Through The Night | Maddie & Eli
Worry, frustration, sympathy, pain, sadness. Those were the feelings that washed over Eli when he first heard there was something wrong between Maddie's parents. She told him how they'd been fighting so loud that she could hear it even when she was in another room, and just the thought of Eli being in her place with his own parents screaming at each other in what must feel like hours at a time made him flinch and even ache a little inside. His family was one of the things that mattered the most to Eli, so the thought of it being torn apart was almost unbearable for him to think about, which only made him feel even worse about what Maddie must be feeling being in the middle of all of this. Her being an only child only made the matters worse; she had no one to comfort her and no one standing in the same situation as her that she could lean up against for support, so Eli decided to try and be that person for her. He wouldn't let her go through this alone. A shoulder to cry on, any advice he could possibly give to help it feel less painful, a distraction from thinking about her parents' clearly unstable relationship - whatever she could use him for, he'd be there.
His instincts took over and immediately after hearing how bad Madeline's home life seemed to be at the moment Eli suggested that she stayed over at his place instead of having to lie awake all night listening to her parents' scream fest. The time was already half past midnight but Eli could honestly care less about that. All he cared about was Madeline and getting her away from the chaos that was happening in her house. In the time between him inviting her to stay over at his place to the moment she rang the doorbell, Eli quickly cleaned up the worst messes he had made in his room, like the coffee cup standing on his bedside table and the pile of clothes lying on the floor he had worn to work that day which had now been replaced with his comfortable pajama pants and an old t-shirt an hour or two earlier. The mess wasn't too big, though; when the bell finally rang, Eli had even had some extra time that he spent watching some talkshow that was on the TV for a few minutes.
Skipping down the stairs while he headed for the hallway to go open the door for Maddie, Eli had to stop himself from humming when the seriousness of the matter hit him again, and the slight smile he had on his lips from the thought of seeing her soon was long gone when he reached for the doorknob, opening the door to reveal Maddie standing on the other side with her bag in hand. "Hey," he said in a tone that was hopefully neutral enough to not sound too sad but not happy either. Eli let her step inside the house, pulling her in for a hug when she was close enough. "You okay?" he asked, his voice muffled against her hair. It was a stupid question since he already knew the answer would be anything but a yes but in some way a necessary one. It let her know that he cared and would do what he could to pick her up before she hit rock bottom if that was where she was heading.
