Chapter 34
Eri put the last of the snacks into her backpack and zipped it. They were going on a ride, and she wanted to make sure they had snacks and water. Though she was sure they would stop and get food when they made it back.
She left the bag on the counter as she went into her room to change her shoes. Elias would be there any minute to pick her up. She grabbed her phone and wallet and returned to the kitchen to put them in the front pocket of the backpack.
There was a knock on the door, and she looked through the peephole even though she knew it was Elias, and opened the door to let him in.
“Hey, Amate,” he greeted, kissing her.
“Hey, baby.” She stepped aside for him to enter, and she noticed he was wearing the shirt she got him for his birthday. “I packed us snacks and water since the round trip is a couple of hours.”
“There’s a couple of hiking trails up there. We can stop at one and have them, and when we get back to town, we’ll get food from that food truck you like.”
Eri smiled at him. “You spoil me.”
“I’m supposed to. Are you ready?”
“Yeah, but I’m a little bummed that I’m still not able to wear my jacket.” She pouted, grabbing the backpack only for him to take it from her.
“Cooler weather will be here before you know it, and I’ll take you every weekend if you want.”
“I’m going to hold you to that,” she replied, grabbing her helmet before they exited the apartment.
She made sure the door was locked and headed to his motorcycle. Elias helped her with her helmet, and then she shrugged on the backpack. Once his helmet was on and he was on the bike, he helped her on, and they were on their way.
Eri paid little attention as they drove through the city, but as soon as they were out of it, it was as if her sight focused on the scenery on their own.
She’d learned that things she’d seen before always felt different when viewing them from his motorcycle.
She always felt immersed in her surroundings.
It was absolutely freeing. Eri made a mental note to ask Elias for his dashcam footage.
She could get stills from it to add to her photo wall.
She enjoyed the ride. The warm breeze surrounded them, and she drew slow circles on Elias’ abdomen, her hand under his shirt as they drove the scenic highway.
They drove until they came to the turnoff for the furthest hiking trail on the byway, and Elias took it. There were no other vehicles there, and he turned the motorcycle off, helping her off the bike. He secured both of their helmets, and they took a seat on one of the three nearby benches.
“This reminds me of the ride we all took last year,” Eri said, opening the backpack on her lap.
“When you were being extremely mean to me,” he teased.
“I’m pretty sure you liked it,” she countered, passing him a random snack from the bag. She’d packed several ones she knew he liked, so it didn’t matter what she gave him.
“I might have.” He took the water bottle she held out to him. “When we get back to town, we can go to my place and order from the truck. You left your last cross-stitch project there.”
“I realized that when I wanted to work on it a couple of days ago. It’s my best one yet.
I’m almost finished with it.” Eri paused to open her snack.
“I thought we could try origami. I saw some butterflies and thought it could be fun.” It felt poetic to make them together since he still managed to give her butterflies each time they were together.
“We can do that. We’ll stop by the craft store and get some colored paper.”
They finished their snack and stayed seated on the bench for half an hour talking before they got back on the motorcycle and headed back to town.
The ride back was just as captivating as the ride there, but the drive felt much shorter, and before she knew it, they pulled into the parking lot of the craft store.
Once inside, Eri found the aisle of paper and chose a multicolored pack. They were headed towards the registers when the aisle of scrapbooks caught her attention, and she veered down it, her boyfriend following behind her.
“I think we should scrapbook our rides,” she announced, looking at the different options. “We can take stills from your dashcam, and trinkets that we got during the trip, and designate a page for each one.”
“I like the sound of that. Let’s do it,” Elias agreed.
They chose a scrapbook with a cover they both liked before moving to a different aisle to get some glue and more photo paper to print their pictures, since he was almost out.
Then they headed towards self-checkout. When the total came up, Eri moved aside to allow him to pay, because she knew he wouldn’t let her.
Once outside, they packed the two bags into his motorcycle bag, placed a food order for delivery, and headed towards his house.
When they arrived, she went into his bedroom, removed her shoes, and grabbed Elias’ laptop off his dresser. She returned to the living room to find him unpacking the items they’d bought. She put the laptop on the armchair.
“The food should be here in a few minutes, and we can work on the scrapbook after we eat,” Elias said.
“Do you have footage from our other rides?”
“I think so. I’ll check while you choose stills from this one.”
“I have pictures of us from the other ones. We can choose some of our favorites and add them too,” Eri said.
