Chapter 12
“You kissed him?!” Avian asked excitedly, a smile spreading across her face.
“I did, but…I almost wish I hadn’t,” Eri responded, and the smile slowly fell from her friend’s face.
“Wait. What? Why?”
“It’s been a week, and I can’t seem to focus on anything else. It pops into my head when I’m in class, when I’m studying, when I’m cooking, or watching television like it was my first kiss or something.”
“Wait, this happened a week ago?” Avian inquired.
“Yes. On Valentine’s Day. He wanted to take me out and prove the holiday wasn’t useless, and he succeeded,” Eri admitted. “That day with him helped replace the ugliness that took place years prior.”
Her friend nodded. “Well, that explains why you told me you were fine when I called to check up on you. I thought you were only saying it because you didn’t want me to come over.”
“I wasn’t, but I also didn’t want you to come over, even if I wasn’t okay. It was your first Valentine’s Day with Marco. I wasn’t going to let you miss celebrating it with him.”
Avian texted her first thing on Valentine’s Day morning to let her know she was there if she wanted to talk or spend the day together.
It was such a sweet, heartfelt text that included telling Eri how great she was, how much of a good friend she was, and how much Avian loved her.
She saved it along with all the others her friend ever sent her.
Then she found a note on her door from the front office after Elias dropped her off to get ready.
When she went to retrieve her delivery, it was chocolates and flowers from her friend.
Eri could admit she’d cried a little, but far less than she had the first year after the assault when her friend had shown up with dozens of flowers, balloons, chocolates, and the teddy bear Eri slept with most nights.
There was no way she was going to keep Avian from spending the day with Marco, even if she’d been falling apart on the inside, because she’d been there for Eri at every turn, going above and beyond.
“I don’t think it’s a bad thing that you keep thinking about it,” Avian responded. “I think it means that you’re comfortable dating him. Have you spoken to Cherell about it?”
Eri shook her head. “No, not yet. My next session is in a week, and we aren’t dating, I don’t think.”
“What do you mean, you don’t think?”
“Well, we’ve gone out but haven’t talked about it.”
Avian propped her arm on the back of the couch, resting her face against her hand. “Do you want to date him?”
“I…maybe. I’m still scared,” Eri admitted. “Officially dating him and putting that title on it might change things. I’m comfortable with the dynamic we’re currently in, and I know the mind has a way of playing tricks on you when things shift from what you’re used to or comfortable with.”
“I understand that, and you do not need to rush into anything. Elias has been patient this long. I don’t see him having an issue with you taking things slow, but you need to talk to him about it and establish what you are or where you see the two of you going.
It’ll help both of you if you have it out in the open, and it would be unfair to keep him blowing in the wind while you’re deciding. ”
“Trust me, I know. Not knowing what I want from him has played a big part in my trying to keep him at bay because my indecisiveness is unfair to him when he’s clearly shown me what he wants.”
“At least you aren’t being selfish about it,” Avian responded.
Eri groaned. “But I am, Avi. On our first official date, I pointed out how rude he’d been to a woman there. When he asked if I wanted him to be friendly instead, my stomach dropped. I didn’t. Luckily, I didn’t have to admit that, but I felt selfish.”
“Talk to him. Let him decide if he’s willing to move at your pace and go from there. If he is, then you have nothing to worry about.”
Eri nodded, and while Avian made it sound so easy, she knew she’d still feel selfish because he was already going at her pace.
He wasn’t pushing her for more than she was willing to give him, and while she hadn’t seen him in person since their date a week ago, at no fault of his own because Eri had turned down his last invite, he hadn’t made a big deal about it.
Sure, she’d kissed him, but if she did this, if they put an official title on it, she didn’t want him to feel like he was the only one trying, the only one compromising. Eri needed to make sure she was in a place to give in the same way, so it wasn’t one-sided.
“Speaking of Valentine’s Day? What did you do for it and Marco’s birthday?” Eri asked, changing the subject.
For the next ten minutes, she listened to Avian fill her in on what she planned for Marco’s birthday and how he surprised her on Valentine’s Day, and she couldn’t help but smile.
She was happy for her friend. Had been when she and Marco first started dating, and that had increased tenfold when Avian had given her the rundown of what had happened when he’d met Deborah for the first time.
Eri was sure any other man would have been intimidated by Avian’s mother or would have held their tongue because she was their girlfriend’s mom.
But not him, and she’d been team Marco heavily ever since.
“I saw Amy on campus Friday,” Avian stated, shifting the conversation.
Eri raised a brow. “How did that go?”
“It was fine. She thanked me for the thank-you card I sent her for the gift.” She paused. “She was awkward, but other than that, it was okay.”
“She’s still crushing, but it should be fine as long as she doesn’t overstep. She’ll probably forget all about you when she meets someone else.”
“I’m sure you’re right. Until then, we’re both saved from extra awkwardness since we don’t have any classes together this semester.”
“Do you think she’ll ask you to study with her since you’re still in the same major?” Eri asked.
Avian thought for a moment. “I don’t think so, but who knows.”
“And if she asks?”
“She was a good study partner, and she knows she doesn’t have a chance, but I also wouldn’t want to give her false hope or something like that by saying yes.
