The Red Lounge

Chapter 44

"Elijah," I beamed quietly as I opened the door. My face shifted from enjoyment to confusion. "Xavier, what are you doing here?"

He weakly leaned on the door frame and looked past me. "I... I came to say...s-s-sorry," he drawled out.

"Oh God, you're drunk," I sighed and helped him into the apartment. Most of his body weight was on me and I struggled to get him properly on the couch without making any noise.

"What are you sorry about?" I asked, irritated.

"About earlier... the E-Elijah thang," he said, moving his hands around.

I ran into the kitchen and grabbed a slice of bread. I handed it to him and told him to eat up. I always saw my mom giving Hal a slice of bread whenever he walked into the house drunk. She said that it helped absord the alcohol. I'm not sure if it was true, but I gave it a try.

"Mmm..bread..." Xavier smiled.

I rolled my eyes and then quickly perked up when I heard little knocks coming from the door. "Oh shit," I muttered.

Xavier attempted to stand up. "I'll beat them up!"

I pushed him back onto the couch. "Its Elijah. Plus, keep your voice down, Pia is sleeping."

"Shhhhhhhh..."

"Oh my God," I muttered as I walked towards the door.

"Baby," Elijah smiled as he cupped my chin with his hand. He noticed that excitement wasnt reciprocated. "What's wrong?"

I opened the door further and revealed a drunk Xavier.

"Yo, what up," Xavier greeted as he gave a weak peace sign.

"He's drunk. Did you guys drink?"

"No, he literally came about three minutes ago. I'm not even sure if he drove or walked."

Elijah stared at Xavier. "He walked. I saw someone walking around the neighborhood. I thought it was a homeless man, so I ignored it."

"I have a home. A big home," Xavier interjected as he wiggled his eyebrows.

Elijah cocked his head to the side and took a step forward. He was threatened by Xavier's sexual innuendo.

I delicately grabbed Elijah by his coat and pulled him close to me. "Ignore him. He's drunk, remember."

"What are you going to do with him?" He asked, clearly annoyed by Xavier's presence. "Do you want to go to my place?"

"No, I'm worried he'll wake Pia up. She'll end up killing him if he destroys the place. Let's just go to my room. He looks like he's about to pass out." We both stared at Xavier who was slowly leaning toward his side.

I threw a blanket over Xavier and proceeded to grab Elijah's hand to pull him away from the embarrassing scene. I quietly closed the bedroom door and collapsed onto the bed.

"I'm really sorry."

Elijah started stripping everything down except for his boxers and slid into the bed. "Its okay, I understand where he is coming from."

I turned to my side and faced him. "What do you mean?"

Elijah sighed and shifted around. "Morena, it's obvious Xavier is in love with you. He became drunk and walked miles to come see you. Theres always a deep rooted reason for an intoxicated person to do that. He loves you and I can understand why."

I felt like heart lowered into my stomach. I knew that Xavier liked me and it was obvious from his behavior when I introduced Elijah but love? I couldn't believe it. We were best friends and there was nothing romantic, at least on my side anyways. What was going through Elijah's mind?