Who's Fault?

Chapter Six

It had been a few days since Eli helped me through that panic attack. He was acting very strange. He barely spoke to me and he looked on edge all the time, like he was anticipating something to happen. When I asked him what was going on, he said that it was "nothing to worry your pretty little mind over" and that he was fine. It's free probably because he thinks I'm a freak with crazy issues.

Xavier wouldn't leave me the fuck alone... ever! Every time I turned around, he was right there getting ready to talk to me or start shit with me and make me uncomfortable. It was starting to get to be a little much, but I could handle it. Yeah, right.

In hindsight, the shit Xavier did wasn't really that bad. It's just in the moment it freaked me out and got overwhelming. I can handle Xavier.

I was making my way to lunch when someone tapped me on my shoulder. I assumed I already knew who it was going to be, so I began speaking before I turned around all the way, "leave me alone, Xav-" You know what they say about assuming? "Sorry, Eli. I thought you were-"

"Xavier? He been bothering you, Birdie?" Eli asked me, seeming concerned.

"It's nothing I can't handle." I told him, smiling. "What's up?"

At that moment he seemed to remember his intentions when he approached me. The normal Eli that I usually saw, the one I liked, was gone; and the quiet, more timid one I got stuck with the past few days was back. He scratched the back of his head, like all guys seemed to do, before he spoke.

Why do they do that?

"Oh... I was just wondering. Would you like to catch a movie with me Friday and maybe grab a bite to eat?"

"Yeah, sounds like fun!" I said, glad things were back to normal.

He let out a breath, and started making his way back to his friends, "great. It's a date then!" He said, before jogging the rest of the way.

A date? Oh... oh... OH! I smiled to myself, a date! I made my way to my friends, completely forgetting about getting lunch.

My heart was beating rapidly as I thought about going on a date with Eli. Did I like him? Yes. Did I want to go out with him? Yes. However, I felt like I somehow made a mistake in saying I would. Like I was being stupid and hadn't learned my lesson. I began to think that he would be like every other guy I've gotten close to. It's just one date. Shut up. I tried to get my brain to stop its antics. But it didn't, never did.

I texted Chloe as I sat down at the lunch table with my friends even though she was sitting among them. I tried to be as cool about it as possible, 'Ya girl has a date on Friday! 😝' I looked in her direction waiting to see her reaction to the text.

When she did, she let out a quiet gasp and a smile lit up her face, 'let me guess!!! With Eli?!?! 😱😱'

'You guessed right.'

I didn't have to read the next text to know what she was going to say, 'seeee??? I told you he liked you'

'I know you did 😅' I sent before typing again, 'Anyway. We're going to the movies and maybe getting food? Will you come over and help me Friday?'

'absofuckinglutely,' was her one worded response.

I smiled and put my phone away, turning to talk to my other friends. They were talking about this ninja game we used to play. It's a form of freeze tag, but the group stands in a circle and you can only try to tag the person next to you. You can only tag them at their wrists or below with your hand. Once you make your attempt to tag you can't move unless you're dodging someone else. It sounds confusing but once you got the hang of it, it was quite fun.