Finley's P.O.V

I gaped at that, not believing what Eli just said. There was no way that the boy I liked could possibly like me.

Somebody pinch me.

Eli laughed nervously, scooting away from me slightly. "Now would be a good time to say something."

"S-Sorry," I whispered. "I j-just... I l-like you too?"

Eli's face went from a look of surprise to a warm smile. "You sound uncertain," he teased.

"This is no time to be joking about that," I scolded. "We just admitted that we liked each other."

Eli nodded cheerfully. "That we did, Fin."

I felt awkward now that Eli was positively beaming at me, still holding me close to his face. "Now what?"

Eli chuckled. "We could awkwardly go our separate ways, or I could ask you on a date, or I could just kiss you."

My face burned at his last suggestion. "Going on a date is fine," I squeaked.

"Great," Eli said brightly. "Then we are on a date right now."

"Oh yeah?" I murmured, rolling over so I was on my side, facing him.

"Yeah," Eli mirrored my pose. "And now we're just going to talk about each other."

"Is that so?" I breathed.

"Yeah," Eli's smile was endearing. "I'll start by confessing my deepest, darkest secret- I'm deathly in love with the show Big Bang Theory."

"Never seen it," I shrugged.

Eli's mouth fell open. "You've never seen Big Bang Theory?"

"No," I said slowly. "Should I?"

"Yes," he said, exasperated. "That show is life."

"Red Band Society is love," I yawned.

"You saw that Shrek video too?" Eli's smile was sympathetic.

"Yes," I grumbled. "And I was scarred for life; whenever my cousins ask to watch Shrek, I always have to say no because I picture that video." Eli laughed loudly, causing me to put my hand over his mouth, shushing him. "My brother is next door," I warned him.

"What about it? We're not doing anything bad," Eli pointed out.

He had a point. "But you're in my room, and my parents don't know you're here," I explained. "They would kill you then bring you back to life to kill you again."

"That's graphic," Eli said drily.

I laughed, but I didn't want to. "Shut up, Eli, I'm being serious."

Eli smiled, his hair flopping onto his forehead, and I brought my hand up to push it off. His dark eyes followed my movements, watching me carefully as I kept my eyes on his forehead, focusing on making that one stupid chunk of hair stay out of his face.

"Fin," he breathed as I moved my hand away from his face. "Can I try something?"

"Go ahead," I whispered, giving him permission to do whatever he was going to do.

Eli leaned in, pausing barely a centimeter away from my lips, searching my eyes before kissing me. Oh God, he was kissing me, this was really happening, and only one coherent thought formed in my mind- damn, that lip ring.

It felt really good against my lips, smooth and cool and something about it was amazing, it felt amazing and I didn't want it to end. I found myself moving even closer to Eli, my hands moving from my sides to rest on his chest, and my eyelashes fluttered as Eli shifted and the lip ring suddenly hit my lips at a new angle, bring a whole new level of intensity, a good intensity.

Too soon, Eli pulled back, eyes glued to my face as I took a deep breath, opening my eyes as I exhaled.

"Too soon?" Eli whispered, still studying my reaction.

"Not soon enough," I replied cheekily, and even though I wasn't like the kind of person to make crude comments, the smile on Eli's face made it worth it.

...

"Well, looky what we have here," a voice said, waking me up.

I groaned at the light that was flooding my room, shielding my eyes from the brightness. Blinking several times, my eyes focused on Luke, who was standing above, wearing a smirk.

"Whatcha got there, Finley?" he asked, the smirk widening on his face.

I yawned and rolled over, only to roll on top of Eli. As that registered, my eyes flew open and I sat bolt upright, pushing rather hard on Eli's chest, making him groan and bring a hand to his face.

"Fin?" he yawned, and oh God that morning voice was going to make me lose it if he kept talking.

"Did you have a busy night, Finley?" Luke smirked at me.

"Shut up," I groaned.

Luke laughed, throwing his head back. "This is great! Mom's going to freak when she finds out Eli spent the night, in your bed."

My eyes widened and I leaped out of bed, getting down on my knees in front of Luke. "Please, don't tell Mom," I begged. "I'll do anything, just don't tell her!"

Eli was awake now, and he froze once he realized the compromising situation he was in.

"Hey man," Luke greeted him, like they were best friends meeting up at school.

"Hey," Eli answered, a wary look on his face.

"So, since you're here, I'm going to guess that you're dating my sister, and if you hurt her, I won't hesitate to chop your dick off and feed it to a rabid squirrel, understand?" Luke threatened.

Eli's eyes widened and he raised his hands in surrender. "Got it," he reassured my brother.

"Now, Finley," Luke began, turning to me. "Now that you're all grown up, we're going to need a chat about a certain activity boyfriends and girlfriends do with each other called s-"

"Luke!" I interrupted him. "Please don't!"

"Aww," Luke pouted. "But I practiced and everything!"

"How long did you know Eli was here?" I asked, curious.

Luke shrugged. "Well, he never left last night, so... since he came over?"

I sighed and Eli got out of my bed, coming to join me, wrapping an arm around my waist. His hair was a disheveled mess, actually, it wasn't far off from normal, but I couldn't resist reaching up and messing it up even more, giggling at his disgruntled expression.

"Luke?" Allie stuck her head in my room, just in time to see Eli quickly kiss me on the cheek.

"Yes, babe?" Luke answered, coming to join Allie until we were doing a kind of couple face-off, me and Eli against Luke and Allie.

"Are they dating?" Allie asked suspiciously, eyeing both of us.

"Yup," Luke said cheerfully.

"Ha!" Allie's exclamation shocked both me and Eli; we jumped. "I so called it!" she turned to Luke. "I told you they would get together in the next week, now hand over the money!"

Luke grumbled, "No! I don't actually have it..."

"Well, you owe me, we bet on it and I won," Allie said, acting like a kid by crossing her arms in victory.

"You guys bet on when we would get together?" Eli asked, rubbing his eye.

"Yup," Luke said.

"I won," Allie added.

"You don't have to rub it in my face!" Luke exclaimed, turning to bicker with his girlfriend.

Eli and I stood there, watching the two fight good-naturedly, and Eli turned to me. "So we're boyfriend and girlfriend now?" he sounded so hopeful, I decided not to tease him by saying no.

"Absolutely," I said.

Eli smiled and kissed me again, and yet again, I reveled in the feeling of his lip ring. When we broke apart, Eli whispered in my ear, "Hey, you finally found out what my lip ring feels like."

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HAPPY THANKSGIVING i'm going to go get fat now