My Best Kept Secret

Eli and I sat at a table in the back of the Dot waiting for Adam to show up. He'd called us both this morning and demanded we meet him here for an emergency meeting.

"So did Adam tell you what all this was about?" I asked Eli, turning to face him in my chair, I grabbed onto his hand, resting on top of the table, and Eli flipped it over to grasp mine properly while taking a sip of his coke.

"Nope. He just said he needed our help with something and to meet him here in twenty minutes." He peered over at the time on his phone and rolled his eyes; "He's late."

At that moment the bell over top of the door jingled loudly and Adam came rushing through, hastily taking a seat across from Eli and me. He took one look at our intertwined fingers and pretended to gag, or maybe it was real.

"Do you two have to be so disgustingly cute everywhere you go?" he asked us sarcastically. I was going to respond but Eli's sharp tongue beat me to it.

"Of course. We can't help it if we're cute. So why did you call us demanding that we meet you here?"

"Oh yeah, right. I need help with something. I tried getting my brother to help but he was just being an asshole about it."

"And what is this thing you need help with?" I asked him, getting concerned and somewhat impatient.

"I need a middle name and I can't decide on my own."

"That's why you called us here," Eli asked; "Your emergency was picking out a middle name?"

"Well yeah. My mom and dad are letting me get my name changed for my birthday, and I need to have a middle name picked out before then. That's three days away," Adam explained in a panic; "I don't even know any names I like."

"Why don't you get one of those baby name books?" I suggested.

"Clare you're a genius," Adam yelled as he stood up to leave. I followed behind him and heard Eli mumble behind me as he too followed.

"I can't believe this is how I'm spending my Saturday."

When Eli and I finally reached Morty, Adam was standing at the passenger's door bouncing excitedly on his feet. The second Eli had the door unlocked Adam opened it and just barely gave me enough time to climb in first before he slid in. I watched Eli walk around the front of Morty and slide into the driver's seat and a few seconds later we were off to the nearest bookstore.

Less than a half hour later the three of us sat at a picnic table in the park going through each name, trying to find the one that best suited Adam.

"How about, Douglas?"

Eli screwed his face up and I shook my head in disapproval.

"This is no use. We're already to the D's and there's nothing," Adam said, throwing the book on the table.

"Come on Adam, don't give up. There has to be something in this book that flows well and you like," I told him encouragingly.

"Yeah and the odds are in our favour, we still have 22 more letters to go," Eli replied dryly. I rolled my eyes at his sarcastic optimism and reached for the book. Flipping through it I tried to find the page Adam had been on, until one page in particular caught my attention.

"How did you pick the name Adam?" I asked him, not taking my eyes off the name at the bottom of the page.

"I don't know. Drew said I looked like an Adam, I liked it so I kept it," he explained his reasoning.

"Did you know Eli is a form of or can be short for Elijah?" I spoke to Eli, unable to keep my thoughts to myself. His body stiffened beside me.

"What's your point?" he asked coldly.

"I just didn't realize there were so many different forms of the name Elijah."

"Oh umm yeah, I guess there are," he mumbled without making eye contact.

"Is your full name Elijah?"

"No."

"Is Eli short for anything? Elias? Elisha? Elian?" I asked curiously. I could tell that Eli was growing irritated.

"No. It's just, Eli."

"Really?"

"Really. Can we just get back to Adam's problem please?" Eli pleaded with me. I couldn't help but think he was lying to me but I decided to drop it for now; "Adam why don't we just skip all the vowels. Your name starts with a vowel, you should go with a consonant for your middle name," Eli suggested, part of me thinks it's just a clever rouse to get out of the E's, but it does make sense.

"Yeah, Eli's right," I agreed much to Eli's obvious surprise.

"On to the F's," Adam declared loudly.

Looking down at the F names I hesitated before starting to list some off.

"Fabian...Fabio...Fabrice...Fairfax." I glanced up and caught the odd looks both boys were giving me; "You know what? Let's just skip the F's," I suggested and upon hearing no objection I moved on to the G's.

We spent the next two hours at the park trying to pick the perfect middle name for Adam but nothing fit. Finally we decided to call it a day and regroup here tomorrow. I marked the page we were on and handed the book back over to Adam.

