W00t?! Why hadn't I posted this?! I thought I had completed it XDDD LOL anyway...here it is. I'm...such an airhead...

---

Schis couldn't contain himself and revealed the whole story to Pete and Cory at lunch. He had just gotten to the part where she called when he felt a notebook slap the back of his head. Before he knew it, Eli had pushed Cory in and seated herself. “Can I have that?” She took Schis' chocolate muffin. “Thanks.”

“You're welcome,” he offered.

Pete's gaze was sewn to Kelly passing by.

“She's hot.”

“Uhuh,” Pete agreed.

“I'd do her any day.”

“Oh yes.” Pete's gaze didn't waver.

“I'd have threesome with her.”

“Yes!”

“But not with you.”

Pete blinked, realizing who he was talking to. Eli munched the muffin. Schis laughed out loud.

“So, she's your girlfriend, Schis?” Eli asked absent-mindedly.

“No.” He gave her a hard look that quickly turned into desperation.

“You wanna come with me tonight?”

“Come? Where?”

Cory watched the two out of the corner of his eye, not quite listening to Pete chatting about computer games.

Eli shrugged, sucking at her strawberry-milk. “Party?”

“I'm not sure. Can we take it later?”

“Okay.”

Eli was walking home when Schis caught up with her and grabbed her arm.

“Hey. Why did you say that?”

“Say what?” She adjusted her camouflage-green messenger bag on her shoulder.

“That you would sleep with Kelly, that she was my girlfriend.” Schis stroked a hand through his short golden hair, ruffling it even more.

“You're jealous?”

“What? No...Yeah.”

She seemed honestly surprised for the first time he'd met her.

He shrugged the matter off, took her hand in his and walked in silence to the closest cafeteria.

“Hey, I'm broke. You'll have to pay, just so you know,” Eli warned.

“Sure.” They got seated. “Why did you say it?”

“You know...I've...” She trailed off. He waited. “I've never had a relationship before. I've never...this is my first time having something like this. You've had many relationships before, you have a lot of friends, you're the most popular guy ever, but I'm not. I'm not like that. And I'm scared. I don't know how to act. I'm scared because I don't fit into your world. I'm not perfect.”

Schis had sipped up his whole coffee by the time she finished. He hadn't noticed his tongue burning.

“What do you feel about me?” She asked suddenly.

Schis looked up. It seemed like being taken off guard around Eli was going to become a norm. She truly spoke her mind. “Uh...I...I mean...Um...Very strongly,” he said at last.

“Really?” She put her head to the side.

“Yeah. But...I know that you don't, I think. Because I've...known you? I don't know, watched you, for far longer.”

She didn't reply. And then: “Will you give me time then?”

“Yeah, yeah I will. I mean, it's fine as it is now, right?”

“Yep. It's good. I think.” She looked down into her full coffee-cup. It had gone cold. “It's just...I mean, we don't need to have sex, right? You're probably used to that kind of girls anyway, right?” She laughed.

Schis smiled. Why was she suddenly afraid of having sex with him? Was this what it was about? He waved the subject off. “Does that mean that I'm gay?”

“Probably,” she answered mock-seriously.

His face fell. “But...it doesn't matter.” He watched her sip her cold coffee and spit it back into the cup. She made a face. “Does it make you gay?”

“Nu-uh, I'm an exception,” she grinned with triumph. “But you're coming tonight, right?”

“Huh? Oh, that. Yeah, sure. Pick me up,” he winked.

Eli did pick him up. At seven o'clock sharp she stood outside his door. “Yo Schismomma!” Schis' Mom smiled broadly and moved to let her in. “Where's your son?”

“Upstairs, I believe,” she sighed, dusting off the kitchen counters.

Eli climbed the stairs two and two and found Schis standing before the bathroom mirror with the door open, singing loudly. It was completely off-key.

“YO!” Eli slammed the threshold.

Schis literary jumped, a contact lens falling from his fingertip into the sink. He clicked his tongue and picked it up, proceeding to cleanse it. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

“Yeah...hi,” Schis answered, a finger in his eye and lost in thoughts.

“Hurry! You're worse than a girl,” Eli complained, stomping her feet.

Schis smiled and dried his face with a towel. “I'm done.”

“Good, hurry, hurry, I don't want to miss anything.”

“Anything? Like what?”

“I don't know. Somebody making a fool of themselves? Need to take pics for my blog, you know.”

“You have a blog?” Schis laughed. “Seems like everybody and their dog has a blog nowadays.”

“Yeah yeah. Let's go.” She was already at the door. They both yelled a good-bye at Schis' Mom and half-ran, half-walked down the rain-soaked streets. “You know, sometimes...”

“Hm?” Schis dug in his pocket for bubble-gum but found none.

“I don't know. Nothing.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“That's not fair. You can't start saying something and then not say it.”

