Eli’s phone buzzed again. Noah’s eyes trained on it.
What?
Eli picked it up and opened the message from Sinclair: ‘This was being spread around by some asshole.’
There was a picture attached.
Eli’s good mood fizzled out, dissolving into nothing. He
Her reply was instant. ‘No idea.’
“Okay boys,” Jenny’s voice pulled his attention away from the screen. “Enough with the phones.”
Eli’s stomach turned as he stuffed the phone into his pocket. He didn’t know what emotion it was, but it wasn’t good. He couldn’t look up to meet Noah’s gaze, though he felt it heavily on him.
“What is it?” Jenny put down her fork.
Eli couldn’t make himself look at her either. He
“Elliott.”
Eli flinched. His dad’s voice overlapped with Jacksons. “Don’t call me that.”
His dad’s expression immediately moved to anger. Eli didn’t apologise. The dinner table was
“Eli,” His dad’s voice didn’t come out as angry as he looked, and he said the shortened version of his name with a slow, clear pronunciation, “I understand you may not
Eli noticed a silent communication passing between Jenny and his dad. She was telling him to be nice. Eli tried to swallow the anger and forget the message sitting on his phone. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to.”
His dad let out a small huff. “I
“I wasn’t snapping.”
“Eli.” His dad growled.
“Shall I
“Until you can mind your tone, maybe you shouldn’t. Go to your room.”
Eli stood up from the table. He saw Jenny’s head shooting from Eli to his dad with a look of anxiety etched into it. Noah was still looking at his phone.
He
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked at the picture again.
Fag.
He’d never actually
His phone beeped. ‘You okay?’
‘I’m fine.’ Eli didn’t know what else to say.
There were a few seconds before a reply came. ‘Hot pic.’
Eli smiled despite himself, but it vanished after a couple seconds.
There was a knock at his door. “Eli,” Noah called, “Can I come in?”
Eli titled his head, looking at himself in the full-length mirror on the wall opposite his bed. Tears stained his cheeks, and his eyes were red. He swallowed hard. “No.”
The floorboards creaked outside the door. “Just for a minute?”
“No.”
Eli heard Noah sigh, then listened to his footsteps as he walked away. Eli tried not to think about the expression Noah had held when looking at him, but it came uninvited it his head. It’s like Noah had been accusing him of something when he looked at him like that.
There was a knock again, and the handle turned. Eli scowled at the ceiling. “I said no.”
“Open
“No.”
“Open
Eli’s insides clenched. He jolted out of the bed. He’d never had ‘that’ conversation with him before, and
Noah’s eyes widened, and then the familiar angry expression took hold of his features. He looked away. His avoidance of Eli’s gaze stung, but it fuelled the burning in his chest. If Noah
Noah looked haltingly at him, his brows creasing as he did. His face
“I
“I’m great, thanks.” Eli muttered, “Don’t show it to him.”
“I wasn’t going to
“Eli.” Noah sighed.
“Leave me alone.” Eli wiped furiously at his eyes. No matter how much he thought about other things, the photo, or a million other things, he couldn’t get himself to calm down.
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