There was a knock at the door a few minutes later, and Elias went to answer it. He came back with their food, and Eri went into the kitchen to grab drinks. When she returned to the living room, she sat beside him on the couch as he unpacked the food.
They ate while scrolling through her phone and choosing photos they’d taken together during their other motorcycle trips, and she added them to a folder so they could print them later.
Eri enjoyed the photo wall she had at her house, and while she’d added photos of the two of them to it, she was excited to have a book that documented their trips, something with just the two of them.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Elias lay in bed later that night watching Eri get dressed after her shower.
They’d spent an hour making origami butterflies while following a tutorial they found on social media.
Then they’d spent a couple of hours filling in the scrapbook with pictures from the rides he’d taken her on so far.
Dedicating a page to each one. He made a promise to himself that they would fill it within a year.
Eri grabbed her body butter from the dresser and handed it to him before joining him on the bed.
Elias sat up as she draped her legs over his lap.
He rubbed the moisturizer into her legs as she did her arms in comfortable silence.
When they finished, he put the container on his nightstand as she slid under the comforter.
Elias passed her the remote, then picked up his tablet since he wanted to work on a tattoo design.
Eri settled on a crime drama that he was sure she’d only make it through one episode of.
He wasn’t sure he’d been drawing twenty minutes when she moved into his side, and Elias lifted his arm, allowing her to get comfortable.
“Am I in the way?” she asked.
“No, Amate,” he responded, kissing her forehead, and to prove his point, he continued working on the design.
Thirty minutes later, his girlfriend was asleep, and he was putting his tablet aside when his phone vibrated on his nightstand. He glanced at the screen to find a text from Jordan and picked it up.
Jordan: I’m headed to your place. I smoked way too much tonight.
Elias: Are you driving?
Jordan: No I’m in an Uber. I’ll be there in like ten minutes.
Elias: Text me when you get outside. Don’t knock.
Jordan: Alright.
He turned the television off and eased himself from under Eri.
He left the bedside lamp on and exited the bedroom.
Elias went to the living room to wait for Jordan.
It wasn’t unusual for the teenager to show up at his place when he’d gotten high, since his uncle lived in the next city over, and he didn’t want to hear his mom lecturing him about it.
He sat on the couch and scrolled through his phone until he got a text from Jordan that he was pulling up. He opened the front door and waited for the teenager as he came up the walkway.
“Hey,” Jordan greeted as Elias stepped aside to let him in.
“Hey,” he responded. “You know I was gonna give you an earful if you’d been driving.”
“I like to smoke, but I’m not reckless. Especially since I had a gummy tonight too.”
Jordan sat on the couch. “Let’s play some video games.”
Elias debated it for a few seconds before agreeing. “Alright, but Eri’s asleep. So we need to keep it down.”
He turned the game on and let Jordan choose. The nineteen-year-old chose the same game he always did.
“Where are you coming from tonight?” Elias asked as the game loaded.
“A couple of friends and I went to a frat party. One of them wanted to talk to this girl in one of his classes, but he struck out.” They started the round. “It served him right. He came on way too strong.”
Elias snorted, but didn’t comment as they focused on the game. He remembered being eighteen and nineteen and thinking the same way. That his friends were always doing too much, and running off the girls they were trying to talk to.
They’d been playing the game for almost two hours when Jordan paused it and his eyes shifted down the hall.
“Hey, Eri,” he greeted. “Were we too loud?”
From where Elias sat, he couldn’t see down the hall, and it wasn’t until his girlfriend entered the living room that he saw her.
“Amate,” he called, and when she didn’t answer him, he knew she was sleepwalking. He tossed the controller onto the couch and stood, approaching her. He could have woken her up, but he gently turned her back towards the hall.
“Is she asleep?” Jordan asked.
“Yeah, I’m taking her back to bed. You know where everything is.”
“Alright. Thanks for letting me crash.”
Elias nodded before guiding Eri back down the hall.
He thought about picking her up, but wasn’t sure if that would startle her awake or not.
He closed the bedroom door behind them and helped her back into bed, then joined her, turning off the bedside lamp, and no sooner had he settled on his back she moved to lie on top of him.
He knew that she likely had a bad or strange dream and was seeking out comfort and protection.
She’d told him that was typically when it happened.
Wrapping his arms around her, he listened to her easy breathing for a while before he felt himself drifting off to sleep.