CHAPTER 42:
Bright, white light flashes to my left, notifying me of some update on someone's life somewhere in the whole wide world. Aqua sweeps past my disrupted focus, courtesy of my bedroom door, proceeded by my boyfriend sauntering in with two glasses of different juices clutched in his hands. "You got a text message." He nosily sings in an attempt to be playful and lighten the 'tense air' I create 'whenever' I study. Eli extends his left arm toward me, offering the plastic orange cup I'd purchased weeks ago from Target that is now filled with cranberry-grape juice.
My shoulders rise and fall in indifference at the obvious update of my technology, attempting to focus solely on my handwriting lining pages upon pages of notes for our upcoming test. However, instead of altering his extended arm in my direction to place the cup on the nightstand instead, my heart caves the outwardly serious demeanor and forces my hands to meet his to retrieve my drink. "So when is your girl's night with Aisha?" His body carefully leans forward to place his cup down on my nightstand without spilling the juice over the edge from the clearly overfilled glass.
The heaviness of blue light exhausted eyes that are additionally strained by the squinting at my own curved lines for an even impossibly longer amount of time silently screams at me to take a break. Freed from my left hand that takes sole responsibility for the weight of my cup, my right hand grasps my notebook and places the bundle of pages on top of my laptop keyboard. My lips purse on the top edge of the circular object, stealing a gulp to quench my desire for the cranberry-grape taste lingering on my tongue. "Saturday. That was probably her reminding me of her guidelines for it." Shifting the cup between hands, my right arm extends to set my cup besides his full of orange juice.
Eli's left eyebrow raises in curiosity at my choice of words, "Guidelines?"
"Yeah." My eyes return to his face for a spare moment, reading the new expression adorning his face. His hum vibrates across the room and my eyes roll at the ever so inquisitive nature of his when 'mysteries' or 'unknowns' to him arise. "She wants me to wear something to coincide with her outfit and certain snacks at certain times so it feels like we are in the same place again." A slight sadness begins to bubble in the center of my chest at the acknowledgement that my most neutral and quite literally BEST friend is so far away from me.
Averting from him to conceal the possibly visible dampening in my expression, my eyes settle upon the pile of notes I really should be getting back to. Sensing Eli observing my suddenly changed mood, I decide to give him something else to occupy his mind. "Can you see what she sent?"
It takes him a moment to peel his eyes away from me, but he gently bobs his head up and down in acceptance of my task. My eyes return to the printed numbers on the page discussing how numbers are to be multiplied, subtracted, and graphed, half listening for his outloud read of the message. "Z- Robby messaged you."
Stunned speechless by shock, I stop my half-lean forward toward my notebook and instead crawl across the space until I'm on the edge of my bed. Eli wordlessly tilts the screen to face me so I can get a clear reading.
How about those tacos and quesadillas on Jericho?
How the hell am I supposed to respond? My body weight settles back onto the tops of my heels to give me the physical space away from the screen in some attempt to form some sort of well- constructed response to his invitation on an offer I'd made him in his time of need. "Can I tell him 'hell no'?" My boyfriend makes his position very clear on the subject and my eyes snap up to meet his. However, his gaze is solely trained on the digital screen with perfectly fonted words of possible doom. The same type that had doomed me to facing Mike Barnes, Kreese, and the topic of my father all at once on the grounds of my personal sanctuary.
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In My Blood (Eli Moskowitz/Hawk FF) (Cobra Kai)
Fanfiction"...be fearless and stand up for what's right even when it is the hardest thing to do..." Perhaps it was poor advice whispered softly in Zelena Bloom's ear while her mother carefully cradled her between her arms as a child. Some sense of sweet nothi...
