Chasing Elliott

ELLIOTT STEVENS

Laotong (n.)
a friendship bonding two girls together
for eternity as kindred sisters.

You know those mornings where you wake up and look out the window and can’t help but smile and think, today is going to be a wonderful day. I can’t wait to get out there and see what’s in store for me? Yeah, me neither. But thanks to Kingsley, I at least always had a coffee waiting for me.

However, this morning she wasn’t so considerate of my condition when she came tearing into my room causing me to be startled awake.

“Get your ass up,” she demanded as she threw a pillow at my face. “You’re going to be late for class again.”

Groaning, I wrapped myself deeper into my blankets as I held my pillow over my head to keep the light that was seeping in through my black curtains out of my eyes.

“King, just let me sleep off this hangover,” I pleaded, knowing damn well she wasn’t going to let me. But as I always say, a girl has got to try.

“El, I swear to god,” Kingsley hissed as she walked over and tore the pillow away from my face. “You’ve missed class three days already this week.”

“So?” I grumbled as I cracked an eye open to look at my best friend who stood there with her arms folded over her chest like an irritated mother just trying to get her kids up and out the door.

“It’s Thursday.”

Sighing loudly, I flipped over and whipped the blankets off myself. Glaring at my friend, a smile broke on my face as I saw Kingsley holding a bottle of water and two Advil.

“Thanks,” I whispered gratefully as I quickly threw the Advil back and drank some water. There’s nothing better than water to soothe a scratchy throat after a night of drinking. Now all I needed was some greasy food.

Climbing out of bed, I made my way over to her closet and grabbed my usual daytime outfit: a black tank, my red leather jacket and a pair of ripped skinny jeans. Stripping down in the middle of my bedroom, I heard Kingsley sigh.

“El, I’m still here,” she informed me as I watched her turn her back and cover her eyes with her hand.

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at her action as I reached for a ponytail off my nightstand and slipped it onto my wrist. “K, you’ve seen me naked plenty of times. We’ve been friends for like fifteen years.”

“Still doesn’t mean I enjoy looking at it.”

“Everyone else does,” I fired back with a cocky wink. Kingsley shook her head as she turned and walked out of my room, closing the door firmly behind her.

After I finished changing, I walked into the bathroom and threw on some simple makeup before brushing out my long wavy blonde hair and throwing it into a messy bun.

Smiling in content at myself in the mirror, I spun on my heel and grabbed a pair of red converse which matched my jacket and sat on my bed to put them on. Making sure to grab my wallet off the dresser, I took one last look in the mirror before heading out to the living room.

Kingsley stood in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal since we had yet to buy a kitchen table. I offered up the one I had before we moved in together but after Kingsley found out I had sex on it, there was no way she’d let it in our apartment.

“We really need a table,” I mumbled as I grabbed an apple out of the fruit basket on the counter and walked over to the fridge to retrieve a bottle of water.

“What we need is money,” Kingsley mumbled back as she set the bowl in sink. “Where’s your backpack?”

“The hell should I know?” I asked with a shrug of my shoulders as I made my way over to the door, taking a bite out of my apple. Kingsley sighed loudly, irritated at my obvious lack of concern as she stormed down the hall to look for my book bag.

Coming back with my grey knit backpack, Kingsley threw it to me before grabbing her coffee and own backpack off the counter and making a beeline for the door. Slipping my backpack on over one shoulder, I smiled as she approached.

“Please actually pay attention this time,” Kingsley pleaded after locking the door behind us, walking down the stairs to catch the bus.

“I can’t make any promises,” I replied. Kingsley rolled her eyes as she sighed, not bothering to try and argue with me.

“Honestly don’t know why you pay college tuition,” Kingsley continued to lecture as we were walking from class to the union to grab some food. “You don’t fucking learn anything.”

“And yet I have a 3.4 GPA,” I replied with a shrug as I hiked my backpack up on my shoulder and fidgeted with the straps. “Maybe you’ll learn to just let me sleep next time.”

Kingsley hit me on the arm, picking up her pace so she was walking ahead of me. I couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped my throat as she acted like a five-year-old who just wasn’t getting her way. Throwing open the doors to the student union that sat directly in the middle of campus, Kingsley headed toward the sub shop while I made a dart for the pizza buffet.

Grabbing my usual three slices of meat lovers pizza and a cherry coke, I walked over to the table Kingsley and I had claimed as our own and sat down. Just as I took a bite of my pizza, the chair next to me was suddenly pulled out and I rolled my eyes when I saw who it was.

“Nick,” I grumbled through a mouthful of food. “What do you want?”

“You in my bed again,” Nick responded with a wink that almost made me vomit.

“Not a chance.”

“Wait a minute now,” he said quickly as he leaned forward in his chair and tried to put a hand on my arm. “I thought we had a great time.”

