Price Check On Monogamy

"So why did you give him tickets, again?"

It just wasn't adding up. Eli didn't like Tyler-- he'd made it abundantly clear that the only reasons why he bothered to deal with Tyler was because he didn't want to argue with Tawny or Lexy, and he didn't want to try and get involved with my love life anymore until he was sure that he could do it a possibility of getting me hurt in the end.

Eli shrugged and shut his locker. "He asked for tickets, so I gave them to him. What's so hard to understand about it?"

I raised an eyebrow at him skeptically. Somehow, I doubted that Tyler had called Eli. Tyler didn't like Eli-- or, rather, Tyler was afraid of him. Eli was roughly twice his size, and, in true Eli fashion, he didn't bother to hide the fact that he thought Tyler was a wuss. "Why do I doubt that?"

Eli rolled his eyes, but couldn't suppress a small grin. "Shut up. I wanted us to have one last big night together, so I swung everyone tickets; even Adam."

I almost cringed. Now that meant something-- everyone hated Adam. Everyone hated Adam, especially now that he'd repeatedly broken up with Tawny and, a day later, insisted that the break up didn't actually count and they were still together. Tolerance was wearing thin, and Tawny, who for some reason still loved him, knew that-- so the fact that she would agree to take his sleazy ass to senior prom with all of us was a trip in itself. "It suddenly makes a little more sense."

Eli laughed as I closed my locker and leaned against it. "I can't believe that Finals are over."

Eli patted my shoulder heavily. "Thank God I never have to do that shit again."

I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out at him. "Fuck you, man, I might never have to do it again, either; I don't if I flunk out, right?"

Eli shoved me and made me laugh. "Shut the fuck up, Tiger, you didn't fail. Now come on, you're going with Lexy and Tawny to pick out dresses, right?"

I groaned; no, I wasn't going shopping with just Lexy and Tawny. "You forgot Jason and Tyler. And Adam. He's going, too."

Eli rolled his eyes in disgust. "She never goes anywhere without him now. It's like she's a full-on body shield."

I raised an eyebrow at him, unamused. "Yeah. Because no one wants to kick his ass, right?"

Eli sent me a death stare. "Do you want a ride to the mall or not?"

- - -

"Tiger, you look good in all these dresses."

I tried my hardest to force a smile, but ended up ducking back into the dressing room instead. It wasn't that Tyler was being sweet-- sweet enough for me to know he was being honest, but also for me to know that he was trying to avoid the topic of my showing him the creek. I'd felt like a huge bitch for being mad at him for not liking the place when I'd first shown it to him; then I'd felt like I hadn't been a big enough bitch when Eli had dropped me off to meet up with Tyler and he'd had a mosquito bite on his arm. Oh, yeah. So allergic to mosquitos.

I looked at myself in the mirror, and was joined by Tawny and Lexy-- which, quite honestly, didn't make anything much better. They looked beautiful-- Lexy was wearing a light blue dress with off the shoulder long sleeves, tight at the top with a sash around her waist that separated into a puffy skirt that ended around her knees; she'd already fallen in love with the dress, so her day was pretty much up. Tawny was wearing red, her favourite colour, a beautiful, fitted, sleeveless dress with a slit up the side, but she'd gotten paler over the past few weeks. She looked... tired and unhappy with a dress that should have made her look absolutely stunning. And that made me sad-- very, very sad. And very, very angry at the asshole outside of the dressing rooms.

We'd all met up about an hour ago, and I was already just ready to go home.

It was like none of us were on the same synch today. Lexy was stoked to be going out with Jason to a formal dance; even though she'd gone to Winter Ball with him, and even though she'd slept at his house before, he'd rented a hotel room for the two of them after prom night. Just the two of them. She was planning this to be the most romantic night of her life, and, while all of us were totally happy for her and wanted her to have the best night she possibly could, it also meant that she was caught up in plans for her and Jason. Meaning that her and Jason were literally the only people in our current group of 'shoppers' that were on the same page. Adam was being his typical asshole self, but it felt like... I don't even know, it just felt like Tawny was trying her hardest to make him happy, and, while she always wanted him to be happy, today it just felt like she was willing to totally take herself apart trying to figure out what he wanted from her.

