I couldn't be bothered to care about Diane at that moment, she was irrelevant. It was terrible of me to say that about my girlfriend, but it was truly how I felt. I loved her, but she tended to get upset over little things and accept no solution to the problem. Nothing ticked me off more than miscommunications and refusal to attempt to work it out.
Diane and I had an off and on relationship, as much as I hated to admit it. Things would get so tense and stressful that the best solution was to take a break. After some time apart, we would get together again. I would tell myself that I was not going to keep repeating the cycle, but I had yet to stand ground on my word.
Our breakups were always private because we did not believe anyone else should know what troubles we were having with each other. It was a bit difficult to keep our arguments on the down low with us being well-liked at school, and Diane made it no better by visibly having a problem with me at school. Still, we did our best to keep others away. No one knew just how often we would break up and get back together.
I couldn’t make it across the room fast enough. Once I did, I took a seat in the empty space next to Eli. Benji’s head whipped to the side and his eyes narrowed at me, but I made no effort to move. In fact, I sat up straight and crossed my leg to make myself extra comfortable. I was not going to let him scare me off.
"I don't think he needs that," I said calmly. "He's already pretty drunk."
"It’s water," Benji said with clear irritation. He turned to Eli and put on a kind smile. “Just a couple of sips, Eli.”
Elias’ upper body swayed back and forth as he hummed happily. If we were in any other situation, I probably would have laughed at how funny it was. However, now was not the time to be laughing.
I put a hand on Elias' arm and carefully pulled him closer to me. He didn't seem to notice. "Why don't you drink it, Benji?"
Benji’s jaw clenched and I began to see a crease form in his forehead. "What are you implying?"
"Nothing," I said coolly. "I just want to know why you won't drink it. You said it yourself, it’s only water.”
Benji huffed just as hard as the Big Bad Wolf trying to blow down the little pigs’ house. It took him a minute to figure out how he wanted to proceed. With a forceful grunt, he stood up and left. Benji disappeared into the crowd without another word or glance.
I didn't know Benji personally in the slightest, but what I had heard about him did not make me think that he would be capable of attempting something so sick and twisted on anyone. I did not know anything for sure, but the situation did not look good on Benji's part.
Though, there were other possible explanations. I knew that Benji was friends with Eli’s brother, so he most likely spent a lot of time with him. Maybe that was why he was trying to give Elias more to drink, because he and Easton thought that it would be funny to watch. It was simply a weird and potentially harmful older sibling prank. His and Elias’ relationship seemed a bit tense from an outsider perspective, so I could definitely see Easton orchestrating that.
So maybe it was Easton and Benji being a little too immature. Or maybe Benji really hadonlywater.
"I really want Waffle House," Elias slurred before letting out an obnoxious giggle. I couldn't help but laugh with him as I felt butterflies in my stomach. He was cute when he was drunk.
He was cute all of the time, actually.
"Where's your friends?" I asked. He shrugged loosely, and I wasn't even sure if he heard and understood my question.
I knew that I couldn't leave him alone, he was not in the right state of mind to be by himself. And on the off chance that he was not as inebriated as he presented, the thought of him being alone with his guard down made my jaw tighten and fists clench.
I stood him up as best I could and we weaved through the crowd of sweaty drunk people. He was able to walk with assistance, but his steps were very shaky and clumsy. We stumbled together as I actively searched for any one of the people that I normally saw Eli hanging around at school. I was also keeping an eye out for his brother, but I figured Eli would rather me bring to his friends than Easton.
There were so many people in the house that it had to be unsafe. It had to break the fire code. If people were to be startled and begin to panic, it would be complete chaos. People would no doubt trample each other.
"Cops!" a kid screamed. That chaos that I just described was now unfolding before me.
People began pushing past each other left and right, not caring who they hit or what they knocked over as they did. Some were running out of the back door, others were opening windows and jumping out, and one guy was hiding behind a couch as if that was going to shield him from the police.
The last thing I needed was to get looped into the consequences of minors with alcohol in their possession. I was sure Eli did not need those problems, either. So, I took Elias'hand and pulled him through the crowd and toward the back door alongside me.
We ran through the backyard which to our luck was not fenced in. Well, I ran, Elias stumbled. By the end of our escape I was basically carrying him to my car. My arm was wrapped tightly around his waist and lifting him up with all the strength I had in me. My car was parked down the street, not in front of the house. That was lucky because the front of the house was where the police cars were.
We had successfully evaded the police, and we were both panting like worn out dogs by the time we reached my car. I wasn’t totally sure why Eli was since he had done none of the work. Eli wasn't just breathing heavily, though, he was laughing too. I had seen him laugh the most tonight than I had seen him laugh in the four years I had known him.
I ran my hand through my hair as I watched him laugh, and I couldn’t help the grin that made its way onto my face. His brunette curls bounced with him as he laughed, hitting his forehead each time they moved. Now that we were away from the danger, I could let loose and laugh with him. Running away from the authorities was more exhilarating than I thought it would be.
I opened the passenger door and pushed him inside before getting into the driver's seat. He was laid in the seat slouched and eyes shut. His head was tilted slightly downward in a way that let his curly brunette hair drape over his eyes.
I decided that I would drop him off at his own home because I did not think bringing him to mine was the best decision for either of us. As I drove down the road, I watched Elias out of the corner of my eye. He was still chuckling, but this time it was more to himself.
"What's so funny?" I asked out of curiosity.
"Do you like waffles?" he slowly asked. He attempted to sit up in the chair as he spoke. “I could really… go for waffles.”
