CHAPTER 11
I felt numb, although I had no reason to. I was happy with Ev, I was in a very good relationship. But something about those two names joined into something so intimate, so special, I was wishing it was my name instead of Sarah's. But again I shook myself.
"Eliza, you stupid bitch!" I whispered angrily at myself. I slammed the computer shut and stormed into the bathroom, splashing cold water on my face. Bracing myself with locked arms on the kitchen sink, I had a death stare contest with myself. Red eyes with my mascara starting to swim down my face, I nearly bit through my lip in my anger and tension.
"Don't you dare think like that." I told myself, in a deathly low whisper. I imagined myself as a villain, watching as the rebellious me cower in fear. I smiled wryly, slightly amused by the image. But I resumed glaring, because if the rational part of me was the villain, then that left the little rebellious part pining for Anthony to be good.
"No, no, no, no, NO!" I yelled, slamming my fists into the mirror corners, my nose inches from touching the mirror. With a loud crash, one of the corners of the mirror shattered into jagged shards, slicing the side of my left hand in several places. Fumbling with my right, feeling the adrenaline pump through my veins at the blood, I turned the water on in the sink and tried to rinse the cuts. I let out a strangled cry as a burning sting erupted in my hand, and Ev was beside me in an instant, wrapping my hand with a bandage.
"You're going to need stitches. I'll drive you to the hospital." He murmured as his deft fingers wrapped my hand snugly in a white bandage. I exhaled, letting out a rush of breath I had no idea I was holding in.
"Thank you." I said, wiping the smudged mascara from my cheeks hastily. He took my hand gently and looked deep into my eyes, and I had no choice but to look back, entranced by the molten green, a color unlike any other. He pressed a kiss to my lips, which I took in hungrily, letting out a bit of the emotion pent up inside me. Tears spilling out of my eyes, I cradled my injured hand.
"It hurts." I whimpered. He wiped my tears with his thumb tenderly, a crooked smile on his face.
"I know. Come to the car when you're ready, okay? I'll get your purse."
As he left, I picked up a shard of glass, reflecting my brown eye in the shard. I noticed my blood slick on one edge, and a drop fell to the floor. I dropped the shard and put a hand over my mouth to stop the sobs from becoming too loud.
Ev had thought I was crying about the cut hurting, that much was obvious. But I wasn't. I was crying because my heart hurt, my head hurt. I hadn't been thinking of Ev when I had been kissing him… I had been thinking of Anthony.
"You shouldn't have any scarring, it was a clean cut. Come back in a week or two and we'll take the stitches out." The doctor said, ushering me out into the corridor. I continued cradling my injured hand grateful that it wasn't really necessary to brew automated lattes. Ev wrapped his arm around my waist as we walked out to the car, the California sun beating down on us. I leaned into him, despite the heat, and sighed. He rubbed my shoulder soothingly.
"You'll be fine, it will just take time." He said, mistaking my distraction for worry about my hand. Before I could formulate an answer, my phone rang in my pocket. When I pulled it out to check the caller ID, I groaned before I could stop myself in front of Ev. It was none other than Sarah. I pulled my face together and answered, raising the phone to my ear.
"Hello." I said, trying to not let emotion through in my voice.
"Hey Eliza! Ohmygosh, you will not guess what happened this morning!" She squealed into the phone.
"Really? What happened?" I asked, trying to feign real interest. She giggled on the other line, and while Ev checked his phone I took the opportunity to roll my eyes.
"Anthony Padilla asked me out! I feel so happy, I can't stop smiling!" She sqealed, and I could easily imagine her jumping up and down, giddy with excitement.
Yeah, I can't stop smiling when I replay the kiss in my head, I think with wry amusement. But instead I slap a smile on my face for Ev and try to be as happy for Sarah as possible.
"Wow, that's great! All those years of Smoshing must have paid off, huh?" I exclaimed, just the slightest bit of sarcasm going through. Luckily, Ev missed it and Sarah was too involved in her euphoria to notice.
"Yeah, it's great! I feel so lucky right now, to think that I'm dating Anthony Padilla, the most handsome, gorgeous, hilarious, and all around perfect guy on earth!" She was spitting the words out at light speed now, and I tuned out while I thought Yeah, well, he wanted me first… that counts for something, even though I wasn't able to accept his offer. She fangirled to me a little more as Ev and I started going home, and I was eventually disentangle myself from the conversation. But she was able to get something in that made me wince.
"Hey, we should do a double date!" She said, the excitement electrifying her voice. I felt a pang of pain in my chest, to think of seeing Anthony with Sarah while being resigned to Ev, but I managed a peppy "Sure, that would be fun! We can arrange that sometime."
"Great, I'll tell Anthony. It was his idea, after all." She said. I was glad that the emotional distraught that those 6 words were able to inflict upon me wasn't visible. I just laughed.
"Alright, cool! Well, I'll see you around." I said.
"Bye Eliza! Hope we can hang out sometime!"
As soon as I was off the phone, Ev gave me an amused look.
"So, what happened? What's the big news?" He said. I shrugged and looked out the window.
"It was Sarah, she and Anthony started dating and she was calling to tell me about it." I said nonchalantly. Ev snorted, and I peeked around at him through my hair. He had a smirk on his face, but his brow was slightly wrinkled and he was deep in thought.
"I see. Well, I'm happy for him." He eventually said, as he turned the key in the ignition. I bit the inside of my lip, worried by his reaction that was so icy. But again, he had become somewhat cold to any event involving Anthony recently. So I brushed the hair out of my eyes and looked out the window all the way home.