“Listen,” I began to say as I set my slice of pizza back on my plate. “We had a great time and you were a good lay but I don’t ever fuck the same guy twice, sorry.”

Nick scoffed loudly and rolled his eyes as he roughly pushed himself away from the table, the metal screeching against the tile floor and catching the attention of people around us. I didn’t bother looking up at him but rather continued to eat my food.

“You really are a slut,” he spat as he folded his arms over his chest. “Good luck ever finding someone who gives two shits about you.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I’m not looking for one of those then,” I fired back with a raised brow, taking a sip of my coke. Nick stormed off just as Kingsley approached the table.

“What the hell was that about?” She asked as she set her tray down on the table and sat down in the chair Nick had previously left.

“Nothing that concerns me,” I replied with a shrug. Kingsley raised an eyebrow at me in question but I ignored it as I focused on finishing off my food.

About half an hour passed before we got up and discarded our trays and left the union, heading toward the bus stop to get back to our apartment.

“You hear about the party this weekend?” Kingsley asked as we sat on the rusty metal bench next to one another.

“I’ve heard about a lot of them so you need to be more specific.”

“The Nielsen twins,” she clarified as we saw the ugly blue and green bus approaching.

“Ah,” I replied with a nod. “Yes I did.”

“Are you going?” Kingsley asked with a slight bounce in her step and lightness to her voice as she walked up the three small steps to get on the bus.

I raised a brow as I slid in the seat next to her, a smile pulling at my lips. “Do you want me to go?”

“I hate to admit it but I need a wing woman,” she told me softly. I chuckled quietly as I put a hand on my friends shoulder.

“I’d love to be of service,” I said with a smile. Kingsley smiled widely and threw her arms around my neck, hugging me tightly.

“Thank you so much,” Kingsley thanked me, resting her head on my shoulder as she pulled out her phone.

Snatching her phone out of her hand, I unlocked it with a devious smile. “So who are you trying to snag?”

“Benji,” she replied sheepishly to the point where I almost didn’t hear her.

“Benji? Is that short for Benjamin?” I asked as I started to scroll through the extremely long list of friends I had on Facebook.

Kingsley only nodded as I started doing some digging. After a few minutes, I finally found his profile and smiled.

“My girl has great taste,” I teased as Kingsley tried to take her phone back. Benjamin was the definition of tall, dark, and handsome and I knew I’d do whatever I could to help her get the guy.

“Hey now, he’s mine,” Kingsley said firmly as she finally snatched her phone out of my grasp. “Don’t go getting any ideas.”

“What kind of friend do you take me for?” I asked, offended.

“Okay,” Kingsley said as she held her hands up. “I’m sorry, I know you’d never.”

I nodded in appreciation before grabbing mybackpack off the floor as we pulled up to our stop. Sliding out of the seat, I threw my bag on my shoulder and headed toward the door with Kingsley trailing behind me. Saying our thank you’s to the bus driver, we made our way toward our apartment building.

“What do you want for dinner tonight?” I asked as Kingsley pushed open the door.

“Wanna just order some Chinese?”

“You read my mind.”

Kingsley went straight to her room to get started on her homework as I walked into the living room and flopped onto the couch, turning on the television. I heard Kingsley yell from her room but I chose to ignore it.

A few hours later, I grew irritated waiting for Kingsley to finish her work and decided to go ahead and order the food. Pulling out my phone, I quickly placed the order before turning my attention back to the television only to be interrupted by another scream.

Not even two minutes later, Kingsley came tearing out of her room with a flustered expression plastered across her face with her phone in her hand.

“What’s wrong?” I asked as I sat upright and looked at her with furrowed brows. Kingsley began to pace in front of me with tears clouding her eyes and I quickly jumped up and placed my arms on her shoulders to stop her.

“What if he doesn’t like me?” Kingsley asked, distraught as she pulled away from me and fell into the recliner.

I raised my eyebrows and placed my hands on my hips as I looked at her. “Is that what you’ve been doing the whole time you were in there? Worrying?”

“Yes,” she answered, unashamed. “I found some of his exes and I just don’t think I shape up.”

I walked over to her and sat on the armrest,putting an arm around her shoulders. Kingsley leaned into me as I hugged her and I heard her sigh softly.

“Honey, trust me. Any guy would be lucky to have you. You’re amazing, beautiful, smart, funny and so enjoyable to be around. Any guy that can’t see that is a dumbass,” I told her as I rubbed her hair softly.

Kingsley seemed content with my words as she released a loud sigh and abruptly sat up, catching me off guard.

“I need a new outfit,” Kingsley said as she tore out of the recliner and ran toward my room. I laughed as I stood up just as the doorbell rang. Grabbing my wallet off the counter, I knew I’d be stuck taking Kingsley shopping once we were done eating.