MY BEST FRIEND ELI ⁂ E.M.

CHAPTER TWO

Eli watched his two friends wack each other with the fake swords in the Halloween costume store. "Oh there goes your leg," Flossie joked, slamming the plastic into the side of Demetri's leg. "There goes your other one! Woah! Hit to the face. You'd be so dead right now dude," she laughed.

Demetri rolled his eyes, shoving his faux sword back into the display. "Yeah whatever," he muttered. "If it were actually real I would have the force anyway, so you'd be the one dead."

Flossie lowered her sword now too. "If this were real, I would still kick your ass," she mused, still pretending to hit him.

Eli smiled shyly, "okay we get it," he stated, taking the sword from her. "We seriously need to pick costumes. The dance is this week," he convinced his two friends.

"Are we even sure we want to go?" Flossie asked concerned. "It's gonna suck. We'll stand in the corner watching everyone have a good time and all it would be is a waste of money on a good costume," she crossed her arms in front of her chest in protest. "I say we go trick-or-treating. Free candy!"

Demetri scoffed at this. "That's just asking for us to get egged... again," he jeered back at her. "Plus, Yasmine will be at the dance. I could admire from a distance watching her destroy another man's potential."

The girl frowned at this. She never liked her close friend crushing on Yasmine, especially after she made fun of him so often. But alas, he walked off to go find some ridiculous costume that he wouldn't touch a day after the 31st.

"I didn't think it's a bad idea," Eli replied to his friend. Flossie smiled at him, grateful for his support. "At least not one of the worst ones you had," he scrunched up his nose remembering the year she forced the two boys to walk through the haunted house with her.

Flossie didn't want them to know she was afraid to go through it alone, but the boys just thought she was trying to give them nightmares for weeks.

"Guess that's true," she agreed, looking around at the costumes. "How 'bout this, we can all be Ninja Turtles," she threw up her hands like she was about to fight and Eli shook his head.

"Need four people for that," he says bluntly, looking around too now. Flossie threw her head back childishly, groaning at how indecisive she was.

"This sucks," she stated, leaning against one of the racks in the store. "Why did we wait until last minute?"

Eli didn't respond though, he was too busy looking at something on his phone. Flossie noticed this, his expression fell and his lips turned down in disappointment.

"What's wrong?" She asked, now peering over his shoulder at whatever he was looking at. Her fist balled up in rage when she saw the post on his phone.

@Yasmine:
Geek alert. Go check your lawn mowers. Lip looks like he just went down on one of them.
P.S. That's the effin' ugliest sweater I've ever seen.

Flossie yanked the phone from Eli's hand, locking it so he couldn't see the tweet anymore. "What a bitch," she muttered under her breath. "Don't even worry about it, Eli. After high school she'll realize that her biggest accomplishment in life was her social status at sixteen."

Eli fumbled, taking his phone back and tucking it into his pocket. "Yeah but we have to deal with her until then," he almost whispered.

He felt bad, in more ways then one. He could tell his best friend was trying to make him feel better, but nothing she could say in that moment would lift his spirits. Flossie didn't like that, she didn't like that she couldn't make it all better for him.

Just as she was about to rebut his statement, Demetri walked up to the two with a cloak on. "Do you think this accentuates my masculine figure?" He asked curiously, but the two friends almost busted out in laughter.

Demetri didn't seem to get what they were laughing at though, as he was completely serious in his questioning. But alas, the once down mood had been lifted and the three left the store the way they had entered, the best of friends.

Flossie sat on the handlebars of Eli's bike as the two rode toward her house to drop her off. They've done this since Flossie's bike got beaten to scraps of metal by Kyler and his gang of yes-men when she left it chained up outside the movies a few weeks ago.

Eli couldn't really see over her, but she would direct him or tell him when to stop. She felt bad, but a bike wasn't in her means of buying right now. She was lucky she even got new clothes.

They stopped in front of her yard and Flossie hopped off. "Thanks," she muttered, backpedaling a few steps towards her house.

"Don't forget to do your part of the lab!" Demetri called out to her. "I'm not doing it for you like last year."

Flossie rolled her eyes, but nodded anyway. "I will," she groaned. Before she stepped inside, she shot Eli a look, silently telling him to come over through her window later on.

She hoped he understood what she was trying to say and headed straight to her room to avoid any conversation with her dad.

The two boys, though, still sat outside for a few minutes after she entered the home. They could see her in her room through the front window.

Flossie glanced at the chemistry book for a moment before tossing it to the side. Demetri grumbled at this, "I'm gonna end up doing the lab all alone, aren't I?"

Eli didn't answer his question though, only kept staring with a small smile at her disgusted demeanor.

"God, will you stop gawking like a school girl, and just ask her on a date already?" He said to Eli who widened his eyes like he were an animal caught in headlights.

He stammered, "wh-what? Why would I do that?" He questioned accusingly.

"Because it's so obvious you're obsessed with her," Demetri laughed. "Oh Flossie! You want me to hold your books? Flossie! Of course I'll go see that dumb chick-flick at the cinema with you. Oh-"

"Would you quit it," Eli sneered. "She's gonna hear you."

"Good, I hope she does. I mean at the rate you're going, the only way you'll ever have a shot with her is if she makes the first move anyway," Demetri stated obviously, kicking up the stand of his bike ready to take off.

Eli shook his head in certainty. "She wouldn't. We're just friends," he stated with disappointment laced in his tone.

"Yeah, tell that to her when she asks you to sneak over again tonight," Demetri laughed as he rode off down the street.

Eli bit the inside of his cheek nervously but still hurried off to follow his friend and not get left behind.

He couldn't imagine a world where Flossie could possibly look at him that way. After all, he saw what Yasmine said, and he wouldn't be surprised if the girl silently agreed with it.

Sure, Flossie was a geek, but she was still way out of his league. Eli was convinced he would be forever vying for a bit of her attention and she would forever be oblivious to his dying crush.