm from around Elijah, which strangely satisfied him.
"Forget what Sam said. It'll be fun." Lucas urged, "And it's your senior year. If you don't go on a class trip now, when will you?"
Elijah sighed, "I'm just not interested."
"Lucas is right though." Miles pointed out, "Come on, what will you lose? You might really end up having a lot of fun. Plus you're with us, we'll make sure you do."
"Yeah totes, bruh. We're like the most hilarious and awesome bunch of people in this entire school. You can't not have fun with us." Sam said casually, sassily picking at his nails.
"For once I agree with the shorty." Lucas grinned, "Besides, you should try coming out of your comfort zone sometimes. As comfortable as your comfort zone is, coming out of it has a beauty of its own."
Elijah sighed at Lucas’ miserable attempt at being poetic. But he hated the fact that the brunette had a good point. Last year of high school... might as well, right?
"...Okay." He muttered, albeit hesitantly.
"Hell yeah!" Sam threw his fist up in the air while Lucas grinned happily when he heard the blonde agree.
"That's more like it." Miles grinned his signature creepy grin and threw his arm around Elijah. Lucas glared at the giant thinking, What's up with people throwing their arms around him all the time? He's obviously uncomfortable with it.
As they walked out into the hall, Lucas pushed Miles away and wrapped his own arm around Elijah instead. Miles threw him at 'what the hell?' look and Lucas childishly stuck his tongue out at him.
"He was my friend first, hoe."
Miles simply rolled his eyes at his friend and let the matter slide while Elijah furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at the elder's odd behavior. Gosh, he sounds almost possessive, he thought.
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