That Thing Between Eli and Gwen (21 page)

“White and red poppies?”

He nodded.

“I’m guessing you didn’t just walk past him?”

“Words were spoken.”

“Just words?”

Again, he nodded. “Though Taigi did piss on his shoes.”

“Oh, I love my dog.” I laughed, brushing my hair back. “He didn’t say anything to upset you, did he?”

“Not in the least.”

“Good, then if you aren’t worried about it, I’m not.” I stood, grabbing my tray. “I really should get back if I want to get to where I was hoping today. Dinner?”

“I’ll actually cook this time,” he replied, but before I could leave, he called out once more. “Guinevere?”

“Yes?”

“Three questions: do you like poppies?”

“Yes, they are my favorite flowers. Your second question?” I knew he was asking because of Sebastian.

“What’s your middle name? After all, thanks to my mom, you know mine.”

It seemed like a boring question, but I told him. “It’s Aurora. Guinevere Aurora Poe. And your last question?”

“Will you go on a date with me tonight, Guinevere Aurora Poe?”

“Yes.”

“Pick you up at the arts and crafts corner?” He smiled.

Rolling my eyes at him, I waved before heading out. I walked back down the grayish-blue hall while stretching my arms, preparing for the work ahead of me. Then she came out in front of me at the end of the hall. “Hannah.” I nodded, trying to walk around her.

She called out to me. “You should stop now.”

“What?” I turned to her.

She put her hands in her scrub pockets, walking forward. “Whatever is going on with you and Eli, you should stop before you fall in love with him and he actually hurts you. Eli doesn’t fall in love.”

“I’m sorry, what’s going on between me and Eli isn’t any of your business—”

“I cheated because he didn’t love me.” She cut me off.

I wanted to slap her across the face, but she just kept going.

“Eli is a planner. He sets goals and has this whole layout in his mind of the way his life should be. I wanted to get married at the end of the year, but Eli wanted to get married by his 31
^st
birthday. Why? Because his father did. He dated me because I checked all the boxes for what he wanted in a woman. There was no passion in anything we did; it was all just logical for him. I wanted passion. I wanted to be loved the way you see in movies. So I cheated. And—”

“How’s that passion working out for you?” I asked. “Maybe you forgot who you're talking to, but I really don’t give a shit, Hannah. If you don’t feel loved, you leave before you are in a white dress, walking toward someone. You want me to feel pity—”

“No. Like I said, I just wanted to let you know, because I hurt you already. You should be with someone who can love you, who’s not messing around—”

“Stop talking to me!” I snapped at her. “I don’t want to hear your words of
“wisdom”;
you aren’t my sister, or my friend. You are the last person in the
world
I would ever take relationship advice from. Mind. Your. Own. Goddamn. Business. Hannah!” Walking away from her, I went straight to my corner, closing the curtain behind me. Why couldn’t they just leave us alone? Why must we be as miserable as them?

Chapter Seventeen

The Official First Date

Eli

“Have you thought about where you’re going to take her?” Ian asked me as I changed. “She seems like a down-to-earth type of girl to me. I’m not sure taking her to the opera will be her type of thing.”

“Ian—”

“Plus, she’s been working all day, I’m sure she would feel out of place… Oh no, you aren’t going to do an Edward Lewis and take her shopping and let her buy anything her heart desires, right? It might seem nice in movies, but she might take it to mean you dislike her current style.”

Closing my locker, I looked at him. “Who the hell is Edward Lewis?”

“
Pretty Woman?
How have you never seen that movie?”

“How often do you remember the characters' names when you watch a movie?” I asked, placing my watch on my wrist.

“That’s beside the point right now. Have you thought this out? First dates are important.” He was starting to get on my nerves.

“Not really. Other than asking her out, I haven’t thought it through too much. I don’t overthink with Guinevere, I just do, and it feels amazing. So go get yourself a date, my friend, and leave me alone,” I told him, grabbing my bag.

