When I stopped at a red light was when I noticed he hadn’t put his seatbelt on. I leaned over the seat and grabbed hold of the belt, and then I pulled it across his chest. My arm accidentally brushed against his chest in the process and his head jerked up when he felt it. His eyes met mine and then he gulped, his Adam's apple bobbing as he did.
“I like waffles, but I don’t think that's what you need right now.”
He over dramatically sighed, his arms flailing outward like a cartoon character. “Oh, because youdefinitelyknow w…what I need.”
Eyes focusing on the road again, I asked, “Do you really think waffles is what you need right now?”
“Maybe not, the world is spinning,” he muttered.
Damn, I hoped that didn’t mean he was about to be sick. My parents would have my ass if I had to explain to them that someone puked in my car.
Eli’s mahogany brown skin glowed under the moonlight shining through the window as he rubbed his eyes aggressively. He attempted to adjust himself in the seat, but he couldn’t find a comfortable position. That showed me just how drunk he really was. How could his friends leave him like this?
I cleared my throat. “Do you know where your friends went?”
“Dunno, probably to the store,” he mumbled groggily.
I raised a brow and stifled a laugh. “I mean why were you alone at the party, Eli? Where did your friends go?”
“Oh. They were watching me.” He licked his lips as he gathered his words in his head. “So I moved so they couldn’t see me anymore.”
Ah, so they did not ditch him,heditched them. If they were watching him then that probably meant they had a reason to. They were looking out for him. Perhaps they were too overprotective and he needed a break, so that was why he walked away. Or maybe they had a real reason for watching him as intensely as Eli made it seem.
I settled for a nod in response. He was not capable of giving me answers in as much depth as I wanted him to, anyway.
“Are you bringing me home?”
“That’s the plan.”
I caught the frown that made before he turned his head away from me.
“Do you not want to go home?” I asked. “Your home where you can change into your comfy clothes and get into your comfy bed?”
Eli snorted. “Nothing about that place is ‘comfy.’”
I gripped the steering wheel and my nostrils flared. There was more to that statement, there had to be. But I was not in place to ask him to elaborate.
The car ride was silent for the next few minutes, but it felt longer. I watched Eli out of my peripheral vision as I drove to be ready in case I needed to quickly pull over.
I felt it was safe to park in his driveway when I didn't see another car parked there. I had no idea if he was allowed to be out tonight or not and I didn't want to be the reason he got in trouble. An empty driveway most likely meant no authority figures were home.
We slowly but surely made our way to the front door. The door was locked so we ended up going through his bedroom window which was left cracked open. He climbed through it, but his foot got caught on the windowsill and he ended up face-planting on the carpet.
I climbed through after him and pulled him to a stand. "You okay?"
I sat him down on his bed and then sat beside him. He nodded and hummed in response to my question as he chewed on his lip.
Eli’s light grey eyes met mine. In the darkness of his bedroom, his eyes were the brightest light in there. It was very unique to him, and I liked it.
I likedhim.
I wasn't shocked that I liked guys, I figured that out a few years ago, but I had never been with a guy. Diane was the only relationship I ever had been in, but I was still aware of my attraction to men.
I was just shocked that I liked him, my rival who hated my guts. Elias Richardson would probably rather feed me to a pack of wolves than spend an extended period of time around me, let alone like me. I had feelings for the one person in my life who wanted to see me fail.
Eli never had anything nice to say to me, he always had a bad attitude, and he walked around mean-mugging everyone who looked at him for too long. His brows would knit, his face would scrunch up, and his breathing became heavy when he was angry. He would grind his teeth together and shoot daggers with his eyes like they could truly kill. Elias thought his mannerisms were intimidating, but it was quite the opposite to me.
His hate toward me turned me on.
