that same night, elliot realized he now had a dilemma.

about an hour ago, at milani's house, he found feelings being awoken in him that he'd never felt before.

when her and monique left the room to talk, he began to feel discouraged. it didn't make sense, really. but something about looking around her room made him realize he'd never be good enough for her.

she was good at guitar, smart as hell, evidently a good gymnast, had a good support system. he didn't have any of that on his roster, besides guitar.

he decided he didn't want to rope her into his shit. his big life of shit that was determined to make everything go wrong for him.

guilt settled in his stomach again when she came back into the room.

as he looked down into her big brown eyes, he knew he couldn't let her down.

but he also knew he was too selfish to let her go.

elliot soon remembered milani's interest in vinyls, as well as her record player.

he used this as a distraction to go through his cousin's stuff.

"what the fuck are you doing?" she asked.

elliot continued rummaging through her items, "you still have some of your vinyls, right?"

she nodded, "why?"

"let me have some," he demanded.

the girl scoffed and walked closer to where he had been kneeling.

"give me a hundred bucks,"

he rolled his eyes, "twenty."

"eighty."

"fifty."

she nodded again and elliot groaned. he had more than fifty dollars to spare, he just didn't want to.

it didn't take long for his cousin to expose him to her collection of vinyls. though she only allowed him to take three, he decided that if he picked good enough ones, they'd be fine for milani.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

for the first time in a long time, elliot walked into the school with something to prove.

he felt proud of himself, finally doing something for someone else. especially someone like milani. although, he wasn't really sure what that meant, yet.

he fished through the sea of students, desperately trying to find his specific girl.

he noticed her next to her locker and held up the vinyls as he walked up to her.

she finally passed her gaze over to him and gawked at the sight of the records.

two of them were fairly old, but nothing she wasn't unfamiliar with. the last one was from her era, something she was familiar with as well.

"surprise," elliot said, finally reaching her.

she looked in disbelief, "did you? but i didn't— you didn't—"

elliot brought the three vinyls together and held them out for her.

"yeah i did. they're yours, keep 'em."

milani reluctantly grabbed the vinyls and placed them in her locker. elliot watched her contently, leaning on the locker beside her.

when she finally closed her locker, she gave him a good look.

"what game are you playing, elliot?"

the false blonde boy held up his hands in defense, "no games!" milani didn't look convinced. "i promise, no games." elliot walked away hoping to seem mysterious.

unless trying to make you fall in love with me is a game, elliot thought to himself.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

that night, elliot invited milani, rue, and jules to his place.

milani currently sat in the windowsill of his room and couldn't help but be a little uncomfortable.

not only because this was her first time at his house but the atmosphere was off, not to mention everywhere but his room sort of reminded her of a traphouse.

still, watching elliot strum his fingers on his guitar and waiting for rue and jules to arrive, she reveled in it being just them two.

that was, until, she felt the urge to ask him questions through his music.

"what are you not telling me?" she inquired.

"what makes you think i'm hiding something?" elliot said quicker than expected.

"not hiding, just not telling me."

"i don't know." he paused for a moment, "what? you don't trust me?"

milani shrugged although he couldn't see her, "i don't know. what's there to trust, huh?"

"i'd it the face tats?"

"no," she chuckled, "i like them. they're pretty on you, actually."

"pretty?"

milani hummed and elliot decided her calling him pretty in a way was good enough for him.

"do you like me?" milani asked, bluntly.

elliot thought before speaking, "in what way?"

the girl laughed nervously. "you know, like, romantically."

the strumming of his guitar stopped for a second.

"yeah, i do."

milani doesn't know why she asked that because she could feel the heat rush to her face and her stomach twist up. immediate regret was the only emotion she could place. where do they go from here?

elliot placed his guitar to the side and grabbed a pre-roll blunt. milani wasn't phased by the weed, really. it was just the heavier stuff that made her uncomfortable. but with addiction in her family, she didn't want to touch the green, either.

elliot spoke first, he must've sensed she didn't have anything to contribute to his confession at the moment because the question he asked was completely off topic.

"have you ever done drugs?"

"no. but me and my friends used to snort smarties, does that count?"

elliot laughed and gave her a smile she was glad she'd created, "no, definitely not." he paused. "why not though?"

"what do you mean?"

"why haven't you done drugs before?"

she thought for a second, did she really wanna share this part of her with him?

"well, my mom was an addict. i saw it growing up, a lot. her and my dad would argue about it," she thought for a second. "one day, they argued so much they crashed the car they were driving in."

elliot felt guilty for asking, "did they—"

"die?" although blunt, she still gave a melancholy sigh, "yeah. i was like twelve so, i guess it's still fresh."

elliot thought about the difference between milani and rue. rue didn't even consider fourteen recent but milani still struggled with the aftermath of her parent's deaths. milani's was probably more raw and real while rue hid her truth through addiction.

milani steered back into the previous conversation, "why do you like me?"

"are you fishing for compliments, right now?"

she laughed, "no. just curious."

"well, you're fascinating."

"fascinating?"

"yeah. like, you're creative, smart as hell, you have secrets i would love to dig into. and you're like, gorgeous, like mindblowingly beautiful, in a way. you don't really think before you speak, which i admire. should i go on?"

milani wasn't sure if her blush was visible but she knew regardless, it was there.

a sound of laughter left her, "no. i guess not." she responded, holding her knees close to her.

the scent of weed swirled in the room and she couldn't help but wonder if she'd gotten contact high, allowing herself to be more blunt than expected.

she didn't really think that was true, though. just trying to find ways to figure herself out.

"but you must know that, right?" elliot looked deeply, expecting that to be something milani should just know about herself.

"shut up."

milani couldn't help but be a little glad her friend and cousin didn't join the two of them deeper into the night. feeding off of elliot's energy was exhilarating and she wanted to be around him more.

but she'd be sure to check up on them later, though.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:
quick, i need 17 people to follow me fr..

anyway, it's been a minute omg but not really.

elliot kind of ain't shit but he's fine as hell so don't really look at this as a elliot fanfiction, kind of? maybe? i don't know.

although it's still attached to an episode, it still drifts off into their own little space which i enjoy writing.

but ufouria kind of pissing me off right now, lol. just know ima 5ever be a jules shooter <3

that being said, please vote and interact with me xoxo :)