He grinned like he was high, and with his silverish-pink hair, it wasn’t a hard sell. “You called me your friend. It’s like she’s melting your frozen heart—”

“Goodbye Ian,” I said, already out the door. I wasn’t sure why he was so happy I was going on a date. He hadn’t been that excited when I’d gone out with Hannah. I had taken her to the opera and she had loved it, but Guinevere wasn’t Hannah, and I didn’t want her to be.

“Eli.”

This is what I get for even thinking about her.
Sighing, I turned around to see her standing there, still in oversized scrubs and a sweater. “Yes?”

“Can we talk?”

“Sorry, I have a date,” I said, turning toward the exit.

“Seriously Eli, four and a half months ago, you were about to make me your wife. Please, give me five minutes!”

I stopped, clenching my coat. Facing her again, I walked right up to her. “But the thing is, you aren’t my wife. You aren’t my anything. I gave you two years, Hannah. I gave you a ring. I don’t want to waste giving you any more of my time.”

“If you had given me your heart, you wouldn’t be able to go on a date. Not with some other woman, not yet.”

Wow.
I huffed to myself. She really was that selfish. “So what you're telling me is I should be suffering? I should be a wreck, right? Because then at least you could see how badly I was in love with you?”

She crossed her arms. “I didn't mean it like that—”

“Yes, you did, and I’ll give you an answer. The first month, I was like that. And then I met her, and without realizing it, I stopped thinking about you. Even when we were actually talking about you and him, you were both just blurs, and I could only see her. Maybe because she knew exactly how embarrassed and stupid I felt. The reason I’m not miserable like you were hoping is because when I…” I smiled, not really able to stop myself. “Because when I think about her, I can’t stop smiling, and it’s about the dumbest things, like why the hell does she not buy furniture, or how can she think vanilla ice cream is the best flavor in the world? So. Please stop asking me for a moment of my time, Hannah. I don’t want to go back to you. Have a good night.”

I didn’t care if she called after me a million times. I wasn’t going to turn back. Heading toward the front of the building, I felt lighter. Glancing up at the giant curtain, I shook my head. God only knew what she was painting in there. “Guinevere?” I was tempted to knock on it.

She popped her head out. “You're here already!”

“Do you want me to go and come back?”

“No, give me ten—no, five minutes. Sorry, I got carried away and lost track of time.” She went back in her corner. There was a small clink, and she let out a soft curse.

“You okay?”

“I’m great.”

She sounded like she was hopping.
This is what I am talking about.
I just never knew what she was going to say or how she was going to react. Sitting on the chairs, I waited.

Sure enough, when she came out five minutes later, she had changed into a long white dress, green jacket, and her military boots. “Is this okay for where we’re going?” She spun around for me.

 “Are you telling me you changed back there?” It was taking my mind a little while to catch up. Her bare legs were distracting me—that, and the knowledge that five minutes before she had been naked.

“Yeah, no one could see, right? My plan was to go home and then change, but I forgot while I was working. What?”

Standing up, I took her hand. “Nothing, you look beautiful.”

“Really?”

She laughed like she didn’t believe me. “I wouldn’t say so if you didn’t. Let’s go,” I said, walking out to where the car was parked, waiting in front of the hospital. My driver handed me the keys before heading back to the town car.

“This is yours?” she asked, running her hand on the car. “Tell me this is yours.”

“It is. It’s a—”

“Black 1965 Aston Martin DB5 Vantage Convertible. It’s James Bond's car,” she finished for me in total awe.

“You know cars?” I asked, opening the door for her and heading around to the front seat.

“I told you before, I grew up with boys. And I know there are only twenty-one of these in the world.”

“Well, I’m one of the twenty-one,” I said, pulling out onto the street.

She bit her finger, looking at me with a large smile on her face.

“What?”

“Don’t mind me, I’m just watching your hotness level rise.”

I snickered. “What level was I on before?”

“Does it matter now that you’ve broken the scale?”

It was my turn to bite my own finger, looking over at her. The way she rested back in the seat, her hand out, flowing with the wind, the way her dress hiked up even farther… “Guinevere, I swore to myself I am never having sex in this car, and you are testing me.”

“All right, not in it, but what about on it?”

