Chasing Charming ✔️

25 - Masterpieces

I awkwardly stood at the end of the lunch line, holding my food on one of the ugly gray trays.

Sure, I had made up with Eli; however, I was still feeling unsure of what to do. I had not eaten in the lunchroom for the last two weeks, and it felt strange to sit back down with the group as if nothing had happened.

I didn't have to think about it too hard because a giant hand was placed on the small of my back, and Eli led me back to our old table.

Owen looked extraordinarily pleased, and Taylor couldn't hide the smile on her face with our locked eyes. I sat down between Eli and Kyle.

Jones looked wide-eyed at Eli, and Eli gave a slight nod. To let him know that everything was okay and maybe things could go back to normal. Maybe.

Once again, I did not have time to dwell because the breath was knocked out of me by Kyle, who squeezed my body tighter than I thought possible without exploding. A big sloppy kiss was planted on my head, and then I heard a smack as Eli smacked the back of Kyle's head.

"Stop it, you jackass!" said Kyle, "she's back! This is great news. No thanks to you."

He was glaring at Eli playfully and still holding me close.

"Hey, I'm the one who brought her back!" Eli explained in defence.

"Yeah, well, you're also the one who scared her away!" scoffed Jones from across the table. Taylor gave him a look and then me.

"Okay, so, Betty? This isn't all your fault?"

"Of course, it's not Betty's fault!" Owen growled. "This should have never been an issue."

"Damn it, Owen, I know. It's fixed now can we just drop it?" Eli growled back. I didn't realize this had been such an issue among them.

I almost opened my mouth to apologize for causing issues, but a hand smothered my mouth. I looked at Eli, wide-eyed.

"Don't you dare apologize again, Betty."

I smirked into his hand, and he removed his giant palm from my face.

Taylor looked at us with an incredulous look on her face. "Is ANYONE going to tell me what's going on. You know I love yall, but I just can't handle the secrets."

Owen and Jones were glaring at Eli. They didn't like keeping secrets from Taylor either.

I looked at Taylor and Jones, and I noticed how close they were sitting. I guess I have no idea what is going on with the two of them since I have been so wrapped up in my drama.

I looked over at Eli, who was ignoring all of the glares and was staring at me. I didn't want any of this to come from me, and he could tell that from the hesitation that I had to show any sort of emotion. Of course, I would love it if he just was honest with everyone.

Eli sighed.

"Okay fine."

I thought Eli was going to go into a long story about how he hid who he was because he felt guilty about his mom's death, but instead, Eli stood up on the bench, pushed his trey out of the way with his foot, and hopped up on the table.

We were all staring at him. What the hell was he doing?

"Hey!" He called out to the entire cafeteria.

A few of the closer tables looked over at us, but there was still a loud chatter.

So, he tried again. "HEY EVERYONE!"

In the moments that followed, you couldn't hear a pin drop. Everyone stopped talking, and one of the lunch ladies even popped her head out from around the corner.