CHAPTER 3.
"Rush."

Elijah and the rest of the lads were all preparing for the band's going-away party, which was really just an excuse so they could get plastered. They were all in Ryan's apartment-Robert and Josh were sitting on the couch playing Uno, Ryan was showering, and Eli was pacing.

"Okay, so I should just text her "Hey, me and the lads are having a party at Ryan's; you should come"? Or should I mention I want to see her?" Elijah asked while he paced from the living room to outside the door of Ryan's bathroom, which was open for him to hear Elijah's existential crisis.

"Mate, just ask her to the damn party." Josh said with a hint of annoyance that he was trying to focus on when to drop his plus 4 but kept being distracted by Elijah's incessant worrying.

"Should I tell her to bring Kate? What am I saying? Of course I should, right?"

"Who's Kate?" Robert asked, and Elijah waved him off, to which the latter scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Ryan, what do I do?" He asked desperately while yanking the shower curtain that was currently covering Ryan's naked body.

"Dude! My junk is out!" Ryan yelled as he yanked the shower curtain back, which was useless as Elijah had yanked it back again.

"Dude! I don't care! Help me."

"I don't know why you're overthinking this; I doubt she'll say no." Ryan answered completely defeated as he continued to apply shampoo to his hair (not the five in one monstrosity the other lads used, he'd like to include).

"Okay, what if she does say no?"

"Okay, then she said no."

Elijah groaned and stomped out of the shower to go sit in the living room with the other useless duo of friends he had.

"Uno!" Robert yelled while throwing his cards at Josh's face, which he scowled at.

"I fucking hate you."

"Aww, Joshy, you wound me!" Robert held his hands to his heart in mock offense.

Elijah wasn't sure why he was so nervous to text Marlene-hhonestly, he was more nervous about her saying it and him seeing her after their very emotional talk on that side walk one week ago. They had texted after their manager had told Marlene she got the job, and he told her they should celebrate.

Wiping the sweat off his hand on his jeans and holding his phone with the other, he sighed and started typing.

imessage - 2 people
Marlene Walsh - Marlie
Elijah Hewson - guggi q

guggi q
Hi

Marlie
hii

guggi q
So, the lads and I are having send off party cause of tour at Ryan's place and they wanted me to invite you

You can bring Kate, ofc

Marlie
oh, so just the boys wanted to see me? not you?

guggi q
Well, of course I wanna see u

Marlie
hmm, i don't know guggi, i'll have to think abt it...

kate might be busy too

guggi q
Oh, cmon, I wanna see u

And stop calling me guggi q

Marlie
how bad do you wanna see me?

and no can do, guggi q.

guggi q
Badly.

Marlie
okay, fine, we'll be there

guggi q
Great :)

"Elijah just asked me to a party-well, us; he invited us both." Marlene said to Kate, who was currently immersed in reading a fanfic on her phone about some people called "The Marauders."

Marlene and Kate met when they were both 14 at the 8th grade dance. Marlene was sitting on the steps of her school, crying her eyes out because Elijah was slow dancing with Eleanor Marvis, whom he had a crush on since they were 12. Kate had gone up to her and been her shoulder to cry on, and they have been best friends ever since.

They moved in together after Marlene's mom died, since she had been scared to live alone.

"So, you're getting dicked down tonight?" Kate asked with a smirk, knowing that would startle Marlene.

"What! No! This-we are-we are just friends, Kate. You know that." Marlene sputtered and got up from her spot on the couch.

"Oh, c'mon! You guys have been in love with each other since like, ever."

"Not true." Marlene replied, and Kate rolled her eyes, hoping a divine force would come down and save both of these clueless idiots.

"How did he ask you to the party?" Kate asked, and Marlene motioned for Kate to grab her phone. Kate got up excited and passed the phone to Marlene, watching her unlock it and pass it to her. She read the messages and practically squealed when she got to the last one.

"He wants to see you badly! Oh my god, Marls. You are so getting dicked down tonight!"

"Kate!"

-

The party had been going on for about 2 hours, and there was no sign of Marlene or Kate, which was making Elijah antsy. Very antsy.

"She's not coming." Elijah said to Robert, who rolled his eyes and sipped on whatever concoction of alcohol was in his red solo cup.

"Will you please relax? Girls like to be fashionably late."

"How would you know?" Elijah was annoyed that his friends kept teasing him about the whole situation.

"I just do." Robert shrugged and walked away to dance, leaving Elijah to his fretting.

Elijah checked his phone for the 30th time that night and sighed. It was 10:30 p.m.; she was not coming.

Josh heard a knock on the door, which was almost impossible since the music was so loud, and went to answer it, hoping internally it was Marlene so Elijah could relax.

When he opened it, he saw Marlene and his friend, and he smiled greatly.

"You made it!" Josh cheered and opened the door wider so both girls could come in.

"Yes! Gosh, sorry we're late; Kate couldn't decide on an outfit." She said this while giving Josh a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey! Beauty takes time," Kate said, giving Josh a hug that left him a bit startled. "I'm Kate."

The three of them made their way over to the kitchen so that the girls could get drinks and Elijah could finally see Marlene.

He was leaning on the counter, looking at his phone with furrowed brows, and Marlene froze on the spot. He just looked so good. He was once again wearing a band t-shirt-UU2, in fact-and it once again had the sleeves cut off.

