"Okay." I respond, my cheeks on fire, my mind in so many places, and hope I don't run into anything on my way.
I walk blindly to the mirror, my smile wide and face red. After bumping my shoulder on the side of the mirror lightly, I walk through and into the room Eli has been living in.
I grin as Eli puts his hands on my shoulders and directs me to where he set up our date.
I'm sure my face is close to looking like a tomato as he leads me wherever we're going. I squeal as I almost trip over my own feet but Eli catches me by my waist.
Eventually he stops me and removes his hands from my shoulders. I immediately feel disappointed as the sparks and warmth slowly disappear. I feel his hands fumbling with the blindfold before my eyes view in on beautiful fairy lights lining each wall. I notice it seems to be the only light in the room. It's dim but beautiful.
The next thing I view in on is the small setup of a red, white, and black plaid picnic blanket with a small basket on it in the back corner.
My grin widens as I step towards it, but then I notice how the normally bland white room with minimal furniture actually looks completely and utterly beautiful with its simplistic decorations.
With that thought I turn around quickly and wrap my arms around Eli's shoulders. Pulling him close to me I mumble, "Thank you." And I know he heard it because he quickly returns the hug and sparks are flying everywhere with his arms around my waist protectively.
After a minute long hug, consisting of my head laying on his chest and me taking in his cozy smell of maple and cinnamon, Eli pulls away and looks down at me with a smile. It's just then I realize that a hug is a kiss you don't need to breathe through. I'm back in reality when Eli asks, "Let's eat, shall we?"
I giggle lightly at his cheesiness and respond. "We shall."
And we simply walk hand in hand over to the beautiful picnic-like setup and sit down.
When I see what Eli is pulling out of the basket, my smile widens even more, if that's even possible, and I gasp with surprise.
He looks over at me with amusement. "Your favorite: cold pizza and pancakes."
I start fidgeting with excitement and Eli chuckles at my reaction. "What?" I ask, faking anger at his comment. "It's food and it just so happens to be my favorite meal. I'm allowed to get excited over food. It's not like I judge your meal choices." I finish and grunt as he laughs again. "Let's just eat." I mumble.
🌼🌼🌼
The date ends up great, and I can't help but keep running over the goodnight kiss we shared before I went back into my room to sleep.
Eventually the ceiling becomes a boring companion and my eyes are droopy, so I decide to just sleep.
Life was finally looking up.
🌼🌼🌼
I think I forgot to mention that it's spring break from school causing me two weeks of extra sleep.
Before I left Eli's presence last night, he agreed that that I can join him for breakfast. So as I wake up bright and early at 8:30 in the morning, I waste no time in jumping out of bed and getting ready for the day so I can see my wonderful boyfriend sooner.
After finishing my morning routine, I grin and take a seat on the edge of my bed before talking to the mirror. "Eli?" I ask excitedly. "Are you awake yet?" The mirror changes quickly to his dazzling smile but I sense something wrong about the mirror today.
"Hey Ruby. You can come in now. I just got the breakfast set on the table." Eli says with a small, genuine smile.
I get up and take a step toward the mirror. But as I go to step through, my foot hits the mirror with a thud. "Eli?" I ask, panicking. "Why isn't it letting me through?" I ask quickly.
Eli turns to me quickly, his eyes also in a state of alarm and panic. "I-I don't know." He says. "Try again." I don't have much hope.
I try shoving my foot through the mirror but I only end up hurting my foot.
I groan and grab my injured foot.
"T-this c-can't be happening." I say, panic clear in my voice. "It's like losing you all over again." I whimper, my voice breaking.
I sit on the floor, my head in my hands.
"I can't lose you. Not again." I mumble and tears start running down my cheeks. "Not again." I nearly yell and just hope that my parents don't come in.
"It'll be okay, Ruby." Eli says calmly. I look up at him. "It's not like we can't talk at all."
"You can't seriously think that there's no problem!" I yell through the mirror at my boyfriend. "There is very much a problem! What next, the mirror stops changing altogether and we can't talk at all?! It's like a long distance relationship but we can't physically be with each other at all. How am I going to live with that?!" I yell.
When I look at Eli his expression is heartbreaking.
"I'm sorry." I say, my face softening. "Put your hand on mine." I say and put my hand on the mirror. He immediately puts his hand on it matching mine but it just isn't the same. I can't feel his spark or his warmth. I can only feel a cold layer of reflective glass that separates us.
After a few moments we remove our hands from the mirror.
"It'll be okay." I say to myself. I don't think I can convince myself though.
I step back and look at my wonderful boyfriend.
"I-I'm gonna go downstairs." I say. I can't stand to look at his face right now. "I love you."
"I love you too."
And with that I leave the room to go downstairs and cry for a few hours on the couch before my parents wake up.
What feels like centuries later, I'm still sobbing on the couch when I hear footsteps padding down the stairs. "Ruby?" I hear my mom call. If I could I would stop crying and pretend I'm fine but I'm not.
My mom enters the living room and rushes over to me.
"Are you okay?" She asks. Dumb question. Do I look okay? "What's wrong Ruby?"
"I can't t-tell you." I say and sit up to hug the pillow I was crying on.
"You can tell me anything." She says. So I tell her. And I let out my last tears before she responds. "So your dead boyfriend lives in your bedroom mirror and you used to be able to physically be with him until this morning?" She asks.
I nod and feel like crying again but I have no tears left.
"Does your father know about this?" She asks.
I nod again before asking, "Why has dad been ignoring me?"
"Ruby, did you have a friend named Max Wellman?" My mom asks carefully.
I know Max is a bad person but what could happen including him that makes my dad ignore me? I look at her confused. "Yes, why?" I ask nervously at her careful tone.
She says one of the last things I was expecting her to. "He's dead."
My face goes white but my mind lands on one name.
Parker.