Let's Restart

Chapter 2

I didn't realize how tired I was until I was woken up by Eli, getting into bed. I groaned a little, but he shushed me.

"I'm just on my laptop," he mumbled to me. I rolled onto my stomach, on hand above my head, not sure why he had to be in here for that.

"Where are Thisbe and Vinny?"

"Gone. You slept late. It's one in the afternoon."

"Mmmm."

"College girl."

"Mmmhmm." I moved closer to him without thinking, now curled against Eli. He froze.

"Um, Auden, we're not-"

"Shhh," I mumbled, not sure when I became in control of something. Still, I just laid against him, not caring what Eli thought of me. I think it was because I was so tired. Not to mention the fact that I only had till July. I had to soak up my time with Eli while I had it.

"Auden, are we-"

"Does matter? You said you weren't with anyone anyways, right? And we're not doing anything."

"Oh, I know," he said, which I ignored.

"Let me just rest a little bit longer," I pleaded. Slowly, Eli ran a hand down my back before using it to push me closer to him. We laid like that for about an hour. When that was up though, so was Eli.

"I have to go," he whispered to me. "You wanna come?"

"Where?"

"I have to pick up Vinny from some boy's house."

"Who?"

"His name's Rich."

"Where's Thisbe?"

"With Heidi and Jack. They don't spend everyday together, you know."

"I just figured." I sat up a little bit, going to go get dressed. Eli was already dressed in his same dark jeans from yesterday and a different t-shirt. It was one I bought him, but I think that was just a coincidence.

"They do spend a lot of time together though." Eli waited as I dressed, apparently not sensing my unease about changing in front of him. "Since Vinny moved here, Thisbe's chilled out about being with me everyday at least."

"She has another friend now."

Eli paused. "Yeah."

After I finished dressing, Eli walked me out of the room, his hand on the small of my back as he led me outside. Not saying anything to each other, we got into his truck. As we were driving to the kid's house, I distracted myself by texting some of my college friends. Eli kept glancing over at me, but didn't ask who I was talking to.

After a moment, he spoke.

"I, uh, have your Christmas present, if you want it."

I looked at him, frowning. "What?"

"I was gonna mail it to you, but you said you wanted space and…I kept it, because…Well, I just have it when you're ready for it was the point."

"It's not….is it?"

"What?"

I nodded at Clayton's picture, making him frown.

"No, it's not baby stuff. Why would I give that to you?"

"I can't get why you'd buy me anything else."

"All of Clayton's stuff is, uh, in storage."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why?"

"Why didn't you just throw it out?"

Eli frowned over at me, turning the radio up. "Most people have hearts, Auden."

"Oh yeah, Eli, I don't have a heart for not wanting to think about-"

"Just stop, alright?" He glanced up at his visor, staring at her ultrasound. "Stop."

It was quiet in the truck when we pulled up to the boy's house, but Eli just got out of the truck to retrieve his nephew. As soon as they were in the truck, Vinny started asking to go to work with Eli.

"I'm not going to work today," he told him as he got back in the truck. "You're going back to Grandma's."

"No," he complained. "I wanna go to your house."

"You can't."

"Why?"

"I don't know, Vinny. Your dad wanted you at home, so you're going home."

He whined for awhile, but Eli just turned the music up. When we got to the Stock residence, he looked at me.

"Wanna get out?"

I rolled my eyes before doing so. Vinny ran into the house, angry with Eli. He just shook his head, following with me behind.

"Mom?" He called out as we came into the house. "Are you guys here?"

"In the kitchen."

Eli headed in there while Vinny ran off to the bedrooms. I went with Eli, finding Karen cooking something on the stove. Eli gave her a hug from behind before going over to the fridge.

"You're out of Kool-Aid," he told her.

"There's some packets over there and the sugars in the cupboard. Make it yourself, Eli." She glanced behind her and for the first time saw me. "Oh, Auden, you're here."

Eli shook his head. "She came back for-"

"I know she's back. I saw her yesterday."

Giving me a glance, Eli grabbed a pitcher to make his drink. "Anyways, Mom, what are you making?"

"Stew for dinner tonight. Why? Are you two staying?"

"I don't know about Auden, but I am."

"Oh, Eli," his mother said, thinking that his rude tone when speaking my name was one of his old jokes. I ran my hand up my other arm awkwardly, not knowing what to do or say. Thankfully, Vinny fixed that.

