So Far Away.

Sara and I hung out at her house the next day while the boys were playing video games. We were flipping through magazines and I was waiting or my newly painted toe nails to dry. Sara was cautiously painting her toes on the floor.

"Seriously you have to stay tonight. One more night with these guys and there's going to be a murder."

"I don't know," I said. "Maybe. We can just pull out the couch or something."

"Why not with Eli in the guest room?" I raised my eye brows, looking up from my magazine.

"Yeah, let's make it awkward."

"It's not like you didn't the other night."

"And it was weird," I objected.

"Whatever you say," she muttered, blowing on her toe nails. I rolled my eyes and started flipping through my magazine again. A soft knock on the door made me flinch.

"We're going to run to the store, you want to come with?" Adam asked.

"We just got food the other day, what do you need at the store?" Sara asked.

"We kind of ate all the chips...and drank most of the soda..well all of the soda." Adam looked down, looking ashamed. Sara rolled her eyes.

"There's money on the counter my mom left, my toes are still wet." Adam came in and kissed Sara good bye. We listened to the boys footsteps, the door closing, the car doors slamming, and them driving off to the store. I rolled my eyes.

"You should know better than to trust two boys around food," I said. When I looked at the magazine, a pillow hit my head.

"Sorry." She smiled. "So has Eli made a move yet?" She asked. I shook my head.

"Not really. Well, last night we almost kissed but-"

"But what? What happened?"

"Nothing happened, that's the point. At the end of the song, the DJ, I don't know. He pulled back."

"Wait," She started, sitting straighter, "who leaned in first?"

"He did."

"And he pulled away?" I nodded at her question. She looked down, her face flooding in concentration. "That's weird."

"What?" I asked, trying not to stress about it.

"Nothing. Maybe he didn't feel it was the right time."

"Sara, if any time was right, it was then. Maybe he just doesn't really like me like that."

"He bought you a puppy. A puppy you specifically wanted and flew thousands of miles to see you."

"Maybe he changed his mind?" I shrugged.

"They're back," Sara said, seeing the guys walking across the lawn. "Alex, I love you, but this is getting boring. "

"Thanks," I said sarcastically.

"We need to watch a movie or something." She stood up and went to meet the guys in the living room, I followed, pulling my jean shorts down a little.

"Wow." I said as I saw the bags full of junk food. Beef jerky, three bags of chips, 3 two liters of soda, ice cream and a few candy bars. "Planning on sleeping anytime soon?" I asked.

"Nope." Eli and Adam said in unison. Sara and I shook our heads in disappointment. They headed back to the big screen in the living room.

"Nope," Sara said in protest. "This is boring! You've been playing video games for hours."

"What do you plan on doing?" Adam asked.

"I don't know, watch a movie? Go to the movies?" She suggested.

"They have that new scary movie out that looks good," I spoke. Eli smirked.

"I saw that on a commercial last night. You sure you can handle that?"

"I'm sure I can handle it."

"She's a horror movie junkie," Sara said. I nodded.

"Alright, let's go see it then," Adam smiled.

"I'll call and see about movie times, in the mean time...freshen up or something," Sara added looking Adam and Eli up and down. Their hair was messy and were still wearing pajama pants.

"Fine," Adam smiled. Eli smirked and took his shirt off.

"I call shower," he said walking passed me. I could feel my cheeks burning and I looked at Sara, who was holding her cell phone and she winked at me.

"Four thirty, six or seven thirty?" She asked.

"I vote six," Adam said.

"Sounds good to me," I said after Sara turned to me for my answer.

"Six it is," She said. I went into Sara's room to straighten my hair and put on make up. I kept my shorts on but changed into a black fitted Avenged Sevenfold shirt and put on my black converse sneakers. I walked back into the living room which was deserted. Sara passed in the hall to her room to change, Adam went outside to take a phone call from his mom.

I heard a phone go off that I didn't recognize. It wasn't mine, wasn't Sara's and obviously it wasn't Adams. Eli's phone was set right on the coffee table. I picked it up to see if it was a phone call, in case it was his parents. It just said 3 new text messages. Geeze, I thought. I'm lucky to get a text from my mom. I set the phone back down.

Eli came out of the bathroom wearing a black Dead Hands shirt, dark blue jeans and black boots. His hair was still dripping a little and he smelt like strawberries and cream.

"Hey," He smiled.

