*Edited*
"Hello, Mrs. Fray," I heard a deep voice rumble from downstairs, "I was wondering if your daughter was home?"
I froze. I knew that voice, perhaps better than I wanted to admit.
"Veronica! Come downstairs! Elijah's here to see you!" My mom yelled.
"I'm not home!" I yelled back. Yeah, I knew full well that that gave me away, but I didn't care.
Elijah had been saying these corny pick up lines to me ever since our bet and I knew there was no actual meaning behind his words.
And I didn't know how I felt about that.
After we had finished gardening, Elijah had gone back home to help Uriah pack up his belongings. I still hadn't been able to bring myself to say goodbye to him even though he would be leaving shorty.
"Veronica..." My mother warned. I knew not to disobey her when she used that tone, so I quickly hurried downstairs to where she was standing at the front door with a certain green eyed boy who I hated.
Elijah winked at me and I rolled my eyes. My mom looked between us with a glint in her eyes before she walked away, leaving us alone.
I raised an eyebrow at him to where he was standing on my porch. He hitched a thumb over his shoulder and said, "Uriah is leaving in a few minutes, by the way."
What? That soon?
I impatiently shoved Elijah out of the way as I sprinted over to his yard where Uriah was loading his white BMW with a huge suitcase.
"Uriah!" I yelled, making him turn around. His eyes widened as I squeezed my arms around him. His arms circled around my small frame and he hugged me back. I stepped back with tears in my eyes as I said, "Have a great time with your dad and good luck in college. I'll miss you."
Uriah gave me a sad smile as he tucked strands of my hair behind my ears. "I'll miss you, too. We can text all the time so the distance doesn't seem so far."
I nodded. "Yeah."
He intertwined my fingers with his and he said, "I told Elijah to look out for you since I won't be able to."
"Great..." I grumbled, making him chuckle.
"Elijah's a good guy. You just have to get to know him," he said, fondly.
"Mhm, that's what they all say."
Uriah laughed again, shaking his head. His dimples that I would soon miss disappeared as he checked the time on his watch. "I've got to get going now," he said.
"Oh, okay," I said, releasing his hand. He gave me one last hug before he got in his car and slowly backed out the driveway. He waved out the window with a smile on his face and I waved back until I could no longer see him.
A hand clamped down on my shoulder and a husky voice whispered in my ear.
"And then there were two."
I plucked Elijah's hand off of me and plopped down on the grass in his front yard. I sighed and laid on my back, staring straight up at the cloudy sky.
"Hey look," Elijah said, pointing at the sky while he laid next to me, "That cloud is shaped like a heart."
I looked in the direction of his finger and noticed that he was right. It was a small cloud, but it looked like a heart, nonetheless.
He nudged me and said, "Coincidence? I think not."
"There you go again with your cheesy words," I said, rolling over on my side to face him. He did the same, resting on his elbow as he looked down at me. I poked him in the chest and muttered, "I know why you're saying all this mushy stuff. You're trying to be romantic to win my heart and my poster. Well, I'll have you know that I will be the winner of your car."
He raised an eyebrow as his green eyes seemed to hold laughter behind them. "Oh really?"
I nodded my head. "Mhm."
He suddenly got to his feet and scooped me off the ground before I knew what was happening. I smacked his chest to get him to put me down, but he didn't even budge.
"Well, I can't let that happen. So, we are going to the most romantic place on earth whether you want to or not," he said with a devious grin as he walked over to his car and dropped me inside the passenger seat.
I turned to him once he got in the car. I didn't put on my seatbelt as I said, "Elijah, I'm really not in the mood. I just had to break up my relationship with the guy I loved and he just moved half way across the country so I'll never see him again."
Elijah leaned across our two seats, ignoring me. I sucked in a breath as his arm skimmed across my stomach and his hair tickled my nose. I breathed in his scent that I knew so well and couldn't concentrate until he had pulled the seatbelt across my body and clicked it in place.
"Uriah told me to take care of you, so that's what I'm doing. We can forget about the bet for tonight and just enjoy ourselves. I'm doing this for my brother, not for myself," he said, surprising me. When he put it that way, I couldn't possibly deny his offer to cheer me up.