"Grandma, I want Eli to leave. Auden too," he said as he came into the room. She just shook her head at him.

"Be nice."

"Eli won't play with me. I wanted to go home with him."

"What did Auden do?"

"I dunno!" He climbed into one of the kitchen chairs. Then he frowned, looking at Eli. "Are you making cherry?"

Eli glanced at the packets he had just poured into the pitcher. "Yep."

"Ew! I hate cherry."

"Thisbe likes it," he said simply, now taking the pitcher to the sink to fill it up.

"Where is she anyways?" Karen asked as she turned away from the stove. She came to stand near me, running a hand down my arm. I didn't remember Karen liking me that much, but apparently, she realized how much she did after I left. I guess…

"With Jack and Heidi. I don't know what they're doing though." Eli glanced back at me. "You can go in the living room, Auden. We're staying for awhile."

Vinny jumped out of his chair. "Come on, Auden. You can put Dumbo on for me."

Really? I'm already getting that honor?

After figuring out how to work the ancient VHS player, I sat down on the couch with the little boy to watch about some stupid elephant. About twenty minutes in, Eli joined us, but he sat down in the chair. I was kind of hoping for some sort of contact between the two of us, given what we did when he first woke me up.

Then the crying started.

"What's wrong?" I asked as Vinny began to bawl. I had been texting Maggie and was shocked to hear his wails. "What happened?"

"Dumbo's Mommy can't stay with him," he whined, as Eli sighed.

"Stop crying, Vincent," Eli said with a frown. "You've seen the movie before."

"It's so sad." He turned to me, cuddling against my side. I froze, frowning down at Eli's nephew.

"Uh, Vinny? You wanna let me go?"

"Sad."

Besides Thisbe, I had no dealing with kids. Eli finally came over and sat on the other side of Vinny, though he didn't remove him from me.

"You miss your mommy, Vinny?" He whispered, but Vinny shook his head no. "You miss your sister and brother?"

"No," he mumbled against my side, getting his snot and tears all over it. I felt bad for him and everything, I really did, but he was way too close to me. Eli finally reached out to touch him, which meant his hand brushed my side very briefly. I closed my eyes a little, knowing I had enjoyed that too much.

"It's okay if you do," I told him softly. Eli glanced up at me with a look that told me to shut up; I didn't know what I was talking about. And I didn't. I had no idea where Kelly and her other kids were. It's none of my business, after all. Still, I forged on. "Everyone misses somebody."

Vinny sniffled loudly before pulling back to look at me. "Do you miss somebody?"

"Of course."

"Who?"

"Um…I don't get to see my brother Hollis a lot. And I guess I won't, now that Eli fought with him."

That made Vinny giggle a little. "Eli punched Hollis hard. Mrs. Vicky yelled at him and Mr. Robbie tried to make Eli leave."

Mr. Robbie, huh? I wanted to know more about this, but also didn't want to leave him still upset. "Tried?"

"Auden-"

Vinny cut his uncle off. "Ms. Heidi and Jack said he didn't have to."

I raised my eyebrows at Eli. "How come Jack doesn't get a title?"

"Title?" Vinny frowned.

"Like Mr."

"Oh. He's really cool, Auden. He brings Thisbe candy and when I asked for some, he started bringing me some too! He gives Thisbe lots of gifts. Like toys and stuff. He's really nice."

"That good."

"Uh-huh." He sniffled as he sat up. Then he looked back at the movie. "I don't wanna watch Dumbo no more."

"That's fine," Eli said, still staring at me. I think he was shocked that I knew about the fight. "Why don't you go in the other room and talk to Grandma? Go help her do the dishes."

"I don't-"

"Go, Vinny." Eli patted him on the head. As soon as he was in the other room, Eli moved closer to me, staring into my eyes. "What do you know about me and Hollis? Or your parents? Even Jack for that matter?"

"Nothing," I said, frowning. "It's just all things that Thisbe mentioned in passing, honest."

Eli bit his lip, staring at me. "Your brother got what he was asking for."

"Just like my father did, right? That day you punched him?"

"What?"

"Back before I left."

"Really? You're throwing that time in my face? Seriously?" He frowned, lowering his voice as we heard Karen singing some sort of silly song in the kitchen, exciting Vinny. "Compared to what you did, what I did is nothing."

"All I did was leave, Eli."

