MY BEST FRIEND ELI ⁂ E.M.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Flossie had texted Demetri a dozen times since she got home from practice— he still didn't answer.

It was past ten o'clock, and she still couldn't sleep. She knew she would be dreading school tomorrow if she didn't knock out soon, but it was bothering her that Demetri was ignoring her.

The girl sighed, plugging her phone into the charger and throwing it onto the nightstand. She stared up at the posters on her ceiling.

When they were freshmen, last year, Eli and her hung a bunch of posters and pictures on the ceiling of her bedroom so that she could stare at them when she couldn't sleep. There was a lot of different ones plastered up there, from movie posters to bands to pictures of celebrities.

It looked like a whole mess but Flossie loved it... because Eli did it.

She felt her eyes begin to flutter, getting heavy, and her breath slowed. When she was just about asleep she heard a loud noise that made her jump out of her bed and stand in a fighting position.

The window flung open, and Eli looked sheepishly at the girl, holding something in his hand. "Su-sorry," he stuttered. "Please don't punch me," Eli looked to her with wide eyes, remembering how she nailed Demetri in the jaw.

Flossie sighed, lowering her fists and sitting back on her bed. "I won't punch you," she said softly. "Demetri's still pissed at me."

Eli shrugged sitting next to her, unsure of himself, after closing the window. It was still so awkward between them and neither knew what to say.

"He'll get over it," Eli said quietly, holding out the comic book he had between his hands. Flossie looked over at it.

"What's that?" She asked curiously, looking at the boys hands. Flossie felt uncomfortable leaning over, or getting too close to him. She already embarrassed herself the other day, she didn't need to make him more awkward.

Eli, put the comic book in her hands lightly, as she still stared at it. "The Iron-Fist," he said simply. "It's a Marvel superhero. I heard Sensei Lawrence call you by that name and it reminded me of the comic book."

Flossie flushed, a red pattern dancing across her cheeks and she shrunk into herself. She held the comic book tighter, finally meeting Eli's eye, and smiling shyly.

"Thanks," she almost whispered, unable to tear her gaze from him.

Eli didn't do anything though, not even a simple nod, just stared her straight in the eyes— canopies of green trees in a rain forest.

The two inched closer, maybe not even realizing they were doing it. It wasn't until Eli could smell the minty, Colgate toothpaste on the girls breath that he realized they were almost kissing.

He looked down at her lips, then back into her eyes, feeling his palms sweat nervously. "Can I kiss you?" He whispered, scared of her answer — scared she would say no after he left her completely hanging for a day.

But Flossie nodded, "yes," she whispered back, connecting their lips.

The kiss was beautiful, crushingly so, it felt like childhood: like years of memories. Flossie could remember countless times the two would climb trees, they would climb until the world felt right.

It felt like the bird that was incased between her rib cage had finally been freed, and everything seemed to fall into it's place. When they finally pulled away, Flossie almost teared up... All those years she spent crushing on her best friend, all the times she almost told him, all the fear of being rejected, finally led up to this moment here.

"I'm sorry," Eli whispered carefully.

Flossie furrowed her eyebrows, still close to him. "What for?" She questioned.

Eli placed his hand over hers, looking away for a moment to find the right words. "I'm sorry for not saying anything the other day when you said you liked me. I'm an idiot," he stated giving a crooked look. "I was just so surprised you said that, and I felt so stupid cause I didn't say it first."

Flossie laughed, shaking her head lightly. "Crazy," she said barely above a whisper. "We could have figured this out a long time ago if we would have just said something."

The boy nodded, slightly humored. He just kissed his crush of eight years, nothing could kill his mood now.

"Don't worry," he said, with a glimmer of hope laced in his tone. "I'll be making the first moves from now on."

Flossie rolled her eyes. "Sure you will," she muttered, laying back onto the bed, humored.

What Flossie didn't know was that Eli was intent on keeping that promise. He felt so stupid— having Flossie defend him his whole life, being to scared to tell her he liked her only for her to do it first, and even today at the dojo: she had to stand up for him because he couldn't say anything.

Eli was leaving all that behind. He had to try, for Flossie.