Eliott Price Should be Dead

fourteen - семья

The soles on my shoes are so worn down that it feels like I'm walking barefoot along the cement sidewalks. I miraculously fight the urge to smoke another cigarette, keeping them safely tucked away in my back pocket.

The library isn't too far from my apartment building, but it's definitely not one of the closest places. As far as walking alone goes, fifteen minutes feels like fifteen thousand. I'm used to Nigel walking by my side.

I turn the corner to the library and use all my strength to pry open the large metal doors. They creak and rattle as I walk inside before they slam closed behind me. I stop at the entrance of the library and look around for a few seconds before spotting Jackie at a group table to the left.

"Hey!" I exclaim quietly, hurriedly walking over to the table.

"Eliott, hey!"

Jackie's tone is short and sweet, her eyelashes batting a million times while her hand extends out towards me to shake.

I cautiously shake her hand and take my seat across from her at the table.

"First off, I just wanna say sorry for calling you through my dad's phone. I matched you on Tinder during a really boring party, but I ended up getting drunk because I was so bored," Jackie explains while her finger traces small circles on the library table, "So then I ended up dropping my phone in the bathtub while drunk... and my friend found your profile so she just screenshotted your number for me."

I raise my eyebrows and blink a few times while absorbing Jackie's story.

"Yeah, that's fine, I don't really care. I deleted the app and everything."

Jackie perks up in the wooden library chair, lacing her fingers together on the table.

"I really didn't know you were interested in me. I told my dad we were meeting here for school research, but honestly I just wanted to meet here so we could agree on a place to fuck," Jackie whispers the last part with a small laugh to her voice.

"Woah, fuck?"

Jackie nods with her signature smile and keeps her good posture the whole way through.

"We can't do it at my house, my brothers are home."

I nod slowly and try to think of a way to gingerly back out of this situation, since Jackie seems way too enthusiastic about it.

"Listen, I don't know if we can—"

Suddenly, Jackie violently shakes her head "no" and I lose my train of thought.

"Actually, Leo is too young to understand anything, Niko is probably at work..."

My eyes sink down to the table and I try to find the right words.

"I don't wanna fuck you. How many brothers do you even have?"

Jackie looks offended, like saying I don't want to have sex with her is the equivalent of me telling her that she's ugly.

"Uh, okay. I have four. We're all crammed in a small townhouse anyway. The walls are paper thin, you can hear a needle drop."

I move my hands down to my lap so I can wipe the sweat off against my thighs.

"I only used Tinder to make friends," I truthfully confess to Jackie.

"Well, you can meet my brothers. They're all outcasts, kind of," she shrugs and tucks a lock of hair behind her ear.