Summary: Song title is One More Chance by Biggie Smalls.
“Your eyes are as dark as the night. Your lips are as full as the moon. Your skin is as brown as freshly made chocolate…..fuck that sounds horrible,” Eli criticized to himself as he balled up the paper in his hands. He then threw it across the room in frustration. There were five other balled up papers scattered across his bedroom, all of them filled with bad attempts at poetry.
“Damn,” he swore again.
He rubbed his temples while trying to figure out his next attempt at writing a perfect love poem. The problem with the last one was that he sounded like a creepy white guy with a fetish and that was the last thing Marisol needed to hear.
Ugh, how was he going to do this?
With Marisol forgiving him and letting him into her good graces again, he decided that his next goal was taking her to prom, and he was going to go all out in proposing to her. It didn’t have to lead to a relationship but he wanted to give more evidence that she meant a lot to him. The first phase was giving her a poem since she loved poetry. However, all of his drafts were complete ass so far and not taking his meds so he could “boost” his creativity was out of the question. He was going to have to solely rely on his “brilliant” mind. It wasn’t so brilliant right now.
Eli looked at a picture of Marisol on his phone for inspiration. Originally it was of her and Katie posing for the school newspaper after Katie won the election, but he cropped Katie out of the picture. He only wanted to look at Marisol.
He thought about the kiss on the cheek she gave him today. It was feathery, wet, and felt amazing on his skin. He still couldn’t believe it happened. He didn’t want to sound like a creep, but he didn’t wipe her lip gloss off his cheek yet. He treasured it too much. It led to some annoying questions from his parents when he got home, especially from his mother.
After another hour of trying to write a simple poem and failing, he gave up and decided to go to bed. He was tired as hell anyway and if he stayed up any longer, he might just start hallucinating.
When he closed his eyes, he could only think of Marisol.
It led to a very sensual dream.
“Picture this. A one-week trip to Wasaga Beach at my cousin’s summer beach house for my seventeenth birthday next month. And I’m allowed to bring my best friend and anyone else I would like,” Marisol pitched excitedly to Katie and Drew as they walked down the hallways together. Three days until the worst year of her life was over. After that it was amusement parks, carnivals, beaches, parties, barbecues, picnics, shopping sprees, and vacations. This was going to be the most amazing summer of her life. It was what she deserved.
“I don’t know if my mom would allow me to come. She’s been in mama bear mode since the gang incident. Granted she’s always been a mama bear but it’s even worse now,” Drew replied with an air of annoyance. He and Katie were holding hands. Marisol found them so cute to look at.
“Marisol’s family is pretty trustworthy. I’m sure if your mom talks to them, she could allow you to go,” Katie offered.
“I’m not getting my hopes up but I’ll see. A beach vacation sounds just like what I need after this semester,” he said before sighing. Marisol gave him a sympathetic look before responding.
“Absolutely. I was thinking this weekend, we could go shopping for new swimsuits. For me, I was thinking sexy but cl-”
“Hey guys,” Eli greeted as he approached them. They all stopped in their tracks.
“Emo Boy,” she greeted back civilly while Katie glared at him and Drew cheerfully waved. After yesterday, she decided to let Eli back in her life again. What he did to her was still awful but after he campaigned for Katie’s run for president and talked her out of sleeping with Owen, she figured she couldn’t hate him anymore. He was an idiot for playing her, but he also wasn’t mentally stable at the time and as soon as he finally got some therapy, he immediately went to work for her forgiveness. Unlike any other guy she has been involved with, she could tell he was genuine about it and not just because he wanted sex again.
Plus, she was unfortunately still in love with him.
“Can I speak to you, alone?” He requested, directing the last part at Katie with a tense stare.
Her best friend was about to protest but Marisol gave her a gentle squeeze on the shoulder. “Okay. I’ll catch up with you guys later,” she dismissed her friends as Drew pulled Katie off somewhere. Now it was just her and Eli.
“I would like to buy you that apology milkshake, Mare. Are you available after school today?” He asked her.
“I’m meeting with Katie at The Dot,” she answered, folding her arms.
“I can’t join you guys? It’s not a date, I promise,” he pleaded.
“I guess you can come. I can take you after school in my car,” she accepted which earned her a giddy smile from him.
“Looking forward to it, Mare,” he said to her as he walked off to his next class. There was almost a spring to his step.
Marisol couldn’t help but notice that Eli was looking more attractive than ever. His hair was no longer a hot mess, and it was neatly combed. His skin no longer had that deathly pale look to it, and it looked healthy as a result. His green eyes were vibrant, filled with life instead of the distant, cold look she had gotten used. Lastly his smiles were all big and cheerful.