"Hey. Your phone went off," I said. He walked to the coffee table, picked up his phone and plopped down next to me. He read through them and set his phone back down.

"What time we going?" He asked.

"Six," I answered. I started tugging on a loose thread on my shorts. He leaned forward, watching the tv show that was on. It was something on the animal channel.

"So," he said, leaning back again.

"So," I said, my voice cracking a little.

"Have fun last night?" He asked, turning his head to face me. I nodded. "Good."

"Ok guys, let's get going. Where's Adam?" Sara asked.

"Outside on the phone with his mom," I answered. Just then he came in and held the phone to her. "Miss Torres? Hi. Yeah, it's great to finally talk to you too. Yeah, mhm. Yeah he was telling me about that. Ok, don't worry I'll force him to call every night. Oh no, my mom is here every night don't worry."

"His mom worries," Eli whispered. I nodded.

"Ok. You too. Bye." She handed the phone back to Adam. "She seems nice," She said sounding surprised.

"After dealing with how Bianca used to be, she's been a lot easier on us."

"How she used to be?" She asked, confused. I turned to listen better.

"She didn't hang out with the right people for a while. When she met Drew, she wanted to become a better person so she tried leaving that lifestyle, and things caught up with her. Long story short, she's straightened up a lot and my mom respects her now."

"Oh," She said, looking at her feet. "I could never picture her being in trouble, though." Eli and Adam started laughing really loud.

"She was a trouble maker," Adam said, opening the door to show her out. "Now let's go, I hate missing previews."

**

The movie was better than I thought. Adam spent most of the time covering Sara's eyes for her and covering her mouth so she wouldn't get us kicked out for screaming, whereas Eli and I sat at the edge of our seats watching and concentrating on the film.

"That was so great when her throat got slashed? Whoever did the special effects is a pure genius," Eli said as we were walking out of the theatre.

"How about the part when she got possessed and started speaking with three different voices at once!? That was awesome," I pointed out. Sara was still gripping onto Adams arm for dear life.

"So gross," was all she muttered.

"It wasn't that bad," I said. She rolled her eyes and continued to grip on Adams arm. We drove back to Sara's, still talking about the movie and Adam trying to calm Sara down, repeating it wasn't real. When we got back we all sat in the living room and put in a comedy movie to lighten the mood.

"I'm going to get something to drink, want anything?" Adam asked us standing up from the couch. I looked over from their love seat and shook my head.

"I'll come help you," Eli said, getting up from the floor. Sara leaned towards me.

"This is getting stupid."

"What?" I asked confused. "The movie? I know, I thought you had better-"

"No. Wait, what's wrong with the movie?"

I shook my head.

"Anyways," She continued, "You and Eli are confusing me. You've told each other how you felt, why hasn't it gotten any further?"

"It's what I told you earlier," I sang. She shook her head and stopped talking as soon as the boys came back in from the garage.

The movie was over and Sara was half asleep. It was the moment I was dreading; the sleeping arrangement. I should've thought about it more, I told myself. Will I sleep on the couch? The guest room? The guest room on the floor? I was guessing the couch.

Eli headed to the guest room, followed by Adam and Sara going to her room. I sat on the couch, drumming my fingers on my legs. What to do, what to do.

Making up my mind, I stood up and headed to Sara's linen closet and grabbed the extra blanket and a pillow. I set the pillow on the couch and laid down, pulling the blanket over me. I heard someone walk into the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" Eli asked, half chuckling.

"I'm going to bed, what are you doing?"

He looked at me confused, then to the hallway, then back at me.

"I thought, never mind." He turned toward the hall.

"You thought what?"

"Nothing," He said without turning around. I heard the bed creak. I hated that he didn't tell me, that always drove me crazy when people didn't finish their sentences. I threw the covers off and walked to the guest room. He was sitting indian style, flipping through the channels on the TV, lights still on.

"You thought what?" I asked again.

"Sara told me you were sleeping in here," he said softly, setting the remote down. I stood on my tip toes, then back on flat feet, tapping on the door frame with my fingers.

"Well...she...was on crack." He smiled widely, causing my to smile back.

"Ok," he rolled his eyes. "If you don't want to, that's fine." He held his hands up. "I know I smell funny, and I accept that."

"You, what? I never said you smelt funny."

"You pretty much did."

"No," I said, getting frustrated. "You're putting words in my mouth."

