Eli Krauss & the Starry Eyed Girl

Eli dreams he is making love to Rachel. She arches her back and releases a sigh of contentment as he moves inside of her. Just as they are about to reach the pinnacle, Eli focuses on Rachel.

And he realizes that it is not Rachel at all. He is staring into those wide midnight eyes again. The pink lips spread into a taunting smile as she bends down to lick his lips.

He wakes up suddenly and realizes he just dreamt of Fiona Hardwick.

_____

Brad Krauss is a happy person. He scratches what itches. He frowns when he's sad and he smiles when he's happy. That is his beauty.

You always know where you stand with him.

On this particular night, however, he barges into an empty HOME in a very disgruntled fashion and causes Fiona and Eli to look up at him in alarm. He angrily yanks the glasses from the dishwasher. His older brother then takes it upon himself to ask him.

"What's wrong?" Eli's voice sounds different than its usual monotone manner.

Brad stops and looks down. Fiona shuffles her slender legs over to where he is standing and drapes an arm around his shoulder.

"Brad, sweetie, what happened?" she asks softly.

The more Eli wants to forget about her, the more pronounced she becomes. He is obsessed with seeing her face stretch into that heartbreakingly familiar grin and he takes even more joy out of hating her for that grin. He looks forward to seeing her.

Because her name is not Fiona anymore. She is simply Rachel's Smile. Rachel's Smile on legs. She is not a person, merely the reenactment of a person.

And as he watches her softly comfort his brother, he realizes that he could really use being touched too. A churning pang of jealousy bites at his chest.But his thoughts are interrupted when Brad finally speaks.

"Kat thinks she might be pregnant."

The jealous pang gets louder. "What are you fucking talking about?" Eli finds himself saying.

"Exactly what I just said, Eli! Kat thinks she's knocked up and I'm screwed," Brad replies angrily and pulls away from Fiona's comforting arms.

Eli doesn't know what to say. He is the one who is supposed to be in this situation. His girl was gonna have babies and get big and he was the one who was going to say these things first.

JEALOUSY. JEALOUSY. JEALOUSY.

It rings throughout him, clear as a bell.

Eli watches Fiona's mouth pucker as if she is contemplating something important. I want that mouth, he thinks, completely changing gears, but her shimmery voice distracts him again.

"What did you tell her you would do?" she asks Brad.

Brad looks up and everyone tries not to notice that his eyes are a bit watery.

"I told her that I would do whatever she wanted."

There is a pause before Eli says gruffly, "That's good, Brad. That's what a real man does."

Fiona looks up at Eli and there is that same electric current again.They try to comfort Brad the rest of the night, but the mood never ascends. It is an awkward evening and they all go home after saying polite whispers of goodbye.

Because one of their lives has just changed forever and it's always hard to say the right thing when that happens.