Page 49 of Psync
External frustration spiked again.
No, no, no, not going there. Not right now.
Eli threw on the rest of his clothes and raced out of his room, once again taking the stairs instead of the elevator.
He arrived in class with an extra-large coffee and the wrong book.
Why was he so pissed off right now? He was more of an anxiety kind of guy, nota tear things apart with his bare hands until he calmeddown sort of person.
Though angry didn’t quite cover it, did it? Instead of spikes of annoyance, it was a gestalt of worry, frustration and something else—all simmering together, building in intensity until . . . Until what?
Eli’s pen tore a hole in the paper he was scribbling pathetic, incoherent notes onto. He might have had too much caffeine this morning.
When his class finished, he shoved everything back into his bag haphazardly, not caring whether everything ended up in a crushed, disorganized mess or not.
At this rate he wasn’t going to make it through the day. Shit. In his haste to get out of his room this morning, he’d completely forgotten to take his meds. At least he’d taken them yesterday . . . right?
He took a detour to the bathroom and washed his face with cold water.
History of Japanese Religion was next. He loved that class because he got to see Alice and hear all of her hilarious, whispered commentary on which religious leaders were queer according to some surprisingly in-depth research she like to do in her free time.
He took a deep breath and made his way to class.
“Hey, man! I see you survived this morning’s workout.” Ash waved at him from the steps of the building Eli’s next class was in.
He’d forgotten. Ash was in the same class with him and Alice.
“Let me know if you need me to carry you.” Ash waggled his eyebrows at Eli and then let out a low whistle. “Shit, look at that girl, she’s got legs for days.”
Automatically, he turned to see who Ash was talking about and saw a coed in a miniskirt hanging on the arm of a familiar figure. Eli could pick out that short ponytail in a crowd and the profile was unmistakable.
The person leaning down and talking to the beautiful girl was Haruka. Over one shoulder, he sported a light pink backpack, embroidered with a graceful pattern of purple flowers.
The girl lifted her face to Haruka’s, leaving bare inches between them. Haruka wasn’t pulling away.
Distantly, Eli was aware of a ringing in his ears.
Haruka jerked around and locked eyes with Eli, his gaze burning into him. At first, Eli thought he was going to charge right up to him, but the girl clinging to Haruka’s arm leaned on him and stared up at him with doe eyes. Haruka hesitated but eventually turned back around and led her away.
Much like he had with Eli when he’d kidnapped him on Friday.
Only the girl with him seemed to have zero problems with touching Haruka.
All of the foreign emotions that had been swirling around inside Eli spiked, and he grabbed his stomach.
“Hey, are you okay?” Ash took Eli’s elbow to support him. The wrongness that spread from his touch was muted compared to the maelstrom going on inside Eli. “I get it though, that guy makes me sick too. That’s the third girl I’ve seen him with this week. Nice touch with the backpack, right? Must make them feel safe and protected or something.”
“Or something.” Eli managed. “Hey, go on without me. I forgot something.” He pulled his arm free and started to walk away.
“You want me to come with? You look like crap.”
Eli waved a hand absently. He needed to be alone. Now.
He picked up his phone and called Nate. “Can I crash at your place?”
???
He met Nate for a quick key exchange, grateful when he asked no questions. The first thing he did in Nate’s room was go into his contacts list. He found HotJerk and changed the name. His phone rang in his hand right when he finished. His screen read, StupidHotJerk.