He'd even said we didn't have to think about our bet at all so I knew he wasn't only doing it to make me fall in love with him. He was doing it because he made a promise to his adoptive brother.
By the look on my face, Elijah must've known that I'd made up my mind to go along with him. He put the keys in the ignition of my soon to be car and took off down the road. I sent my mother a quick text that I was going out with Elijah and I'd be back later tonight. She sent me back the winking face and I could only imagine her face.
A few minutes into the ride, I realized I had no idea where he was taking us.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
Elijah drummed his fingers on the steering wheel along to the beat of the Pierce the Veil CD that he had bought at the concert as he answered, "You'll see."
"Ugh, come on. Just tell me," I begged to no avail. Elijah made the motion of zipping his lips shut and locking them. I swear he was so childish sometimes. But then again, so was I.
About ten minutes later, we pulled into a gravel parking lot. I tore off my seatbelt and leaped out of the car, running over to the gates to jump up and down as I waited for Elijah to get his ass over to me.
"You like going to the fair, don't you?" Elijah asked, chuckling.
Like I said, I was childish sometimes; which was why I ran straight for the tea cups after he paid for the two of us to enter.
"Oh jeez, the tea cups?"
"Yes!" I said, pulling on Elijah's arm.
By now, it was dark enough for all of the rides to turn their lights on. As we spun around in dizzying circles, all I could see were flashes of lights all around me. I squealed happily as I completely forgot all about Uriah leaving.
When the ride stopped, which was all too soon, I glanced over at Elijah who looked ready to puke at any moment. He leaned back against the tea cup walls as his head drooped on his shoulder.
"Shit, are you gonna-"
No sooner than the words left my mouth, he vomited over the edge of the ride. He gagged and I swear I felt like I was about to join him.
"Oh God," I said with my hand over my mouth, "I'm gonna puke."
Elijah spit over the edge and straightened up, heaving a giant sigh. "You better not," he forced out.
I bolted off the ride before I could think any further about puking. Elijah joined me on the patch of dry grass off to the side.
"Are you okay?" I asked him, hesitantly. I kind of felt bad that he was feeling sick since it had been my idea to ride the tea cups.
He shrugged. "I'm fine, but since you made us go on that ride, it's my turn to pick," he said with a sparkle in his bright eyes.
I nodded my agreement. "Okay, what do you pick?"
He flicked his head over at the tallest ride right across from us. I slowly turned around and took a sharp intake of air.
"No, no, no. I refuse, I'm sorry. You can pick any other-"
"Nope. We're going on the Ferris wheel and that's final."
I shivered involuntarily from having the thought of being that high up. I was terrified of heights.
"Don't tell me you're scared, Ronnie," he sneered.
"N-No. I've just never been on a Ferris wheel before. It seems boring," I refuted.
Elijah completely ignored me as he wrapped his hand around mine and pulled me in the line to ride the Ferris wheel. Before I knew it, it was our time to get on. I hesitantly sat down beside Elijah as the lap belt was fastened across the two of us. My knuckles whitened from clenching the bar so tightly.
I squeezed my eyes shut as I felt us rise higher and higher. I felt a strong, warm hand cover mine and gently ease my hands off the bar. Another hand went under my chin and tilted my face.
"Open your eyes," Elijah whispered.
I slowly opened my eyes to see my hands neatly folded in his and shot my eyes to his smiling, green ones. In that moment, Elijah looked like an angel with all the lights surrounding him like a halo and his eyes glowing just as bright.
I froze as he lowered his lips to mine so they were just a breath away. If any of us moved even a centimeter, our lips would touch. Elijah searched my eyes with his own as I felt his bottom lip just barely skim across mine, gauging my reaction.
"I lied. I didn't take you here for my brother's sake. I took you here for mine," he murmured.
**********
Hi! Thanks for reading! I would greatly appreciate it if you guys could check out a new story I've been working on called, "Tracking Logan Foster" which deals with depression and suicide.