That Thing Between Eli & Gwen

by J. J. McAvoy

  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 kisse
d 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.

  “Are you trying to seduce me, Doctor?” I wiped the corner of my mouth.

  His eyebrow went up. “Is it working?”

  “I think I’ll just keep you guessing.” I grinned, reaching into my bag when my phone rang. The number looked familiar but there was no ID. “Guinevere Poe.”

  “Gwen, it’s me. Please don’t hang up,” he shouted into the phone.

  I did anyway and dropped it beside me, looking back to Eli, who just stared at me.

  “Is everything okay?”

  “Yep. It was no one important—” Before I could even finish, my phone rang again and vibrated against the counter.

  “Do they know they aren’t important?” he asked softly, placing the fresh cut lettuce in a bowl.

  “It’s Sebastian.”

  “I figured. Want me to answer?” he questioned.

  I couldn’t tell at all what he was thinking. The phone stopped, and I let out a sigh of relief, only to have it start ringing again.

  “Please make him stop. He called before, and I told him I didn’t want anything to do with him. For some reason, he doesn’t believe me.” I grabbed the phone and handed it to him.

  He smirked, wiping his hands before taking it. “How can I help you, Sebastian?” he questioned.

  I wished I could hear him on the other side.

  “I’m going to have to stop you right there, because we had this conversation already. What my girlfriend and I do is none of your business.”

  I walked around the counter to Eli. He looked at me oddly as I squeezed between him and the counter, kissing up his neck. He pressed up against me.

  “Eli…” I moaned, louder than necessary.

  Eli placed his thumb on my bottom lip, his eyes never off of them. “Sebastian, if you’ll excuse me, my girlfriend is begging for my attention.”

  “I’m begging for a lot more than that,” I said to him, and I was sure that was the last thing Sebastian heard before he hung up.

  I watched Eli’s hands go on either side of me after returning my phone to my bag. “You called me your girlfriend.”

  “Aren’t you?” he asked, gripping my breast. “You are only seeing me, aren’t you?”

  Licking my lip, I nodded.

  “Then by definition, you are mine. Just like I’m your boyfriend. Now I am tempted beyond measure to take you right here. But, I promised you dinner.” He moved his hands back down. “So you are safe until then.”

  “Are you sure?” I said, reaching for him.

  He bit his lip, glaring at me.

  “Because what your body and mouth are telling me are two different things right now.”

  “Thank God,” he muttered to himself when the timer went off.

  Laughing, I backed away, allowing him to finish with his cooking. “Saved for now, but the night is still young,” I said, moving to get the wine.

  “When I first kissed you, I thought my appetite for sex might put you off. Yet, you are enjoying yourself as you tempt me every step of the way,” he said, grabbing plates.

  “Would you prefer me to be nervous? Pretend I don’t like the way you bend me over and—”

  “You are evil.” He kissed my lips. “I like it.”

  I kissed him back, and bit his bottom lip. “Good. I’m too stubborn to change now.”

  “Let’s eat, we can talk about that later,” he said, moving to the dishes.

  I watched as he took his time, like the perfectionist he was, putting everything together elegantly on the table. It looked better than if we had ordered it off a menu at a five-star restaurant and tasted just as good.

  “Grab the salad?” he said, moving toward his dining room.

  “We are eating in your dining room?”

  “That is where people usually eat dinner, Guinevere,” he said, placing my plate on a silver mat on top of his black wooden table. The whole table was already set up for two, with wine glasses and a pitcher of water in the center.

  “You really went all out,” I whispered when he took the bottle and salad from me, placing them on the table before pulling out my chair.

  “There is even vanilla ice cream in the freezer.”

  “Don’t you hate it?”

  “But you believe it is the cornerstone of ice cream, remember? And this isn’t really going all out. When I go all out, you will know.”

  “Honestly, I thought you would make hamburgers and we would watch Animal Planet together again. What is this? It smells good.”

  “It’s just chicken with prosciutto and tomatoes over polenta,” he replied.

  I was tempted to point out that he had said just before that description.

  “What kind of first date would hamburgers and Animal Planet be?”

  I shrugged. “You’ve just done so much today—”

  “Good, you�
��ll always remember how amazing I am.” He winked.

  There’s that ego. Saying nothing, I took a bite. I kind of wished it didn’t taste as delicious as it did. I could feel him staring at me, waiting. Chewing slowly, I reached for the glass of wine.

  “You are trying so hard not to compliment me right now, aren’t you?”

  “I really am. It’s so good.” I caved, cutting into more of it.

  Eli

  Because I’d cooked, she refused to let me help clean up. Instead, she made me sit where she had at the counter, placing the gloves on her hands and getting to work.

  “Guinevere, it’s fine—”

  “I had a really amazing night. You wouldn't let me do anything, so please at least let me clean up.”

  Raising my hands in defeat, I sat back down, noticing the book that hung out of her bag. “What are you reading?” I asked.

  “A collection of poems by W. H. Auden.” She scrubbed.

  “May I?” I asked, already reaching for it.

  She nodded.

  Taking the book out, I flipped to the page she had dog-eared. I noticed how worn the spine was, to the point that if I closed the book, it would still open right back to this page. She must really love it. Smirking to myself, I cleared my throat, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw her look up at me. I read, my voice barely over a whisper.

  “And down by the brimming river I heard a lover sing under an arch of the railway: Love has no ending. I’ll love you, dear…I’ll love you till China and Africa meet, and the river jumps over the mountain, and the salmon sing in the street, I’ll love you…till the ocean is folded and hung up to dry and the seven stars go squawking like geese about the sky…”

  Even with all my dramatic pauses, it took only two minutes to read. When I looked back up at her, she had stopped doing the dishes. Her brown eyes were warmer than ever before, and the corner of her lip turned up slightly.

  “You win.”

  “What?”

  “This date. It’s officially the best one of my whole life. You win. I admit that you, Eli Philip Davenport, are remarkable,” she whispered before looking back down to scrub away at my plates.

  I walked over and came up behind her, grabbing her hands. I pulled off the gloves myself and she didn’t stop me. She had long since taken off her jacket, forcing me to stare at her shoulders and chest all night long. Brushing her hair over, I kissed the base of her neck, sliding the straps of her dress and bra off her shoulder. Her dress fell to the floor with ease, the bra still cupped to her chest.