"That's all?" He snorted before standing. "Why don't you just take off, Auden? I don't want you here."

"You're not just going to run me out of Colby."

"What?" He turned to face me. "That's not what I-"

"If you didn't want me back here, that's all you had to say. You didn't have to freaking let me stay in your house you know." I stood up too, headed to the door. "I'm not leaving though. I'll just take my stuff and not come around you anymore. My sister though is still mine. You can't-"

"I meant the house, Auden. I meant that I wanted you to go home. My apartment or whatever. I just don't want to be around you right now."

I paused at the door. "Oh."

"Yeah."

"…You still can't tell me what to do."

"I'm not trying to. This is my parents' house though. If I don't want you here, you should just-"

The door suddenly opened and I jumped back, running into Eli. Who else to walk through the door other than Joseph Stock?

"Whoa! Auden! You're here. And Eli too. Can I assume Vinny is also?"

"Yeah," Eli said, reaching around me, holding me to him. "He is."

"Jake?"

"You guys kicked him out. I think he's staying with Wallace this time."

"I just figured he'd be back by now."

"Nope."

"Hmmm." Joseph smiled at me before stepping around Eli and I, calling out for his wife. I heard Vinny giggle as his grandfather went into the kitchen to be with them. Then it was just me and Eli, who was still holding me to him. I shrugged him off before turning to face him.

"What exactly do you expect me to do all alone at your apartment?"

"I don't know," he said, staring down at his feet. "Honestly, I'm still kind of in shock."

"About what?"

"You, Auden. I thought….we all thought…you'd just….move on." He looked up into my eyes, but his were hard. Apathetic. Then he was turning away, headed towards the kitchen. "Stay, don't stay, I don't care. Just don't get on my nerves."

"Eli," I heard Karen scold from the kitchen, which he was now stepping into. Peeking in there, I saw that she was making Joseph and Vinny a snack to tide them over until dinner time. She saw me watching and said, "Auden, you can stay. Eli's being an idiot."

He just headed out into the backyard, the door banging behind him. I stared into the kitchen for a moment, hating the way the three remaining Stocks were looking at me.

"No, it's fine," I called out to her, turning around to face the door again. "I should…I have something to do. Thanks for the offer though."

When I got outside, I realized just how long of a walk it would be back to Eli's. True, Colby wasn't that big, but when you're depressed and alone, any journey seems like a long one. I was only about halfway there when Eli's truck pulled up beside me on the otherwise empty road.

"Get in," he grumbled as he rolled down his window. I just stared for a moment. "Well?"

Once I was in his car, Eli just took off, not even saying anything to me. When we passed Gas/Gro without stopping, I figured we wouldn't be going very far anyways.

"You make it so damn hard, Auden."

I was shocked when he spoke to me ten minutes later. "Huh?"

Eli just shook his head a little. I went back to leaving against the window, sighing a little bit.

"I don't know what you want me to do, Eli."

Taking his time to respond, he countered with, "Do you want to be together?"

"Do you?"

"I don't know," he whispered. "You did me wrong. Real wrong. I mean, I've done stuff to you, but leaving like that? Hurting everyone? That's low."

"I know."

"I mean a month is one thing, two months is iffy, but a whole six months? Auden…you could have been dead. If it wasn't for Maggie, none of us would have known a damn thing about you." Eli was gripping the steering wheel tightly, staring straight ahead. "I lost Clayton and I lost you."

"Eli…"

"Don't," he whispered. "Just don't."

"I just want to-"

"No."

"Eli, nothing changes if you don't let me talk."

"What could you possibly say, Auden? Nothing that will change anything." He sighed loudly, but I kept up.

"I'm sorry, Eli, but it was better for me to-"

"Better for you? For you? Great, Auden. You got to go out and forget this ever happened while the rest of us were stuck here, no chance of that ever happening. You know, you acted like I wasn't hurting too."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Admit to it!"

"Fine, Eli! I left you, okay? I fucked you over, okay? Okay?" I sniffled a little.

"Oh, no, don't you start crying. You always do that."

"Do what?"

'Whenever I'm mad, you start bawling. It won't work this time." He snorted. "You had your chance to cry back in December, when we were together. You caused this. You-"

"You think that I wanted Clayton to die, Eli? Because I didn't," I said, now even closer to crying. "You think that I don't blame myself every day? I mean, God, Eli, you didn't kill Clayton. My body did. I did. I lost her, okay? Not you. Stop trying to make it sound like you know exactly what's going on with me because you don't. You're not guilty. I am."