She hated to admit it, but she liked what she saw.
“Your lips tasted like the sweetest sugar, and the flower between your thighs tasted like the most delicious candy with your nectar drizzling down my chin...wow,” Adam read his poem out loud during lunch.
Eli groaned in shame. “It’s cringy as fuck, isn’t it?” He asked, taking a depressed bite out of his ham and cheese sandwich. Once again, Adam’s mom fixed them sandwiches. She even threw in some cookies in there for the both of them. He didn’t know why Audra was going out of her way for him at first when he was only her son’s best friend. Adam then explained that she felt sorrow for him and wanted to give her support to a kid that quickly accepted her son for what he was. He didn’t know how to feel about that.
“Exactly how horny were you when you wrote this?” His friend asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Too much from what you’re telling me,” he answered. He probably shouldn’t have written this one right after he had an intense wet dream about Marisol last night. Or maybe it was a result of him thinking of their intense hookup that he now dubbed Car Gate. Either way, it was a bad time to write it.
“Well it’s not really bad, Eli. A lot of girls would probably eat this up because it’s straight out of a spicy romance novel. But since you’re trying to convince her to go to prom with you, you might want to write something a little more PG,” Adam advised him in amusement.
“I need to write something that isn’t shit,” Eli grumbled.
Drew walked by with Katie by his side. He stopped to look at their food and frowned. “Mom gave you guys cookies?” He asked in disbelief.
“Yeah. What’d she give you?” Adam answered.
“Peanut butter crackers. And they were so stale,” Drew complained with a shudder.
“Ha! This proves I’m the favorite,” Adam teased while Drew shook his head in annoyance.
“I can’t believe this! This is so unfair!” The older Torres brother whined to his girlfriend as they walked away. The two friends went back to their conversation.
“Are you sure you don’t want to wait tables with me at prom? I don’t want to go by myself,” Adam asked.
“No can do. I have a girl I’m trying to take to prom,” he turned down, somewhat sadly. If the circumstances were different, he would have looked forward to hanging out with his friend.
“Eh. I’ll ask Clare,” his friend replied with a shrug. “Now what else is a part of your epic promposal to Marisol?”
“Well….”
“Alright, we have two strawberry milkshakes and a chocolate milkshake,” their waiter, Peter, said cheerfully to them as he put their drinks on the table.
“Thanks,” Marisol replied cheerfully as she took her strawberry milkshake and started sipping immediately, enjoying the cold but sweet flavor. She didn't know whether she loved the strawberry, salted caramel, or Oreo cookie milkshake the best.
Katie and Eli gave Peter grateful nods before silently taking theirs and going right back to staring tensely at each other. The tension between them was so uncomfortable even their waiter picked up on it.
“Okay….enjoy,” Peter said awkwardly before walking away to take someone else’s order. Marisol sighed as she gave Katie and Eli disapproving looks.
“Can you guys stop acting like you want to kill each other? It’s killing the vibe,” she scolded them. Before Eli had gotten there, her and Katie were talking about Drew taking her to prom and the possibility of Katie losing her virginity to him that night. While Marisol was excited at the prospect of no longer being the “experienced” one in their friendship, Katie was definitely not ready to have sex so they had to come up with a way to stall Drew. She didn’t think they needed to resort to drastic measures as Drew was a nice guy and wouldn’t pressure her best friend into sex, but he still needed to know. Despite the subject matter, it was a light-hearted conversation and the atmosphere was nice.
Then Eli came in, and Katie immediately shifted into bitch mode as soon as he sat down at their table.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Katie replied while taking a sip of her drink. Eli rolled his eyes.
“Come on, the school year is practically over and we survived junior year. Katie, you’re president, I’m vice president, and Eli you’re the screenwriter of a critically acclaimed play. I think this is a time to celebrate, not to fight,” Marisol said while folding her arms. The other two people at the table were still not ready to do that. “Can you guys at least act like you want to move on? For me, please?”
“When Emma Frost here is ready to move on, I’ll move on,” Eli stated while giving Katie a pointed look.
“Fine,” her friend replied with gritted teeth.
“Good! Here’s to next year!” Marisol said cheerfully as she held up her milkshake, gesturing for them to all toast.
Katie and Eli reluctantly copied her as they clacked their milkshake glasses together.
Later that night at the mall, Eli was shopping around for a gift for Marisol. He was finally able to write a good poem that he was sure she would love, but he needed to go the extra mile.
He really wanted Fiona to come with him, but she was dealing with some drama regarding her ex-girlfriend. It was a shame because he really needed a girl’s opinion for this. And she was a such fashionista that she would have been perfect for helping him pick out a gift. Ugh.
