Hey guys! Thank you for reading this story, and the continious amount of support on it is unbelievable. Please enjoy the fourth chapter of "You Give Love a Bad Name"...
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You Give Love a Bad Name
ELI
"Hey Clare, it's me again, Eli. You're not answering your phone, and I assume it's because you're still on the clock at school...but this is important, please call me back."
Once again, I'm faced with watching Clare's number fade away on my Iphone screen as I place it back on my coffee table. Ever since last night, I've been searching for houses on the internet, while Bullfrog is playing the silent treatment on me.
He's never done this before, which concerns/scares me to no end.
Even when I called him a lard ass who doesn't move from his throne, he just nodded his head, and switched the channel on his bedroom television. My heart sinks when I walk into his room and see his baggy eyes, down to his feverish looking cheeks.
Buzz!
Buzz!
Buzz!
Eagerly, I look down at my phone screen, seeing a picture of Clare being displayed. With one swift glide of my shaking finger, Clare's voice fills my right ear, "Hey Eli, sorry I haven't called you back. It's lunch time now so I have a couple of minutes until I have to go outside. What's going on?"
For a moment, I lose my voice.
The lump in my throat grows bigger, realizing what I'm doing. I'm about to spill all my worries to a woman I'm supposed to marry, trust, and console to...when in all reality, I don't even know her favorite color.
"Eli? Are you still there? Is everything alright?" Her tone shows concern, which makes breathing out a bit easier-but doesn't heal the pain I'm beginning to feel.
"I-I'm here. Nevermind, it wasn't important. I have to go."
"If you need to talk-."
I hang up, before it's too late.
BULLFROG
Hey Bully Bear, it's Ran Ran! How're you doing with the Cancer? Still holding up? If you ever need help, call me or Clare-we'll be there. Clare told me that you haven't told Eli, and I know it'll pain him to hear it, but Clare offered to be there for him when he knows.
Don't keep him in the dark Bully, let him know.
~Ran Ran
Love you honey boo boo child!
Even though the text was utterly hilarious, I can't even crack a smile.
I rest my cellphone on my bedside table, my back aching painfully as I grip a picture frame that rests on my blanket. I stroke my thumb over the edges of the frame, and a sob gets caught in my throat.
A lone tear slides down my cheek, getting stuck between my lips, "I-I can't tell him honey...I'm sorry Cece, I-I'm sorry. I don't know how to tell him, I-I don't know. I miss you so much."
I wipe the tears that spill from my eyes, and grip the picture in aggravation, "If you were here right now, you'd know what to do."
How do you tell your only son you're going to die in less than a month?
CLARE
"He's been really distant Dad, I think he knows." My father hands me a cup of coffee, as I sip it lightly. I watch as my dad flips through an old comic, shrugging his shoulders, "Bullfrog hasn't texted me back, and it's worrying me. Eli hasn't responded to you, and that worries me. These Goldsworthy men really know how to get your bones rattling, eh?"
I rake my fingers through my hair, crossing my legs on the kitchen chair, "H-He left me thirty two voicemails at work, and then when I called him back, he gave me the cold shoulder. He doesn't trust me, and he won't let me in to even be a friend. How are we supposed to get married if he won't even talk to me?"
"Eli has always been a 'keep to myself' kind of guy. You just have to get used to his ways in order to deal with him." My father bites into a fresh batch of eclairs that I made a few minutes ago, before a tear filled his eyes when he placed it back on the plate.
"W-What's wrong? Do they really taste that bad?"
He shook his head, wiping away the tears, "N-No, it's just that-it's just that eclairs are Bully's favorite desert."
"Aw, dad, I'm so-," before I could finish my sentence, my dad pulls me into a death grip of a hug. He wraps his arms around me tightly, and for the first time ever, I feel his tears hitting my skin-burning like acid.
His body shakes against mine, as he whimpers, "M-My b-best friend is going to die..."
This, is when it all sinks in and becomes real.
ELI
"Elijah, Elijah I need," he pauses, taking a deep breath behind the door, "I need to talk to you. Come out of the bathroom right now, now!"
My father is raising his voice, and I know that that's a bad sign. My stomach does flips as he rattles with the doorknob, saying my name repeatedly when I don't answer him.
"Elijah please, open the door! It's important!" He sounds close to sobbing, and I shake my head violently, banging my back against the bathroom door.
"LEAVE ME ALONE! IT'S NOT LIKE YOU WANT TO TALK TO ME ANYWAYS! YOU'LL JUST NOT YOUR HEAD AND FUCKING IGNORE ME!" I shouted loudly, and a silence came over us, feeling his body slump against the door behind me.
His back would be against mine, if it wasn't for the door separating us.
"I'm sorry I ignored you today kiddo," he whimpered out through a labored breath, continuing, "I've been ignoring something, and it's important for you to know why I really needed you to marry Clare, why I need you to do what I say from now on."
With much force, I open the door, to look down at my father, whose hair is standing up, his cheeks flushed and his body limp. His neck cranes up, and I look down at him with tears in my eyes, "What's the big secret dad? W-What have you been keeping from me?"
My heart feels caught in my throat, as a tiny whisper releases from his chapped lips, "...I-I'm dying."
CLARE-2AM
The doorbell rings downstairs one time, and for a second, I think that this is all a dream.
After holding onto my father for two hours until he cried himself to sleep, I was emotionally drained. With work tomorrow at seven in the morning, I needed any shut eye that I could get.
But, it looks like the odds were against me.
Since my father never hears the doorbell ring regularly, I knew he would never hear it in the dead of the night. Darcy was sleeping over Peter's once again, so I was the one who would have to man the door.
I pass the hallway mirror, and cringe at the sight.
My hair is sticking up in every which way it possibly can, my night shirt hanging over my Kermit the frog pajama pants. My lip twitches at the glance of my "fuzzy wuzzy" socks that I bought online, which actually are pretty...fuzzy...and wuzzy.
Ding Dong!
The noise strikes again, and it dawns on me that this really isn't a dream, and that someone is standing outside right now. I tiptoe down the steps, and grab my fathers baseball bat by the side door, gripping tightly onto it.
"W-Whoever is out there, I-I uh, I have a gun," I warn, but no one responds.
Instead, I hear a gentle knock.
I open the door, immediately resting the bat by my side, "E-Eli?"
END OF CHAPTER 4
Sorry it was so short, but it was meant to be a "filler".
Reviews please :)
PLEASE READ AUTHOR'S NOTE: Please keep in mind that this is FICTION. It takes a lot of work to write these-and I love writing-so I don't want to feel discouraged (and not want to write) anymore by people telling me what I already know. I know what's realistic, and what's not, but I choose to put what's not since it is FICTION. And I don't say this to be mean, or anything to get back at someone, I'm just saying to please-please keep an open mind when reading my fanfiction.
Love you guys,
Cliffhanger Girl
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