Finley’s P.O.V

I sat anxiously in class, eyes fixed firmly on the clock that told me that I only had thirty more seconds to wait before I could go with Eli to science class. The teacher was mumbling random nonsense and people were rustling their papers, knowing, like me, exactly what time it was.

I swear, if you ever want any teenager to ace a class, make us sit in a room for fifty minutes and then ask us how much time is left until we can leave.

I’m fairly certain 99.9% of us would tell you the minute and the seconds until we were allowed to leave.

The bell rang and I was one of the first ones out the door, heading towards Eli’s locker, as his was on  the way to science compared to mine which was in the opposite direction.

I saw him at his locker and a smile spread across my face as he looked in my direction, scanning the crowd for my face. I came up to him and he smiled brightly, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and kissing my temple before throwing some books in his locker and slamming it shut.

We started to head to class and Eli’s hand crept into mine, as if unsure of his actions. I smiled to myself and intertwined my fingers with his and Eli gave my hand a little squeeze.

“Aw, look at us, holding hands,” he whispered in my ear.

I giggled. “You’re such a fangirl, Eli.”

Eli pouted. “How many time to I have to yell you, Fin, I am not a fangirl, I am a fanman!”

“Fanman?” I asked, amused. “You sound like a gay superhero.”

“Hey! Gay is okay!” Eli exclaimed.

I rolled my eyes and Eli laughed at me before swooping down and pressing a kiss to my cheek. And just like all the other times he’s done it in school, a blush colored my cheeks.

…

“Okay, you can work with partners!” my science teacher announced.

Even though she’s a bitch, she does let us work in partners a lot, and usually I just work alone but now I have Eli to work with.

I get my stuff and walk over to Eli. “Hey,” I said.

Eli glanced up at me. “Why hello, my fair lady,” he said. “What can I help you with?”

I rolled my eyes as I sat down in a desk right next to him. “You’re my partner, you idiot.”

“Okay,” Eli grinned. “But I hope you were listening, I wasn’t paying attention.”

I fought the urge to slap myself in the face. “Seriously? You don’t even know what we’re doing?!” I exclaimed.

“No,” Eli countered. “I know we’re doing biochemistry.”

“You’re lucky I like biochemistry,” I told him.

“I’m lucky to have you,” Eli corrected me and before I melted from feels, he pecked my lips and looked down at his packet. “Okay- so what is a group of atoms called?” he glanced up at me, where I was just smiling stupidly. “Fin?”

“What?” I asked, shaking myself from my daze.

Eli was looking at me with a slight smile on his lips. “What’s a group of atoms called?” he asked.

“A molecule,” I answered.

“What happened there?” he questioned me as we wrote down the answer.

“What do you mean?” I asked, already answering the next question.

“Why were you just staring at me with a smile on your face?” Eli asked. “Did I make you speechless?” he teased.

I pushed his shoulder gently. “Shut up.”

“I did!” Eli sang.

I shook my head and continued answering questions about atoms and the Periodic Table and balancing atomic equations and things like that when I heard the whispers around us.

“Eli’s working with someone? He hates people…”

“The freak is talking? Who knew….”

“Are they dating?”

“No way, Eli’s too hot to be with her, she’s a freak. I’m so much hotter.”

I clenched my jaw, trying to ignore them but they kept coming.

“Oh my God, Eli’s smiling.”

“He’s talking to her; he doesn’t talk to anyone…”

“She’s just his next fuck, don’t worry about it.”

“But… why her?”

“She’s ugly.”

“He’s too good for her.”

My breath quickened and Eli looked at me in concern, his pen stopping and he reached for my hand but I snatched it away, ignoring the hurt look in his eyes as the comments about me ran through my mind.

Ugly… too good for her… next fuck… freak… the freak is talking… too hot for her…he hates people…

They’re right. I’m too ugly for Eli, I’m not good enough for him, he hates people, he doesn’t talk to anyone except me, he’s just trying to get in my pants and oh God I can’t breathe I can’t breathe I can’t breathe.

“Fin?” Eli asked, a concerned look on his face. “What’s wrong babe?”

Nonono don’t say that, please don’t say that, I thought as I tried to control my breathing.

“Is she freaking out?”

“What’s wrong with her?”

“God, she’s such a freak.”

I couldn’t take it anymore and I grabbed my bag and fled, running out the door, ignoring Eli’s call for me as I headed for the nearest bathroom. Once I neared it, I realized that Eli was going to find me there so I went past it, wandering the halls looking for a place to hide while tears streamed down my cheeks.

I found a little nook in front of a door and I sat in it, sniffling and hiccupping and trying to breathe as I wrapped my arms around my knees and pulled them up to my chest.

They were all right. I wasn’t pretty enough for Eli, he was too good for me, I don’t deserve him. And why did Eli even talk to me in the first place? They were right; he doesn’t talk to anyone. So why me?

“Finley!” I heard someone call my name and honestly, there was only one person who would be looking for me, and that was the one person I didn’t want to see at the moment.

“Fin?” the voice came closer. “Where are you? C’mon, babe, I want to help you!”

I let out a particularly loud hiccup and I cursed myself as it echoed across the empty hallway. Footsteps sounded against the floor and I prayed to all things holy that he wouldn’t find me.

Of course it didn’t work.

“Fin?”

When I opened my eyes, Eli was standing in front of me, looking concerned. He was holding his packet in his hands and he dropped to his knees in front of me, scooting closer. I let out a muffled wail and tried to scoot away. Eli stopped dead, hurt filling his eyes and I felt terrible, but then I remembered why I was crying.

“Fin,” he whispered. “Why are you so upset? Did I do something?”

I nodded. “W-Why did you t-talk to m-me?”

Eli blinked, as if he wasn’t expecting that question. “What?