"Why don't you keep looking tonight and you can run the names you like by us tomorrow?"

Adam was obviously discouraged but he nodded anyway and walked off.

"Do you want a drive home?"

I nodded and we both walked over to Morty. Like the gentleman he is, Eli opened the door for me to climb in, and then went to the driver's side to get in himself. Neither of us talked for the first five minutes, the only sounds being produced by Eli's loud music. Eventually I couldn't take it anymore, so I reached over quickly to turn his mind numbing music down. I have something to ask him and I'm going to do it now before I lose my nerve.

"So are you going to tell me your full name now, or what?"

His hands tightened around the steering wheel and I watched as his knuckles turned white.

"I already told you," he gritted through his clenched teeth.

"I'm sorry I have a hard time believing that the only name on your birth certificate is Eli," I challenged him despite his obvious anger.

The colour returned to his knuckles and he smirked at me.

"Well of course not, Clare. Goldsworthy is on there too."

I rolled my eyes at his sarcasm and looked out the window at the passing houses.

"I don't see what the big deal is. You know my full name."

"That's not the point, Clare. The only people who know my full name are my family and the government."

I spun my body in his direction and shoved my finger in his face.

"So you admit it! You have a middle name!"

Eli shook his head; "I never said that."

"I'm so confused." I faced forward, crossing my arms over my chest and sinking down into the seat. Eli chuckled at me and turned his obnoxious music back up.

I began to devise a plan in my head.

He pulled Morty to a stop directly in front of my house and climbed out to open my door for me. Passing the front of the car I took notice of Eli's wallet in his right back pocket, the wallet that was sure to hold his driver's license. Eli opened the door for me and I slipped out with an innocent smile on my face.

Making my way up to the door I felt Eli's presence close behind me. The second he joined me at the top of the stairs I turned around and pulled him into a deep passionate kiss. He was shocked for a moment but then quickly started responding. When I felt he was sufficiently distracted I slowly began reaching down to extract his wallet. With my hand just inches away from his pocket I felt Eli's larger hand grab my wrist. Lifting it up, he placed my hand on his shoulder. I groaned in frustration and felt him chuckle into the kiss but neither of us broke it. We were running out of air by the time we pulled back and slowly opened our eyes.

"Nice try, Clare." He smirked at me smugly and pecked me on the lips one final time; "Seeya' tomorrow."

I watched him walk back to Morty, before climbing in and taking off in the direction of his own home. I was the one smirking as I unlocked the door to my home.

"Eli's crazy of he thinks that's all I've got up my sleeve. On to Plan B," I whispered to myself as I entered the house. Knowing there was no way he had reached home already I called the Goldsworthy residence to have a quick chat with Cece.

The next day I made my way happily down the sidewalk on my way to Eli's house. It was a warm sunny day so I decided to walk over instead of having him come pick me up. When I rounded the corner onto his street I immediately noticed him washing Morty. It's hard to miss a boy wearing all black, washing a vintage hearse, especially if he's the boy you're looking for. His back was facing me so I creeped up behind him, the small bit of noise I made being drowned out by the loud music coming from Morty's speakers.

"Hey, Eli!"

"Ahhh!"

He jumped at the sound of my voice and spun around rapidly to face me. I don't know who was more surprised, him or me at the sight of the black framed glasses he was wearing.

"Clare? What are you doing here? You were supposed to call me later so I could come pick you up."

"It was a nice day so I decided to walk. You wear glasses?" I asked him although the answer was right in front of my face.

"It's umm...only when umm, that's not important," he mumbled, reaching up to take them off. I stopped him, grabbing both his wrists and bringing them back down, then slipping my fingers through his.

"Leave them on. They're cute."

He rolled his eyes but smiled despite himself.

"You know it's not nice to sneak up on people like that." He let go of my hands and reached down to grab the hose at his feet, the tone of his voice worried me; "I think I may have to punish you for being so mean."

Eli pointed the hose directly at me. I stretched my arms out and slowly began backing away.

"Eli, don't do it."

I continued moving back until I reached the other side of Morty's hood, but Eli matched me step for step with an evil grin plastered on his face.

"And why shouldn't I?"

"You'll regret it."

"How do you suppose that?"

He lifted the hose a little more.