He was quiet for a minute, letting my words engulf both of us. "Auden, I don't blame you."

"Bullshit."

"I'm serious. I've told you that before."

"You just said-"

"I meant that it was your fault for leaving, not for what happened to…" Eli sighed loudly, finally pulling the car over to the side of the road. Then he unbuckled his seat belt and turned to face me. "Is that what you think? That I think that that was your fault?"

"…Yeah…" I looked off a little.

"Look at me." He leaned over the console and grabbed my chin, forcing me to follow his order. I didn't put up much of a resistance anyways. "This wasn't your fault, okay?"

"Eli-"

"Say it."

"I don't-"

"Say it."

"It wasn't my fault," I mumbled. Then he shocked me by kissing my head, lingering for a moment before pulling back. We just sat there after that, neither speaking. After a moment, Eli started the car and turned around.

"We're going back to my mom's. Well, I am. Do you want to?"

I just shrugged.

"I don't feel like making dinner," he said simply. When we got there, neither of us left the car for a minute. Then I unbuckled my seat belt, snapping Eli into action. He led me into the house though we weren't speaking to each other. All I could think about was his lips on my forehead.

"You're back," Joseph said as we walked into the living room. "Good. Dinner'll be ready in soon. Eli? Do you know when Jake's going to get back from Wallace's?"

"Dad, I told you, he's living there."

"Come now, Eli, you don't really think he's staying there, do you?"

I left them to their conversation, instead heading into the kitchen. Karen was sitting at the table, listening to Vinny as he read to her from a picture book. She seemed bored, but Vinny didn't notice as he stumbled along with his words. Karen nodded me towards the chair next to them, but I shook my head, heading out into the backyard. Sitting down on the porch steps, I sighed a little bit, wrapping my arms around myself.

"Is it time to eat yet?"

I jumped as the bush in the corner of the yard spoke. "Jake?"

He poked his head out. "When it is time, can you bring me a bowl out here?"

"I thought that Wallace was letting you stay with him?"

"We got into a fight. I've been in the backyard, waiting for dinner. I don't think I'm allowed to come in, so I'm hiding."

"Are you just going to sleep in the yard? You can come over to Eli's."

"I don't want him to know that I got into a fight with Wallace."

I frowned. "So you're going to sleep out here tonight?"

"No," he said, shaking his head. "I'm going to wait for Mom and Dad to fall asleep and then go inside."

"Jake, I don't think they'll mind if you just apologize for whatever it is you did."

"It's not that simple, Aud."

"I think it is."

"Nah. You don't understand my family."

"I think I do, Jake. I was almost a part of it."

"Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades."

"Okay…well, I think I'm going back in now that I know you're out here hiding in a bush." I stood up. "Just, um, one thing."

"What?"

"Why aren't you in shed instead of…you know what? Never mind. Stay in the bush."

"Thank you."

When I got back inside, Vinny was still sitting at the table reading, but in Karen's place there was now Steven. He smiled when he saw me, interrupting Vinny's story to say something.

"Auden," he greeted. "I heard you were back in town."

"Just for a little while."

Vinny frowned at me, putting a finger to his lips. "I'm reading. Shhh!"

"Vinny, don't be rude," his father corrected, patting his son on the back.

I went into the living room where Joseph and Eli were watching something on TV. I sat down on the couch with Eli, though I made sure to leave the middle cushion open, yet again unsure of our boundaries. Every step forward it seems like a fight pushes us back.

"Joey, can you come here for a second? I need you to get something down off the closet shelf for me," Karen called from somewhere else in the house.

"Shhh," Joseph said, doing the same motion with his finger that Vinny had done earlier. "Pretend you don't hear her."

"Joseph, I can hear you! Now come here."

Groaning, he got up for his chair before walking off, leaving Eli and I alone. We were both quiet for a few seconds before I spoke.

"So…Steven lives here now?"

"Just till he finds a place."

I glanced down at my left and his right hand, noticing that they were both on the middle cushion, but not touching. Eli followed my stare, but didn't do anything to fix it. He also didn't shed any light on the other things I was wondering about Steven and Vinny's appearance in Colby, but I don't think he's going to without me bringing it up first. Which I won't be doing anyways.

