Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Liza

As soon as I get in the car, I send Eli a text.

Have you landed yet?!

I stare at the phone, waiting for it to say Delivered . When it never does, I slump in my seat, wishing I could tell him the good news before anyone else. It only bums me for a second, and then I remember I can call my mom, who will be just as excited as I am.

She answers on the first ring. "There you are! I've been dying to know how it went!"

I laugh at the way she answers the phone as I yell, "I got the job!"

"Oh, baby! I'm so happy for you! I knew you would. What grade are you going to teach?"

"High school," I state, waiting for her to be as surprised as I am.

She laughs out loud. "Really? They aren't afraid that every guy is going to hit on you, thinking you're their age?" she teases.

Memories of Mr. Wright—a teacher at my high school, who all the girls were gaga over—flash through my mind, and I cover my face with my hands, dying from embarrassment at the thought.

"Oh God, I didn't even think about that."

"I bet you get asked out to prom." She laughs.

"Mom! You're not helping!"

"You're my beautiful mija . Of course all the boys are going to flirt with you."

"I'll be their teacher, Mom."

"Their teacher who is only a few years older than them—that is, unless you're teaching freshman English or something like that. Did they tell you the subject you'll be teaching?"

I drop my head again, realizing now that Econ is only for seniors. "Mom, now, you have me worried. I'm teaching Econ!"

She laughs out loud. My mom has never been one to play it easy and always told me how it was, so I shouldn't be surprised one bit that she's teasing me.

"Oh, I can't wait to hear how the boys are drooling over you."

"Mom!"

"Hey, I can be proud of how pretty you are. I made you, remember?" She chuckles into the phone, making it hard for me to not do the same. "I'm just messing with you. Don't worry about it. I think it's amazing that you'll be teaching older kids. They can connect with you more that way."

"That's what Mrs. Epperson said."

"Besides, you have Eli, so you can honestly say you're taken. How is that tall man you're dating?"

I shake my head at how she describes Eli. I sent her a picture of us last week, and she thought it was funny how much bigger he is than me.

"He's good. He's flying back right now from his trip. They won the tournament!"

"That's great. Hopefully, we'll get to meet him one day."

"I hope so too. You're still planning on coming for Christmas, right?"

"Sure am. Your dad and I will be there. Hoping we can convince your sister too. We'll see. You never know with that girl."

We go on talking about my sister and the drama she brings into her life unnecessarily as I drive back to Mason Creek.

After I say goodbye to my mom, I look at my phone and see that my text to Eli has been delivered, but he still hasn't responded, so I click the screen with his name on it and wait for him to answer, only to be bummed again when it goes to voice mail.

I don't leave a message, knowing he'll see that I called and also not wanting to sound like a fool on his voice mail as I tell him I got the job.

Instead, I put my phone in my pocket and head inside to tell my aunt and uncle the good news.

An hour later, I still don't have a text from Eli, and he still hasn't called.

I start to get worried until I hear my aunt singsong back to me, "Oh, Liza, you have a visitor."

I jump off my bed and rush to the front of the house, only to see Eli standing there with a bouquet of flowers. I stop in my tracks and cover my face in surprise.

"Congratulations!" he says with the best smile I've ever seen on him.

I wrap my arms around him with probably a little too much enthusiasm, which makes him chuckle.

"How did you know I got the job?" I ask once I step back and take the flowers from him.

"The exclamation point in your text kind of gave away that you had something exciting to tell me. So, I took a chance. Then, your aunt here confirmed it for me."

I look her way to see the glisten in her eyes as she watches us standing here.

"Sorry, I knew you wanted to tell him, but this was just too sweet," Aunt Heidi says.

She couldn't be more correct, and the cheesy grin on my face hopefully tells her exactly so.

"Okay, tell me, where did you get the job? Which school will you be at?" he asks.

I stand tall, proud to announce, "You're looking at the new Econ teacher at Leighton River High School."

His expression drops, and his eyes open ever so slightly, but he tries to hide whatever just went through his brain before he recovers, saying, "That's awesome. Really, I'm so happy for you."

I tilt my head in question, wondering if I really just saw what I saw when my aunt places her hand on my shoulder.

"We are so proud of her. She'll really do a great job. We just know it." She kisses my head. "I'll leave you two now." She turns to Eli. "Glad you made it home safely. Congrats on winning the tournament too."

"Thank you." He smiles, but it's not with the same sincerity he had just twenty seconds ago.

I step up to him, knowing something is off. I know we haven't been together long, but I've always been able to read people really well. My mom says it's a blessing, but sometimes it feels more like a curse. Sometimes, you really don't want to know what's going on in people's heads, but right now, I'm dying to know what could possibly be going on in Eli's.

"What's wrong?" I ask, placing my hand on his arm, hopefully letting him know that I'm here for whatever is bugging him.

This is the first time in our relationship that a worried feeling races through me. The one thing I like the most between us is our openness. He brings a level of comfort to me that I didn't even know was possible.

He won't meet my eyes, and suddenly, my chest starts to ache with this unknown sensation that's making it hard to breathe.

I place my hand on his cheek, bringing his face to mine. "Eli …"

He finally looks at me, and I instantly see the tears he blinks away.

"Eli, what is it? What's wrong?"

He closes his eyes, swallows hard, then takes a deep inhale. When he opens them, all I see is pain. Pain I've never seen from him reflected back at me. The pit in my stomach drops, and my palms start to shake.

"Eli, talk to me."

He lets out a breath, holding his hand out to me, then guiding me back to my bedroom. "We need to talk."