XIX

                                    

                                          
What woke Eli up the next morning was someone shaking his shoulder. That someone was obviously Rodrick, who wasn't especially gentle.
"What?" Eli mumbled, slowly sitting up, his vision still blurry. He needed a moment to remember why he had spent the night asleep in the living room.
"You need to go. Now." Rodrick pulled him up to standing, fixing the messy hair that was all over Eli's forehead, so far from his usual appearance "My parents are going to be here in an hour. I'm so fucked" he explained, walking the boy, who was still half-asleep, to the door.
"I'll call you later" He opened the door, gave Eli a brief kiss on the forehead and then pushed him outside.
"Bye" the boy rubbed his eyes, but this rush was too much to understand just a minute after waking up. Only when he got into the car, and sat down in the driver's seat, did he notice how the front yard of the Heffleys' house looked. And it was not a nice sight. So many empty cups, bags of chips and... an armchair? Well, it could be a good artistic installation.
A big yawn left his mouth, so the first thing he did was drive to Starbucks, where he spent too much money on a coffee that had too much sugar and milk to actually be called coffee. The first sip burned his tongue awfully, but at least it woke him up good. Now he was waiting for the coffee to cool down, thinking about what happened last night.
Damn, Rodrick kissed his forehead as he was leaving. Were they officially dating now? He had no idea. If the whole party wasn't just a huge blur of colors, light and loud music in his memory, it would be more helpful. He decided to do something that everyone does when they have a love-related problem. He FaceTimed the friend who had never been in a relationship.
"Harley, it's an emergency" Eli skipped saying "hi", and went straight to the point, no matter that Harley was still in bed, rubbing his eyes with annoyance.
"Shit, Eli... It's nine in the morning. How can you have an emergency at nine in the morning?" He mumbled, rolling onto his stomach.
"He agreed."
"What?"
"Oh my God, Harley. Rodrick. Rodrick Heffley agreed to go out with me." Saying it out loud sent a warm shiver down Eli's spine.
"That's great. And why are you like this?" He was right. Eli didn't look happy. Well, probably because he had five hours of sleep, he just burned his mouth and hadn't showered yet.
"I never thought past that point. I mean, what should I do now?" Harley sighed, seeing how his friend was about to go into a never-ending spiral of overthinking.
"Take him out." He shrugged, slowly getting out of bed to drink a cup of water.
"Where?"
"Why would I know?"
"Good point" Eli nodded, sipping his coffee again, and then making a face when the warm drink irritated his burned tongue.
"Just calm down. He agreed, which means he likes you" Halrey was not in the mood to solve this type of problem first thing in the morning, but he wanted Eli to stop panicking "Just go to town. Get coffee or something" he suggested, as he started to choose his clothes for the day.
"Yeah, you're right."
"Of course I am. Now, go home and get some sleep. You look like hell, darling" that being said, Harley hung up. Eli finished his coffee, and followed his friend's orders.
◈◈◈
After coming home Eli ate a small breakfast, and then went to his bed. Somehow, only now did he realize that he was still wearing Rodrick's clothes. Thankfully his parents hadn't commented on that. Not changing, he stayed under his warm covers, safe from the cold wind outside, and started checking his notifications.
Christina had answered his email, where he had sent her the play. She liked it! Well, yes, she had a few comments, but she still liked it! Of course, he texted Harley right away, and he also seemed excited. After all, he already had his role chosen, and Eli promised him that.
He emailed Christina back. Soon, his own work would be put on for everyone to see.