10. Wednesday Lunch Week Four
Have you ever been in one of those situations where you know that there was something that you were supposed to say but you still ended up saying something else entirely?
Like when you sit on the classroom tables in school and the teacher asks you if your Mum would let you sit on the furniture in your home. You know that you should say no and sit your ass down but instead, you end up saying something like why would she give a shit and shrugging your shoulders. Which inevitably lands you with detention and a 2-hour long lecture from your mother.
My response to situations like those was why all my friends knew that if they ever needed advice on anything at all, that they should never ask me. I literally never said the right thing.
My situation last night was kind of like that except it wasn't at all.
"Wait, so you told this kid to get a prostitute?"
I nodded at Kie's question and they all started laughing except Tori who looked shocked beyond words. It was currently lunchtime and I was sat with Tori, Kie, Kyle and Kinsey at our circle table discussing the advice I had given Riley, my tutor-student, last night. Our two groups had kind of joined after that night out together and now we all sat together at lunch. Noah and Arik normally had football practice so we rarely had all of us sat together. I had no idea where Jasper and Lana were but it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that they were together. As for Eli, I hadn't seen him since our lesson on Sunday. We didn't have any classes together, not that he probably went to class, and he was literally never around at lunch.
"Okay, so let me get this straight," Kyle looked right at me as he spoke, elbows resting on his knees, "Riley, Eli's brother, is struggling to find a date to his first high school dance and so you told him to pay for an escort?"
Embarrassed, I nodded my head, "yeah and then I gave him the money before left." Kyle burst out laughing at my admission, "okay, I get it, it was bad advice," I hit him with the back of my hand, "you can stop laughing now, Kyle." He just shook his head and carried on pissing himself, literally bent over in his chair, clutching his stomach, pissing himself. I scowled at him, bastard.
"No Rei, bad advice would be telling the kid to go with his cousin or something. What you gave him was terrible advice," Kinsey unhelpfully added.
"Not to mention illegal, " Tori also decided to provide some unhelpful information
"Urgh! I feel so stupid."
Kie nodded her head, "probably cause that was a stupid thing to do."
I glared at all of them, "you are not helping me fix this at all."
Kyle paused his laughing fit long enough to add, "how the hell could anyone possibly help you fix this monumental fuck-up Rei?"
"Monumental's a big word for you, dickwad."
"At least I wasn't stupid enough to tell a 14-year-old to get a prostitute," he replied with a casual shrug.
What. A. Prick.
"Yeah, that would be a pretty stupid thing to do." I whipped around in my chair at the sound of Eli's voice and cringed when I saw the look he was giving me. Of all the lunches to show up, he had to pick this one.
Okay, so maybe he didn't know that I told his little brother to get a prostitute.
He raised his eyebrow and leant down placing his hands on the table behind me, either side of my chair, caging me in.
"How'd it go with Riles last night Rei?" Okay, so he totally knew.
"Uh-um-I-I guess it was fine. Yeah," I cleared my throat and looked everywhere but at his face, "it was fine. Great even. He is the smartest kid," I let out a small nervous laugh, "must get it off his big bro right?" I chanced a look at his face and realised just how close he was. I didn't get a chance to dwell on it as I took in his facial expression, this was Fighter Eli, so I instantly knew he was pissed. Like really pissed.
"You told my fourteen-year-old brother to get a fucking prostitute Reillyn?" He said it slowly and quietly, letting me know he was trying really hard to control his anger.
"Um, not in so many words. But, um, yeah."
"What. The. Fuck" I chose that moment to look at his eyes, they were so blue and I could see the anger swirling in them. Oh boy, he was angrier than that day we fought in the hallway and he was really angry then. "You better fix this Reillyn."
Wrapped up in the storm that was Elias Ryker, I had completely forgotten about our friends sat around the table observing our interaction until Kins cleared her throat causing Eli to straighten, but not before giving me a hard glare to which I responded with a sheepish smile.
"I actually might have a solution to this, as Kyle put it, 'monumental fudge-up'" Kins inputted, causing me to let out a breath and look over at her whilst everyone else rolled their eyes at her inability to swear.
"Oh my god, you couldn't have mentioned that earlier," she sassed me with a raised eyebrow so I quickly amended my statement, "I mean, I will love you forever Kins."
She shook her head at me and pointed at Tori, "doesn't bookworm have a little sister around Riley's age, why doesn't she go with him?" She shrugged as if it was the simplest solution in the world, and it was.
"Oh my god, Kinsey, you are the absolute best," she flipped her hair over her shoulder with a cocky smile on her face causing Kyle to roll his eyes and me to lean across the table in Tori's direction, "please, please, please, Tori, I could seriously use this right now." I pointed behind my shoulder to Eli who was still stood behind my chair with his arms crossed, looking scary as hell, yet still completely gorgeous. Asshole.
Tori's eyes flickered between me and Eli, "I'm not sure. This is for Ryker's little brother?" Her voice was timid and I could tell she was intimidated by Eli which meant she was probably wondering if Riley was like him.
"Ohh, no. Don't worry, Riley is nothing like Eli," I motioned to Eli again causing him to grunt. The urge to roll my eyes was so strong, help me out here Eli, "Riles is so sweet, just the nicest kid. I promise Tor." I batted my eyelashes at her and gave her my best puppy dog face.
She looked conflicted but obviously she couldn't resist my amazing puppy dog eyes because she nodded and agreed to talk to her sister after school.
The bell rang and I ran around the table to give her a hug, all the while thanking her repeatedly which drew a smile out of her. Everyone got up from the table and went off to their own classes after saying their goodbyes.
