Finley's P.O.V

I opened my door and Eli stepped in, still holding his presents. He dropped them on my desk and picked one up, a small box nearly completely covered in tape. I chuckled at the sight of it.

"Not that great at wrapping, hey?" I joked.

Eli snorted. "You can say that again."

So just to be annoying and funny, I said, "Not that great at wrap-"

"I didn't mean it literally," Eli interrupted me, shooting me a look.

I stuck my tongue out at him. "So why, exactly did I have to open my present up here?"

"Because," Eli started, suddenly looking nervous and he fidgeted. "Because...."

"Because...."I prompted, leaning in closer to hear what he was saying.

"Because it's special," he got out. "And I wanted it to between me and you, not you and your family."

"Aw," I cooed. "Eli's got a romantic side!" I pinched his cheek, just to be annoying.

Eli swatted my hand away. "Fin, not now! This is serious! I'm freaking out here because I think you won't like my present!"

"Aw," I felt my heart melt; he was so worried it was adorable. "I'm sure I'll love it."

Eli handed me the present and I began to open it, trying to ignore how intently Eli was staring at me. The tape was hard to rip off and I ended up struggling with it. Eventually, I ripped the paper to reveal a little box. I could feel my breath catch in my throat and my heart speed up in anticipation as I opened the lid to reveal the most beautiful ring.

"It's a ring," Eli added unnecessarily. "Like, yeah, um, it's a promise ring to.... You know, to, show I'll always..... yeah," he stuttered to a halt awkwardly.

I felt a slight pang in my heart as I knew what he was going to say, and that he couldn't but I still smiled at the ring. "It's beautiful," I said, picking it up and examining it. "I love it."

And it was truly beautiful; it was a simple silver band with a diamond in the middle surrounded by smaller ones. "How much did this cost?"

"Not much," Eli said, but I could tell he was lying from how his cheeks turned slightly pink.

I smiled at him. "I love it."

Eli's smile was almost even more beautiful than the ring.

"Do you want your present now?" I asked him.

Eli's face lit up and he nodded excitedly. "Yes!"

I laughed at him. He was like a small child. I got up and grabbed an envelope from my desk and handed it to him. It had his name on it in a fancy script and I drew hearts around it and smiley faces.

"I get you a ring and you give me an envelope?" he joked.

"Hey, I'll have you know I spent a lot of time decorating that

"Hey, I'll have you know I spent a lot of time decorating that envelope!" I teased.

Eagerly, Eli ripped the top of it open and pulled the contents out. I watched with an eager smile as he blinked at them before waving them in the air.

"Tickets to the Harry Potter theme park?" he asked, tone rising in excitement.

I nodded in confirmation. "Yup, for spring break, and there's two, so you can bring whoever you like."

Eli's face broke out in a huge grin. "Oh my God, Fin, these are amazing this is the best present ever, I love you so much right now-" he froze once he realized what he said.

I blinked. Oh my God. Eli Sanders loved me. He loved me. I loved him. Oh my God.

Eli cleared his throat. "I-I mean.... Oh, to hell with it," he muttered before leaning forward and kissing me hard on the mouth. "I love you, Finley Collins, and that ring is a reminder to you that I promise to always love you."

My mouth dropped open a little bit, but I had enough sense in me to say one more thing. "I love you too. God, Eli, I love you so much."

As soon as the words left my mouth, Eli was kissing me, hard and fast and suddenly I was on my back on my bed with Eli hovering over me and still kissing me, his hand coming up to cup my cheek. My hands were fisting the front of his shirt as Eli continued to kiss me.

These kisses were different from the others we had shared, even when we had made out before. These were fast and rushed and passionate, and Eli was acting weird, like he had something to prove. These kisses filled me with a want and a desire I didn't know I had, and suddenly I wanted to do things with Eli that I hadn't even dreamed of before.

My fingers moved down his shirt and tugged at the bottom. We broke apart to breathe and panting, I said, "Off."

Eli blinked at me before pulling back a little more and pulling of his shirt, barely letting me look at his toned chest and muscles and tattoo before he was kissing me again, his hands now above me as he rested on his forearms to kiss me. My hands were on his chest, exploring his muscles. Eli moved from my lips to my jaw line, peppering kisses down it until he reached my neck and began kissing it. I moaned as he hit a sensitive spot and Eli remained there, sucking and kissing.