So, I’d steer clear. Besides, I enjoy the way my husband helps me study,” Avian responded with a smirk, and Eri shook her head as she laughed.
“I’m not even going to ask.”
The two shifted their focus, and Eri opened her laptop so they could set up the signup forms for the tattoo event.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
“How does that sound?” Marco asked.
“Yeah, sounds good,” Elias responded, distracted as he stared at his phone.
“Okay, great. So, I’ll double your chair rent at the beginning of the month.”
“Yeah, you can…wait,” Elias said, turning his attention to his cousin. “What?”
Marco chuckled. “What’s got you so distracted?”
Elias contemplated momentarily whether to answer that question.
It wasn’t like it was a secret or that he thought Marco would judge and try to pick on him about it, but he almost felt like he was reading too much into it.
Except he was positive he wasn’t. He sighed and locked his phone, putting it down.
“I think Eri’s avoiding me, but I’m hoping she’s just focused on midterms.”
Marco raised a brow. “Midterms aren’t for a few more weeks.”
“True, but two of her classes require midterm projects, and she’s done most of the syllabus work but not all of her midterm or finals projects.”
“Is there a reason she’d be avoiding you?”
“I took her out last week on Valentine’s Day.”
“And it didn’t go well?”
“No, it went great. Or at least I thought it did. We went to lunch, went to an arcade, had dinner, and watched fireworks.” Elias left out the part where she kissed him, not seeing a point in kissing and telling. “I thought she had a good time, but things have been…different since then.”
“Different how?” Marco asked, leaning against the counter.
“When I text her, she takes a while to respond. When I call her, she’s off the phone in like an hour. I asked her out, and she asked if I would take a rain check for sometime later.”
“And how is that different from normal?”
“Before when I texted her, it would take her exactly five minutes to text me back, like she was purposely making me wait. It’s honestly kind of cute.
The shortest conversation I’ve had on the phone with her is three hours, and she typically prefers to give me non-answers when I ask her something. So asking for a rain check is…foreign.”
His cousin thought for a minute. “Maybe she’s been in class when you texted her.”
Elias shook his head. “I don’t do that. I don’t text her while she’s in class. Something happened on that date that I didn’t realize.”
“Maybe you’re right. Maybe she’s focusing on getting her projects done.”
Elias wanted that to be the case, but he knew it wasn’t. He’d only thrown it out there because he didn’t have another reason for her to be pulling away. He’d gone over their entire day several times, but he couldn’t find anything that could have caused her to want to cut down contact with him.
“Maybe, but I have this feeling that isn’t it, and I can’t explain how I know, but it’s like if Avian was having a bad day and tried to hide it from you.”
“Nah, that wouldn’t work, I’d still know,” Marco responded.
“Exactly.”
“Have you tried talking to her about it?”
Elias sighed. “I want to, but I’ve slowly started demolishing that wall she has up, and if I ask and she feels like I’m pushing, it’s going to go right back up.”
“So? If it does, do you plan on giving up? Because if you have to work for it again, it isn’t worth having, right?”
“I didn’t say that, and yes, I’d start over. I just wish I knew why she was pushing me away, why she has this wall up.”
“Questions only receive answers when they’re asked.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Now, about doubling your chair rent,” Marco said.
“Go to hell,” Elias replied, and his cousin laughed.
Elias glanced at his phone but decided he would wait a couple of days, and if things continued the way they were, then he’d speak to Eri about it.
If that caused her wall to go back up, then he’d deal with it.
However, he was sure that knowing why she had one skyscraper high in the first place would also help him navigate; he wouldn’t ask her about it.
She would tell him when she was ready, when she trusted him enough to do so, and Elias was fine with earning every bit of trust she gave him.
“Where is Avian?” Elias asked, changing the subject.
“With your girlfriend, making signup forms for the tattoo event.”
“She isn’t my girlfriend,” Elias responded.
“And maybe that’s the problem,” Marco replied. “Maybe the two of you should have ironed out that detail after your date.”
Elias hadn’t thought of that, but he also didn’t think that was it.
Doing that would have been moving too quickly, and he’d learned over the past couple of months that a steady pace would yield better results with Eri.
She had a pace she wanted to go at, even if she hadn’t told him.
He could tell, and he was fine with following her lead.
“We don’t all move as fast as you do,” Elias replied. “You didn’t give Avian a second to breathe before you claimed her,” he teased.
Marco chuckled. “I knew what I wanted. I went after it, and I got it.”
Elias couldn’t argue with that. He was currently attempting to do the same, but his approach had to be different, and he was okay with that. It was easy to see that Eri wanted the same thing he did, and he didn’t care how long it took them to get to the end result.
However, his cousin was right. While they hadn’t talked about it, they needed to, even if it was only to establish aloud that they wanted the same thing and were moving in the same direction.
Elias thought he’d been making what he wanted painfully clear, but perhaps his saying it to her would get her to let him in a bit more if she knew he had no intention of going anywhere and wasn’t afraid to work for what he wanted.
There was a knock on the front door, and Elias knew it was Javier and Nesiah.
They were meeting at Marco’s to choose a venue for the event.
His cousin had narrowed it down to five, and from there, they would choose one together that they thought would best suit what they were trying to accomplish.
It would also be the first event that the shop put on, and Elias knew Marco wanted everything to be perfect and go off without a hitch.