Lydia: Is that your way of telling me goodnight or warning me?
Eli: Both
Lydia: Bold of you to assume I sleep anyway.
Eli: Insomnia?
Lydia: Overthinking. You?
Eli: Thinking about you
Lydia: Smooth
Eli: Just being honest
Lydia: Dangerous combo
I didn’t expect him to be so funny and sweet. He’s also been so good at making me forget how shitty I normally always feel. I didn’t expect him to slowly start to become…my person. And that doesn’t take away from Simone at all…she’s still my person too. But…it’s different with Eli. I really like him, like…Ilikelike him. I always want to talk to him or sneak a hug from him at school. I crave to be around him, to make him laugh, to know all his favorite things. Any time I’m not with him, I’m thinking about the next time I’ll get to see him again.
I’m deep in my thoughts about Eli as I’m lying on Harper’s bed with my head in Simone’s lap, staring at the ceiling. Katie and Harper are getting dressed and doing their hair and makeup for a cheer competition they have today. My phone buzzes, and as soon as I pick it up from the bed to read it, Simone snatches it from my hands.
“Hey!” I playfully shout. “Give it back!”
She holds it out of reach while typing in the passcode she, of course, knows while laughing.
“That boy has you glued to your phone 24/7. Ineedto know how good these conversations are.No boy hasevercaught your attention before, let alone the ‘preppy, popular, jock boy’ at that. I feel like I’m living in an alternate universe, or the Twilight Zone,” she says, laughing. “I don’t know who my best friend is anymore.”
Katie and Harper both laugh, watching us.
“The fact that I haven’t seenEli Harrisonflirt with asinglegirl at school since the night of that party is crazy!” Harper says, dramatically.
“Okay, saying his firstandlast name is kind of weird, y’all. He’s just a normal person, not some celebrity.”
“At school, he might as well be,” Katie tosses over her shoulder, looking at me in the mirror while she does her makeup.
Simone is giggling, scrolling through my texts, when she suddenly gasps. “SHUT-UP!”
“What?” I ask, sitting up, confused.
She starts to read the text he must have just sent out loud. “Lydia, I just want to finally confess my undying love for you, and tell you that I think you are my soulmate, and—”
“Shut up,” I tell her, rolling my eyes and laughing. “He didnotsay that.”
She giggles. “No…but hedidask you out on a date this weekend.”
I snatch my phone back from her. “No way?”
Eli: Let me take you out on a date this weekend. Dinner in NoDa, maybe?
I’m instantly blushing, and when I look up, they’re all staring at me.
“What?” I ask, trying to hide my smile.
“Youlooovehim,” Harper teases.
“I donotlove him. I barely know him.”
“But you definitely like-like him, right?” Katie asks.
