Hold Me While You Wait

5|take me back to feeling at ease

take me back to feeling at ease

Elis's fingers slowly fumbled with the folded note. She couldn't remember what it was, the exact words she wrote in the midst of dealing with Bryson's sudden death. She couldn't even fathom whether she wanted to open the letter or not, so Elis did the thing that seemed most sensible at the time.

She jumped off her bed, sliding the folded piece of paper in the back pocket of her jeans just so that she could forget about for a little while.

The curly-haired girl proceeded to return her brother's belongings and pictures in the case, while the vinyl softly played in the background of her thoughts.

She had been successful in not breaking down as yet, and surprisingly not finding it in herself to be angry when her mother called her downstairs too.

Elis felt slightly apathetic, and for a while, that was better than being drowned in her constant melancholy.

Life, for the most part, was about feelings. But in that moment, Elis allowed herself to not feel anything at all.

   ~

The problem about social interactions was that Elis felt like there was a certain standard she had to meet, a certain level she had to be so that people would like and understand her better.

Everyone was so quick to judge, nowadays. Elis hated that someone could build up a perception they'd hold onto for a very long time just by catching a glance of her outfit the second she walked into a room. Hence stuff like appearance were recently more important than getting to feel a person's genuine vibrations before making up a conclusion about them.

Now not that Elis wanted to pursue any kind of conversations with anybody in the woods right now, she'd rather be alone in the lake house listening to the vinyl disc.

But Elis just arrived to the bonfire with Gray.

In the darkness of the night and the only source of light being that of the fire,  Elis couldn't see anybody that she used to know. And that was when she sighed in relief, having not wanted to face anybody she had any recollection of.

"Come. I'll introduce you to my cousin," Gray pulled Elis by her hand without waiting for her reply.

She pulled the taller girl all through a few groups of people so invested in their conversations that they'd failed to see the two girls walking past them with hands held in each other's.

The contact of their skin made Gray's nerves a tad stronger, feeling giddy in her gut. The shorter girl didn't turn her head to look at Elis, but only if she would, because Elis had her eyes on her the entire time.

Both girls stopped in front of a group of three. Gray's cousin was talking to a few of the people who Elis thought were bored enough to attend the bonfire. She knew she was, for one.

"Ev," Gray called out, tapping the boy's shoulder to make him turn around. The girls he had previously been talking to walked away as soon as they realized the shift in Ev's attention.

What Elis first realized about Ev was his broad shoulders, his tan skin that matched Gray's and his jet black hair, trimmed short and removed from his face for more emphasis on his sharp features.

She looked at him for a long time without shifting gaze, or having some sort of reaction towards being introduced to the boy Elis noticed to catch the attention of anything that identified as a female.

"Ev, this is Elis. And Elis this is m--"

"Your cousin Ev. Got it," Elis looked down to smile at the girl who's hand was still clutched in hers.

"Elis? Pretty name for a pretty girl. What's it shortened for?"

Elis looked back at Ev, her eyes momentarily widening in shock before she distracted herself by using her thumb to draw circles on the back of Gray's hand that intertwined with hers.

"Nothing, actually. That's just the name."

"Very unique," Ev released a curt chuckle, his green eyes looking to make contact with Elis's averting chestnut ones. "Would you like a drink then, Elis?"

Elis didn't wish to hold any further conversation with Ev and just walk away. She wanted to walk further away from the bonfire, preferably with Gray because at the end of the day, she noticed the little details such as how more tan Gray's skin was compared to Ev's. How quite intriguing her ginger hair looked compared to his jet black hair, or how she'd rather keep caressing the back of Gray's hand rather than going to grab a drink with him.

"Actually, I promised Elis that I will introduce her to more of my friends," the ginger girl piped in, making Ev shoot a cold glare her way. "See you later Ev!"

Elis took it as a chance to walk away from the boy who was shooting daggers at his cousin, but a smile creeped up to her face as they walked away from the crowd to the much less clustered part of the woods.