“Yes, I can. I don't even know what I was gonna say.”

Schis sighed. “You're killing me, you know that?”

“What? Why?”

“I can't walk this fast.”

She started laughing. Her eyes glimmered like they had the first time he'd seen her beam at him. He could feel her happiness throb through her body. Or perhaps it was the loud music making even the trees quake. She walked steadily up the stairs to the open door, ignoring the people hanging about and got in with him after her.

He wanted to say something but it was impossible with the music and the crowd overwhelmed him. He sure had gone to big parties, but this one was out of proportion. The people dancing in the middle mesmerized him. Their movements were hypnotic.

“Charlie!” Eli suddenly yelled. “Charlie! This is Schis,” and to Schis, “Schis, this is Charlie. He's got the good stuff.”

Charlie flashed a self-assured smile. “You want some tonight?” He asked with a somewhat Southern accent.

“Nah. We're fine. Thanks for the offer.”

“Why, how come?”

“See, this guy is new.”

Charlie raised his eyebrows briefly as if he caught her drift. He looked rather heavy, with a full built and the way he leaned against the wall and moved made the impression stronger.

“But I've got stuff!” Eli flashed the small bottle at Charlie, took off the lid and sniffed, passing it to Schis. Schis did the same without hesitation this time.

She laughed, stumbling into him as they both swirled about, their shoulders hitting others. It was hard to be aware of it. “I think I'm gonna die!” she suddenly exclaimed, her voice drowned by her own laughter, the loud music.

“Why?” He placed his arms around her waist and twirled with her, her feet almost lifting off the floor.

“I...I can't stop laughing!” She spat in another fit, falling forward on his shoulder and just following his movements.

“Here,” Schis said, pushed her back gently and took her hands. “Get on my feet,” he yelled into her ear.

She stepped up, feeling him twirl around even faster with big steps. She trusted his arms around her and leaned back, her gaze at the dim light in the ceiling. She screamed as the room spun.

Schis' smile was plastered on his face. Everything went so fast that he couldn't see more than a blend of colors about him.

---

“Hey...” She rolled to her side, the short straws of grass playing with her cheek.

“Yeah?”

“Nothing.”

“Is it what you wanted to ask before?”

She rolled back on her back and bit her lip. “...Yeah.”

Schis rested his face on his elbow. The moonlight was reflecting itself on her wet lower lip. He got up on his hands and placed a kiss on her forehead.

Eli giggled. “Weirdo.” She grabbed him and gave him a deep kiss tasting of alcohol and cigarettes.

“So, now. What did you wanna ask?”

“Hm? I...nah.”

“I'll tickle you to death if you don't say!”

She grabbed her sides. “You'd dare!”

“I would!”

“Do you love me?”

Schis was just about to dig his fingers into her sides and give her a good tickle when he froze. He stared at her seemingly expressionless face, and then down at her overall. “Uh...I...”

“Yeah, I know. That's okay.” She pushed him off her and sat up.

Schis grabbed her by a suspender. “It's not like that. I just...”

“I know! It's fine. I haven't been in a relationship before so I don't know this kinds of things, okay? It's fine.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“You wanna go home?”

“What? Yeah. Yeah, it wasn't that fun here anyways.”

“It was fun before...”

“Yeah.” He smiled, got up and helped her up on her feet.

“Schis! Fucking look at the stars!” Eli threw her head back as they staggered their way back home.

“Oh shit!” Schis lost his balance and bumped into Eli who fell flat on her bum and started laughing uncontrollably.

“Owww, owww,” she rubbed her back.

“I'm sorry.” He grabbed her under her arms and pulled her up. By the time they'd walked down all four blocks, their head had cleared up a bit and the road had gotten boring.

“We've gotta do this again,” she beamed at him.

“Yeah...” He got up to the porch.

“Guess I'm gonna go then.”

“Sleep over?”

“Nah. Gotta go home. Can't be away every night. They'll get suspicious.” She scratched her already messed up hair and staggered back a step.

“You'll be fine?” The key was in the door.

“Yeah, yeah.” She winked.

“Eli.”

She pretended to be fascinated by the roses in the garden and looked to the side. “Hm?”

Schis stepped closer and touched her face. “I...”

“Hm?” She squeaked before she felt his lips on hers.

“I think I do love you?”

“You do?” Eli asked in a high-pitched voice, a lump in her throat. “Good, 'cause otherwise I wouldn't know what to do...you know,” scratched harder, “like...with...the feelings.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I know.” And he kissed her again.

“Well,” she breathed. “That's good to know.” She smiled apologetically and freed herself. “Good night, then!” She turned around and stumbled down the stairs.

“Yeah. Yeah, good night...”

Eli was already far away, hands deep into her pockets and the leg of her pants dragging under her feet. Schis watched her being swallowed by the early morning fog as her hair swayed about her shoulders.

“...Elias.”