ELIAS

Now I am really in trouble.

All it took was Lu to walk into my office, show me her smile, and I would have practically done anything for her.

And the talk of her wanting to come with her... my hopes almost soared. I thought that maybe she was starting to feel something toward me.

"As a friend."

That practically killed the mood.

But as I sit here, watching her and Rich converse, I am glad she practically made me come. I had avoided her all week, or tried to, or maybe it was just the fact that I was too wrapped up over my brother leaving again.

Those two weeks blurred into a few hours in my mind.

He is going back tomorrow. They said I could be here when they escort him into the vehicle, and say my goodbyes, but all I wanted to do was fight it. He was recovering nicely, but one more accident like that, and he could be gone.

The thought scared me to death.

I thought I was dying. I came into work every day, not wanting to be consoled by anyone, and the only one who knew about Rich was Lu, and it seemed she was avoiding me too these days.

That just gives me hope she's avoiding feelings as well.

I could only hope.

She catches my eye, and I smile.

Rich turns to me, and leans over. I lean over to meet him, and he whispers in my ear, "You gotta get her some daffodils sometime, man." His smirk is so noticeable and I am afraid Lu will see it.

"Shut up," I whisper harshly.

He just smirks.

Lu stands. "We should be getting back. Lunch is almost over." She looks almost anxious to leave, but I'm sure that's just my imagination.

She's punctual. That's all.

But that wasn't what I really thought.

Maybe she's still avoiding me.

We say our goodbyes to Rich, who begins to cry as Lu walks out the door. I am surprised at how quickly he gets attached to people, but when I hug him he holds me tight.

"I don't wanna go back," he moans.

I pull away, resting my hand on his cheek. "I don't want you to either," my voice quavers.

He just closes his eyes.

I walk silently to the car, and we both get in. Lu drives us back to work, and we don't speak at all until we ride in the elevator.

"Thank you," I say, grabbing her hand, and giving it a squeeze. She first looks at me, then at our entwined hands, at which she smiles.

"You're welcome. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to join you tomorrow, to see Rich escorted. If that's okay." She looks unsure.

I nod. "Yeah. That's okay."

Maybe with her next to me, I could be strong.

The elevator dings, and the doors open. I can't help but want to keep our hands together, but Lu pulls out of my grip quickly, and walks over to her, desk sitting down, resuming her job like a good secretary.

I ignore all the looks, and walk into my office, shutting the doors behind me.

LUCY

I watch as Elias hugs Rich so tightly, he might burst.

The guard standing next to me shifts from one foot to the other, and I can tell he is getting impatient. We got to the hospital a little later than Elias liked, but the traffic was horrible. He was practically speeding to get here when we were free from being stuck behind slow cars.

I don't think I have ever seen a man so frustrated and so scared at the same time.

When the boys pull away, I see tears in both of their eyes.

My heart aches for them.

I could see Rich behind bars, his kind eyes turned into heartbroken eyes, for that was what I see right now in Elias. He is heartbroken, and I think what hurts him more is that there is nothing he can do about it.

Rich was still sick looking, but I guessed he had been like that before he got hurt. He was super skinny, and I could see his ribs poking out of his shirt. If somebody hurt him again, I would be so afraid for him.

I want to know the whole story. I wanted to know why he is in jail.

But as Elias comes to stand next to me, the heaviness, the guilt, the pain is so evident, I don't have the heart to ask him. Maybe when it doesn't hurt so much.

No. It's okay. I don't need to know. All it would do is make me interested in his life even more.

It's funny, I keep telling myself to stay away, but here I am.

But Elias needs me right now. I peer up at him, seeing his jaw clenched, his face completely still and full of emotion. I glance down to his hand tightened into a fist laying on his side. His whole body tenses as they bring Rich out his cell, and leads him down the hallway to the truck waiting outside.

We follow in silence.

The truck is huge, and black. As soon as Rich sees it, his mask of holding it all together drops, and I see a few tears fall off his chin and onto the ground.

I meet his gaze as he looks at me. "Take care of him," he mouths and I nod.

For him, I would.

Elias doesn't seem to notice Rich mouthing words to me.

The doors close in front of Rich, and the truck begins to drive away. It was time to leave, but Elias didn't move for a second. He stayed in place.

I glance down to his fist, which he is tightening now. I should hold his hand. I could just imagine his fingernails digging into his hand, making it bleed. It reminded me of when Dad would get so angry, he would bare his fist.

Only then did I reach down and cover his fist with my hand. I held on tight in case he tried to pull away. But he opens his hand, entwining his fingers with mine, holding on tight.

I don't dare look at him.

But I do. And I see him now smiling, not looking as pained.