"Even with Jake here?"

"Jake's with Wallace, I told you." He frowned at the look on my face. "What do you know?"

"Nothing."

"Hn." Turning back to the television, he moved his hand so that his arms were now crossed over his chest. I leaned against my own arm, also shifting my position. When Joseph came back, he was carrying a box for Karen as she followed along, complaining about something he had said apparently. Curious, Eli left to go find out what they were doing.

"What's in the box?" He asked as Karen opened the front door. I got up and followed the three of them, also interested. "Jake's stuff?"

He got a look from his mother though when she saw me behind them, she smiled.

"No," she said as we all went over to the car. "It's a box of things that Janice wanted."

"Janice?" I asked, but Joseph just looked back at me and rolled his eyes.

"She's the most annoying woman on the planet, Auden," he told me.

"Oh, Joey, stop it."

"She is," Mr. Stock defended. He went over to Karen's car and put the box on the roof before opening the passenger side door and opening it, now setting the box in there. "One time, we went to a Christmas party-"

"I hate this story, Joseph."

"-and she started to tell me about how her first husband cheated on her."

I glanced at Eli as he moved back to stand next to me. "What's so bad about that?"

"Everyone in town knows that her first husband did not cheat on her. She was cheating on him."

"Joseph, stop it."

"So," he said, talking over her. "I told her. Then she flipped out on me! And ever since, every single time I see her, she's just out right rude to me. In my own house even! I can't stand her."

"Thank you for sharing, Joseph," his wife said, frowning.

"So what's in the box then?" Eli asked.

"Clothes that I'm giving her. I meant to a month ago, but she was out of town, so I just put the box-"

"You know where she was, Auden?"

Apparently, Joseph was going to use my naivety as a chance to dish about Janice.

"No," I said as Eli sighed, clearly tired of listening to the Janice discussions.

"Vacationing. In Aspen. Have I ever taken my wife to Aspen? No? I must be a horrible person then."

"Joey, you're really-"

"Eli better take you there, someday, because if he doesn't, he's apparently going to rot in Hell for it."

Eli kicked up a little dirt, not saying anything about our relationship. Well, lack there of.

"I mean, God," his father went on, "she basically crucified me for it. We live in a beach town. That is a vacation every day of your life! Remember that, Eli, when this one wants to go somewhere."

"I've been to Europe," I offered. "My mother and I."

Eli shook his head at me. "Don't mention-"

"Oh, she's been to Europe. She-"

"Joey, honey, I have to go now." Karen patted him on the shoulder. "I told her I'd be there in ten minutes, but that was before your long story. Now, can you come with me or not?"

"Well, Auden wants to hear my story."

"I think she can manage without a bitter old man's spurned advances."

Joseph flushed. "I asked her out once in high school, Karen. That has nothing to do with-"

"Let's go back inside," Eli said to me, turning on his heels.

"Stir the stew, please," Karen called after him before looking at me. "The moral of the story is, Auden, don't marry a bitter man."

"I'm not bitter!" Joseph got in the passenger side, still grumbling. I smiled at Karen before going back into the house. Vinny was in the living room now, playing with some toy cars. Eli was gone though, but I didn't feel like finding him.

"What are you doing, Vinny?"

"Playing truck driver. That's what I'mma be. A truck driver."

'What kind of truck?"

"A fire truck. I'mma be a fireman." He looked over at me as I sat down on the couch. "Daddy's gonna take me and Thisbe to the beach tomorrow."

"What about Eli?"

"I dunno. I don't think he asked Eli." Vinny looked around, as if checking for someone, before looking back at me. "Daddy and Eli are fighting."

"Oh," I said. Like with my sister, I didn't want to get my gossip from him. I think that it's just wrong to get that kind of information from children. Shameful, really. "So are you and Thisbe friends?"

"The best," he told me, rolling an eighteen wheeler around. "'cept for when she stealed my skateboard."

"She did that?"

"Uncle Jake did. He took it and gave it to her without asking! And when I told Grandma, she told me I had to learn to share. That I don't even use my skateboard."

"Do you?"

"No," he admitted. "It's still not fair!"

"No, it's not," I agreed. "But you guys still have fun together, huh?"

"Yep. Even if she is a girl." He suddenly stared hard at me for some reason. "Thisbe said that Ms. Vicky is your mommy."

