number neighbor / mileven texting au.

twenty.

CHAPTER TWENTY;
SORE HEART.

2 weeks later.

"...and then, she tried to say i stepped on her foot on purpose. like no, bitch. if i was trying to step on her toes, i would've stomped a hell of a lot harder. i swear, she's so fucking annoying!"

max vulgarly droned on and on as el was folding her laundry in her room. she looked at her phone screen, seeing the ginger playing with a strand of her hair as she continued to express her pungent dislike for a certain blonde.

el huffed, not too keen on hearing all about her crush's new unbearable girlfriend.

"can't we talk about something else? or maybe, someone else? literally just anything else?"

catching on quick, max vehemently nodded.

"of course, sorry! how are you? wait, did you say yes to going out with sebastian?"

yes, the new british boy asked her out to which she kindly declined, but he was persistent. after some of his charming persuasion, they finally agreed on 'i'll think about it.'

it wasn't that sebastian ugly or unpleasant to be around, but it was just unfair. it was unfair to go out with him while another boy, residing approximately 130 miles away happily with his girlfriend, roamed her thoughts. it was simply cruel to give him the idea that she was interested in anything more than his friendship.

a friendship that she knew would end soon anyway. she knew it wouldn't be long until someone at her school dutifully filled him in on the tragic story that was her life.

who knew it only takes a dead mom and a suicide attempt to rank you at the bottom of the high school hierarchy?

el shook her head to dismiss the haunting thoughts before frowning.

"no, and i don't think i'm going to. whether i want to or not, i still like mike. it just wouldn't be right to lead sebastian on."

the words felt so funny in her mouth. she'd never had any guy show even the slightest interest in her. now, she was rejecting someone to avoid giving him false hope whilst nursing a sore heart from another guy.

"oh, how moral of you.. moral and boring! just think about it. if you did say yes, i could oh-so-casually mention it and bam! jealous mike!"

el rolled her eyes, folding a creamy orange t-shirt before sending a look of disapproval to her phone.

"you're awful, max. and also, you can't mention me to him at all. he'll be even angrier if he finds out we're still talking."

el did feel slightly guilty about still talking to max. after all, she was his friend before any of this occurred. and while, yes, el liked talking about anything to max, as friends do, a great portion of their conversations involved the raven-haired boy.

this includes the phone call el received moments after telling max that she was "really, really, really not fine" when she severed her friendship with mike. the redhead ditched her third period to console a crying el over the phone, assuring her that mike was just an scrawny, little asshole, unworthy of her tears.