“Aww, thanks for that, but I mean… like-like,” she says while I feel my face grow hot. I know what she means, and I don’t see any way to dodge the question.
“I’m not sure yet,” I reply honestly. I look away and smoke my cigarette.
“It’s really obvious, dude.”
“What? How?” I ask, my voice goes up an octave as I turn to face him. Elijah smiles as the smoke from his cigarette exits through his nose.
“You literally hugged for a whole minute yesterday,” He tells me. My stomach drops.
“You saw that?”
“And I heard all about it,” Cat tells me, chuckling.
I finish my cigarette and stub it out in a small ashtray beside us. Cat brings out her packet.
“Oh no no no, this is a two-cigarette conversation,” she tells me, which makes me laugh. It seems like I can’t get out of this. Elijah grabs another one too.
“So, how did you feel?” Elijah asks before lighting his second cigarette. “Did you get butterflies?”
“Maybe?”
“We’re not gonna tell him, give us the tea,” Cat tells me, moving closer to me. The town is so quiet at this time. It feelslike the three of us on this balcony are the only ones in the universe.
“Okay, I think Imightlike him. But?—”
“Oh no, there’s a but,” Elijah interjects.
“I’m not sure I want to get into a relationship right now,” I tell them. My hands fidget while I talk.
“And if we were to break up I would be unemployed, so there’s that,” I add.
“Oh my god, you aren’t even dating him yet, and you’re talking about the breakup. Don’t think that far ahead. I think you should go for it. Take a leap of faith,” Cat tells me, as she relights her cigarette.
“But if you did break up, I could get you a job in the boba shop. My mum owns it,” Elijah tells me. So Charlotte must be his Mum. You learn something new every day! He does remind me of her. They both have black hair, but Elijah’s is a wolf cut, unlike the straight hair his mum has.
“You’d do that for me?” I ask him, my heart fills with warmth. The corners of my mouth creep up to form a small smile.
“Of course, man, I like you. You’re pretty cool.”
“I agree,” Cat tells us, the smile on my face grows in size. This might be the alcohol, but I put my arms around them.
“Aw thanks, guys. I feel like we just had a moment there.”
Just as I say that, a massive crash sounds behind us. We all jump out our skin, swiftly turning around to see what the noise was. Elijah opens the sliding door. We all enter one by one. Glass shards cover the living room floor.
“Are you all okay?” I ask, my eyes locked on Teddy’s pale face. He looks like he’s just seen a ghost. Nobody moves; they’re all staring at the culprit of the noise. A brick with a white piece of paper taped to it. I pick it up slowly, wiping bits of debris off the brick. I take the piece of paper off the brick and unfold it. It simply reads: LEAVE in red writing.
“Who is that aimed at?” I ask the room. They all just stare at me in silence. Is it aimed at me? My heart beat quickens as anxiety fills my chest. Nobody says anything. The silence in the room fills my skull with images of my Mum receiving something similar. I was only young at the time, but it stuck with me. The way my mother went from smiling brightly to completely chalk white will forever haunt me.
“We don’t know who it was aimed at, all I know is that it’s going to get really cold in here now,” Eli says with a sigh.
“We should phone the police,” I tell him, pulling out my phone. I’m on the second nine before Teddy comes over and motions for me to put it away.
“You don’t have to phone the police, it’s fine. It was probably the kids from the skate park trying to be funny,” he tells me, which makes sense. Maybe the connection between this brick and the one thrown into my mother’s house is just a coincidence.
“Well, I guess it’s hoodies in the house from now on,” Cat says, clapping her hands together. I notice Teddy’s face, it resembles that of my mother’s all those years ago, completely chalk white like a ghost.
“Are you okay?” I ask him, my hand brushing against his. The tiny bit of warmth makes me yearn for more. I want to comfort him, but I don’t know how. He takes his hands away and folds his arms.
