Slice (The Elledge Family #1) (5 page)

“Yeah, I just moved down here like a week ago. My parents gave me money to buy some things for the house until they can come back out here.”

“Where are you from again Cypress?”

I pulled a tall glass from the cabinet and added a small amount of water to it. “I am from Nashville.” I paused.

“What brought you here? That’s like 1000 miles away.”

“Uhm just everything, I would rather be away from home.” The truth was the past. But he didn’t have to know everything. I placed the daises in the cup. “They have a temporary home.”

“Well, it’s a nice place you have here. Have you considered finding some furniture maybe?” The humor in his voice made me laugh.

“I have been so busy with my classes and I need to find a job.  I haven’t really put forth effort and I can’t stay here without one.”
      
“You could work at The Publisher on campus. I have some pull there. You just have to ask for clearance from the professor and I’ll get you on.”

“Okay, that’s a good idea.” The Publisher was something that I had not thought about since it was a campus job I just guessed it paid shit. And I needed some real money coming in. My rent was 500 and the utility bill was yet to be known. I was barely here so hopefully it would not be too much. “What does the Publisher pay?”

“It would twenty-five hours a week for fourteen an hour. It’s not full time, they want you to be able to go to school and maintain a good grade point average.”

“Sounds like a winner, I need to do both.”

“Well, check into it. Put me down as your referral and I will work my magic.”

Swoon, his magic was easily worked. I was already under his spell and the date had not yet begun. “Will do.” I smiled at him and grabbed my light jacket from the bar in the kitchen.

“We should go, are you ready?”

Barely, it was hard to get my eyes unhinged from his lips. “More than.”

The drive over was filled with small talk. He talked a ton about writing and how it made him a calmer person. I talked about how the pen had saved me from insanity as a child. He chuckled, but it was the truth, writing had saved me from being with my mom even when I was right in front of her. It took me places. The Summit was something different. It was dimly lit and there were cars overflowing in the Parking Lot. Lucas whipped his jeep into the vacant space that said owner.

“My brother and I started doing a Summit gathering once a week just over three years ago. People came from every school after three weeks it was packed in the school lawn, it was on a hill... The school said that we could not have them there anymore. We looked into finding a place and we stumbled upon this old building.” He pointed to the three story building. The dark brick and red lighting around it made it seem eerie but I wanted to know more.

“What do you do here?”

“We dance; we sing… we eat. I have one of the best chefs in the world working for me here. We live. We are at the peak of life for us… The Summit…”

This guy was deep and he was just talking about a damn night club. I reminded myself to blink and smiled at him. “Well, I am thrilled. Did I dress okay?”

Lucas looked me up and down, then smirked. “I think you are dressed perfectly.”

The crowd of people swayed to an upbeat song with too much bass and not enough words. I hadn’t listened to the radio in so long I had no idea what or who it was and had no intention to care. But the up-tempo beat was catchy and he pulled me towards him with one swift movement. We were chest to chest and I felt as if I couldn’t breathe. The closer I got to him the more I could smell the musk of his cologne, a deep amber with sandalwood undertones. We danced around the room our hips moved together as if we were made for one another and the final hitch of hope flared when we crossed fingers and it was magic. He was magic.

“Water, would you like some?” He whispered in my ear.

He had been talking to me apparently and I didn’t hear a word while stuck in his trance. “Actually, what else do they have?”

“We have alcohol too…” he smiled. “What do you want?”

“Do you have something with Melon?”

“Melon Blitz, I think you’ll like it. Entertain yourself for a while and I will be back in a few.”

When he left I noticed there were eyes on me everywhere. I didn’t know why and honestly would rather not know why. I looked for an empty table. Lucas was saying something to the bartender. The blond in the front of the crowd was making her way over to me and there was nowhere for me to run, so I braced myself. She wore a dress that looked like she was poured into and some heels that put her taller than everyone she passed.

“Are you here with Lucas?” she growled.

“Yes, hi, I’m Cypress.” I held my hand out, but she didn’t shake it. She just stared at me. I put my hand back to my side awkwardly and stared back at her. “Did you want something?”

“Did I want something? I would just like to know how you,” She paused and looked me up and down as if I was not good enough, “landed Lucas?”

The smart ass in her voice had lit a fire in me that I had not felt in a while, jealously. I exhaled and remembered my manners.  I had no idea what the hell her problem was but I was about to blow. “Excuse me,” I turned my head to her as if I had not heard her properly. I stood from my seat gracefully and smiled.  Handle it like a woman Cypress. I stepped to the side of her and she moved in front of me blocking my way. She wouldn’t move.

“Pardon me, but is there an issue?” The British accent rang from behind me. He answered prayers too.

I smiled. “Hey, I was just about to look for you.” I moved from in front of her and over to him.  “I was wondering where you went.”

“Well, I have a loft upstairs that I wanted to show you, it has an amazing view and I have the Melon Blitz that was requested.”

“Perfect,” I took his hand.

“Dear Persephone, is there something that I could help you with?”

“Fuck you Lucas,” She stomped away like five-year-old who was told no and I felt a small piece of victory ignite in my chest.

He led the way to an older elevator that surprisingly had a key pad in it. He entered his code and we began to go up. “I apologize for her behavior. Persephone has been trying to “land” me ever since freshman year and I just prefer to date girls that the whole football team hasn’t had.”

I chuckled at the joke and looked around the walls of the elevator. The paintings were something I had never seen before. “Who painted these walls?”