"Elijah, your girlfriend is here." Josh called out to the brunette boy, which made him perk up and immediately smile at the sight of Marlene.

"Hey! I thought you weren't going to make it." He said this while putting his arms around the girl while Josh and Kate both smiled.

"Sorry, we lost track of time." Marlene said, muffled against his chest. He let go of Marlene reluctantly and went to hug Kate.

"No, she kept hurrying me while I was getting ready; she was very eager to come." Kate said, and Marlene pinched her arm, to which the other girl flinched and mouthed, Ow."

"You girls want any drinks?" Josh asked, to which they both nodded yes, and he went to grab the cups to make their drinks.

-

Marlene and Kate were tipsy and on the verge of being drunk, but Josh was very generous with the tequila on everyone's drinks. The alcohol made them both get up and dance, which they had been doing for a while.

Josh, Robert, and Ryan were currently crowded in the kitchen, planning how to make Elijah and Marlene get together tonight. Elijah was off to the side, leaning against the wall, watching Marlene like a stalker.

"Okay, I'm thinking we used the jealousy approach-gget Eli dancing with another girl." Robert suggested, and Ryan and Josh just gave him a blank stare.

"Haven't you read any books, mate? That never works." Ryan says while rolling his eyes, and Robert huffs in indignation.

"Okay, what if-you get Kate to dance with you, right? Then we get Eli and Marlene to dance together." Josh tells them, and they both nod.

Robert finishes his drink and passes the empty cup to Josh.

"I'm going in." He announces this, which makes Ryan and Josh chuckle before both go up to Eli to try to convince him to dance since, according to him, he doesn't dance (he does after 5 shots of tequila).

Rob makes his way through the sweaty bodies that are currently dancing in Ryan's living room, muttering excuses and sorries.

"Hello." Robert said to the now sweaty and dancing girls, to which Marlene smiled and Kate didn't.

"Hi, Bobby!"

"Hello, Marlene. I was wondering if maybe I could ask your friend to dance." That made Kate arch an eyebrow and Marlene sputter.

"You know, I am right in front of you; you could ask." Kate said, turning a bit to face him.

"Okay, will you dance with me?"

"No."

Kate didn't really like entertaining men; they'd ask her for her number or if they could get her a drink at random, but she always said no. What was the purpose of flirting with people when she knew she had no romantic intentions?

At the sight of her friend and Robert's awkward encounter, Marlene shuffled away a bit, not far enough to where she couldn't reach Kate but far enough to pretend she wasn't listening.

"Why not?" Robert asked the small girl in front of him, suddenly more interested in dancing with her.

Men.

"No is a complete sentence." Kate said and turned to walk away when Robert clamped a hand on her elbow to stop her from leaving, then leaning down to whisper in her ear.

"I'm not trying to hit on you, I promise; I'm just trying to get Eli and Marlene to talk, and I think you might want that too."

Kate looked from the boy who still had his hand on her elbow to Marlene, who was pretending like she couldn't see what was happening to Eli, who was being forced to walk where Marlene was, and nodded.

"Okay, fine. No funny business, though." She warned while pointing an accusatory finger at his face.

"I wouldn't dare, love." He said this while giving her his best grin and then looking around to signal Ryan to bring over Elijah.

While Ryan brought Elijah over to Marlene, Josh went to change the music and decided to play "With or Without You," which he knew would irk Elijah, but I mean, who could blame him? It's a good song.

When Marlene saw Elijah, she perked and decided to wave him over.

This was the alcohol, okay?

"Hi."

"Hey."

"Amazing song choice, don't you think?" Marlene said while chuckling, which made Elijah roll his eyes playfully.

"Yeah, I'm going to get Josh back for that one."

"Dance with me?"

"Marlie, you know I don't dance." He said this while scratching the back of his head nervously.

"Yeah, but you will anyway." Marlene said it inquisitively while throwing her arms around Elijah's neck.

"And why is that?" Elijah asked while grinning and placing his hands around her waist.

"Because I asked."

Marlene was being cheeky, and she knew it; the alcohol was giving her the liquid courage she needed. She couldn't help it-she was so in love, it was overwhelming. She felt it from her chest spreading through her fingertips, and she was itching to just kiss him, complications be damned.

Elijah was flustered; he didn't know what to do when he was here holding her like this. It felt surreal that after all these years, his love for Marlene had never left; it had just been hidden in the depths of his heart and then revived just by the subtlety of her touch. His hands were on her waist, and he leaned his head down to where their foreheads were touching, and he just couldn't breathe.

He had to kiss her. He had to kiss her or he wouldn't survive, or at least that's what it felt like.

And maybe he would've kissed her, that is. If only he wasn't interrupted by Ryan telling him there were cops at the fucking door.

hellooo!! i have not abandoned you!! first of all, this is kind of a filler chapter so it's not my best work cause this took days to write and i haven't read it over carefully.

second of all, updates are going to get more sporadic since today i started school and i'm just exhausted but it's my senior year so i'm excited!!

i got eras tour tickets!! unrelated but i'm so excited, it was kind of an advanced grad gift and i'm so grateful

i kinda used this chapter to introduce u to kate and bobby who are gonna be my next book which will be posted by the time u guys read this.

thank u sm for reading <3

me after tsitp finale.