The Beauty of Living | ON HOLD

10. i trusted you

coastline — hollow coves

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g a b r i e l l a

GABRIELLA WASN'T SURE what was going on at this point. Tension filled the atmosphere of screaming children and video game noises. The blonde haired boy, whose name was Trevor, had a smirk etched onto his face. Elliot, on the other hand, wore a shocked expression.

"Who are you?" the brunette asked Trevor with a harsh tone in her voice. She could tell Elliot didn't want to see the blonde boy.

"Just an old pal of Elliot's," Trevor responded, the same smirk not bothering to leave his face. He turned towards the raven haired boy. "Right, Eli?"

"Is Sierra with you?" the boy asked, ignoring Trevor's earlier statement.

Who was Sierra? The girl felt utterly confused about what was going on; why was there much tension between the two?

Not long after, a girl with dark brown hair and a smile on her face walked up behind Trevor and wrapped her arms around his torso and paid no attention to the boy and girl standing in front of them. An abrupt cough came from Elliot, and she wasn't sure if it would because he wanted their attention or if it was because of his sickness. But it certainly did get their attention.

"E-Elliot?" the dark brown haired girl stammered, her icy blue eyes widening in the process.

"Sierra. . . I. . ." the sick boy trailed off, being at a loss of words. Gabriella had seen him torn and pained, but not like this. This was an entirely different type of pain.

     The pastel blue dress she wore was how Elliot felt— blue. It was all over his face, especially his eyes. He hadn't looked his broken since Gabriella's mother died. That was when the petite girl had gone through days of brokenness and sadness— the same brokenness he had felt seeing her like that.

     "How've you been, Elliot?" Sierra asked softly, too afraid to speak to him like anybody else, probably because he was sick.

     "You left me," Elliot finally mustered up the courage to speak after a minute. "I trusted you, and you left me."

     "I'm so sorry," the chocolate haired girl apologized, but even Gabriella could tell that it was only partially genuine. "You were— are sick. You know I couldn't have gone on with that."

     "Why does that change anything about me?" Elliot asked, anger and frustration now lacing his voice.

     "It doesn't—" Sierra started but was soon cut off by the raven haired boy.

     "Yeah, well, it apparently does," he replied, coldly staring at both Sierra and Trevor. "Enough for you to run to my best friend after leaving me."

     No more words were spoken after that. The blonde haired boy had an indescribable look on his face. Gabriella couldn't tell if it was sympathy or him being a jerk, but the girl hoped it wasn't the latter. She knew it probably was, though.

     Elliot didn't deserve to be treated like he was below anyone.

Gabriella suddenly regretted bringing him here, but how could she had known any better? She intertwined her hand into Elliot's, and she could feel how tense he was. The girl squeezed his hand, and he started to slowly calm down, though his emotions were skyrocketed.