Eli/Anya
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His whole world fell down suddenly, he felt it caving in. Eli watched as Clare walked away from him, her back a stiff rod. He wanted desperately to call out to her - to ask her to come back, to apologize for being an idiot, to beg for forgiveness. But his mouth, his witty, clever mouth seemed to fail him and instead, he watched her walk away from him until she rounded a corner and couldn't be seen anymore. He let out a jagged breath and looked around. Nobody else was there, save a few police officers, a still irate Mr. Simpson who kept shooting daggers at him, and a brunette who looked like she had been crying. Normally Eli would have ignored her - he had more pressing matters on his mind, he had suffered much worse, she should woman up. But that Eli had almost cost his life.
"You okay?" He asked roughly, his voice hoarse from tonight's activities. She brushed back her brown hair and turned her face to him, her eyes shining. If there was one thing Eli hated, it was crying girls. He felt his stomach twist in sympathy despite his previous feelings and he collapsed next to her. He didn't care that he didn't know this girl - he had seen her with Sav, briefly, at the start of term but Sav became busy with presidential duties and his new girlfriend, and Eli had become busy with Clare and Fitz.
"I just found out my ex and my best friend were caught stripping for each other." The words sounded funny and Eli tried to hide a smirk. That did sound rough - He tried to imagine how he would feel if he heard Clare and Adam had hooked up. He frowned; never going to imagine that again. The girl sniffled and wiped her eyes and before she could ask who he was, or why he was still at the school, he cut her off.
"That blows," he said sincerely. "The guy obviously didn't deserve you." The smile she sent him was grateful and for the first time that night, Eli didn't feel like he had messed everything up. He smiled back.