"So you don't think I smell funny?" He said more in a statement than a question. I shook my head and he had an evil grin spread on his face. "Prove it."

"How? Do you want me to wake Adam and Sara up to smell you or something?"

"Nah, not that. Sleep in here with me." I bit my lip and looked down at my feet. When I looked up at him he was sticking his lower lip out pouting. What the hell was this kid doing to me, I asked myself as millions of butterflies flew in my stomach.

"Fine." I surrendered. I snuck into Sara's room to grab my bag and went to the bathroom to change into my pajama bottoms which were grey tight sweat pants and left my Avenged Sevenfold shirt on. I walked in while I was pulling my hair back into a messy bun. I heard my phone start ringing in the living room. I ran after it and looked to see what it was.

"Do it." Sara simply texted. I smiled.

"Do what?"

"Kiss him. Adam says so." I rolled my eyes.

"No." I said out loud and heard them laughing. I walked back into the room and set my phone on the dresser by the door. Eli was watching Family Guy.

"No what?" He asked, not turning his gaze off the TV.

"Nothing, don't worry about it." I sat down next to him, my body tense again. Ok, I said to myself. I'll do it, I'll kiss him. That's when I will know if he's changed his mind or not. Make the move, Alex. Come on Alex, you can do it.

Nothing. I didn't even flinch.

"Are you even tired?" He asked. I shook my head.

"Not really."

"Want to play a game or something?" He asked.

"Like what?"

"I don't know," he started, thinking. "How about Mario Kart?"

"Bring it," I said.

"It's already been brought," He smiled, getting up to hook up the game console.

**

"What the hell was that!?" Eli shouted. I started laughing uncontrollably as he slowed down and I passed him. "Seriously."

"Mad bro?" I asked. He shook his head. I drove into another power-up and got the shrinking one, causing Eli's character to shrink and slow down.

"Seriously?" He asked looking over at me. I shook my head.

"You said it's already been brought, what exactly did you bring?" He shook his head. He caught up to me and flung a shell at me, causing me to stumble.

"What?!" I shrieked. "What the hell?" I said as he passed the finish line. "Cheating." I stated.

"Cheating? What? You mad bro?" He mimicked me, poking my stomach. He raised his eye brows, noticing my flinch. "Oh, don't like that?" He started tickling me, causing me to roll around and shrieking in laughter.

"Stop! Please, I can't-I can't-!"

"Can't what?" He asked. He was on top of me on the bed, his eyes staring straight through me.

"Breathe," I whispered. His face started inching closer to mine. This is it, I said to myself. It's finally going to happen.

"You woke Sara up," Adam said, opening the door. "Oh, shit. Sorry." he slammed the door shut. Damnit. Why? Why does this keep happening?

He rolled off of me and got up to turn the game off and turned the station to a show we could agree on. He unbuckled his pants and came into bed wearing only his boxers and shirt. I blushed as his leg brushed mine.

Maybe I should just get it over with. That's it, I'll just wait till he faces me, and I'll just kiss him. It doesn't have to be a make out tongue gross porno type of kiss, no. Maybe on the cheek? No, that's friend zone.

"Have you seen this episode?" He asked. I shook my head and cleared my throat. My heart started to race when he turned to face me, resting his head on his hand. "Any rules to your sleeping?"

"Huh?" I asked, snapping out of my trance. He smirked.

"Tv on? Tv off?"

"On. I like background noise." He fixed his pillows so he could sit up while watching the show, laughing occasionally and making comments on it. I would just smile and nod because I had no idea what was going on because I had never even heard of the show.

"Mind if I turn the light off?" He asked. I shook my head and he stood up and turned the light off.

This is stupid, I thought. Just do it. For the love of Zacky Vengeance, do it.

I sat up next to him when he resumed his previous position. I would glance occasionally over at him and from my side view he would look back. We made eye contact and I would just smile awkwardly. I was no good in this first move thing. I cleared my throat again.

"You ok?" He asked concerned. I nodded. Now Alex.

"Yeah, I'm great."

"Good." I didn't break his stare. I finally forced my hands to grab his face and kissed his soft lips. It was quick, and I looked at the TV right after, immediately regretting my action. I felt his hand brush my cheek and pulled me into a deep, passionate kiss. Our mouths in sync, opening and closing, feeling our tongues graze every once in a while.

My heart melted. The butterflies were going crazy. My face was on fire.

Kissing Eli Goldsworthy was everything I imagined.