“W-Why did you t-talk to me, o-on that d-day?” I asked.

“I saw you have your anxiety attack,” he said gently. “And I wanted to see if you were okay.”

“B-But you n-never talked to a-anyone,” I said, confused.

Eli chuckled. “Fin, remember when I told you about my lip ring?” for emphasis he pointed to it. “I don’t talk to anyone because they’re all shallow gossip freaks who judge on appearances.”

“S-So what m-made me d-different?” I asked.

Eli smiled slightly. “You were the only one who didn’t give a shit about anyone else. You only cared about yourself, and I only saw you by yourself, and I wondered why you were alone, and then I couldn’t take my eyes off you because you were beautiful, and then you had that anxiety attack and I finally had an excuse to talk to you.”

I digested this. “B-But why d-didn’t you just t-talk to me?”

“I was nervous,” Eli admitted sheepishly. “I had no idea what to say to you. “Hi um hey yeah I’ve been kinda stalking you for about a year now and I just wanted to say I think you’re beautiful wanna be friends” wasn’t exactly a great opening statement.”

I giggled and Eli’s eyes gleamed as if he was happy he got me to smile.

“B-But you c-could have j-just said hi,” I pointed out, wiping at my eyes.

“Yeah, but I wanted a conversation with you, not just a hi and keep walking,” Eli said. “I wanted to talk to you, I wanted to see you blush because of me and I wanted to hear you stutter because I thought it was adorable and I wanted an excuse to look into your eyes.”

“Damn you and your beautiful words,” I muttered.

Eli’s eyes lit up. “Does this mean you feel better and I can kiss you?”

I shook my head and chuckled at that, privately thinking that Eli had the mentality of an eleven year old and I nodded. “Yes, you can kiss me.”

Eli smiled and he leaned in, kissing me and for some reason his lip ring was really cold against my lips and I squealed when it made my lip cold.

Eli pulled back, confusion written all over his face. “What?” he asked.

“You’re lip ring is really cold,” I said, laughing at myself. “And it made my lip cold.”

Eli snorted at that, and then he wiggled his eyebrows. “Well, you wanna make it warm?”

“You’re an idiot, Eli Sanders,” I said drily.

“And my lip ring wants to be warmed by your kisses,” Eli retorted.

I rolled my eyes and was about to reply when Eli kissed me again, pulling me closer to him and his lip ring was still really cold and I tried to pull away but Eli knew what I was doing and he rubbed his lower lip against mine and I pulled back.

“What was that?” I asked him, touching my lip where he just rubbed his lip ring on.

Eli winked, a smirk on his face. “I was trying to warm my lip ring up. You said it was cold.”

“Just breathe on it or something,” I said.

“You wanna?” Eli asked, jutting his lip out in a pouty manner.  

“No,” I denied him. “If I do that, you’ll just kiss me again.”

“What’s the matter, my lip ring makes you unable to control yourself?” Eli teased. I could feel the blush begin to color my cheeks and I jerked back when Eli pinched one. “Aw, there’s the blush that I want to see,” he said, his voice low and when I looked up he was really close to me.

“Eli,” I started but I had no idea what I was going to say after that.

Eli hummed in response, his lips suddenly on my cheek and he was kissing all over my face, oh God, his lip ring felt good and I closed my eyes.

“W-What are you doing?” first I stuttered then my voice cracked, it was not really my day.

 “Kissing my girlfriend,” Eli replied, his lips now working their way down my jaw line.

“E-Eli,” I stuttered.

He pulled back and I was feeling quite a bit flustered as no boy had ever kissed me there and then you have to add the fact that it was Eli and he was irresistible.

“Yeah babe?” he asked, his hand finding mine and holding it. “Did I go too far?”

I took a deep breath, unsure on how to answer that question because yeah, it was a bit far but I liked it so- I’m stuck.

“Warn me next time,” I said. “I have to prepare myself for your perfection.”

A slow smile spread across Eli’s face as he looked at me. “I have to prepare myself every time I come around you,” he replied. “You make me dizzy and I like it and if I’m not careful you’ll suck me in and whirl me around your head like you have a hurricane surrounding you.”

“But I’m not destructive like a hurricane,” I said, remembering quotes by people who have said that hurricanes are named after people because we destroy each other.

“No,” Eli agreed with me. “But you destroy my sense of reality whenever I’m near you.” I blushed and Eli smiled at me before going on. “It feels like it’s just you and me.”

“I like being around you too,” I said quietly. “You make me feel like gravity doesn’t exist and I’m just floating.”

Eli’s eyes softened and if I didn’t know better I would say that he was looking at me with love. “Aw, Fin, that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

“It’s nothing like the things you say,” I retorted. “Seriously, are you in advanced English or something because I swear your words are like poetry to my ears.”

Eli chuckled. “Yeah, I’ve been in advanced English.”

“Knew it,” I mumbled in victory and Eli pressed a kiss to my temple.

“So, Fin, how would you like to go on a date with me tonight?”

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I'M SO FLIPPING PROUD OF MYSELF THIS DIDNT' EXIST TWO HOURS AGO I WROTE THIS AFTER I UPDATED THE CHARACTERS ASK AND IT'S REALLY FLIPPING LONG MY CHATPERS ARE GETTING LONGER I DONT UNDERSTAND IT'S WERID BUT HERE YOU GO HOPE YOU ENJOY AND GUESS WHAT?!?!?!?!

TOMORROW (JANUARY 4TH) IS MY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY ON WATTPAD LIKE WTF IS LIFE I'VE BEEN ON HERE A YEAR WOW I'M SURPRISED I LIVED ANYWAY HAVE A LOVELY NIGHT I'M PROUD OF MY LIFE ATM LOVE YOU ALL BYE!

-T A Y L O R