Written in the Stars – Jeannie Choe #4
“Rhy. It’s no one.” My voice cracks, and I hate that this is where we are. “He’s a friend from college,” I tell him, gripping his face. “He’s Paula’s nephew, and we went to lunch?—”
“You said you had a work lunch.”
I feel him pull away, but I grip him harder, squeezing his shoulder to keep him in place.
“I know,” I try to explain. “I—I was just saying hi when he stopped by, and Paula told us to expense it, so I kind of figured it was the same thing as a work lunch. I was going to explain it to you once I got home?—”
He finds his way out of my hold and starts to walk toward our room.
“Baby,” I call after him. “I swear, I wasn’t keeping anything from you.”
“I know,” he answers once we’re both standing in the large space at the foot of our bed. “I trust you, I just ... this is a lot to take in.”
“I know.” The icy space between us cleaves at my heart.
It feels like everything is working against us.
“And I’m so sorry. I promise, though, there’s nothing going on.
I know it looks bad, but I was just talking to him about all the things leading up to the wedding.
How stressed and worried I’ve been with our wedding plans.
I was just telling him that I’ve been feeling a little overwhelmed. ”
His brow draws together, but it’s not a look of disapproval. It’s a look of concern. “How come you didn’t tell me?”
“You already know all this,” I argue. “It isn’t something new.”
“Yeah, but ... I didn’t know it was eating away at you this much.”
I sigh. And when he feels the stress that I’ve kept balled up inside my chest loosen just a little bit, he wraps his arms around me. “I’ve just been dealing with it, Rhy. This is a me thing, and I just have to learn to live with it. Obviously it’s not going anywhere, and I have to adjust.”
“Still, Ellie. You should come to me with these kinds of things.” He places a soft, gentle kiss at my temple, and I sink into the little nook he creates for me in his arms. “I want to be the one to help you through it.”
I love him so much, and it kills me to see us like this. I lift up on my tiptoes and kiss him. His hands travel to my neck, his long, adept fingers gingerly stroking my jaw and cheek. I feel his whole body press into me, the heat of his hips and thighs turning urgent and needy.
“I love you,” he whispers against my lips.
“I love you too,” I respond. “And I’m sorry.”
RHYLAN
“Good morning.” Ellie barely stirs, her lashes fluttering against her cheek, but her hands somehow find mine. Like she’s able to seek me out in her dreams, always knowing where I am even though she can’t see me with her own two eyes. “You’re going to be late,” I tell her, pulling her close to me.
“Oh, all of a sudden, you can’t wait to get rid of me?” she rasps in her morning voice. A yawn stretches her face and she rubs her nose into my bare chest.
I chuckle into the waves of her hair. “I just don’t want you to be late.”
“I’m not going in.”
“Why?”
“I’m working from home today,” she mumbles into my skin. “I already emailed Paula.”
I hold her closer with no plans to let her go. “So you’re going to sleep in?”
She nods. “Just a little bit.”
“Hey.”
“Hmm?”
“You okay?”
She looks up at me, her lids heavy and tired from a fitful sleep. I felt her move around all night, tossing and turning. She would reach for me and roll away, trying to find a comfortable spot. Whatever was plaguing her mind spread to her arms and legs. “Yeah, I’m good.”
“So you’re just working from home because ...”
“I could use a day isolated from the public.”
I ignore the quick twinge in my chest and let her lay her head on me. I let her use me. For her own comfort, to bring her some sort of solace, to be her safe place.
“Are you mad?”
The twinge smarts. Like a rubber band that’s been pulled and plucked, the elastic slapping at the parts I thought we moved past. I was so wrong. We didn’t move past this. She’s still dealing with the aftereffects. “Why would I be mad?”
I feel her shrug. “Because I was so careless, and I should’ve been more careful. I should’ve gone to lunch with Austin somewhere more private. Or maybe I shouldn’t have gone at all ...”
“Baby, you weren’t doing anything wrong,” I tell her, playing with her hair. “You were with a friend. They’re the ones who twisted it into something that isn’t even there.”
“I just feel like ... I’ve screwed things up, and I feel horrible I didn’t tell you right away. It feels like I was keeping something from you, and then it just exploded in our faces.” Her body starts to tremble, and her voice turns wobbly.
“And we’re dealing with it,” I assure her. “It’s just a small hiccup. Everyone’s going to forget about it in a week, and we can go back to thinking about our honeymoon.”
I see a smile turning up her lips. “When I’ll be your wife.”
I smirk, loving the sound of that title. My wife. “And I’ll be your husband.”