He already bought flowers, which were a bouquet of daisies. They were Mare’s favorite flower along with sunflowers. He knew by how good they smelled that she would love them, but he needed to get her something else. Something that would definitely make her want to attend prom with him.
He thought about candy, as she had a sweet tooth. Chocolate was her favorite, but how long would they last in his locker until they melted in the June weather?
Eli watched all of the couples walking around the mall and sadly thought of how that could have been him and Mare if he didn’t fuck everything up.
“It could still be one day,” a tiny voice said at the back of his head. “How?” He wondered. He would be lucky if she accepted his proposal. Fat chance a real relationship between them would happen at this point.
He walked by multiple shops as he started to stress over this whole thing. If Marisol rejected him, he was going to sit home alone that night. Which might not be a really bad thing but since he turned down Adam’s offer to help a server, he was going to look like a fool. ‘Fuck, this better go well for me,’ he thought to himself with a frown as he glanced inside every store he passed.
That’s when he saw them.
He paused when he stopped in front of the window of a very feminine shoe store. His mouth dropped a little and he had to blink several times before he could comprehend the sight that greeted him.
On the front display of the store was a pair of sparkly black heels.
They looked like the pair of heels that he dreamed of Marisol wearing for him nearly every night.
Eli ran inside of the store and picked up the shoes. Yup, they were the exact same shoes. Weird. He checked the price tag at the back of them. They were on sale for fifty dollars. The money he gained from his weekly allowance definitely could cover that. The issue was whether it was Marisol’s shoe size.
Before he knew it, he was pulling out his phone and texting her. He unblocked her number after the first day of therapy and to his surprise, she never blocked him back.
“What’s your shoe size?” He texted her and waited for her response. It came like ten seconds later.
“Seven and a half. Why?” She replied.
“Just asking,” he sent back as he looked at the back of them. They were seven and half. Perfect. Absolutely perfect.
The cashier was giving him an amused look as he excitedly paid for the shoes.
The next day
Marisol was walking towards her locker when she saw a peculiar sight at her locker.
A daisy was taped to her locker along with a piece of paper. She raised an eyebrow in confusion as she walked up to her locker. She pulled the objects off and read the poem.
Majestic is the way you carry yourself
Affectionate are your hugs and kiss
Radiant is your smile and beauty that glows like the sun Inspiring are you so much that you make me believe in anything
Stronger are you than anyone I know
Overflowing are you with love and joy
Luxurious is your style that makes you shine brighter than the rest
It was the corniest shit she ever read….but also the sweetest. Marisol felt her cheeks grow hot as she clutched the poem to her chest. So she had a secret admirer. She wondered who it was.
She sniffed the daisy in her hand, and sighed at the wonderful scent. This person had gotten her a real flower too. Not a fake flower, an actual fresh flower. They really wanted to impress her. She couldn’t wait to tell Katie but first, they must figure out this whole thing with Drew.
She couldn’t blame Katie for being scared of sex. When she lost her virginity to Owen for the first time, she was terrified. It was also one of the most painful experiences in her life due to him being rough the whole time, and she wouldn’t stop crying. The next few times were painful as well and she would secretly hate it when he asked for sex but she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. She wished that she did in hindsight.
She doubted Drew would be as careless with Katie. He seemed like a very caring and open-minded boyfriend. She was impressed with how eager he was to get tested for STIs as not a lot of boys in their grade would be as eager. However if Katie wasn’t ready, then they couldn’t have sex. It was that simple.
Tonight, Katie was supposed to go over to Drew's house and watch a movie with him while his parents were out. Her best friend was scared that he wanted to make a move for sex right and there. So she was going to crash it. Not by herself though.
Marisol pulled out her phone and dialed Eli’s number.
Sitting on a couch and watching a movie with Marisol, Katie, and Drew while at the Torres house wasn’t what Eli planned for his Friday night. He came anyway because Marisol told him to, and he needed an opportunity to propose to her afterwards. The anxiety of whether or not she would accept his offer was eating him up inside. He was pleased when he saw her excited face when she discovered the bouquet of daisies sitting on the roof of her car. She wouldn’t stop fawning over them while she was driving. Maybe that was a good sign, but did it mean she would go to Prom with him though? She didn’t know it was from him after all.
The atmosphere was awkward as hell as they watched some old, foreign movie. Drew obviously did not want him or Marisol here and he couldn’t blame him because it looked like Marisol crashed his date night with Katie with him as an accomplice. He would be annoyed too. The lie Marisol said, that she was locked out of her house and needed something to do before her parents got home, wasn’t even a good one. He needed to teach her how to come up with better schemes and lies.
The girls were paying attention and making comments as if there was nothing wrong. Marisol was even asking him questions about what he thought of the movie.