Dear Jesus, give me strength,
I prayed, focusing on the road in front of me. I could hear her giggling at the effect she had on me.

Her hand grazed mine, and I took a deep breath. “Guinevere—”

“I’ll be good, I swear.”

But I didn’t want her to be good. I enjoyed her exactly the way she was: happy, fun, free, sexy, and beautiful.

“The aquarium?” she said when we pulled up in front. “Isn’t it closed?”

“Not if you ask it not to be,” I said as we took off our seatbelts and I stepped out. After walking around the car, I opened her door for her.

“You rented out the aquarium?”

“Really isn’t that hard.” I took her hand, placing it over mine.

She looked back to my car, though. “Are you sure it will be all right? Can you leave it here?”

“It will be fine, believe me. Mr. Raymond will look after it.” I nodded to the man who came out of the town car.

“Rich people,” she whispered under her breath.

“Said the rich woman.”

She gave me a look, then froze when I snapped on all the lights in the tanks all around us. The place glowed soft blue, and she gravitated to the tanks. Smiling, she followed the fish with her hands.

“Like it?”

She looked to me and grinned. “It’s beautiful. I love it.”

“I remembered when we watched Animal Planet, your eyes were glued to the sea turtles.” I took her hand, leading her toward the tunnel.

She lifted her head, her eyes following the sharks swimming over us. “Hello.” She laughed, turning so her back pressed against my chest as she watched the stingray hover right above her.

Wrapping my arms around her waist, I kissed the side of her head. “You look beautiful when you smile like that,” I whispered.

She held on to my arms. “Thank you, and thank you for this. It’s really romantic.”

“Like something out of your books?” I teased.

She turned back to me, her eyes serious. “Exactly like that. I’m just waiting for you to kiss me.”

“Happily,” I said before my lips brushed against hers. Her hands went around my mouth and I held her waist, pulling her as close to me as possible. I loved how she fit against me, how she moaned against me even then. Breaking away, I rested my head on hers.

“How long can we stay here?” she asked me.

“Until you get hungry. Then I plan on making you a late dinner.”

“You don’t have to do all of this.”

“I want to.” I kissed the top of her head. “Let’s go, we have to see the sea turtles at least once.”

“I’ll race you,” she said, breaking free of my hand and running.

“You want to race?” I chased after her, catching her with absolute ease, lifting her up and over my shoulder.

“Damn it, I forgot you run.”

She laughed hysterically as I held her. Spinning us both around, I laughed too.

Guinevere

It was around eleven when we got back to his place. He said he was off the next day, so he didn’t care if we stayed up until dawn. His driver, I had found out, wasn’t just his driver; he was responsible for all of Eli’s cars because Eli was a collector. I thought he had showed me the coolest one, but he said he would save those for another date—I was just glad there would be other dates.

When I told Stevie I was dating Eli, she was both happy and worried about me. She was worried I was moving too fast and would get hurt, but at the same time happy I was moving forward at all. I couldn’t explain what it was about him, me, us together—we just worked, and yet it felt like everything about us was totally opposite.

He stood in front of me in simple jeans and a nice button-down shirt, a towel over his shoulder and an apron around his waist as he fried some of the tomatoes. He had a whole master chef thing going and he looked so sexy that way.

Taigi stayed by my feet, just resting, already fed and now fighting sleep.

“If you are trying to impress me, it’s working,” I said, reaching for one of the fresh sliced tomatoes he had cut.

“Did you think this kitchen was just for show?” he asked, readjusting the heat of the oven and sliding the chicken back inside.

“Honestly, yes. When do you have time to cook, anyway?”

“I have days off. Why don’t you cook?” He continued slicing the ham as thin as possible.

“I cook decently, especially if I have a set recipe to follow, but I’m not as talented as you, it seems.” I tried to grab another tomato but he beat me to it, eating it himself.

“I could teach you…for a small fee.”

“A small fee?” I opened my mouth as he fed me a small bite of the bread he had hand-seasoned. Safe to say, I moaned, it was that good.

“Yes, you have to promise to make those sounds afterward…all night.” He kissed me, quickly licking his lips.