“I like the sound of that.”
“I do too,” I tell her. “You know, Chuck suggested something kind of wild yesterday, but now I’m thinking maybe it isn’t that farfetched.”
“What was it?”
“That maybe you and I should just go to Vegas and elope,” I tell her.
She laughs. “That is wild.”
“Is it, though?”
“Yes!” she exclaims, shoving a hand into my stomach. “Your parents and my mom would kill us.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
“Besides, what about all the people we’ve invited. And the big fancy party we have set up at Levi’s house?”
“Yeah, yeah,” I agree. “I told him it’s a bad idea.”
“But if it weren’t for all of that, it sounds kind of nice,” she adds. “Just me and you.”
“And some Elvis impersonator.”
I walk into the house, tossing my keys on to the credenza near the doorway.
“Rhy?”
“Yeah,” I answer, walking into the living room toward the sound of Ellie’s voice. She’s sitting on the sofa, a plush blanket draped over her lap and her laptop balanced over her knees. I lean down to kiss the top of her head. “You about ready to clock out?”
“In about five minutes,” she says, her focus on the screen in front of her. “Where’d you go?”
“I just had to run a few errands,” I tell her, sticking with vagueness to hold on to the surprise I have for her.
I lean on the edge of the couch, my feet still firmly planted on the ground, and wait as patiently as possible for the next five minutes to pass.
“Are you going back out?”
“Maybe, why?”
Ellie shrugs. “Because you’re not sitting down,” she answers.
I smirk. “I have a little surprise for you.”
“What is it?”
“You gotta clock out first.”
She does a few clicks and taps on her keyboard and shuts her screen closed. “Okay, I’m clocked out.” She chucks the blanket off her and slips into her fuzzy Uggs, which were waiting for her to shove her always-cold feet into. “Where’s this surprise?”
I take her hand and lead her outside. I stay silent, hearing her quiet giggles as she shuffles her feet, trying to keep up with me.
I open the passenger door to my Range Rover, letting Ellie hop in. I round the hood, watching her through the glass, and get into the driver’s seat.
“Did you get pizza?”
I reach behind her for the large pizza box and plop it on her lap. “I hope you’re hungry.”
“Famished,” she says with a wide grin. I start the car and pull out of our long driveway, stopping in front of our gate for it to open. “Are we going somewhere?”
“Just some place with a better view.”
I find my way through the Hollywood Hills, looking for a spot. The sun is slowly setting, and the sky is turning shades of orange and purple. Ellie waits patiently in her seat next to me, safeguarding our dinner.
“I hope it’s plain cheese,” she says as I finally find a spot and put the car in park.
“Of course.” She opens the box and takes out a still-warm slice. I take out my own and we chew in silence.
The first time we did this, it was completely spontaneous.
We escaped a crowd of fans in a cramped pizza parlor and drove off somewhere secluded to eat our food in peace.
It was early on in our relationship when I realized how badly I was falling for her.
And how much of my world she wasn’t aware of.
I was naive, not realizing how my career and the scrutiny my life was under could tear us apart.
So much has happened between us since then, and everything we’ve been through has only strengthened our relationship.
We’ve made it a habit to do this when we need a moment to get away. When we need to revert back to us and remember how we were before we realized there will always be a million sets of eyes overlooking our lives, making sure to catch any slipup.
We sit in the car, the stereo playing a random playlist I’ve set on Spotify. Ellie’s leaning against me over the center console, and I have my arm wrapped around her.
“Thank you for doing this,” she tells me. “I really needed it.”
“You’re welcome.” She lets out a satisfied hum while I run my fingers over her arm. Light strokes trailing over fresh goose bumps. “We’re going to be okay, you know.”
I feel her nod. “I know.”
“It’s always going to be me and you against the world,” I add, feeling soft, shaky sighs leave her lips. “And sometimes, it’s going to feel like an unfair fight. We just have to remember what we’re fighting for.”
“I always remember what we’re fighting for.”
ELLIE
Word about my alleged infidelity didn’t blow up like we expected.
I did my best to stay out of the public eye, and I already started my time off leading up to the wedding.
It feels nice to lounge at home and wake up in the morning without an alarm and only Rhylan’s curious hands to wake me.
But it’s dwindling down to the last days before the wedding.
While the wedding planner is handling a lot, we still have a few last-minute details to take care of.
“Your parents are at the hotel?”
Rhylan nods as he shrugs into his shirt. “They already called,” he tells me while he checks his reflection in the mirror. “And my brothers will be there in a little bit too.”