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There was no way I could hold myself back any longer. Before Liam could make a grab for me, I lunged forwards, jogging towards Elliot. I heard a muttered “oh, fucking hell” come from behind me, but I paid Liam no attention.
“Elliot!” I called as I got closer.
He spun around, his eyes widening as he saw me, and my stomach lurched again as I took in his stricken expression.
“Ander? What are you doing here?”
Ignoring his question, because there were more important questions to answer, I stepped into his space, cupping his jaw. His eyes were red-rimmed, and tears were glistening on his lashes. “Did he hurt you?” I growled, carefully wiping away a tear that was tracking down his cheek. “I’ll kill that fucker if he hurt you.”
“Did who hurt me?” Confusion entered Elliot’s gaze, temporarily chasing away the sadness. “What are you doing here?”
“I felt like a walk, and I dragged Ander with me. We were just about to head home.” Liam’s voice sounded close to my ear. Fuck, I’d forgotten about him. When I glanced over at him, he gave me a pointed look that saidyou owe me.
Elliot stared between us, clearly unconvinced, but then he sighed, taking a step back from me and rubbing his hand over his face. “Whatever. Can you just…I’ll see you back at the house, Ander. Liam, see you soon, I’m sure.”
He turned on his heel, and I reached out to grip his arm. “Wait. Did he hurt you? We saw you with that guy, and now…” I took a step forwards, lowering my voice. “You’re obviously upset, E. What happened?”
“He did nothing. It wasn’thim—he didn’t hurt me.” His voice wobbled, and it sent a shooting pain through my chest. “Please could you just leave me alone now? I’ll see you at home.”
“I’m not leaving you alone in this state.”
“I can’t do this with you right now,” he whispered. “Please just let me go.”
Liam cleared his throat. “Look, guys. It’s late, it’s fucking cold, and I don’t know what’s going on here, and I don’t need to know. But Ander’s right, Elliot, and I’m mostly agreeing with him because Noah wouldn’t be happy if we left you here like this, not because I think that he has a right to know your private business. Even if he is your best friend,” he added with another pointed glance at me.
Elliot folded his arms across his chest and gave me a death stare that made me bite back a smile despite the situation because he looked so fucking cute pouting his lips like that. “Fine. I’ll get a cab. Alone.”
“No.” I immediately shook my head. “We—”
Liam’s hand covered my mouth, muffling the rest of my words. “We’ll wait with you while you get a cab, and then we’ll get our own. Ander, no more talking.”
I yanked his hand away, and now I was the one fucking pouting like a child. “Fine.”
“Fine,” Elliot repeated, and then we all glanced at each other, and just like that, the tension dissipated as we all cracked a smile. “Has anyone ever told you how annoying you both are?” he asked as we headed for the road to flag down a black cab.
“Yeah, Noah’s told me plenty of times.” Liam grinned at him, relief in his expression. He lifted his arm as a cab came into view. “Here you go, Elliot. Ander and I are gonna walk for a bit, and then we’ll head back.”
We are?I raised a brow at him, but he shook his head at me.
Elliot climbed inside the cab without a backwards glance, the smile that he’d briefly worn instantly dropping. Fuck, what was wrong with him? He was clearly upset, but he didn’t want me there. As soon as the cab started back up, he finally met my gaze, and as he did so, the cab’s interior light illuminated his eyes. Eyes that were filling with tears again.
“Fuck,” I whispered, staring after the cab as it disappeared out of sight.
“Give him space. Don’t push him. He’s your best friend, but that doesn’t mean you’re entitled to know everything about him,” Liam helpfully reminded me as he began walking back down to the riverside.
“I think I preferred it when our main topic of conversation was girls, not you giving me pointless advice.”
“You can still talk to me about girls, you know. Just because I’m in a relationship with Noah doesn’t mean that we can’t be like we used to be. I mean, yeah, I’m not gonna be your wingman anymore, and I won’t be able to reciprocate with the hot-girl talk because I’m only interested in one person now, but you’re my friend, and yeah, you know. We can talk.”
I sighed, shoving my hands deep into my pockets. “I don’t want to talk about girls.”
“Boys?” he ventured, keeping his gaze fixed on the path ahead.
“Or boys. I think that my experiment was a failure. I’ll keep an open mind, but I haven’t found anyone I want to kiss or do anything else with.”
We reached a bridge that would allow us to cross to the south side of the river and stepped onto it. Liam stopped, glancing down at his phone screen. “Have you even been looking?”
“I went to that club,” I reminded him. “Danced with JJ’s friend, but, nah, nothing.”
