Always Eli by Charlie Novak

Chapter Twenty-One

Tristan

It was aroundthree o’clock in the afternoon by the time Eli and I finally extricated ourselves from his bed and made our way to the shower to scrub off the remnants of last night’s make-up and sweat and today’s cum. Despite our best efforts, there wasn’t room for both of us under the shower head, so Eli sat on the end and watched me.

I’d asked him if he was cold, but he’d just said he didn’t mind because he got to keep looking at me naked. It had made something clench inside my chest because I didn’t think I’d ever had a boyfriend who was so enthusiastic about my body. Or me in general.

Afterwards, when we’d gotten dressed and were sitting on the sofa debating what to eat, there was a heavy knock at the front door.

“Expecting anyone?” I asked.

“Not unless Deliveroo suddenly takes psychic orders,” Eli grumbled. He glanced at his phone and sighed. “For fucks sake.”

“Everything okay?”

“Do you remember taking selfies with Lewis last night?” I thought back. There was definitely a possibility that had happened. I groaned, running my hands through my still damp hair.

“Yeah, I think so. We took a group photo at McDonald’s,” I said. Lewis and his friends had adopted me into their group with open arms, and he had insisted on including me in all the photos, even though I’d only met most of them a couple of hours beforehand. “There were a group of girls there, and they all said Lewis was really cute. And then he asked if they’d take a picture of us. And I think we took some selfies while we were dancing.” There was a sudden sinking feeling in my stomach like a ball of hot lead had settled inside it. “Why? Did Richard see them?”

“No, not Dick. It’s fine.” Eli chuckled, shaking his head. The sinking feeling inside me levelled out. “But Lewis sent them to Finn and Jules with the caption: Look at Eli’s new boyfriend! Isn’t he fucking cute? 10/10. Much sexy.” He laughed. “There were a lot of emojis too apparently. Jules just forwarded it to me.” He looked at me. “How, er, how do you feel about seeing them again?”

“They’re outside, aren’t they?”

“Yeah. Lewis told them you were staying at mine last night,” he said. “Why the fuck can’t my family mind their own fucking business for once?”

“Would you want them to?”

“Sometimes it might be nice. Might get to keep some secrets for once.” He stood up, his expression tight. “Are you sure you don’t mind? You never actually said.”

“It’s fine. It’s not like I’ve never met them before,” I said. “I just haven’t seen them in a while.”

“Okay. I’ll go let the vultures in, then I’m ordering some bloody food.” Eli headed to the door, and I tried to push down the swell of panic rising inside me. I wasn’t sure why I was so nervous. It wasn’t like I didn’t know Eli’s family. But then again, how well did I really know them? I was Richard’s friend, not theirs, and although I’d been around since I was fourteen and had seen all the ups and downs that went along with being a teenager, I wasn’t sure how they’d feel about me dating their brother.

Their brother who I wasn’t best friends with. Or at least, hadn’t been three months ago.

Now, though… my feelings for Eli were very different. Richard would always be my best friend, and nothing could change what we’d been through together, but my feelings for Eli were growing into something far bigger than I’d ever imagined. They were so bright and hot I was afraid to look directly at them because the intensity might kill me. It would be like trying to look directly at the sun during the middle of summer. If there came a moment where I had to choose between my relationship with Eli and my friendship with Richard, I knew I’d choose the former.

I didn’t want to choose though, which was why we’d agreed to keep it a secret. But secrets were always hard to keep when family was involved, especially one as nosy as Eli’s. It was almost inevitable that the rest of his family were going to find out, and that scared me, mostly because I wanted to protect Eli from any backlash Richard might throw his way. I hoped Richard would understand because they were brothers, but Eli had always been a sore spot for him, and involving me in that tangled mess of emotions was unlikely to produce a good result. I just hoped it wouldn’t end in violence.

I heard the click of the front door and a swell of voices. I swallowed, pushing down my worries and fixing a smile on my face.

Lewis was the first to appear through the door, looking distinctly hungover in an enormous pale blue hoodie and a pair of grey joggers. He flopped onto the sofa, sprawling out next to me, and smiled. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to expose your secret. Drunk me got a little carried away.”

“And hopefully your hungover ass is paying for it,” Eli said, walking up to the sofa and shooing Lewis towards the other end so he’d be able to sit between us.

“Yes. I am,” Lewis said. “Take pity on me.”

“No.”

From behind Eli, a voice laughed, and Jules appeared in the doorway with Finn just behind her. She leant against the door frame, a wry grin on her face. “This is what you get for going out without me,” she said.

