This is the Result of One Question?

33. Winter Break

I had no idea how January went so fast. Like, there was New Years – by the way, my lips are still a virgin – that went by like a flash of lightning in a speedo on fire, and then January was completely boring. I mean, I literally did nothing except for go out with Eli whenever he decided to pick me up, and that didn’t really end up well most of the time.

“Shouldn’t we talk about…” I would always let the obvious question linger, not knowing if I should bring up the topic of ‘us’. I didn’t even know if I could go through with the conversation without feeling completely embarrassed.

“Talk about what?” Eli asked smartly as he drove. He would never look at me, only the road, but I could always see that he was raising an eyebrow. I sighed in annoyance. He knew darn well what I was talking about!

“You know what I mean, Eli!” I say, tired of not knowing what to call us. He gave me a promise ring for Christmas. Yeah, I know that it technically isn’t a ‘promise ring’ until Eli and I are ‘official’, but that just means there’s something that’s going to happen in the future! Why can’t he just talk to me about it? He knows that it’s been bugging me to no end.

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

“There is something to talk about, Eli! If there wasn’t, then why would you give me this?” I asked grabbing at my necklace. Eli glares; he always glares.

“Don’t bring that into this, Cassia.”

“That? Then you shouldn’t have gotten it for me in the first place!” I yell, feeling angry that he was getting mad at me for pointing out the obvious. “I guess that means that I shouldn’t have given you the picture, hmm?” I scoff, and so does Eli.

“What do you want me to say, Cassia?”

“I don’t want you to actually say something –”

“Here you go again with these mixed signals –”

“There wouldn’t be any mixed signals if you would let me talk, and actually contribute to the conversation, Eli Anderson!” I yell, crossing my arms. “What is this? What are we supposed to call us?”

“I don’t know!” Eli yelled, breaking at this point every time. “We’re friends!”

“Friends don’t give other friends promise rings! Friends don’t kiss each other’s foreheads like you do mine, or holds their hands!”

“Well then!” Eli says, slamming his hands on the wheel. I didn’t even jump; the more we tried to talk about us, the more I got used to this. It was the same routine every time. “Should I just take the ring back then?” Eli scoffs. “I’ll give you the picture frame back too, if that would make you happy. Then we would be able to know what to call each other; friends. I won’t kiss your forehead, or hold your hand to stop you from pulling out you hair.” I glared at him through narrowed eyes, fuming at the same result this always brought us to.

“Take me home,” I order in an irked tone.

“Gladly,” Eli forces out through clenched teeth. He would always make a sharp U-turn, whether it was legal or not, and pushed on the gas, quickly getting me home.

Yep, that was how we reacted every single time I brought up the conversation. We fought so many times I lost count, and it made me think if this was really worth it. I mean, I know all “healthy relationships needed to have some controversy” and all that crap, but we were only teenagers. I didn’t want to fight with my boyfriend; that was for after we were married and were getting too old to actually care about anything else!