Vol. 1: Thirty

+ LOVING ELIJAH MCCAY +

VOL. 1: CHAPTER THIRTY

The laughs of Elijah's family is booming through the restaurant. I can decipher the difference between three different laughs, and my stomach clenches with nerves. One sounds feminine, and the other two are deeper, broader.

Elijah's hand is still at the small of my back, pushing my through the buzzing restaurant. We pass table, after table. They're filled with large and small families, all seemingly happy, and finishing the last bit of their meals.

While walking, I shoved my hands into my sweaters pockets, and kindly avoided eye contact with any of the eating families. But they didn't seem to be doing the same, all pausing their conversations, to stare at the two of us, while whispering.

He merely smiled at them, and simply walked on. As though he had this hundreds of times. And just the thought of him bringing tons of other people to meet his family, made my insides curl, in the worst kind of way.

We made our way into a small lounge area, that I'm guessing was only reserved for staff and employees. And I was proved right, when I read the sign on the door that said, staff members only.

As he pushed those double doors open fully, I looked over to our left, and found three, very tall people, who all shared the same sort of face. And not only expression, but features. And it was all very apparent that they were all related to Elijah.

The tallest of the three, had short, cropped brown hair, and the palest skin tone I'd ever seen. When his eyes met mine, they were toned green, just like Elijah's. He sported tame facial hair, and his body type resembled Elijah's.

And I could hardly believe that Elijah could take so much after just one parent. Sure, I sort of took after my mother's tall and slender build, and my fathers facial features, but even then, I didn't resemble them as much as Elijah resembled his father.

There were two others who stood idly beside Elijah's father. The girl was tall, thin, and had a large head of curly, long and dark hair. It stopped just above her bottom. Her skin tone was slightly darker than mine, and just a little lighter than Elijah's.

A little like the older man's. But not exactly.

She gave me a curious look, while pushing a piece of hair behind her ear that carried a small stud. She didn't seem to recognize me. Which made perfect sense, since we'd never seen one another before.

The boy that stood directly in front of her, carried a the same look that she did, only seemingly more boyish. He didn't look too much like Elijah, but more like the young girl before him. I wondered if the two of them were twins.

The older man stood there, and simply smiled when he glanced over at the two of us. Although it wasn't at me. It was Elijah, who he immediately stepped toward and hugged tightly.

Elijah slipped his hand from off of my lower back, and returned the hug being given to him by his father. I stood off to the side, watching quietly, while my heart warmed at the gesture.

Soon enough, the two pulled away from one another, but the older man kept his arm around Elijah's neck, not letting him get too far. "When did you get here? You haven't been answering mine or your siblings texts or calls."

The mans voice seemed firm, as he finally let Elijah go, and crossed both arms across his chest. He watched Elijah with raised eyebrows, and it began to seem as though Elijah was in some sort of trouble with his father.

And I couldn't help but wonder why he apparently didn't answer any of their calls. His friends from the fair, had said the exact same thing. What would make him want to keep such a distance from everyone that he cared about, and everyone that cared about him?

Then, the thoughts came rushing in.

Maybe, I was being too hard on him? Maybe, there was something going on, that I didn't know about? Or maybe, he had some sort of personal issue that made him become distant, sad, cut off from everyone.

But then again, what he did was uncalled for, and mean. And it isn't at all what friends should do to one another.

This sort of back and forth was so exhausting. But it was all that I thought about. He was all that I thought about. And whenever I began to space out, the thoughts came creeping in again. At times, there was nothing I could do to stop them.

When a hand clapped onto my shoulder, I jolted out of my own head, and was pulled back into reality. It was Elijah, giving me a questioning look.

I frowned, my eyes shifting between Elijah and his father. I had distinctively heard his father ask him who I was, then I was gone—lost in my thoughts. I hadn't heard what Elijah's answer was.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't hear you." I shuffled out, pulling a hand out of my pocket, to nervously rub at the back of my neck.

