Social Suicide (Texting Harry Styles)

1

MONDAY, OCTOBER 15 2018

"Wake up."

I ignored the voice, placing all my focus on staying asleep.

"Wake up!"

I sat up long enough to throw a remote at him, then slammed my head back on my pillow.

"Did you really just throw this at me?" Elijah flung my comforter off me, making me groan. "Let's go. I gotta talk to you."

My face still smushed in my pillow, I mumbled, "There's this thing... called a phone."

"Get your ass up. We're gonna be late. Class starts in forty-five minutes."

"I have a hangover. I'll go tomorrow."

"You can't. It's Monday. We have a test."

"Get the fuck out of my room, Elijah."

"I will when you get up."

I huffed, rolling out of bed, turning my body so I would land on my knees. I clung to the sheets with my eyes closed, not ready for the day.

"Where's Molly?" I asked.

"Where else? Getting coffee." He rolled his eyes. He hates coffee. "Hurry. I'll be in the hall. If I don't hear the shower running in two minutes, I'm coming back in."

I raised my middle finger up as he shut my door behind him.

"Fucking Elijah."

Jacob whined, and I turned to face my German Shepherd sitting up in his bed.

"What?" I asked him.

Molly's cat, Binx, was purring next to him.

Usually it's Molly, my roommate, who wakes me up in the morning. I always sleep too heavily and never hear my alarm.

I guess she left early and probably called Elijah to come over and annoy me awake.

"Noelle!" he yelled from right outside my bedroom.

"Fucking. Elijah," I repeated.

I trudged to my bathroom and turned on the shower water so he would shut up.

I laid out jeans and a striped sweater on my bed before tying my hair in a bun since I didn't have enough time to wash it. The hot water helped my headache a little and massaged the knots in my shoulders.

As soon as I opened my bedroom door, Elijah held out a glass of orange juice and a packet of Goody's medicine.

I scrunched up my face in disgust before downing them both.

"Thanks."

"Yeah. We have twenty minutes, come on." He took my hand and led me to his car.

"Did you say you had to talk to me?" I asked a few minutes after he pulled onto the main road.

"Yeah. Mason called me."

"What did he want?"

"To apologize. Rightfully fucking so. I hung up on him."

"Well, he cheated on you. I would hope you wouldn't listen to his bullshit excuse."

"Then he texted me. He wants to meet with me."

"Want me to kick his ass?"

He laughed once, no trace of humor in it. After a beat, he asked, "What did you do when Matt cheated on you?"

I cringed. "That was different. We weren't together that long. We didn't know each other the way you and Mason know each other."

"He cheated nonetheless," he pointed out. I shrugged.