“You didn’t want to come when I asked you,” Lewis retorted. “Neither did Finn, and they’re sort of his friends too.”

“You said it was all couples,” Jules said.

“It was! Tristan’s other half just happened to be in the DJ booth.” Lewis stuck his tongue out, then pulled his knees up to his chest.

“Gem and I already had plans,” Finn said, sticking his head over Jules’s shoulder. “And he’d already agreed to open for Jay today, so he didn’t want to be too exhausted. It’s also not fun going out when everyone else is getting wasted and you’re not.”

“I wish I hadn’t,” Lewis mumbled, now looking slightly green around the gills. “I’ve never felt worse. Can I go back to bed now?”

“No,” Jules said, walking into the room, grabbing one of Eli’s dining chairs, and turning it so she could straddle the seat and lean on the back. “Hey, Tristan. Nice to see you again.” She sounded a little cool like she was still sizing me up and wondering whose side I was on—whether I was fully committed to Eli or whether I’d sell him out to Richard. That was fair enough. I hadn’t expected anything less.

“Nice to see you again too,” I said. “And you too, Finn.”

Finn gave me a little smile and a nod, sitting himself on another of the dining chairs. Eli had disappeared into the kitchen, and I heard the hum of the kettle and the clatter of mugs on the side. “Do you want a hand?” I called.

“Nah, I’ve got it,” Eli said. Then his head appeared, a frown on his face as he peered at his siblings. “If we get food are you fuckers going to steal it?”

“Yes,” said Jules.

“No,” said Finn.

“Depends what it is,” added Lewis, looking like he might be sick. He sighed mournfully. “I can’t believe you turfed me out of bed for this. I could be at home with Jason.”

“Suck it up,” said Jules with another grin. She turned to Eli. “Guess you’re ordering food then.”

“Assholes.”

“I’ll order some pizza,” I said, opening up my web browser to find Domino’s. If anything would make Eli feel better it would be a stuffed crust pizza laden with barbecue sauce, chicken, pepperoni, and sweetcorn. “What would you like?” I asked, looking at the other three.

It didn’t take long to get an order in, and my stomach was already growling at the thought. Probably because I hadn’t eaten anything since the twenty-piece box of chicken nuggets Jason and I had shared at half one that morning. Or maybe it was the fries and McFlurry’s I’d taken back to The Court for Eli and me to eat. That would have been it. We’d sat on the floor and shared the enormous bag of fries, dipping them into the ice cream like we were seventeen all over again. My thirty-three-year-old insides were now reminding me how much of a bad idea that had been. They were probably not going to agree with the pizza either. I’d feel like shit tomorrow and have to spend the rest of the week living on cold chicken, salads, and vegetables in an attempt to pacify my stomach.

But it had been fun to let loose for the evening. I hadn’t done that in… well… at least thirteen years. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d gone out for the night and actually enjoyed myself.

Not that I’d be doing it regularly, but I thought I’d be up for doing it once in a while.

Eli reappeared with various mugs, thrusting one into Lewis’s hands and muttering “Drink this. It’ll help.”

Lewis wrinkled his nose at the acerbic lemon smell wafting out of it, but dutifully sipped it slowly. Eli had made me tea, trading the mug for a soft kiss. Once he’d passed Finn and Jules theirs, he wedged himself between Lewis and me on the sofa, leaning against me.

“So,” Eli said, taking a sip of his black coffee and staring at his siblings. “Are you here to interrogate my boyfriend or just to be nosy?”

Jules grinned. “Can it be both?”

“We were just… curious,” Finn said quietly. He was looking at me with clever eyes, and I fought the urge to shiver. It felt like he was peering into my very soul. It was similar to the way Eli looked at me but with an intensity that Eli would never master. Finn had always been the quiet one, ever since I’d known him, and I got the impression that had given him the chance to learn how to read people with a deep certainty. “You and Tristan are, or at least always seemed to be, very different.”

“That’s not a bad thing though,” Lewis added, more to Finn than Eli and me. “Lots of people are in relationships with their opposites. Look at Mum and Mimbles.”

Finn nodded and sipped his drink. “That’s very true. Opposites attract for a reason, and they can bring balance, but too much opposition can cause problems because you disagree on the fundamentals. What seems like a cute quirk at the start of a relationship can quickly become irritating in the long run.”

“Look at you.” Jules grinned. “Laying down wisdom like fucking Obi-Wan.”

