Chapter 9
Elle
“No, really, it has been great. I can’t thank you enough,” I said to Sarah as I walked towards her father’s house on Friday evening.
“You have no idea how happy that makes me. I just knew it was going to work out. Have you used the kitchen?” She asked.
“A few times, but I’ve been so busy with school and catching up on sleep I haven’t had a chance. But I plan on rectifying that this weekend.”
It was a cool, crisp Friday afternoon. I had just finished doing some research for a project at school when Sarah had called to check on me.
I had seen her at school but we didn’t have a chance to talk.
She hadn’t asked about how things were going for me at her father’s place and I figured she hadn’t wanted to know.
I was worried she was having second thoughts about me living with her dad. Her phone call proved otherwise.
“My father hasn’t been too much trouble, has he? He didn’t give you a hard time about being there?” Sarah asked.
I hesitated before I answered. I didn’t want her to know about how my encounter with her father had gone the first night.
I certainly didn’t want her to know about the moment we had shared the next morning.
I could feel myself blushing as I remembered how sexy Gabe had looked standing by the kitchen looking at me.
His hair had been rumbled and falling in his face.
He had some stubble of hair on his face.
I immediately thought about what it would be like if he were to rub his face across mine.
He wore only a pair of boxer shorts, giving me a chance to see more of him than I had the night before.
I was impressed with his six-pack abs and toned legs.
I had tried not to look but my eyes had lingered on his shorts and I could have sworn I saw a bulge growing when he looked at me.
Attraction, need, desire, and overwhelming want filled me when seeing him. Especially when I saw how he was looking at me. There was no way to hide the interest that was evident in his eyes. I had thought he wanted me; I thought he was feeling the desire I was.
It was why I had asked about his plans for that night.
I thought for sure he would tell me that he wanted to have dinner with me again.
It had hurt that he had turned me down. He said he was busy and I wanted to believe me.
But as the week progressed, I hadn’t seen him at all. I wondered if he was avoiding me.
School and projects kept me busy and I shouldn’t have had time to think about Gabe but I still did. More than I should have. I found my mind wandering to him and what he was doing and if I was going to be seeing him that weekend.
“Your father’s been a ghost. If I didn’t see the occasional dish in the dishwasher or a pillow out of place, I wouldn’t even know he was there,” I said.
“See, this is why this works out so great for both of you. You get a place to stay and you won’t bother Dad at all. I told him that you were going to be the perfect roommate and I was right.”
“I’m not sure how you consider me the perfect roommate,” I said.
“The perfect roommate is the one that you never see. You’re that to my father. I know you’re keeping everything clean and he probably doesn’t even know you’re there.”
“It helps that he has a housekeeper come in every day. Really, does he need someone every day?” I asked.
Sarah laughed. “He likes to keep things clean and hates to come home to a dirty house.”
“How can he when he’s hardly ever home?” I asked.
“You would have to ask him. Though it sounds like you never see him, so what are you complaining about?” Sarah asked.
I couldn’t tell her that I missed seeing her father.
I longed to have the ease, fun, the flirtation we had shared the first night.
I wanted to see if I could get him to look at me the way he had the morning after.
But I couldn’t say that to my friend. Talking to her only reminded me what a horrible person I was to even be thinking of her father that way.
“You’re right. It has been wonderful being so close to campus and having my own bathroom. I had no idea such little things would come to mean so much to me.”
“Well, I’m glad that I could give them to you. Which goes to the reason for my call. We need to celebrate that you have a new and wonderful place. You should come out with me and Steve. We’re going to get some Korean BBQ and then hit a club or two, you should totally join us.”
I walked into the lobby of Gabe’s apartment complex and stopped.
I knew I should say yes. It had been months since I had been able to go out with Sarah on a Friday night.
Any other weekend, I had gone back to my parents’ place to get some laundry done, regroup, and get more clothes for the week, besides study, sleep, and see them. But I really didn’t want to.
“Can you take a rain check?” I asked.
“Don’t tell me you’re heading upstate this weekend?” Sarah asked.
“No. Actually, my parents seemed relieved that I wouldn’t be home.
I’m perfectly happy staying in the city this weekend.
But I’m beat. I think the stress of not having a place to live, Dr. Walker’s test today, and just everything has taken its toll on me.
I want a night where I don’t have to go anywhere or do anything. ”
“Are you talking about the weekend or just tonight?” Sarah asked.
“Definitely for tonight. But maybe I could be persuaded to go out tomorrow night,” I said.
“Good. I’ll call you tomorrow and we can discuss. There are some new clubs I would love to take you to. Or,” Sarah added before I could say anything. “I could just come over to your place and we could raid Dad’s wine cellar and order some pizza. Have a girls’ night.”
“I don’t want to bother your father by hoarding his living room,” I said.
“Don’t worry about that. He probably won’t even be home. He usually goes to the Hamptons for the weekend. I doubt you’ll even see him.”
“Oh,” I said and tried to hide my disappointment. “Call me tomorrow and we’ll figure it out. You know which one I will prefer but I might be persuaded to do the club thing,” I said.
“Yeah! You said it. Now I’m going to hold you to that. I can’t wait. I got to go but I’ll call you tomorrow,” Sarah said and ended the call.
I put my phone in my pocket as I rode the elevator up to Gabe’s place.
I couldn’t think of it as my place. It was his.
Even if I didn’t see him, his presence was everywhere.
I could smell his aftershave in the kitchen even if there was no evidence that he had been there.
I had learned to look for his keys that he kept in the entryway telling me he was home.
I had looked at the pictures of him on the wall and wondered if he would ever tell me the stories of them.
There was so much of him there that it was definitely his place and not mine.
Which helped me to remember that I was just a guest in his home.
He was only letting me stay there as a favor for his daughter.
Nothing more, nothing less. He had done his good deed; he didn’t need to nor was he going to worry about me or even think about me anymore than that.
He was a busy man who didn’t have time to concern himself with some random woman that was friends with his daughter.
He probably hadn’t thought of me at all in the last week.
Even though I had thought about him a lot.
It was a good thing that he wasn’t going to be around during the weekend.
I couldn’t remember a time I had a place, even my parents’ place, to myself.
I could do whatever I wanted and the thought made me smile.
I was thinking of what I was going to do, more importantly, what I was going to cook when I walked into Gabe’s place.
I put my backpack on the ground and noticed that Gabe’s keys were on the table.
My heart raced and I lifted my head as if to hear where he was in the apartment.
I didn’t hear anything and strolled into the kitchen.
Gabe was there. His back was to me as he looked in his refrigerator.
A bottle of wine and a glass sat on the island.
I couldn’t resist, so I pulled out a barstool and sat down.
Once I was settled, I reached over and took a sip of his wine.
It was lighter than the Cabernet Sauvignon we had only a few days ago. I liked it better and took another sip.
He looked good, relaxed. I had only seen him in a suit and he had changed into a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt. The shirt was tight around his back and I was sure when he turned around it would show off his chest. A chest I had imagined numerous times over the last week.
I had just brought the glass from my mouth when Gabe turned. He didn’t seem surprised to see me, but he didn’t look happy either. He tilted his head and I smiled at him and said, “Fancy meeting you here.”