Athena
It was his birthday today and I certainly did not plan anything big for this.
Owen was known to heavily dislike large gatherings or surprises. He hated them with a burning passion and I respected it every year. Previously, we either took trips outside of town or I'll just simply get him a new book.
Everything was simple back then.
Now, I don't know where to begin.
Owen was not at uni this time because he said he was meeting his parents somewhere in between the road from home to school but he did say he was going back before night falls because of homework.
I was over at Elliot's again today after classes out of shear boredom. He was watching Age of Ultron on his huge flat screen TV as he splat himself down on his velvety couch with a bowl of popcorn. I, on the other hand, was sitting by his apartment's windowsill, drawing the cityscape of NJ with a regular pencil I had with me.
"Thena," Elliot called, his eyes still fixated toward his television.
I turned my head in his direction and answered.
"What?"
Elliot shot his head toward me for a moment and cocked it sideways, locking me in his gaze.
"Why the hell are we still meeting up?" he asked.
I asked myself the same question too.
Elliot was obviously no good for me. He had hurt me before and now that he waltzed back, he just stuck. And I didn't know how to feel about it.
He had this aura around him that is somehow, still the same as it was before but I noticed how his attitude shifted a bit after that time I was knock out drunk. He was a little kinder now. A little.
The more we met up to talk about what he'll do in the near future regarding his regular toxic behavior, the more he seemed like he was actually considering it and yet, he held back. He was too full of pride to acknowledge his faults and here I am, trying my hardest to help someone who hurt me. It was too late to turn back now and simply ignore him.
"You haven't been listening to me." I answered, going back to my messy sketch of the cityscape. Maybe I could give this to either Owen or Fitz.
Or maybe I'll just give it to Fitz. Things with Owen were still hostile and uncomfortable, I didn't want to make things worst than they are now.
Elliot scowled at me and shot me a look of disgust.
"I told you, I'm not into the magic glowing stones or chill, white places. I'm better on the road." he answered nonchalantly, locking his attention back to his movie.
"How about a support group?" I suggested, straightening my back as I turned again toward him.
I had also done my research on these things and there were support groups that were just perfect for him. I was not sure how he'll react though.
"No. I'm too good for that." he said.
An expected answer.
I still had my gaze directed toward the scrap paper I was drawing the cityscape on and continued.
"Fine. Then that means I won't stop coming every now and then until I make sure you find somewhere permanent to stay. I think it's worth the risk if it means not seeing you for the next few years." I said, shrugging, feeling my now shoulder-length hair tickle my neck.
"Even if it meant making things weird between you and crip?" Elliot suddenly said.
I stopped drawing and looked at him with narrowed eyes.
"Go fuck yourself."
Elliot smirked and shook his head, raising both his hands up in surrender, with one still holding onto his popcorn.
"I'm just sayin'. I mean, he was hella annoyed that time I carried him bridal style back into your dorm room. He kept telling me to fuck off too. How cute. You guys do match." he said with a nauseating grin.
"Ugh. I'm here to help you, okay? Why do you always join Owen into our conversations?" I asked, peeved at his comment.
Elliot's smirk faded into an unreadable smile; seeming neutral all of the sudden. He paused his movie, shifted his body towards my direction and inhaled sharply, his gaze locking with mine.
I didn't know how to read him.
"You already did. Probably out of being unaware that you pulled him into whatever mess you made." he said, shrugging as he went back to his dumb movie and pressed play.
"What does that have to do with me?" I asked, confused.
Elliot stared at me slack-jawed and paused his movie yet again. My heart rate seemed to drop at this point.
"Didn't you keep me a secret from him?" he asked, as a matter of fact.
I furrowed my brows and adjusted my sitting position from his windowsill, now facing him with my whole body. I felt cold sweat beads rise around the back of my neck and I felt slight chills.
Did I really made such an impact on this?
I shook my head.
"No, I told him I met you the same day you came to uni the first time." I said, feeling my chest loosen a bit.
Elliot cocked his head to the side again and smirked.
