Chapter Sixteen Little Miss Sunshine, dir. by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
Try as he might, Eli can’t ignore his phone all weekend.
Peter keeps texting him, asking if he should really go on this date, what he should wear, where they should go for dinner,
should they do anything afterward? What about kissing, is kissing on the first date okay? Should Peter hold his hand? What
should they talk about? What topics are off limits?
It’s as if the last two months hadn’t happened.
Eli almost wishes they hadn’t.
Almost.
He turns off the movie as the credits play, one of his favorite early aughts slasher movies coming to an end as he wallows
on the couch.
Eli checks his phone again, annoyed at the irony that all day he’d begged for Peter to stop texting. And now, all he wants
to do is talk to him. There’s that absence in his heart, one that pulls on him, one that tells him all he wants is Peter here
next to him on the couch, his larger body on top of Eli’s to help ground him.
He misses Peter.
And he doesn’t know what to do about it.
Eli: sooooooooooooooo...
how was the date?
He types out the text, praying that he comes off as more curious, rather than hoping the date was a disaster and Peter has
no interest in Lucas.
He can’t do this.
This was never supposed to happen. Eli was never supposed to develop feelings for Peter. This was never on the table. Hell,
they’d even established a clause just in case. So why hadn’t Eli pulled out?
Because he loves him.
He doesn’t want to admit it.
But Eli Francis has fallen in love with Peter Park.
He loves the smell of him, that goofy smile, that curl to his hair as it’s grown out. He loves the golden shade of Peter’s
brown skin, and the deep color of his brown eyes. He loves how Peter’s two front teeth overlap in the smallest way. Eli loves
his dimples, how large his hands are, how soft his skin is. Eli loves the mole on Peter’s neck that he can’t keep his eyes
off of. He loves how brave Peter has been, how he always wants to care for others before he cares for himself, how he’s never
quite gotten the hang of sarcasm. He loves how Peter felt the need to hide the best parts of himself, and how he slowly allowed
Eli to see all the things he was afraid to show.
He loves that he got the chance to know the real Peter Park.
Eli starts to delete the text message, knowing in his gut that it’s the wrong thing to do, especially if Peter is still on
the date.
The handle of their front door jiggles as the lock turns, and Patricia stumbles in, two bags strapped around her shoulders
and holding another tote bag that she drops to the floor the moment the door closes behind her.
“Rough day?” Eli asks.
Patricia huffs, letting the other bags fall.
“As if being called in on a Saturday wasn’t enough, my editor suddenly decides that blue isn’t the way to go for the new spread, so I had to rush new swatches, praying that she’d pick something .
She didn’t, so I had to visit three other fabric stores.
Then I found out that our photographer from the last shoot suddenly
thought he wasn’t getting paid enough, so he’s holding our photos hostage.” Patricia strolls over to the couch, flopping down
onto the cushions next to Eli. “Sidenote: his photos are not worth the extra grand that he’s asking for.”
“Didn’t he sign a contract?” Eli asks her.
“Something I reminded him of before he finally sent the photos along. Then I added him to our blacklist.” Patricia sighs, finally seeming to relax for the first time in
days. “I need weed.”
Eli hands her his pen.
“Thank you.” She takes a careful hit. “What about you? It feels like it’s been days since I’ve seen you.”
“You saw me at lunch on Thursday.”
“Which was basically three years ago our time.” Patricia nudges him. “What’d I miss?”
“Well,” Eli starts to say, sitting up straight on the couch. “I’m going to be published.”
Patricia stares at him. “Shut the fuck up. Like... published published?”
Eli can’t help his smile, despite all his nerves.
“By Vent ? Or did you finally go somewhere else?”
“Vent.”
“Eli!” Patricia almost leaps on him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You were busy,” he tells her. That and he’d been busy with Peter.
“Wait, you’ve been writing something this entire time? What is it? What did you write about? Why didn’t you let me read it?”
“This one was kind of a private project.”
“Can you tell me about it now?”
He gives her the quick pitch, keeping out certain details, like the secret article about Peter. There’s no reason he needs that judgment. Not tonight.
“That’s amazing. Can I read it?”
“Yeah.” Eli finds the article in his Drive. There are still no new updates from Michael, but Eli tells himself it’s probably
because he downloaded the article. Actual writers work in Word, not Google Docs. Patricia’s eyes dart back and forth quickly
as she scrolls through the article, her smile growing the longer she reads.
“Wow, this is great, Eli!”
“Thanks.”
“I had no idea you were writing this.”
“Like I said, it was kind of a secret thing I was working on with Michael.”
She hands Eli’s phone back to him. “I’m honestly surprised he wanted something like this. Something this serious deserves
a better home than Vent .”
Eli swallows. “Yeah, it was a shock to me too.”
“And I’m guessing this ‘Alex,’ is that...”
“Peter, yeah.”
“So, you haven’t been dating him this entire time?”
“No, yeah... about that. We came to an agreement, after he came to the office to apologize for how awful that first date
was. That’s when I pitched the idea to Michael, and afterward, when Peter and I were talking, I agreed to help teach him how
to date in exchange for the article.”
“So, you fake-dated for an article? What in the romance novel...”
“We didn’t pretend to date. Until we did, but it was mostly about teaching him the things he’d never gotten the chance to
learn; you know, growing up in such a small town.”
“That’s a great idea, Eli.”
