*Clare's pov*
It'd been three days since Eli had told me about his Dad. We had both tried to go on as normal. I knew Eli didn't want me to make a big deal out of it. So I didn't. I wanted to talk to him about it though. I needed to know if there was anything else. I needed to know what else his dad did to him. But he made it more than clear that it wasn't something he wanted to talk about. Instead he went on being his cocky, sarcastic self. But we both knew it was all an act. There was something missing. His eyes were dull, they were missing the shine they always had.
"Why hasn't he called me yet? Or texted me?" I asked Adam over the phone. I was going crazy. Eli's dad was supposed to be arriving at his house at Noon. It was already 1:30 and I hadn't heard from him. What if something happened?
"Clare, just chill. I'm sure he's fine. He's probably just busy." Adam told me reassuringly. I knew he was probably right but I still couldn't stop thinking about the worst case scenario. All I could do was sigh and hope he took that as a reply. I really wasn't in a mood to talk, but I didn't know what else to do. I was sick with worry and I had nothing to do today. It was the first Saturday in months that I wasn't with Eli. And Adam was grounded so he wasn't an option.
"Sorry Clare but I have to go." Adam told me. "My mom will kill me if she finds out I'm on the phone." I said goodbye to him and hung up.
I got up from my place at the Kitchen table and walked over to the window. It was starting to rain. I thought it was strange. It had been so nice out for the past month. It was actually quite ironic. The one day I felt like crawling back in to bed was the one day the weather was like this.
Actually crawling back into bed didn't sound like a bad idea. Ever since that day at The Dot I hadn't been sleeping well. I kept waking up in the middle night having nightmares about Eli.
Last night I had a dream that a bald man covered with tattoos and piercing was making a huge bonfire in what looked like a backyard. He threw pieces of cloth in making the fire spread higher and throwing off plumes of smoke. Next he went back in the house, coming out with what looked like a log covered in sap. Slowly he made his way to the giant fire. He laughed loudly before throwing the figure in. Just as I realized that the "log" was actually a dead, bloody, Eli, the fire exploded into black dust. I woke up screaming. Unfortunately that wasn't the worst dream I had had. The others were much worse.
Needing to get that image out of my head I left the kitchen and walked into my living room. I sat on the couch and turned on the tv. I mindlessly flipped through channels but nothing caught my eye. Finally I gave up on watching tv and took out my phone to call Alli.
"Oh wow look at that guy." Alli said pointing at a tall guy with thick brown hair.
"Yea I guess he's okay." We were sitting in the food court at the mall and Alli was constantly pointing out boys our age, who she thought were hot. I still couldn't stop thinking about Eli. I looked down at my phone to see if he had texted me. He hadn't.
"Okay Clare. What's wrong?" She asked. "You're being way more boring than usual."
I explained to her the situation with Eli. I told her that his Dad was coming back today and that he was really upset about it. I was sure to leave out the part where he was abused though.
"Wow really? That's what you're worried about?" I nodded in reply. "Then text him. Duh."
I smiled it. It seemed so simple. I couldn't believe I hadn't thought about it. I took out my phone and sent him a text. He replied almost instantly
Clare: evrythng ok?
Eli: 4now….cant talk now….txt u l8r
I smiled in relief. At least now I knew he was alright. I was able to relax knowing that I would be talking to him later.
We spent the rest of the day shopping. Shopping for us meant, Alli forcing me to buy over revealing clothes and spending too much money.
By the time I got back home at 7:00 I was tense again. It'd been four hours and Eli hadn't texted me like he had promised. I tried really hard not to be one of those clingy girlfriends and usually I succeeded. This was different though.
After dinner I sprawled out on my bed and did my homework. Unlike most teenagers I didn't really mind doing homework. It gave me something to do. By 10:00 I was exhausted. Mostly because of these dreams keeping me awake.
I laid in bed praying that my dreams would stay away tonight. I just wanted one night of peaceful sleep. Eli still hadn't sent me anything. Oh Eli. It wasn't fair. He had gone through so much and he was only 17. I had always felt bad because of Julie. I hated that he blamed himself for his girlfriend's death when it wasn't really his fault. But knowing that his childhood was so horrible also . . . it sent me over the edge. I wished it had happened to me and not him. I had such a nice life. It seemed like everyone else had the true problems. Eli and my sister were the first people to come to mind. I hated it.
I was finally starting to fall asleep when I heard my phone vibrate on next to me. My heart skipped a beat when I saw who it was from.
Eli: C u the dot. 10am. love u. gnight
Clare: Ok. love you 2.
I loved it when he said he loved me. Even over text. I was able to fall asleep better knowing that I would be seeing Eli in the morning.
A/N: Sorry it was uneventful and lacking Eli. There'll be plenty of him in the next chapter. I promise. Oh and thanks for the reviews = D