Elijah's green eyes pulled me in closer somehow, and a dry swallow was drowned down into the pit of my throat. "I said that you're my friend, right?"

I had no idea whatsoever how to answer that. I didn't know who he was to me, in this moment. A few weeks ago, sure. I would've said that he was a new friend of mine. But as of right now, I didn't know.

But with his father staring down at me with questioning, open eyes. Eyes that he and Elijah shared—I simply couldn't conjure an answer. I didn't want to lie to Elijah, and act like we were friends, just to please his father.

It wasn't fair to me, or him. Especially when I had no idea where I stood on the forgiveness spectrum.

Just as I opened my mouth to respond, my lip quivering slightly, ready to begin a really, really awkward and confusing conversation, another voice beat me to it.

"Um, Elijah, you're being a weirdo—stop it." The girl laughed, moving in closer. She held out a hand to me, a grin spreading over her joyful face. "I'm Corey, Elijah's sister."

Her voice was smooth and confident. I gathered up bits of courage from her, because she seemed so calm, and not nervous like me, at all. Why would she be, anyway?

I jutted out my hand, returning the kind gesture. "I'm Gage." I, for obvious reasons, didn't elaborate on a title.

I seemed to lost track of Elijah, as he took his father side, who's name I hadn't quite gotten, due to me being completely spaced out during his small introduction. Which was more embarrassing that I could even let on.

The two took their seats a small table in the far back of the lounge, engaging in quiet conversation. Elijah sent me a small smile after realizing that I'd began sporting a panicked look. And almost instantly, my stomach stopped clenching, and the color in my cheeks intensified.

Oh, God.

The other boy stepped forward, and gave me an unexpectedly large grin. A goofy one, at that. He didn't give me his hand, only bringing his arm around my neck, and giving a side hug. I laughed loudly at the gesture.

"I'm Cameron," he spoke, and I watched as Corey tried her best to shove him off of me, only for him to push her away by her forehead. It seemed as though this was something they did a lot. And I quietly thanked God that I didn't have any younger siblings.

"Cameron, stop holding onto him like that!" She shouted, pulling onto his arm that was wrong around me, slightly pulling me along with him.

Cameron sucked at his teeth, pulling away from me, to give her a soft, but effective shove. The two of them engaged in large playful brawl, as I instinctively inched away, careful not to get caught in the mix.

As though just realizing what was happening, Elijah's eyes snapped up toward the two of them, and he stalked forward. He carefully pushed me aside, my back gently colliding with a large cabinet. He grabbed Corey by her v-neck, doing the same with Cameron.

"Will you guys stop being such fucking losers?" He hissed, sparing a sorry look.

Corey rolled her dark brown eyes. "I'm the loser? Really? Says the guy who dropped out of college."

Elijah sneered. And not in a playful way. "Says the girl who's wearing knockoff perfume—"

She gasped, eyes searching for her fathers, who merely shook his head, and returned back to drinking whatever contents were in his drink. The situation made me smile a bit, even if Elijah looked as irritated as ever.

"Says the guy who hasn't gotten any in months." Corey laughs loudly at this, not seeming phased. My cheeks turn pink at the insult. Seeing as he keeps spare condoms in his car, I'd think that, that was definitely not the case. But I guess I was wrong. And I was all-too happy about that fact.

Elijah chuckles lowly, crossing both arms across his broad chest. "Says the girl who's never gotten any."

Out of complete nowhere, Cameron begins a loud laugh, that echoes throughout the entire lounge area. He now has a bag of chips in hand, and is shoving one into his mouth, when he points an accusatory finger at Corey.

"He got you there, Core."

Elijah doesn't spare them another thought, only bringing both hands onto both of my shoulders, eyebrows raising as though he's about to ask a question. And it seems he's already over the conversation he's just had with his younger sister.

I wait for him to speak. "What do you say you try one of my mother's favorite dishes?"

A/N - I'm so sorry if this chapter seems a bit rushed. I wasn't really in the mood to write, but I also really wanted to put out another update for you guys <3 hope you liked it, either way :)