"Let's go," I say softly. I see a hint of a nod, and I pull him along to his car. I am not sure if he should be driving right now, so I lead him to the passenger side, dig in his coat pocket, and pull out his keys.

I try to let go of his hand, but he holds on tight.

"Don't. Please," he whispers, looking tormented.

I swallow. "Just let me get in the car," I say, and he doesn't nod or say anything, but releases me. I flex my hand as I walk to the driver's side, not realizing how tightly he was holding onto me until he let go.

I unlock the car, climbing in. I never realized how big this car was until I got into the driver's chair. Elias opens his door and takes his seat. And even before I can turn the car on, he grabs my hand, weaving his fingers with mine.

I can't help the smile that covers my face.

Instead of driving to work, I take the route to go to his house. He needs some time alone to process and figure things out, and he can't do that at work.

When Elias figures it out where we were going, he immediately protests. "Why are we going here? Lu, I can work. I'm fine," he declares, but I didn't let him push me around or tell me what to do. Not this time. Right now, I wasn't his secretary.

I am his friend. And as a friend, he needs some time alone.

"You are going home because you aren't in the right frame of mind. You have to sleep," as I say the words, Elias rubs his face with his free arm, looking annoyed, but I ignore it. "You need to let me help you."

He focuses on my face, a look of finality resting there. "Ok."

I swallow, turning the wheel to get onto his street. I make it into the driveway without wrecking this gigantic car and park. I get out first, then walk over to Elias' side, helping him out. He grabs my hand again since I had to release him to get out of the car. We walk hand in hand into his house, and I immediately lead him upstairs.

"Go to bed." I practically push him into his room.

I begin to walk away, ready to call my Mom to come pick me up when Elias calls my name.

"Lu, please don't go. Please," he begs.

I swallow, looking over him. He looks ragged and worn. If I stayed here, all he would do is try to talk to me. He needed rest.

"I will stay downstairs."

"Then I will too," he concludes. I immediately shake my head.

"No, Elias, you have to sleep."

He walks up to me, and places his hands on my arms. "Lucy Bleu, if you don't at least stay up here and talk to me, I will go and disconnect the WIFI or take down the satellite I have on my roof so you can't talk to your mom. So then you'll be stuck."

I step back and he lets his arms fall. "Then I'll walk."

"Blast it, woman!" he cries. "When will you realize that I need you here, with me? Right now?"

I frown, not surprised at his outburst. I've gotten used to those.

Unfortunately.

He takes another step closer and I swear if he was any closer we'd be kissing. "Lu, I will pick you up and carry you. Don't leave me."

I meet his eyes. "Elias, go to bed."

Then I turn around and run down the stairs before he can grab me.

I pull out my phone as I walk into the kitchen. I dial my Mom and she doesn't pick up. I try again, and she picks up. "Hey, what's up?" She asks, and I hear something in the background, but I can't tell exactly what it is.

"What are you doing right now?" I ask her.

"Cooking."

I smile. Ah, that makes sense. "I need you to come pick me up and drop me off at work."

"Where are you?"

I stutter, "Elias' house. We went to go say goodbye to his brother this morning, and we drove together. I had to drop Elias off at his house because he was in no condition to work. So I need a ride."

I can practically hear her smile. "Well, I'm right in the middle of cooking something, but I will come as soon as it is finished."

"Which is when?" I ask.

"Half an hour."

Oh well. "Alright mom, see you then. Thanks."

As soon as I hang up with her, I hear a huge crash come from upstairs. I sprint to the stairs and call up.

"Elias?"

No answer.

I begin to climb the stairs but I stop. This could just be a ploy to get me upstairs, but something told me he wasn't that childish.

He could be hurt. He wasn't acting himself anyway when I left him, so he could hurt himself or be angry. I knew he had his moods, but this could just be an extreme one I haven't seen.

Grief makes people do stupid things.

I make it to Elias' room and I walk inside. The whole room looked like a tornado went through it. Stuff was thrown everywhere, clothes were spewed all over the bed and ground. Even the curtains are torn down.

The only thing that remains intact is Elias, who is sitting in the middle of his bed, his back against the headboard. He doesn't look at me as I walk further into the room. His gaze is resting on his fingers, which-- the closer I get -- are bleeding.

"What happened?" I ask.

"Do you care?" He retorts.

Okay, that hurt.

"You do realize that not everything is about you?" I ask, placing my hands on my hips. "I know you're hurting right now, but that doesn't mean you have to take it out on yourself. Or me."

He works his mouth.

I shake my head. "I'm stuck here for a half an hour. So I'm gonna go get some bandaids, clean up your fingers, then go downstairs. Don't hurt yourself while I'm gone."

