Read Ruining You for Free Online Page A

byplay we have going on. He says, “I’ll show you
my ‘brand’ of crazy if you show me yours?”
    Laughing out loud, I tell
him, “I don’t know if I have just one ‘brand’. I think I shop at the
thrift-store of crazy.”
    We both laugh. For the first
time in months, I don’t feel so alone. So isolated. My chest expands a little.
I feel as if I can take a deep breath without every emotion pouring out of me.
Watching him, I notice that every so often he shakes his hair out and runs his
fingers through it. Why this makes me smile, I have no clue, but it does.
    “So,
Eli-after-the-prophet-not-the-football-player, let’s leave show and tell for
another day. Why don’t you tell me about what kind of music you like to play?”
    Shrugging, he says, “Of
course, the classics like Guns and Roses and Nirvana. Current music that I like
would be Alabama Shakes, Jason Aldean, and Blake Shelton.”
    I raise my eyebrows in
question, “Country music? Now, I really didn’t see that coming.”
    “What? Are you stereotyping?
My parents are whiter than you, and we do live in the South. I may not rock the
cowboy boots, big belt buckle, or jacked-up truck, but I like feeling a little
twang here and there,” he says, emphasizing his country accent.
    “Sorry, my bad,” I laugh and
say to him.
    “Give me your iPod. Let’s
see what you are rocking.” He grabs my iPod and proceeds to scroll through my
music.
    He laughs at a couple of
things and looks up at me.
    “You give a whole new
meaning to the word ‘eclectic’. Let’s see, you have Kanye, Broken Bells,
Karmin, Usher, and what the hell is this? Justin Bieber? I really don’t know
what to say. I’m praying you have younger siblings that you play this for.” He
presses play and pulls the earphones out so the song blares from the speaker.
    “Give me that!” I say,
grabbing for my iPod. He stands up and holds it above our heads. He’s not that
much taller than me, but he is wiry, and I try to reach around him as he bends
backwards. He switches it from hand to hand, and I try my best to snag it. I am
suddenly overwhelmed with laughter as the idiot starts singing.
    “As long as you love me,
I’ll be your platinum, I’ll be your silver, I’ll be your gold. As long as you
lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-love me,” he sings to me as he plays
keep away.
    We have an audience now.
Everyone is laughing along with us. I stop trying to get my iPod back because
it’s not working anyway. My side hurts from laughing so hard. Giving up, I flop
back down in my chair and work to give him my best “I’m pissed” face. Finally,
he tosses my iPod in my lap and throws himself down beside me with a sexy grin
on lips.
    Ooh, I so have him now.
Licking my lips, I narrow my eyes and say, “Ok, Mr. ‘Hate on my Biebs’. For a
hater, you sure do know the lyrics pretty well.”
    He bursts into laughter,
“First off, every radio station in the land has that song on rotation every
hour. I’d have to be brain dead not to know the lyrics.”
    I roll my eyes again, and he
snorts.
    “Please be careful. I’d hate
for those witchy eyes to roll right out of your head.”
    I laugh at him. I can’t help
it. No one has made me laugh in the last couple months. The pressure starts to
build. How can I even laugh again? Grabbing my chest, I think back to the last
time I really laughed. I was sitting in JT’s truck with him and Cal on the way
to the party.
     
    “Hey,” JT says and pulls me
to him, “quit giving my hugs away.” I laugh and kiss his cheek.
     
     
    “Earth to Jay. Hello. Jay?”
    Lost in my memory, I finally
hear Eli talking to me, and I turn towards him. He appears blurry through the
tears that fill my eyes.
    “Talk to me. Where did you
just go?”
    At first, I shake my head,
and then the words gush out as the tears flow down my cheeks.
    “He’s gone, and he’s not
coming back. He’s never coming back for me.”
    Eli wraps me in his arms,
and I allow it.