Finley's P.O.V

"Yeah, I, um," Eli struggled to form a complete sentence before sighing. "I hate Luke."

I agreed with this statement, as my brother tended to meddle in my business more than he should, but then again, I did get involved with him and Allie so this must be his revenge.

"We do need to talk though," I said tentatively.

Eli nodded but didn't say anything, and I felt slightly awkward as tension filled the room.

"Who was that girl that sat with you at lunch?" Eli asked abruptly.

I laughed, but there was nothing funny. "Why? Are you jealous?" I teased.

"Yes," Eli's brutal honesty shocked me. "Please, Finley, I need to know."

"You called me Finley," I whispered.

"I-well, yeah," he said, his hand going to the back of his neck again. "I thought that the nickname made you sound like a fish."

"I love it when you call me Fin," I admitted, keeping my eyes fixed on the floor.

"Okay then Fin," Eli said gently. "Who was that girl you were with?"

"Her name is Ashton," I said. "Why do you care?"

"Because," he admitted. "I'm selfish, and I don't want to share you and I didn't like that you replaced me with her."

"You don't own me," I reminded him.

"I know," Eli groaned. "But I just get jealous!"

"You had no right to be," I said. "You're the one that left me."

Eli nodded and ran his hands through his hair, looking frazzled. "I know, I know, trust me, I know."

I almost cocked my head at Eli's tone. He sounded torn up about it. Maybe... maybe Eli was as upset by this as I was. I never stopped to consider that.

"I get it," I whispered, so quiet that I was surprised that Eli answered.

"Get what?" he asked.

"I understand what you said," I said, refusing to look Eli in the eyes, knowing that that would make me start crying somehow. "When you said that I was pretending to be someone I'm not."

"What do you mean?" Eli asked.

"When we fought, I asked you why you were pretending to be someone you weren't and then you told me that I was doing the same thing. I get it. I thought about it a lot in the past week and I got it. I'm pretending to be fine, I'm pretending to be weak, by letting those bullies walk all over me and I was pretending that I didn't have anxiety attacks at school," I explained, feeling slightly uncomfortable as Eli's gaze was intense.

"And what about me?" he questioned. "What was I pretending to be?"

"A bad boy," I began. "You were pretending to be tough, and mean, and act like you hate people but in reality you love talking to people, you love having in depth conversations with them or you just like fooling around with your friends. You were pretending to be stupid and never do your work but you're one of the smartest people I know. You pretend to be a delinquent but you're just a stupid, idiotic adorable boy who likes the weirdest things," I finished.

Eli blinked before opening his mouth to speak. "You saw me get in that fight."

To be completely honest, I wasn't expecting that to come out of his mouth after my long speech. "Um, yeah, I did."

"Are you scared of me?" he asked next.

I sighed, about to protest that this wasn't relevant. "Eli-"

"No, Fin, I need to know. Are you scared of me?" Eli repeated his question, his face intense and his gaze unwavering.

I shook my head. "No."

"No?" Eli repeated my answer, confirming it.

"No," I said. "I'm not scared of you."

Eli let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God, I thought you were terrified of me."

"Why would I be terrified of you?" I asked, slightly confused.

"You looked scared when I saw you in the hallway," Eli said. "You looked at me like I was some kind of monster."

"I only looked at you like that because I'd never seen that side of you," I explained. "It was different and then Ashton said that you were up to it again and I knew that you must have had a good reason to fight him. That's just who you are."

Eli was silent for a couple seconds before meeting my gaze. "His name is Trey Fuller."

"Okay," I said gently, as I knew that Eli didn't like talking about things that he's done to prove he was a bad boy.

Eli sighed. "He told me that he wanted you."

My brows furrowed and I questioned, "What?"

Eli's fingers fumbled with the zipper on his hoodie, and I knes he was stalling. "He wanted to take you and... fück you and he said that a lot of other guys wanted to too, so I punched him."

I blinked. "You were defending me?"

Eli let out a huff of air, getting slightly annoyed by my idiotic questions. "Yes, I was. Honestly, Fin, the only reason I'd get in a fight is to defend you, seriously-"

Before Eli could finish his sentence I tackled him with a hug. His entire body tensed up before he relaxed, his arms coming around me and he buried his face in my neck. I could hear him exhaled and his breath tickled my ear.

"Thank you," I whispered.

In response, Eli's arms tightened around me. "God, I've missed you," he confessed.

I squeezed a little tighter and he winced and pulled back. "Ow, ow, Fin that hurt."

I apologized. "Oh sorry, I didn't-"

"Its okay," Eli reassured me. "That dick only managed to land one punch on me and it was on my ribs. I have a bruise there and you just brushed it."

"How bad is it?" I asked, concerned. "I don't want you to be in pain because of me."

"It's fine," Eli tried to wave it off but by the look in his eyes I knew he was lying.

Knowing that Eli, being the (fake) macho guy that he was, wouldn't admit that it hurt, I narrowed my eyes at him and suddenly reached for the bottom of his shirt.

Eli tried to squirm away, saying, "No, its fine, I promise," but I yanked up the hem of his shirt and almost recoiled at the sight of his bruise. Eli hastily pulled his shirt down but I could still see that nasty bruise in my mind. It was huge, covering the lower right part of his rib cage and it was yellow. I had never had a yellow bruise before but I knew they hurt the most.

"Eli..." my voice trailed off, as I didn't know what to do.

"It's fine," he insisted.

"Your bruise is yellow," I deadpanned. "Yellow."

Eli hesitated before nodding. "Yeah," he admitted.

"Can... can I do anything to help?" I asked awkwardly. I mean, what can you do for a bruise, am I right?

A slight smirk formed on Eli's face. "Kiss it better?" He asked teasingly.

Knowing that he was probably not expecting me to do it, judging from his joking tone, I pulled up his shirt and planted a light kiss on it.

Eli's breath hitched slightly. "I didn't think you'd actually do it," he said, his voice deeper than usual.

I shrugged. "I asked if I could make it better and you said kiss it."

Deciding to mess with him some more, I gently kissed his bruise again and planted butterfly kisses all over, making sure to be gentle as I did so.

Eli let out a strangled sound. "W-What are you doing?"

"Making your bruise feel better," I said nonchantly. "Why, is it bothering you?"

"I think," Eli started, closing his eyes and sucking in a breath. "That you've been hanging out with Allie too much."

I laughed at that. "Well, you weren't around to keep me company."

We both fell silent at that as my words, meant to be joking, hit home in both of us. I knew that we weren't okay together, not right away, as we still had some things to talk about, but we were together and laughing, and that meant we would be okay eventually.

"We're not done talking about this," I commented.

"I know," Eli said. "But are we good now?"

I nodded. "Yeah, we're good."

"Oh thank God," Eli let out a sigh of relief. "Does that mean I can kiss you now?"

I chuckled. "Yeah."

Eli sat up amd leaned forward, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear and kissing me gently. My eyes fluttered closed and I moved closer to him, bringing my hand up to wrap around his neck and Eli's body seemed to relax and he didn't try to deepen the kiss or anything, he just kissed me, long and slow.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

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Hey guys, sorry this took so long, but i tried.to make it.super long, hope you enjoy it :) and please, I want all of you to critique the hell out of this.book, iactually want negative comments lol. I'm sick :( that's why it took so long. And guess what? I'm starting a new.book(wink wink) and if any of you could pretty please message me if you'd be willing to make me a cover.I'll tell you what.its.called! Amd.no spreading it around.wattpad, its.a.secret :)

So yeah, thats pretty much it :) bye!

Love ya!

-T A Y L O R