"Eli," I gasped.

He hummed in response, his lips still on my neck. "Yeah baby?"

The pet name made me almost swoon, but luckily I had enough sense still in me to regain my composure.

"I want..." I started but then he bit down lightly on my neck and my back involuntarily arched up, my hips hitting his.

Eli groaned, pausing for a second as he buried his face in my neck, right where my shoulder meets it.

"I want you to..." I started.

Eli suddenly interrupted me by kissing me again, and once again I just went along with it and let him kiss me, closing my eyes and kissing him with everything I had, hoping that through that I could show how much I loved him.

Since my hands were on Eli's chest and stomach and roaming around, I felt Eli's hands tentatively touch my stomach and when I didn't react, he slid his hands under my sweater and rested them on my stomach, unaware of how that touch lit a fire in me. As I didn't move except to kiss him and touch him some more, Eli got more confident, his hands going around my back and my stomach and riding closer and closer to my chest.

I pulled back when Eli's fingers tugged at the hem of my shirt, meeting his gaze with my own filled with confusion. He leaned in and pressed one slow sweet kiss to my lips before biting his own lip, fiddling with that damn lip ring and driving me crazy as he slowly pulled my shirt over my head. I could feel my cheeks heat up as Eli looked over me and a small smile tugged at his lips before he was hovering over me again, kissing me again, even more passionately as his hands went around my waist and my back arched again, my hips grinding against Eli's before falling back again.

Eli suddenly stopped and rested his head against my forehead, panting. "Shit," he murmured. "Not like this. Not like this."

"What do you mean?" I asked, my heart still beating rather fast and my lips puffy and my hair messy from that intense make out session we just had.

Eli shook his head. "If we keep going, we're going to do things, and I don't want them like this. Not fast and rushed and when your family is downstairs. If we do this, I want to be able to show how much I love you."

My heart swelled and I felt a warm feeling wash over me. Eli was so sweet. Whenever he told me he loved me, I was reduced to a giggly preteen.

"I love you too," I answered softly. "And I agree."

Eli smiled at me before pressing a kiss to my forehead. He climbed off me and grabbed his shirt then paused. "Um, Fin, we may have a problem."

"What's that?" I asked, finding my own shirt and pulling it on.

"A very hard problem," he hinted.

Suddenly I understood. "Oh God.... You have a..."

"A boner," Eli supplied. "Yeah."

I buried my face in my hands. "You can't go downstairs and eat dinner with my family with... that!"

"I know!" Eli said. "But I can't just snap and make it go away!"

"Then how do you get it to go away?" I asked, wringing my hands.

"Well," Eli smirked.

My jaw dropped. "Seriously? You have a problem and you're making innuendo's?"

"A very big problem," he winked.

I threw my pillow at him. "Well, make it go away!"

Eli threw his hands in the air. "I can't! it takes time! Or... I would have to spend about ten minutes in your bathroom."

I covered my ears. "Ew, no, don't do that! Any other ways you can make it go away?"

"Well, not if you're here," Eli said, gesturing to me. "Not after you kissed me like that and did certain things and you look, well, I'm going to be honest here, kind of wrecked. You're the reason I got one in the first place!"

I blushed. I'm not sure if that was a complement, but it did boost my self-esteem slightly. "Well, can we just stay in here for a while and then it'll go away?"

"Yeah, I guess," Eli shrugged.

Suddenly Luke knocked on the door and poked his head in. "Hey, guys, dinner's ready," he said. He caught sight of my hair and smirked. "Did you guys do things that I would do?"

"Not at all," Eli replied cheekily, shooting me a wink.

Oh God, I was in love with an idiot.

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hey guys, look at this, two updates in less than a week, go me, and this one is long too guys, seriously, people, this is like one of the longest chapters on this book. anyway, I hope you enjoy, I like it, especially the end ;) yeah.... that happened because my mind was in a dirty place at that particular moment in time, and if anyone cares about my soccer, I had two games week and we lost one 0-1 and tied the other 0-0 and the fun part about the 0-0 one is that my old coach's daughter plays on that team and he was there and even though me and his daughter are on separate teams he was still coaching me from the sidelines.... ahh good times good times..... anyway, enjoy!

love ya!

-T A Y L O R

p.s. check out my interview with @idiosyncraticforever it's up!!!