“I think the open door symbolizes him finally deciding to open up to other people but it’s a bittersweet feeling because the love of his life, and the only person he confided in, is dying,” he answered to Marisol when she asked why doors kept popping up in the movie.
“Wow,” she replied in amazement. “You really know this stuff, Eli.”
He beamed in pride at the comment. He liked it when people complimented his analyses.
“This movie is so deep, you know, it just...it really makes you think,” Marisol replied as she munched on popcorn. Katie opened her mouth to speak.
“I really think-”
“That’s it!” Drew sharply interrupted as he got off the couch and cut the movie off in frustration.
“What are you doing?” Marisol asked in confusion.
“The movie is over,” he answered.
“That’s the best part!”
“Marisol, Eli, would you guys mind giving Katie and I some time alone?” Drew requested from them, and his tone was clear. He wanted them to get the fuck out immediately and not come back.
“Someone should be home. Come on, Eli,” Marisol said as they stood up together.
“Thanks for the popcorn,” Eli added as he gave Drew a wave of goodbye. Drew waved back but he wasn’t smiling.
Eli was bummed that he couldn’t at least see Adam before it was time for them to go.
But on the other hand, he now had alone time with Marisol.
“I can’t believe you let me beat your ass at those basketball hoops again, Eli. I have to teach you some moves,” Marisol teased as her and Eli walked through the mall. He was carrying a bag of something she didn’t know. As soon as they got out the car, he pulled it out and said he was returning some outfit he didn’t like. He carried it the whole time they were at the arcade and didn’t specify which store he was going to. A little odd in her opinion.
“I’m not a sports person,” Eli grumbled.
“What about the racing games?”
“They’re rigged.”
“.....And the skew ball machines?”
“Also rigged.”
Marisol rolled her eyes at his excuses. He was such a sore loser. A cute one, but a sore loser nonetheless. For a guy who prided himself on being this super nerd, it was funny how she beat him at every arcade game they played together. “There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me, Emo Boy,” were words that she had said to him earlier in the semester and it continued to ring true with every moment they spent together. She knew that she had him shook with that. It amused her.
When she walked by Mystique, her favorite shoe store, she gasped when she saw a pair of gorgeous black heels on display. She stopped in her tracks to admire them.
“O-M-G! Those shoes are so pretty!” She squealed. They were sparkly, with a bow attached at the top of each shoe and heels that were about three inches in height. Looking at them was like looking at stars on a beautiful night. She was fantasizing about all the outfits she could wear with them and how sexy she would look in each one. “I wish I could buy them right now but I don’t have much money on me,” she lamented with a frown. They would probably be gone by tomorrow.
“What if I told you, you don’t have to pay for them?” Eli asked her, and there was a certain look in his eyes that had her suspicious.
“What do you mean?” She asked back with a raised eyebrow. She crossed her arms in anticipation of his answer.
Her eyes widened like saucers when he suddenly got on one knee in front of her and opened his bag up. He pulled out a shoe box….that was from Mystique.
When he opened up the shoe box and revealed the exact same pair of heels she was gushing over, Marisol felt her mouth go dry with shock and her mind started to scramble.
“These shoes are for you to wear to prom tomorrow,” he stated with his eyes being filled with passion for her. “I saw these yesterday and I know that you would look amazing as you always do in them. They’re perfect for such a gorgeous girl like you.”
“I…I..,” she stuttered, not knowing what to say as people crowded around them in interest. She was gobsmacked.
“Majestic is the way you carry yourself, affectionate are your hugs and kisses, radiant is your smile and beauty that glows like the sun, inspiring are you so much that you make me believe in anything, stronger are you than anyone I know, overflowing are you with love and joy, luxurious is your style that makes you stand out from the rest,” he told her, and she realized quickly he was reciting the poem she found at her locker today.
The poem was from Eli, and the flowers were definitely from him too.
He was her secret admirer this whole time.
“Marisol Lewis...will you do me the honor of taking you to prom?” He proposed to her with a twinkle in his eye.
Her heart started racing and butterflies were fluttering around in her stomach. No one had ever done all of this before. When Owen bought those red heels, it was only with the expectation of her wearing them during sex, and she really didn’t like them in all honesty. But this? Eli bought her flowers, wrote a poem for her, and bought her a dream pair of shoes. This was the most romantic thing a guy has ever done for her.
Despite how corny this was, and it was corny, she felt tears well up in her eyes.
“Yes,” she accepted as she resisted the urge to really start crying, “Yes!”
The small crowd around them started to cheer as Eli sighed in relief. He stood up and gave her a warm smile. “Thank you,” he replied.
She nearly knocked him to the ground when she jumped to hug him.