“I will. You’re right.”
“It means a little more than just blocking her numbers and blocking her on social media,” he began. I didn’t know what he meant exactly, but luckily, he spoke up. “Your car.”
“My car?”
“It’s actually your mother’s car, Brandon. Severing ties means just that. Cutting every tie to her.”
I loved my car, but he was right. I didn’t need anything of hers. The next afternoon, Eli followed me over to my mom’s house. I parked my beloved BMW in her driveway and opened the garage door from inside the car. I wasn’t surprised to see that she wasn’t home. I locked the car, jogged into the garage, and set the fob to my car on the doormat. Once I was out of the garage, I closed the garage using the keypad that was on the house. With a smile on my face, I got into Eli’s SUV. He patted my leg when I got inside and closed the door.
“Done?” he asked.
“Done. She’s out of my life,” I confirmed.
“I’m proud of you, Brandon.”
Hearing that phrase was like gold to me. It was worth it to write my mom out of my life. He was right; all she’d done was upset me and made me feel like shit.
For the next week, everything went really well. Each morning I would recite twenty times for him that my mom hated me and that she only wanted to hurt me. I’d end it with the mantra that Eli cared about me and knew what was best. I also repeated this before we went to bed each night.
Things were also starting to go in a different direction. Maybe it had always been heading this way, but because my head was filled with so much garbage from my mom, I wasn’t able to actually see it. Eli started hugging me more and wanting to be physically close to me, but he never really gave me any indication that he wanted me in that way.
“Brandon, there’s a party tomorrow night that some friends of mine are throwing. I’d love to take you. Are you interested?”
“Yeah, of course!” I said over breakfast. “What should I wear?” I asked.
“I think a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt would be perfect,” he suggested.
“Okay, I have that. Where is it at?”
“It’s close to downtown.”
“Downtown?” I frowned.
I couldn’t see Elijah hanging out with anyone who lived in the downtown area. Most of it was an area where you didn’t really go unless you had specific business and then you got the fuck out of there before the sun went down. Central City was right there, and I’d heard of a lot of shady shit that went on over there.
* * *
I had just gottenout of the shower and was about to get ready for the party when Eli came into the bedroom. He set some white low-cut briefs on the bed and suggested that I wear them. Glancing at them I smirked. They were really dorky looking.
“Really?” I asked and frowned.
“Yes, really. Is there a problem?”
“No, I’ll wear them if it makes you happy and is what you’d like.”
“It would make me happy, and it is what I’d like. Remember,” he began as he walked out of the room, “I know what’s best.”
I rolled my eyes as I pulled on the small white briefs before I stepped into my jeans. Shirtless, and with my jeans still unbuttoned and the fly spread open, I grabbed my cell phone and took a downward picture of my bare chest, underwear, and jeans. I posted it to my Instagram account with the caption ‘heading to Central City,’ and used the #BrandonCCooper.
“Ready, Brandon?” Eli asked as I walked into the living room.
“I am,” I said confidently.
Eli was checking his watch as he stood and asked me if I was nervous. Parties weren’t a new thing for me. I grew up around some hard parties. But since these were his friends that he was introducing me to, I was a little nervous. I sort of thought things might be moving to another level, though; I really wasn’t certain.
“I’ll take that silence as a yes,” he said with a laugh. “I’ll be right back.”
He headed in the direction of his room while I waited for him. When he came back, he handed me a small white pill and picked up his bottle of water from the coffee table.