I was still having trouble seeing my mother, Dr. Victoria West, being called 'Ms. Vicky' by four year olds. It was scary, too, knowing that these few months could change her so much. I knew that I too had been changed by them, but had it been to that degree?

"She is," I told him. "Do you like her?"

He shook his head a little. "She called me ignorant!"

"Why?"

"Because I told Thisbe that she couldn't run as fast as me 'cause she's a girl." He frowned at the memory but then smiled. "One time though, her and Mr. Robbie took us to get ice cream."

"That's nice of them."

Nodding, he opened his mouth to say something again, but then Eli walked into the room.

"Where were you?" I asked, wanting to change the subject so that I wouldn't have to think about my parents.

"Planning our trip to Aspen."

I just stared for a second, trying to figure out if I should joke with him or not. "That's gonna set you back."

"Not as much as our Europe trip."

I wanted to smile at him, but Eli's wouldn't look at me as he sat down on the couch. Vinny jumped up after a moment, running off. When he came back, he had some stuffed animals.

"What are you doing?" Eli asked him.

"Scar wants to be a truck driver too," he said, putting a stuffed bear on the eighteen wheeler.

"Scar?" I mumbled to Eli, but he just shook his head. This time, for some reason, he's sitting closer to me. Still, there's most of the middle cushion between us, but not as much of it.

"You stir the stew?" I asked after a moment of watching Vinny play.

"I did."

"Good boy."

"Just working for my treat."

"The Aspen treat?"

"No, my treat will be you not hating me and sentencing me to Hell."

I smiled at him this time, unable to control myself. "Is this woman really that bad or is your father exaggerating?"

"My mother doesn't think so, but, uh, she kind of has a thing for…degrading men. Personally, and mind you this is a theory thought up by my father, he thinks she's secretly a lesbian."

"Does he now?"

"He tried to coax her out of the closet once."

"Bet that went over well."

"He slept on the couch for months."

"Ouch."

"Yeah."

When I looked back towards Vinny, I noticed that he and his toys were now missing. Eli didn't seem that concerned, so I ignored it and watched TV. It's on the news, but I didn't mind. It was at least CNN and not local, so it was interesting.

When Joseph and Karen got back, neither was talking, so I could tell that something was wrong. Eli could too, apparently.

"What's going on?" He asked, taking in their expressions.

"I told him to wait in the car."

"I'm giving some of my wife's clothes, that I bought with my hard earned money-"

"I worked too-"

"-and I'm going to wait in the car as she gives them off to some man hating whore-"

"Joseph!"

And then it was silent. I felt extremely awkward in the Stock house, more than I ever had. Joseph take a deep breath before looking at me.

"In short, Auden, take that trip to Aspen."

He got hit in the arm for that one before Karen walked off into the kitchen, clearly angry. I could hear Steven asking what was wrong in there, but in the living room, no one was speaking. Then Eli tried.

"Dad-"

"I just hate being over there. So much. And then your mother-"

"I was going to say that I'm going to need a loan."

Joseph turned to look at us. "What?"

I glanced at Eli, feeding off him. "We have enough for Aspen, but not Europe."

Eli nodded. "Can you help out? You wouldn't want me rotting in hell, after all."

Blinking, his father sat down in his chair. Then he smiled that big smile at us that he always has. "I can't even save myself from that fate, son."

Eli shook his head. "Guess I'll have to go bankrupt after all."

"Not a worse fate than Hell," I told him.

Glancing down at our hands like had earlier; Eli grasped mine in his own. "Definitely not."


After dinner, Eli and I headed home. Due to school, I was used to going to bed at night instead of staying up late. Morning classes will do that to you. Eli was still up for his nocturnal bit, so as I went to take a shower, he called anyone and everyone, trying to make plans. When I got back out to the living room, he was there still, sitting on the couch.

"No luck?" I asked as I headed into the kitchen for a soda.

"None what so ever."

"Maybe you're not meant to go out tonight."

Eli shrugged as I came back into the room. "There's a Halloween movie marathon movies on."

"Like Halloween or-"

"Like Jason, Auden."

"Oh."

"I guess that I can spend the night watching that."

"You could."

"I mean, I don't want to leave you alone in the apartment and all. You're going to bed, huh?"

"Not yet." I sat down next to him. "I think I can handle one movie before I go. Which remake is on? And of which one?"