“Just because you’re a useless lesbian, doesn’t mean the rest of us are,” Eli said with a grin. “And when are you going to let me introduce you to my friend Elle.”

“I told you. Masc lesbians can’t be friends until we’re like… thirty-five. Too many similarities.” Jules waved her hand.

“Pfft, Elle is like a fucking Disney princess,” Eli said. “She could pass for Aurora if you gave her the right dress. Except she’s got a mouth like a sailor and once raced a man down Lincoln high street while wearing six-inch heels because he said he could run faster than her. She won.” He clicked his fingers excitedly. “Oh, and she does fencing too. She’s like a fucking sword lesbian but like one who’d kick ass in a pink ballgown.”

“Oh, she’s the one you showed me the picture of,” I said, thinking back to a conversation from a couple of weeks ago when Eli and I had been eating lunch outside the castle, and he’d shown me a picture on his phone of a beautiful woman with shimmering golden hair holding a fencing foil. She really had looked like a Disney princess.

“Yes! You used to fence, right? You should start going again. Elle could get you in,” Eli said. “You’d look hot with a sword.”

I chuckled. “I doubt I’d be much good anymore.” I hadn’t fenced since university, but I’d enjoyed it in the past. It was something I’d meant to take up when I moved back to Lincoln, but I’d only ever gotten as far as looking up a local group. I’d never gotten around to emailing them. Life had always seemed to get in the way. “But it might be fun to try again.”

“I’m going to hold you to that,” Eli said with a grin, leaning over to kiss me.

“What? My vague mutterings about fencing again?”

“Yeah. Something like that.” I kissed him again, not really caring if anyone was watching.

“Wow,” Jules said. “You two are gross. You were right, Lew. They’re perfect for each other.”

“I told you.” Lewis’s voice sounded a little strained. “But you just had to see for yourself.”

“Obviously.”

There was another knock on the door, which turned out to be our food. We spread the pizza boxes out, and the conversation turned to last night’s antics, family gossip, and random anecdotes. The four siblings were so fun to watch, falling into their natural, easy dynamic as they talked over each other, bickered, and laughed. I might have felt like an outsider if it weren’t for the fact that they kept dragging me into their debates, telling me little stories, and including me in in-jokes and family traditions.

“You know,” Finn said, during a momentary lull in the conversation. “Richard is going to have to be told about this at some point. What are you going to do?”

“Way to ruin the mood,” Jules said, shaking her head and reaching for another slice of the enormous veggie feast pizza with extra cheese and jalapeños she and Finn were sharing.

“Sorry.” He grinned. “But we all know it’s the elephant in the room. And you’re going to have to deal with it sooner rather than later.”

“I know,” Eli said with a sigh. “But I don’t want to. Dick can fuck off if he thinks he’s dictating my relationship. We all know he’s going to throw an epic shit fit about it.”

“It might not be that bad,” Finn said.

“Finn, darling, I love you, but I cannot deal with your unrelenting optimism right now.” Eli waved his hand at Finn, then reached for another slice of pizza, slowly picking the pieces of chicken and pepperoni off and eating them individually.

“Finn’s got a point,” Lewis said. “None of you were that bad when I brought Jason home. I was expecting it to be a thousand times worse.”

“That’s because we were all threatened to be on our best behaviour,” Eli said.

“Hey! Not all of us needed threats,” Jules said.

“Says the woman who had to be forced to put on a clean t-shirt and wash her face just before they arrived because she turned up looking like she’d just climbed out of an engine.”

“Not my fault Dad’s car is a piece of shit. It’d be better as scrap.”

“I can tell him,” I said, interjecting before Jules and Eli started another full-blown, albeit loving, debate. “If, or I guess when, we decide to tell the rest of your family, I can talk to Richard.” I reached out and squeezed Eli’s thigh. “He’s one of my best friends, and he’ll listen to me.” I grinned. “And if not, I’ll just remind him about every single dating failure, disaster, and near miss he’s had over the years.”

“See? I knew I liked you for a reason.”

“Because I’ll stoop to petty blackmail?”

“Exactly.” Eli laughed, then frowned as his phone buzzed in the pocket of his hoodie. Frowning, he pulled it out, tapped on the screen, and read something.

“Everything okay?” I asked. “Does Orlando need picking up?”

“No. It’s not that.” Eli’s voice was surprisingly quiet and distant. He was staring at the screen like he couldn’t quite believe what he was reading. “I… I got in. To It’s a Drag! They’ve offered me a place in the final.”