"I'll tell everyone your full name," I told him, trying to scare him off, but all I got was a deep chuckle from his lips.

"Clare you don't know my full name."

I watched his hand in horror as he began to apply pressure to the trigger and I could hear the water beginning to make its way through the hose.

"Elijah Nathaniel Ethan Goldsworthy!" I blurted out and covered my face with my hands to protect it from the spraying water that never came. Eli's jaw dropped to the ground along with the hose and I spread my fingers to peer through them just in time to see him staring at me with wide eyes.

"H-how did you..." he mumbled, unable to form the question I knew he was dying to ask.

A victorious smirk covered my face while I dropped my hands to my side.

"Your mother told me. I called her after you left yesterday. All I had to do was ask," I explained to him.

"She knows I hate that, she never tells anyone. Why would she tell you?"

"She said that she thought I would agree with her." He looked confused now as he tilted his head to the side like a dog would; "She thinks you have a nice name and doesn't understand why you're so embarrassed by it," I said as I walked over and wrapped my arms around his neck; "And you know what?"

"What?"

"I do agree with her. Your names cute."

He groaned and threw his head back.

"That's the problem. It makes me sound like a wimp."

"It doesn't make you sound like a wimp, and don't worry because if it bothers you so much I won't tell anyone."

"Thank you."

"But that doesn't mean you'll escape from me calling you Elijah when you piss me off."

"Considering how often that happens I guess I'm gonna have to get used to it."

"You bet. Now let's go, we have to meet Adam at the park."

"But we don't have to be there for another half hour."

"Yeah, but it's a nice day and I want to go for a walk with my boyfriend."

He rolled his eyes but still allowed me to start dragging him in the direction of the park. The walk was quiet; I swung our interlocked hands back and forth and hummed the whole way there. I could feel Eli's eyes staring at me but it only made me happier.

We reached the park in less than twenty minutes and made our way over to the picnic table we had occupied the previous day. Surprisingly Adam was already there, bouncing excitedly.

"Hey Adam," I greeted him as Eli and I took a seat on the unoccupied side of the picnic table.

"Hey guys." Adam greeted back, his eyes scrunching together in confusion when they landed on Eli; "Why are you wearing glasses, dude?"

Eli hand reached up rapidly to take his glasses off and for the second time today I stopped him.

"Stop it. I like them."

He was about to protest so I leaned over and connected our lips, successfully distracting him. The kiss didn't last long before Adam cleared his throat.

"We don't have time for your mushiness today." Eli rolled his eyes but Adam just continued; "So Clare, I took your advice and went through the book last night and I got it down to two names. I would have asked Drew is opinion but he already proved to be no help."

"Okay, so lay them on us," Eli said from his spot next to me.

"They're kind of similar but I think they both sound good."

"So what are they," Eli spoke impatiently.

"Mitchell and Marshall."

"Humm...Adam Mitchell Torres, Adam Marshall Torres."

Both boys stared at me as I said both names out loud, getting a feel for them. Adam sat in anticipation, while the look on Eli's face suggested that he had already made up his mind. That was confirmed when just seconds later he blurted out his answer.

"I like Mitchell."

Their eyes diverted to me and after a few more seconds of contemplation, I concurred.

"I do too. I like Mitchell."

"Yes! So it's settled, Mitchell it is." Adam jumped from his seat excitedly; "Now, let's go to the Dot. I'm hungry and it's almost lunch time."

I laughed at his eagerness and stood up to follow, along with Eli. We quickly caught up to Adam outside of the park and began making our way in the direction of the Dot.

"So, since Mitchell's gonna be your middle name does that mean I can call you Mitch?" Eli asked in a joking manner, not expecting at all the response he got.

"Only if I can call you, Nate."

Eli's jaw dropped in shock, while Adam took off running ahead of us, his loud laughter fading only slightly with the distance. Eli's steps paused and he looked at me.

"You told him."

"It might have come up last night while we were on the phone." I was surprised to find that Eli seemed more flustered than angry. I leaned up and lightly kissed his cheek; "I love you, Elijah," I said before running off after Adam. I heard Eli huff behind me before suddenly the sound of his rapid footsteps filled my ears. When he caught up to me his arm wrapped around my shoulders and he smiled down at me.

"You're lucky I love you too."