So we settled down to watch a few movies. I actually made it through half of the second one before heading to his room to go to bed. I didn't fall asleep immediately, but it is pretty quick. When I woke up, it's become of someone stumbling around in the dark.

"Wha-"

"Shhh, Aud, it's just me."

I faintly registered that that was the first time Eli's called me something even remotely affectionate.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for something. Shhh."

"Are you gonna sleep in here? You want me to take the couch?"

"No to both, now go back to bed."

After he left with his laptop, I found it hard to follow his request. When I got out to the living room, he was on the couch, all the lights off, but the television on as he checked his UMe page. He didn't even look as I sat down next to him.

"You get tired of the movie marathon?" I asked, taking in the fact that he was now watching some cartoon.

"Huh?" He looked up and then said, "Oh, I must have sat on the remote."

"Sure, try to cover it."

He just handed me the remote. "Watch what you want."

As I flipped through the channels, Eli went through his photos, clearly looking for something. I glanced at the screen, watching as photos of his family and mine flew by.

"My mother and father seem happy," I mused. Eli stopped on the photo I was talking about.

"That was Thisbe birthday party."

"Wow. They came?"

He nodded. "It was in Heidi's backyard. There's Ralph."

I could see his tail in the end of the photo, which was of Heidi cutting Thisbe's cake while all the other guest stood around.

"Jake came?"

"Why are you so shocked?" He smiled at me. "Jake's been…really involved in life recently. Not drinking as much, actually showing up work."

"Yet he got kicked out."

"He's working on life. He's not a master yet."

We flipped through some more photos, which eventually changed from Thisbe's party to random ones. Once we hit a certain point though, he changed the screen back to his statuses.

"You took me off your UMe," Eli said after a moment.

"I haven't updated it anyways."

"I'd like to be back on it."

"I'd like for you to be too." I almost leaned against his arm, but then I thought better of it. Again with the boundaries thing.

"You know, you didn't even have one until you met me," Eli mentioned for some reason.

"I know. You made me get one."

"I was helping you become less anti-social."

"Sure you just didn't want to keep tabs on me while I was at Defriese?"

"That was a plus, I'll admit. You never post much anyways."

"Social networks aren't my thing."

Eli nodded a little as he typed in a new status. "You're a more personal person."

"I really am."

I saw his status and smiled a little bit.

The Halloween movies suck. All of them.

"You really think that?"

"I really do."

"A lot of people would kick your ass for that."

"A lot of people don't have lives."

"Do we?"

"Yep," he said as he shut his laptop. "We do. Well, I do."

I turned off the television as he left the room to put up his laptop. When he returned, Eli had a blanket and pillow to make up his bed on the couch. He was also only in a pair of basketball shorts, letting me see his chest for the first time.

"What's that?"

He frowned at me, putting the pillow down. "What?"

There was only darkness around us, so I couldn't make out what it was on the upper right part of his chest, but I knew from the moonlight there was something. As he moved to lay down on the couch, I climbed into his lap, putting my hands on his stomach as he settled on the pillow, the blanket at his feet.

"Your chest," I mumbled, staring at it as Eli moved his hands to rest on my waist, holding me there. I stared at the tattoo, feeling my breath leaving me. "Eli..."

I reached up, running my hands over it. It was a bear, a teddy bear, taking up the right part of his upper chest. The bear was holding a yellow banner in its rounded off paws, something written on it.

"Clayton," I mumbled when he took a breath in and his chest rose enough for the moonlight to fall on it just right. Her name was printed out on the banner in thick red letters.

"I love her," Eli told me simply before moving to grab my hands. Then he made me move them and lay down on his chest, just as quickly moving to pull the blanket up around us. When I was flat against his chest, I started crying for some reason. This made Eli frown, taking my face in his hands, pulling me up to look at him.

"Why are you crying?" He whispered. "It's okay. Clayton's okay now. …We're okay now."

Then he kissed me for the first time in months and I wanted to give him everything, right then. I didn't though, instead pulling back and hiding my face in his chest. Slowly, Eli patted me on the back, his breathing becoming regular again.

I knew that he wouldn't find sleep for a few more hours, but I was selfish, and went to sleep on his chest. Eli never once woke me up by moving. In fact, I don't think he moved at all. He just laid there underneath me, rubbing my back while listening to me breath, not even speaking.

And just like that I was full on in love with him again.