And that just fucking pissed me off.

"Your dresses look amazing," I smiled at our reflections. My dress was a dark, dark purple, sleeveless and tight down to my waist, where it flared out. It was a pretty dress, but too dark; I wanted something bright, vibrant. Something that would hopefully colour the mood for the night.

Lexy beamed. "I love this dress! This is totally the one I want."

Tawny nodded and hugged Lexy tiredly. "It looks great on you, Lex. I think I'm gonna go find a different dress, though. A... maybe a green dress."

I scowled. "That's Adam's favourite colour."

Tawny hustled to get back into her changing area and locked the door. "Well, he is my date," she called over, once she was sure she was safe. I narrowed my eyes and went back into my own changing area.

"Yeah. I guess you're right, Tawny."

- - -

"I thought you said you weren't going to help."

Caleb raised an eyebrow at Eli, which made Eli flinch. That was one thing the two twins had in common; that damn eyebrow raising thing. On Tiger, it was cute. On Caleb, it made Eli want to rip his head off.

Even if he was only being honest.

"Well, things change," Eli said shortly. He was leaning against the door of his truck; he'd caught Caleb right before he'd gone into the house.

Caleb crossed his arms and stared down Eli. "What's your angle?"

Eli rolled his eyes. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You know damn well what I'm talking about. You don't like me. i don't like you. The first and only time I'd talked to you without having to, it ended with you telling me and Tandem to fuck off and not bother Tiger. So why are you suddenly tipping me off that she's gonna be at the prom?"

Eli narrowed his eyes. He was totally aware that the only reason why he hated Caleb so much, aside from the fact that the kid was a total dick to Tiger, was the fact that they were so much alike. They'd always clashed; Eli had known Caleb since middle school, when he was managing the water polo team. He'd grown to hate him because the little shit had always found a way to undermine his authority as team manager-- and as an upperclassman. He'd eventually quit managing the team because he didn't want to have to kill the little weasel.

Nothing had changed since then, aside from the fact that, at this point, Eli was seriously starting to question whether or not he'd done the right thing by not killing Caleb. It would've saved them all a lot of trouble.

"I don't owe you any explanations. Just take the info and go with it, you little asshole."

Caleb stared at Eli for a long second-- long enough that Eli was pretty sure he was going to say something that would finally lead to blows. Finally, Caleb said, "It doesn't matter. I don't have tickets."

Eli pulled an envelope out of his pocket and tossed it to Caleb, who caught it fast. "Take 'em. I'm helping cater to work off detention."

Caleb raised an eyebrow. "Detention? You?"

Eli scowled. "Watch it. Do you even realize how many times me and your sister have skipped school? It was either do the detention or don't walk at graduation, and I didn't survive high school just so I could not get the perks of finishing it off."

Caleb smiled-- just barely. He turned on his heel to walk away, but stopped before he'd even taken a step. Without even looking over his shoulder, he called back to Eli, "You know why I hate you, right?"

Eli crossed his arms and let out a low whistle. "Well, that's a tough one. Does it have anything to do with middle school and how I threatened to beat your ass into the cement every single water polo practice?"

Caleb laughed, a short, dry laugh. "Like middle school even matters anymore."

Eli couldn't help but laugh at that. "That's true. But it doesn't change the fact that you haven't changed at all. You're still the spoiled brat you always were, and you're still treating all the wrong people like shit. Top among which would be your own sister."

Caleb flinched, noticeably enough for Eli to pick up on it. "Well, that's just it, you huge friggin' bear-looking bastard. That's just it." Caleb turned to stare Eli directly in the eyes. "My own sister. My own sister. She's not your sister. She's mine. And I think you forget that sometimes, and that pisses me off."

Eli's mouth would have dropped, had he had the time to process what Caleb had said before Caleb, without another word, turned on his heel and stomped off into his house.