"You told him that but didn't tell you kept seeing me after?" he said, grinning sideways.
I huffed and crossed my arms, leaning back into the windowsill as I turnee away from him for a moment, letting my eyes wander across the business of the city down below.
"It's complicated. I didn't tell him so he wouldn't be distracted from school. He's way too focused. I don't want to bother him in any way that would sidetrack him. " I said with a shrug.
I heard him scoff and shift positions on his sofa.
"Are you sure he's really studying? He gives off annoyed, depressed kid energy to me not nerdy, depressed kid, no cap." he said, this time, his grin growing wider every passing second this pointless conversation drones on and on.
I felt my insides slowly grow hot with rage and at the same time, uncertainty. I couldn't possibly let his words slide by me. Not this time.
"What made you say that? Of course he does. He can't do his work unless its over at the library." I said, jotting my head up a bit to show him that I was the least bit unbothered and yet, I wasn't.
I was heavily bothered by this.
"How do you know? Do you go with him?" Elliot asked as he shoved more popcorn down his thick throat and chewed them slowly.
Elliot was going somewhere with this conversation and I feared the worst. I was not prepared for it.
If I tried my hardest to keep Owen safe from anything that can harm him, I was unseeing to the blind spots that he could've used to his advantage to give himself a little independence. It is after all what he's been chasing the most his entire life;
No one telling him what to do and where to go.
I was his dictator. I was part of his ruin.
"No, I--, He tells me he does. Before I leave to see you." I said, hearing my voice go soft and inaudible as I spoke the last part.
I feel so ashamed, I couldn't even move or notice that I had just dropped my pencil and paper.
Elliot smiled. He stood from his sofa and walked slowly towards me, fitting himself in the opposite nook of his large bedroom window that overlooked the city.
"That's the hole you've missing." he said as he bent down and picked up my fallen pencil and paper. He took his time looking over my messy scribbles of a sketch and raised his brows slightly as he reviewed it, much to my annoyance.
I hastily grabbed my things from him and narrowed my eyes at him.
"What are you talking about?" I asked, frustrated.
Elliot looked unbothered and shrugged, diverting his gaze away from me for a quick second as he looked down into the people walking by. He heaved out a heavy sigh as he leaned his back against the dusty glass of his windows and turned back to me.
"Guy's probably hanging with someone else, I think. I don't know. How the hell did you think he ended up at that party?" he noted.
For once, I was starting to think he was right. Elliot was rarely right and at this moment, I was wishing what he assumed was wrong. I was wishing it was severely and terribly wrong.
"Maybe he got lost on the way or something." I barely muttered out loud. Still, I know Elliot understood what I said. It was written all over his face.
He looked kind today. Understanding too.
"Thena. Babe, he didn't get lost. Someone invited him there if he's the kind of nerdy asshole who hates people. I'm starting to get a feeling you have a person in mind who's behind this, right?" he asked with his voice hushed, his eyes seeming to speak to me with full sincerity.
I nodded, realizing how even the blurry things fell into place.
"Yeah, I think I do." I said, feeling my body go numb all over again.
Elliot nodded and looked at me as if he really cares. And I was starting to believe that he really does.
This was certainly not the same person I met all those weeks ago. Something changed in him after he took me in deadass drunk in his apartment, caring for me the same way I care for him to finally take a hike and leave.
"Who is it then?" he whispered, his voice sending tingles down my neck.
I feel so stupid.
I should've read the signs earlier when they had been peaking, always consistent, always thieving, haunting. I should've known it from when she said she found him cute and when Owen started to slowly drift away from me.
It was all because of her.
"Maya." I finally said.
Before, her name was just something I would bring up to make Fitz blush and stammer; now it is something I would put on a dartboard and shoot knives on until it is no longer rendered a physical entity.
Elliot seemed surprised as I mentioned her. His thick eyebrows shot upward as his green eyes widened. It was no soon until he furrowed his brows and looked as annoyed as I am.
"Really? Never knew you knew my stepsister."