Smiling, I went back around the table to grab my bag and head off to class when a hand gripped my wrist and pulled me back. I was span around to face him and my heart skipped a beat at how close we were.
He dropped my wrist to tuck my hair behind my ear, likely noticing the multiple earrings I was wearing today, he smiled lightly as he looked at them and I felt myself biting my lip as I recalled that he had his nipple pierced. the pad of his thumb came to my lip and he pulled my lip out from in between my teeth. I met his gaze and my heart thundered at the heat I saw there. My eyes flickered to his nose ring which was glinting in the light which streamed through the canteen windows.
"You owe me penance, tigru."
"Huh?" I stated lamely as his hand dropped and he took a step back, shoving his hands in his jean pockets. My eyes scanned him and I noticed he was wearing the same as usual: black jeans, black t-shirt, black combat boots. His arm tattoos were on full display, they were scattered across his arms in multiple places; I liked that it wasn't a full sleeve. I could see his feather tattoo on his inner right forearm and the intricacy of it made me jealous of the artists' skill. When my eyes finally landed back on his face he was smirking at me with an eyebrow raised.
"You done?" Ugh, cocky shit.
My cheeks flamed and I clutched the straps of my bag tighter, "I-uh, I need to go to class."
"Class can wait."
"Um, the bell says otherwise Eli."
His shoulders lifted in a careless shrug, "find me a fuck to give," I rolled my eyes, of course, he didn't care if he skipped class, "we need to discuss what I get from you."
Now it was my turn to raise my eyebrow, "what makes you think you'll be getting anything from me?"
"I drove you to the gym Sunday cause I fucked up last Tuesday. You fucked up last night so now you owe me something."
The laugh escaped my lips before I could help it, "owe you? I didn't ask you to drive me around Boxer Boy," I motioned him up and down, "that was all you."
Again, he shrugged, "I still did it, I've done my penance. Now it's your turn."
My head cocked to the side and I felt my lips lift into a half-smirk causing his eyes to fall to them briefly, "say I was buying into this bullshit, what would my penance be."
He stepped closer to me, not too close but close enough I could smell his cologne, "I need a favour on Friday," I lifted my eyebrows as if to say 'go on then', "I have a fight but Ma's asked me to look after the girls. It's Rose's anniversary and Ma is working night shift again."
Another night shift? What I wanted to know how was the Ryker family paying for that giant mansion on a nurse's salary? Picking up a few extra night shifts won't cover the expenses of that house, two teenage boys, two twin girls and a housekeeper. I had so many questions but Eli was too closed off for me to learn any answers.
Simple questions were the safer bet right now, "why me? Why not ask Jasper or Arik? Or pay for a babysitter?"
"Ma hates babysitter's, says she has to know the person and you know I fight, saves me having to come up with a bullshit lie," he shrugged again, "it will be three hours max."
"Three hours?! How many people are you fighting?"
"Three actually." Three people? Holy shit. I mean, I'd seen him fight before and he was good, like really good but three was a lot. He could seriously get hurt.
"Have you ever thought to tell your mum the truth about all this?"
Just like that, a shutter fell over his face as he closed off all his emotions to me. His back straightened as he took a step back, away from me, "really Rei? I thought we established that my family is not your fucking business," he practically spat.
Okay, major mood swing alert. I noted that we were back to 'Rei' again, no more tigru. I straightened my back also, preparing for the fight I knew was going to happen. I guess class really could wait.
"Excuse me? You are the one who just asked me to look after your family, sue me for being concerned Eli," I lifted my hands in the air and let them flop back to my sides in a show of exasperation.
"Concern? You barely know me Rei. You're just being nosy again and you fucking know it." Choosing to be the bigger person here was hard, very hard but I did it because someone needed to get it into his thick skull that this fighting shit was dangerous.
"I know that she's your mother, Eli and that she cares about you a lot and she deserves to know if you're going out every Friday risking your life in some stupid underground fight ring." My voice started out soft, it really did, but by the end, I had to admit it was a little on the loud side as I felt my anger rising.
He stepped really close again, just like the hallway, toe-to-toe, "you don't know shit. Forget I asked." He sidestepped me and started walking towards the canteen doors.
Damn it. What was it about this boy that had me so twisted up?
"Eli," I called out to him, "wait," he ignored me of course, dickhead, why was I chasing after him again?
"Eli, damn it, will you stop," I yelled as I ran behind him, "it's not Sunday, I'm not supposed to be exercising"
For some reason, this made him stop, giving me a chance to catch up with him, luckily he hadn't reached the canteen doors yet so we were still alone, "damn boy, you have long legs and walk very fast." I tried to catch my breath and Eli stood looking at me with annoyance.
"Your fitness is embarrassing."
I held up a finger to him as I finally got my breathing under control, "only if you give a shit."
His lips twitched a fraction at my words, I'd take it over his blank expression any day.
"I'll do it, I'll look after the twins and Riles for you on Friday."
"Why the change of heart?"
"I don't remember ever saying no Boxer Boy, you just stormed off before I could give you an answer."
His eyes narrowed at me until all I could see was a sliver of ocean blue, he grunted again.
"You know, we really need to discuss your caveman language. Grunts and groans are really hard to understand."
"Take each of them to mean 'fuck off'"
I smiled at him, "perfect, see, I learn new things about you every day."
He shook his head and a half-smile slipped onto his lips, "you could probably still make it to class"
"Actually," I gave him a cheeky smile as I walked backwards out of the cafeteria, "I don't have class. Free period." I winked at him before turning on my heel and walking to the library where I would wait for Noah to finish football practice. Smiling the entire time because of a certain Boxer Boy
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2464 words^
Edited â
Okay, so they fight a lot but I think it's a sign of passion ð¥ ð