“Mark… he owns the second floor and I own the third. We spent everything we had and built this place so we could have our own place. The frat house is only comfortable sometimes. I usually stay here.”

The doors of the elevator opened and his home was something I had never seen before in my life. The windows went from the mahogany hardwood floors to the wood framed ceilings. The small lights that hung from the beams of the ceiling accented everything lightly. It was so dimly light just like the nightclub below. His furniture was dark red and black and there were fish inside of the walls. “Wow,” I said.

“I know; I went overboard, but I had the means to so I did. One can only live as vicariously as he or she can afford to. In this moment … I had no limit.” He laughed. “I had them make the drinks and I took them up loft. I am going to run upstairs to my room and take this bloody shirt off. You can lose your heels if you would like.”

His room had no walls the staircase floated above the loft to a small area I am sure he considered his bedroom. I could see him toss the shirt to the ground and slip his white t over his head, then drop his pants for some basketball shorts. I grabbed my Melon Blitz out of the fridge and his cold beer. I sipped the Melon blitz and all of the flavors rushed to my mouth and I knew immediately why it was called blitz. I was there in a heaven of coconut rum and melon for five brief seconds. I closed my eyes, savoring the taste and nodded my head, “Damn.” I whispered.

“Exactly why it’s on the menu.” He watched me and opened his beer with one twist of his wrist. “How do you think your first week on campus went?”

“It went okay,” I laughed. I’d gotten lost three times and had a hard time with remembering what car I drove. “I have a shit ton of work to do and not enough time to do it. Not to mention my apartment is basically a set of walls and a mattress with no cable.”

“I can help with that what do you need to do for the apartment?”

“I guess the first thing to do would be to go thrifting for furniture and maybe try to find something spruce it up. Then there is the short story that’s due. And I have no ending at all in mind. Then my mother wants me to go home for a weekend and I have to figure out which one so she can leave me alone…” I continued the list and I watched him watch me with amusement and pure interest. “I am rambling. I apologize.”

“Please continue, I love to hear you actually speak words. I’m so used to your suppressed giggle…”

“You think I’m quiet?”

“You think I’m funny?” He questioned. Lucas flashed his smile once more and then shrugged his shoulders. “I think I make you nervous and by no means have I intended to.”

“I’m nervous around you.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.” Because. He looked like he was chiseled by the Gods and for some strange reason he wanted me. He liked me. His gaze was intense so I broke eye contact and allowed my eyes to wander to the bookshelves and the first one I notice has his name in bold down the spine. It had to be The Skies Cry. “Is that the original copy?”

“It is the first copy of the book. I grabbed it fresh off the printers, I signed it and placed it on my own shelf.”

“I know you don't want to hear from a fan, but this book brought life to a hopelessly dead summer.” The nights that I clutched that book were countless. He wrote with so much emotion that I reeled from the thought.

“Thank you,” He handed me the book. “I’m always pleased to hear I have helped someone better their life.”

I flipped it open and looked at the words. His mother had signed the back of the book:

I love you for everything that you are and everything that you will become. Continue with your accomplishments and even when I’m not here, I want you to know that I love you so much and you are going to do wonderful things that this world has not even imagined yet.
                              
-Luna Elledge.

“Mum was so proud of me and for that I knew I was really talented. I try not to sound conceited. She was a writer herself. Her publishing company made my book a success.”

“You love your mom so much. I admire that about you. When are you going to bring out a second one?”

“Hopefully not anytime soon, I really want to focus on finishing up these classes and defining who I am in society…”

“So who do you want to become?”

“No, Cypress... you go first? What do you aspire to be?”

“Successful,” I blurted out. I bit my lip for a moment and then started back to talk. “You see a shit ton of people with aspirations, but when they get there it’s not what they expected. I just want to be successful at my aspirations. I want to be a journalist for a big paper. I want to touch hearts and souls.”

“A successful journalist for a major paper,” He sipped his beer resting lightly on the counter. “It can be done.”

“What about you?”

“Well, I am twenty-four years old. I wasted time in college and now there is this primal being inside that is craving a real woman. It’s craving stability and a family. I don’t want to be in my 30’s dating around because I still won’t settle down. I want something real and obtainable.”

“Those are your career aspirations?”

“I made a ton of money… the book is still bringing in money. It’s why I’m not putting forth much of an effort to be an adult. People work for money and I have all I need at the moment. I don’t have any career aspirations.”

“Wow, that’s awesome.”

“Yeah, but off to a lighter subject… I saw you looking highly uncomfortable to the music down there. What kind of music soothes your soul?”

Even his questions were beautiful, I smirked. “At the moment there is this singer named Joshua Radin that really makes me calm.”

“Do you have him on your phone?”

“Yes,” I pull out my iPhone and scroll through the music. The song that I’m currently addicted “The One You Knew.” I don’t know why, but his acoustic music is the best.”

His hand gestured to the music dock. “Please, blow me away with it. I would love to be soothed.”

I hooked the phone up to the dock and the music filled the entire apartment from the speakers I could not see and hadn’t bothered to look for… the light picking of the guitar lulled me to close my eyes and then I found myself swaying back and forth. I had a tendency to get lost in music and this song was perfect to get lost in.

I felt his hand slip around my waist and he pulled me closer. This was comfortable and it wasn’t forced. I knew what that felt like.  We swayed together my head rested lightly on his chest and I fell in the moment. I could hear him inhale and exhale. I
did know much of him, but I knew that there was something there already.