One Thousand Paper Cranes

Chapter 31

I was naked in a bed with Eliam. His arms were glued to my waist and his lips, chapped and swollen from kissing, were tracing swirling patterns against my neck.

"That feels nice." I sighed. He laughed. "Don't stop."

"I wasn't planning on it." He moaned. His lips kissed and sucked at the most sensitive parts of my neck.

"God, I fucking love you." I whispered. He laughed again and pushed me tight against him.

"I love you, too." He kissed my lips, his tongue exploring my mouth. He released me with a sigh.

"Isn't it weird that I've never actually asked you to be my boyfriend?" He asked, his breath gliding across my skin and I shivered.

"No. Asking me now kind of seems pointless. We're already boyfriends." I said. He laced his fingers with mine and lifted our hands up between us. He kissed the tips of my knuckles and looked up at me through the curtains of his eyelashes.

"I'd still like to ask you." He whispered. I smiled sheepishly and shifted my weight closer to him, eliminating all the space between us.

"Then ask me, El." I laughed. He rolled his eyes and dropped my hand. His fingers trailed against my cheek and nose, feeling as if this was the only way to know I was there. I kept my eyes trained on his eyes, watching the way their honey color turned golden whenever the light from my window shone brighter.

"Will you be my boyfriend?" He asked, eyes lingering on my lips then flicking back up.

I bit my lip in fake contemplation. "Mm..." His hand dropped down to my chest and lower still. "Yes." I said breathlessly.

"Good." He kissed me and I thought, for one split second, that it didn't matter how much my mom hated me. It didn't matter that I wasn't able to tell my dad I was gay. None of it mattered because I had him. He was fully mine, and I was fully his.

***

Leaving is hard. Hard and painful.

"You have to take me with you." I pleaded. Eliam was dressed, looking only slightly disheveled with his unmistakable sex hair, and I was keeping him in place with my arms around his waist. "It's nothing but fucking torture here."

"I know. I'll text you and call you all day and night." He was serious. I smiled and kissed him softly.

"I love you." I whispered against his mouth.

"I love you more." He whispered back.

"Impossible." I felt him laugh against my chest. I unraveled myself from my arms and stepped away, my hand on the door handle. A look crossed over his face and he pushed me inside.

"You know what? You're coming with me." He kissed my cheek. "I'm done being away from you."

"Good. Then let's go."

***

"I'm taking you to my house. Emma's been wanting to see you. Fiona too, but she went back to college." He smiled over at me and laced our fingers together. I wasn't going to remark on the fact that he was a suck ass driver when using both hands and he should probably not resort to only one, but I liked his hand in mine so I kept my mouth shut.

"Really?" I asked. I hadn't realized I'd made I good impression. Most of my time there was spent in Eliam's room, kissing and only talking to him. I hadn't had time to make any sort of impression.

"Yeah, Fiona really likes you. Emma just thinks you're adorable." He grinned. I knew he was sidestepping Rachel, but it didn't make sense why.

"And Rachel?" I felt the air in the car change. He stared ahead and his smile vanished.

"She doesn't talk to me. I wouldn't know." Our conversation fizzled out after that and the rest of the car ride was just his thumb rubbing my hand and silence.

I watched out the window, looking at the trees growing taller as we got closer and closer to his neighborhood. I smiled as his house came into view. It's familiarity pushed through me and my smile grew.

***

Eliam's home smelled like vanilla and fresh cookies. Jenny, her floral apron peeking through the opening to the kitchen, was baking and singing some old showtime song I recognized. It was It's You from the Music Man. Roman used to sing it all the time just to annoy me. I actually liked the song, but would never give him the satisfaction of knowing.

"Oh, Sam's here!" Emma ran out of a room down the hall and hugged me. I recovered from astonishment after awhile and hugged her back.

"S'good to see you too, Emma." I laughed. She let go of me and smiled widely. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She looked like she'd only just woken up.

"Fi's not here. Rachel's here though." She grabbed my arm and pulled me down the hallway with her. Eliam followed, I could tell he was trying to hold back laughter.

"Uhh, Emma. Rachel doesn't want to see me. And I'm sure she doesn't want to see Sam and I together." Eliam told her. Emma stopped and let go of my arm.

"You can't avoid her forever, El. You can't avoid her at all." She countered. Her eyes were blazing. She turned back and stalked off to the opened door at the end of the hallway.

"I-I didn't think she'd blow up like that." He stuttered.

"Well, she's kind of right." I muttered. Eliam looked at me through narrowed eyes.

"I don't want to talk about it. Not right now." He said.

"Fine." I didn't know why I was mad. Maybe it was because I never had any siblings and to have them and push them away seemed to be a capital crime.

I followed him out of the hallway to his singing mother and pushed down my sudden frustration.