Chapter 33- Overcome

It was completely trashed as I walked in. Beer bottles, wrappers from various things, dishes everywhere, and the couch was tipped over. I sighed, this is what happens when I'm gone for more than a day. I walked through the mess of the living room, through the dining room and the kitchen. It was all completely messy which made me want to scream, but I was to tired to. I glided up to Eli's door and knocked on it slightly.
'Eli?' I asked quietly as I opened the door slowly.
'What do you want?' his voice was muffled. I found that he was laying face down on his bed. After I closed the door, I slowly walked over to his bed. 'Go away,' he said softly.
'Eli, can I talk to you?' I tried hiding my sniffles and tears but as usual he saw right through me.
His head shot up and he took my presence in. 'Yeah, sure. I guess.' He scooted over so I could sit down. 'What's wrong now?'
I hadn't had time to cover-up my bruises or scars since I was let out of the Centers so it probably made me look worse than I really was. 'I'm so sorry.' I managed after a few moments. As soon as those words escaped, so did everything else on my mind. 'I never meant to hurt you or anyone else. I didn't want any of this to happened but now that it did I regret it and I'm so sorry that I led you on. Eli, I just want us to be normal. I don't want you to love me and I don't want you to hit me or anyone. Now that Raven knows, she hates me. I'm gonna try to make things right with her but odds are.. things may never be the same between us again.'
'Alice..'
'Please let me finish,' I whimpered, tears pouring out. 'And the thing with Nick. We both agreed that it'd be better if we just stayed friends and nothing more. I really like him, but.. if me being with Nick hurts other people around me then I can't be with him. I only just wanna help Kitty, Nadia, James, and Nick get back on their feet. Then they're outta here and you don't have to ever deal with them again if you don't want to. I'm going to try and fix things but it'll just take some tim-'
'Alice,' Eli reached forward and I flinched. He hesitated but laid his hand on my wet cheek. 'It's okay,' he looked into my eyes, trying to find out what to say to all of this. He leaned in to hug me and I wrapped my arms around his waist and cried into his shoulder.
'I just wish things were like when dad was here. Normal, that's all I want.'
We stayed like that, him rubbing my back, shushing me, until I had stopped crying. After he let go I dried my tears and listened as he spoke softly. 'You don't have to do this by yourself, Alice. I can help you fix things if you'd just give me a chance.'
'Will you stop loving me?' I asked.
He looked down, 'I.. I don't know.. I can try but things like that don't just go away..'
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence and I tried changing the subject. 'Can Kitty, James, and Nadia come back? I promise they won't be trouble. Just until they get jobs and enough money to move out, I swear.' I looked at him hopefully.
He saw me and squeezed his eyes shut, 'Oh, fine. God, I hate when you give me that look.'
I smiled wide and jumped off the bed. 'Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!' I pronounced happily and hugged him.
He grinned, 'Whatever, go get your psycho's.'
I opened his door and ran out of the room, only to trip over the potatoes that were still all over the ground. I rolled my eyes and stood up, taking in the mess once more. I couldn't stand a dirty house while Eli could care less. Ugh, men.
Rolling up my long sleeves, I decided to clean the house up before I went to get my friends. Where ever they were anyways. I went to the bathroom to retrieve my stereo which I plugged into the wall in the living room and turned it to one of my favorite radio stations. After turning it all the way up, I started picking up all the trash.
At least things could get better now that I was out of the crazy house. I made a checklist of what to do in my head as I hummed to Crazy B***h by Buckcherry. #1: Clean house. #2: Find friends. #3: Apologize to Raven and hope to god she forgives me. #4: Call boss. #5: Talk to Austin to see what's going on.
That's all I could think of at the moment and that's all I cared to think about. I had to focus on things that would make my life better. After I finished cleaning, two hours later it was already getting dark. I checked on Eli and Nick and turns out they were both asleep. Nick was in my room and Eli was in his. As long as they were as far apart as humanly possible, I was able to leave without worry. Just as I grabbed the keys from the wall, someone knocked on the door. I hesitated before answering the door.
To my surprise it was Kitty, Nadia, and James. They all smiled wide and tackled me in hugs. I laughed and hugged each of them back. Nadia began to explain, 'After Eli kicked us out we walked to the hospital to see if you were okay. When they said you were already signed out we walked back here.'
'You guys walked to and from the hospital? That's like ten miles each way!'
'Yeah, I know,' James sighed. 'We're kinda tired, mind if we chill?'
'Why are you asking? This is y'alls home too,' I moved aside for them to come in and shut the door.
'But your brother-' Kitty started.
'Yeah, I talked to him. He said it was okay if y'all stayed here until you get on your feet as long as you stay away from him.'
'Yes!' they all said simultaneously.