Thick and Thin

The sun streaming in my window caused my eyes to flutter open. Laying with his forehead against mine was Eli. I smiled remembering the night before and stretched my arm out. I crawled out of bed, careful not to wake him, and went to take a shower.

After my shower I poked my head in my room and he was still sleeping. When I looked at the clock on my night stand it had read 8:00 am. I decided to make him some breakfast.

Halfway through cooking bacon, I heard someone clear their throat and a chair scraping against the floor. I looked over my shoulder and found Eli smiling, his eyes still swollen from sleep.

"That smells amazing," he said, his voice raspy.

"Thanks." I put scrambled eggs, bacon and a couple of pancakes on his plate, walking to the cabinet to get some syrup and set his fork down in front of him. At first he just took a big sniff and poured some syrup, smiling.

"I wasn't sure what you wanted to drink," I leaned against the counter. "We have orange juice, milk, mango juice-"

"Orange juice is perfect," he said wiping his chin. I grabbed a glass and set it down and filled it with juice. I grabbed a piece of bacon and put a pancake on my plate with a spoon full of eggs and took my spot next to Eli.

When he was concentrating on eating his food, I took the moment to take him in. His hair was messier than usual, but it was still sexy. His lean body slightly tan since being here. I wanted to wrap my arms around him and never let go. Worried he would file a restraining order, I quickly resisted this temptation.

"Are these home made?" He asked finally looking up from his plate.

"In a way. I did make them at home." He flashed a sexy smile and shook his head. "No, just powder from a box."

"It's still good though. The bacon is probably the best. It's like it just melts in your mouth." He took a bite of his last piece of bacon.

"I set them in the oven for a few minutes." I explained.

"Cool," he said looking at his plate. "I'm out of bacon," he said sadly and looked over at my plate, stealing a piece of mine.

"Ass hole," I whispered smiling. I went to the sink to wash my plate and set it in the dish washer. I took Eli's dishes while he went to shower and started the dishwasher. I looked out the window while leaning on the sink, wondering how this could of ever happened. My phone rang, snapping me from my daze.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hey sweet heart, have you seen Eli? Drew said he never came back last night." My mom loved poking her nose into gossip, it was her favorite thing to do.

"He's..um...-"

"Hey Alex, can you grab me a towel?!" Eli called from the bathroom.

"Was that him?" She asked on the other end of the phone. "Who was that?"

"It was Eli," I started, walking to the closet to get Eli's towel. "Don't worry, it's not-"

"Did you-"

"Mom!" I shrieked. I leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. "I love you, I will see you at two, goodbye."

"Honey, tell me every-" I heard her before I hung up. I rolled my eyes, smiling uncontrollably. Eli came out releasing steam from the bathroom wearing blue jeans and towel drying his hair, shirtless. I felt myself blush and he grinned at me.

"Who was that?" He wondered.

"My mom. Drew mentioned you never came back last night."

"Oh well," He shrugged smiling and walking past me to go into the guest room and threw a navy blue t shirt on.

"Lunch will be around two," I reminded him when he came back into the living room. He nodded.

"I have to start packing up, then," He said. My heart stopped and I looked down at my feet.

"When are you leaving?" I asked.

"I'm going back with my parents," he said matter of factly. I nodded, biting he inside of my cheek.

"Oh, ok," I tried my best to act like I didn't care. Did last night mean nothing?

"Well I'll see you at two, ok?" He kissed my cheek before leaving my apartment. I sat down on the couch, Meike jumping to join me and rested her head on my lap.

"He's leaving us again, baby," I choked back tears. She looked up at me with her sad brown eyes and I heard her whine. I scratched the back of her ears.

**

I ended up wearing my white and pink high low summer dress with white sandals. I braided the side of my wavy hair and pinned them back like a head band. I turned to see a side view in the full length mirror and nodded to myself in approval. I grabbed my phone and car keys and headed to the café.

I sat at a table with Eli and Drew as they talked about school and Drews work and Bianca. I sat in silence the whole time, picking at the half turkey sandwich I ordered, not taking a single bite.

"You ok?" Eli asked leaning over to me and placing his hand on my shoulder. I nodded and grinned with effort.

"Yeah I'm fine." I said. I couldn't take faking it anymore. I finally got the lady balls to say something. "Eli can I talk to you?" I asked, pulling my chair out. He nodded, his face full of concern.

"What's up?" He asked, shoving his hands in his jean pockets when we were out of earshot from the family. I took a deep breath and started to rub the back of my neck.

"You didn't tell me you were leaving today," I whispered. He looked down then up towards the street.

"You never asked."

"Well, if I had known you were leaving today, last night.." I trailed off.

"You said it was ok."

"I know I did," I said, starting to feel angry. "But you knew you were leaving today, why didn't you say something?" he finally looked into my eyes. For once his face that is usually full of expression was numb, almost cold. My heart started beating quicker as the seconds of silence passed.

"Alex...I don't have time for this." He turned and started walking away.

"It meant nothing to you!?" I shouted. He didn't turn around, he just kept walking. "How could you." I didn't know if I said this out loud or not. I walked back, holding back tears to say good bye to my family. Without saying anything or even looking at Eli, I left and drove back home.

**

The next couple days I laid on the couch, only getting up to use the bathroom or order food. I ignored all of my calls from my mom, even Sara who was supposed to be enjoying Italy. I could tell I was starting to smell and my hair was starting to get greasy, but who cares? Who was I trying to impress anymore?

My chest felt heavy, my eyes hurt and were swollen from crying. I have been cheated on before, but I've never felt so used. Was it all just an act? Did I do something to come off as a floozy?

For some odd reason, I started watching the last Twilight movie. Yes, that is how bad I was. The end of the movie killed me, playing the same song we danced to twice together. How badly I wanted to just turn back time to the reception and just hit pause and live in that moment forever. I heard a knock on my door.

I groaned loudly, hoping the person on the other side heard and decided to run away. Meike started barking. "Hush," I yelled. When I opened the door there was nobody there. I looked down and saw a rose with a note under it.

'Meet me at ocean fronts pier around 8. Wear your best.

XOXO

Anonymous.'

I stepped out and winced at the bright sun, looking down the stairs and out in the parking lot to see if there were anyone walking away. The only person out was this old guy, Mr. Champ, walking his dog. I prayed it wasn't him.

I shut the door and shuffled back to the couch and rubbed my eyes, reading the note over and over, setting the rose on the coffee table. The only person that came to mind was Mark. Maybe he felt bad and wanted me back.

"Not a chance," I said out loud and turned the TV off. At least this gave me an excuse to shower.