Elijah McCay and Me

Vol. 2: Fourteen

VOL. 2: CHAPTER FOURTEEN

I can't look away. Jeremiah is snuggled up next to her, his face hurried into the side of her neck as she giggles, playfully pushing at his chest. He whispers into her ear and her cheeks flush a reddish color.

I tear my eyes away from the scene, finding Elijah's glued to mine. He looks utterly confused, leaning in closer to me. "Gage, how do you know him?"

I laugh a bitter laugh, my eyes beginning to burn.

"He's the guy," I whisper out, my voice wavering with fury, "he's the guy from last night."

Elijah wears a blank stare. Although, I know his mind isn't anywhere blank due to the clenching in his jaw and the way he blinks calmly, steadily almost—even while he's anything but.

The stare he gives me is almost accusatory, like he's afraid to ask what's he's thinking. Like I'd give him an answer he can't handle.

"Gage," he says lowly, bending his neck the slightest bit so that we're now face-to-face. His hand returns to my elbow, like earlier. My eyes never leave his while I push back the urge to let my tears fall. "Did you know that Jeremiah was with Sabine?"

My stomach clenches, the embarrassment and shame swindling in my gut. Even though technically, I had nothing to be ashamed of.

Jeremiah however, did.

"What?" I spit out, anger already fuming inside of my chest, now a small percentage of it aimed at the man in front of me. "How—How could you ever ask me that? Of course I didn't know he had a girlfriend. Do you really think I'd let him touch me if I knew he did?"

Elijah doesn't answer me, seeming to put that end of the matter at rest. He turns, looking in Jeremiah's direction again.

I can practically see the wheels turning inside of his head, debating what he should do about the situation. I latch onto his shoulder with my hand, trying to gather his attention before he does something he can't take back, and gets us both kicked out of school.

"Elijah?" He doesn't look at me. But begins a slow walk away from me and over to where Jeremiah stands by the door, Sabine tucked into the crook of his underarm.

I follow quickly behind, muttering a quiet "shit, shit, shit".

He pushes through small groups of people, while still managing to spare them a small, "my bad" and a quick, "excuse me".

I try and latch back onto his shoulder before he's reached Jeremiah. But just as I've caught up, Jeremiah is looking up at us with wide, guilt-ridden eyes. His arm almost immediately falls from Sabine's tiny shoulder.

She looks up at Elijah and I with curious beady brown eyes, finally landing on him. "Eli, what're you doing here?"

Just as she's finished speaking, I interrupt before he can speak. This isn't how a woman should find out her boyfriend is sleeping with another man. Behind her back. "Elijah, please—this is not the right time. I'll deal with this later."

Sabine's eyes meet mine, confusion written all over her face. She seems kind. I wonder what she's doing with a guy like Jeremiah. "What's going on?" She rephrases, a little louder this time, as if we hadn't heard her the first time around.

"Why don't you ask your boyfriend?" Now that he's said that, all eyes seem to be on Jeremiah, who stands there silently, with his jaw hanging open like he has absolutely no idea what Elijah's talking about.

And every time his eyes find mine, his cheeks flush a deep red.

"What are you—" she pauses when noticing that Jeremiah doesn't seem to have any courage to defend himself nor explain what the hell's going on. "Babe, what is Eli talking about?"

Jeremiah's chest starts to rapidly rise and fall with every question that's thrown at him, an offended look placed on his already flushed face.

"W-What do you mean? How am I s-supposed to know what he's talking about? You're the one who's friends with him." He sputters.

Elijah laughs and the sound is frightening on its own, along with the darkened shade of his usually bright green eyes. I'm grateful the look isn't directed toward me.

"You know exactly what the fuck I'm talking about." Elijah's voice booms on the walls of the overcrowded bar, and I jump.

Not wanting this to go any further, I grab Elijah's hand, forcing him to look at me. "That's enough, Elijah—I told you I would deal with this later. Let's just leave."

Even with the burning ball of anger and embarrassment I have rising in my chest, first priority is getting Elijah to step away from the situation. It could only ever end badly.

"No, one of you needs to tell me what's going on. Like, now," Sabine says to me, giving me the same accusatory look Elijah did only a few minutes ago.

My chest clenches in guilt.

"Nothings going on, Sab," Jeremiah says lowly into Sabine's ear, her attention going right back to him. "Look, can you just grab us a round of drinks, baby?" He ends his sentence with that same charming smile he sent me the first night we hooked up. The gesture renders me sick to my stomach.

She hesitates, "are you sure everything's okay?"

Jeremiah nods calmly, watching as Sabine walks away and over to the bar.

"You're such a lying piece of shit," I spit as soon as Sabine is out of earshot. Elijah stands quietly right before me, letting me say my peace. "How could you not tell me that you had a girlfriend?"

Jeremiah snorts, menacing eyes meeting mine. "You never asked."

I take a short step toward him, "don't be a smartass," I say, surprising myself with how many curse words are leaving my mouth. I guess that's what happens when you're lied to. "You knew that I never would've let you touch me if I knew that you were with someone."

"Look, I don't know why you're so pissed off, Gage," he says lowly, like he doesn't want Elijah to overhear. "It was just sex—it's really not that big of a deal."

I'm at a loss for words almost, in utter shock that Jeremiah could ever see things that way. Sure, we were only hooking up. But that wouldn't lessen Sabine's pain when she inevitably found out what we did.

"You're such an idiot, of course its a big deal."

"Really?" Jeremiah holds a smug smile, "because you didn't ask too many questions before jumping into bed with me in the first place. Maybe I would've had the chance to tell I had a girlfriend if you would've spent more time talking to me, and not riding my dick—"

"That's enough!" I push at his chest, putting an acceptable amount of space between the two of us. The last thing I want is him talking about the intimate details of our time together with Elijah standing right next to me. "I'm done with this. Don't ever talk to me again."

I grab onto Elijah's hand again, pulling him toward the exit.

Then, I hear a quiet laugh, followed by a subtle, "slut."

Elijah throws a punch before I even have a chance to turn around.