Leaving the room at that minute felt empowering, but it lost its effect as I realize that I have to go back in there and clean his wounds.

I find the bandages in the bathroom close to Elias' room. I grab a few, then spot some rags. I get one wet and keep the other one dry. I walk back to his room, and carefully climb on his bed. I kneel next to him, holding out my hand to him.

He doesn't look at me as he places one of his hands in mine. I peer at the wounds, frowning as I see slices all around each finger. What did he do?

"I dropped a lamp, but before I dropped it I tried to catch it. It was a pineapple lamp, so it was sharp all around," he explains as if he can read my mind.

I nod, not wanting to say anything.

I wrap each finger individually after cleaning each one. I move onto the next hand, and that's when I feel his gaze on me. I felt better when he was ignoring me.

Even though I told myself not to look at him, I ignored myself and met his gaze.

He looks normal. He doesn't look as tired or as angry.

In fact, he is starting to look more like himself.

"Lu, I'm sorry," he mutters. "Truly sorry." he hangs his head.

I don't feel like accepting it, but I can't blame him for how he acted. It honestly could have been a lot worse. I think I was a lot worse when it came to grief, so he didn't deserve my judgement.

He is a better person than I will ever be.

"Thank you. And you're forgiven."

He smiles. "Thank you." He rubs his eyes with his free palm.

His fingers are all wrapped. They should heal up in a few days, but he is going to have to keep those bandages on.

So, like my mother did to me, I told him what he needed to do. "You have to keep the bandages on. And try not to get them wet."

"Yes ma'am," he replies, leaning his head against the bed frame.

I don't have to be up here anymore.

But I don't quite want to leave now.

I sit next to him, resting my back against the bed frame, mimicking him. I see from the corner of my eye that he looks at me, but he doesn't say anything so neither do I.

We sit for a while in silence. I couldn't help but drink in everything that I saw. His room is beautiful. It was like something out of a magazine, and even though I saw it when I got the tour, the blinds are open this time, pouring in so much light.

Besides, it isn't like last time I spent so much time looking.

I look at all the clothes spewed everywhere, and all the books tossed along the floor. I look into the open bathroom and see glass everywhere.

Oh, Elias. I am sorry.

"When will you see him again?" I ask him out of the blue.

He sits up. "Next year. I only see him once a year."

"Can I ask you something?" I turn to him, looking him in the eye.

He nods.

"What happened? Why is he in jail? You told me murder, but who did he murder?"

I even told myself to wait to ask these questions until Elias is better but they just stumble out. I think I somewhat deserve to know.

He asked me to drive to see him while he was in jail.

Elias swallows. "It's not that I don't want you to know, Lu. It's just hard to say it."

I sigh. "It's okay. I-I shouldn't have asked. You're hurting right now, and my mom should be here soon anyway..." I begin to move away, but he grabs my arm, pulling my back.

"I never said I wouldn't Lu, hold on." He looks amused, but his voice is full of grief.

I wait patiently.

"We were out driving. I don't remember where we were going to, but Rich was driving, and dad was in the passenger seat. I was in the back. It was a beautiful day out, and we were jamming out to some tunes."

I gage his expressions, trying to read them. He has a smile on his face right now.

"We were heading out onto the highway. I was messing around with Rich, while dad was still singing. Rich went to merge onto the highway when he suddenly jerked the wheel so hard to the right that we started spinning. We hit many cars along the way and just when we finally stopped, right side up, a huge truck slammed into the passenger side of the car."

I feel my heart pound.

Oh no.

"Dad was killed instantly. I got off with a broken arm, a fractured knee, and a concussion but Rich... they all thought he was going to be paralyzed. He pulled through somehow, but his legs and stomach are all burned and scarred."

"But he didn't kill him. The crash did," I argue.

"Which they claimed was Rich's fault. They found drugs in his system, and he had a previous record of violence and he's been in a few car crashes before. Each time, he was driving. They piled so much evidence against him, he didn't stand a chance. He got convicted so fast, and was sentenced to sixteen years for first-degree murder."

I can't help but let my mouth hang open.

"Elias, I'm sorry," I say, even though I feel like that doesn't cut what he went through. What he is currently going through.

My back pocket starts ringing.

"That's my Mom," I say and he nods, crawling off of his bed.

"You should go," he states, helping me get off the bed. I walk carefully to get outside of his room and turn to face him as he follows me.

"I'm glad you told me." I smile.

He sighs. "I wish I could say the same, but it's always been hard to tell that story."

I place my hand on his arm. "I hope it gets easier."

He just cracks a smile.

I descend the stairs.