“Yeah...” He wishes it actually felt that way.
“So why am I getting the impression that you’re not happy with things?”
“What makes you say that?”
“Well, first of all...” Patricia grabs the remote from the coffee table, exiting out of the movie. “You only watch Cherry Falls when you’re depressed.”
“Sometimes I just miss Brittany Murphy.”
“Don’t we all.” Patricia sighs. “But you’re also not giving me the energy of someone who’s finally getting their big break
after working on it for so long.”
“Well... I don’t know.”
“This is exciting ! You should’ve told me and Rose, we would’ve gone out!” Patricia peeks down the hallway. “Speaking of, where is Rose?”
“She went to Jolene’s, had a hard week.”
Patricia stands, grabbing Eli’s hand and pulling. “Fair, but we can still go out. Come on, the milkshakes at Orphan Andy’s
are calling my name.”
“I’m not in the mood.”
Patricia sinks back to the couch as quickly as she stood. “What’s going on with you? This is exciting, we should be celebrating!”
“It’s not happening, sorry.”
She pouts. “Come on, what’s going on?”
“Nothing,” he tells her.
He wants Patricia to know everything. He looks at his phone, staring at the half-deleted message before he holds down the
backspace button, watching as it slowly disappears.
Then he makes a decision.
“You know what?” Eli looks at Patricia. “Fuck it.”
She grins. “Milkshakes?”
***
Peter: Any chance you’re still awake?
Eli wishes he wasn’t. Between his stomach rolling from the milkshakes despite the Lactaid and the nerves of Peter’s date,
he’s been stuck in bed, watching his phone slowly tick toward two in the morning.
Eli: unfortunately
Eli: what’s up?
Peter: Can I call you, actually?
Eli sits up straight, turning on his lamp. He stares at the message, weighing the options in his head.
Eli: yeah, of course
The call comes in a second later. Eli braces himself before he swipes to answer it.
“Sorry, it was a lot to explain over text.” Peter’s voice is calm, tired almost.
“It’s okay. Is everything all right?”
“Yeah, yeah. I just... I thought you’d want to know about the date, and how it went.” He laughs low. “See what all your
hard work accomplished.”
“Oh, right. Yeah.”
Silence.
“So?” Eli prompts.
“Oh, sorry. I thought you were going to say something else.”
Eli can’t help his laughter. “No, no. I’m waiting on you.”
“Well... the date was... I mean, it was okay.”
Eli feels his stomach unclench. “Oh? Just okay?”
“Yeah, he was nice. Talked a lot. Too much, actually.” That explains why Peter is still up. “And you know me, I already don’t
talk a lot.”
“No, no, you don’t.”
“But yeah... I don’t know, it was nice, but there wasn’t a... a spark, I guess is what the books would call it.”
“A spark,” Eli repeats.
“You know, that moment where you feel like someone might be ‘the one’ or whatever.” Peter laughs. “I feel like an idiot, sorry.”
“No, don’t apologize. I’m familiar with the concept.” Eli swallows. “You know, just because you don’t feel this invisible
spark on date number one doesn’t mean that the person isn’t the one for you.”
“I know, I know. But still, I guess I was looking for... I guess some excitement. It sounds mean, but I don’t think I’d
look forward to another date with him.”
“So, you decided not to see him again?” Eli cringes. That’s what he took from Peter spilling his heart out?
“I don’t think so. I mean, we both agreed that it was kind of a bust, which was mortifying at first, but I’m glad we had the
conversation.”
“Yeah, of course. Better to have that happen than to drag something out.”
“That’s what I was thinking.” Peter’s hesitation is pregnant, and the seconds between his words stretch on for so long that
Eli’s worried that the call might’ve dropped at first. “Do you think I did good?”
The question surprises Eli, though he’s not sure why. “I mean, I wasn’t there, so I can’t be sure.”
“Right, right.” Peter laughs. “I wish you had been. I think I would’ve been more relaxed.”
“Were you nervous?”
“Oh, hell yeah. I was so scared, and sweaty too. Thank God I was wearing a jacket.”
“I think the real question here is, do you think you did good?”
“I think I did. I tried to keep in mind the things you taught me, being attentive, asking questions. We didn’t kiss, and I
didn’t hold his hand or anything, but...” Peter pauses. “Never mind, that’s stupid.”
“What?”
Peter laughs nervously. “I’m not going to tell you.”
“Oh, come on, you have to!”
“Nope, I actually decided that I don’t.”
Eli giggles. “Please,” he begs. “It’s just me, what harm could it do?”
“No, no way.”
“What did we say about honesty, huh? Who else could you share this with other than me?”
More silence from Peter, though Eli can hear his careful breathing.
“I, uh... when I got too nervous, I’d picture he was you.”
“Oh.”
“See? It’s embarrassing, who does that?”
“Plenty of people. Though they probably do the underwear trick. I’m not sure if I’d love thousands of people picturing me
when they’re nervous.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Why?”
“Because... I don’t know. I just am.”
“Well, I’m sorry too.”
“Why?”
Eli swallows. Why not?
“I don’t know.” He tries to smile. “I just am.”
He swears he can hear Peter’s smile in his laugh. “Fine. We’re both sorry.”
“There, happy?”
“Yes,” Peter says through a yawn.
“Do you want to get dinner on Monday?” Eli asks out of nowhere.
“Oh, uh... sure! Let’s do it. We have to celebrate anyway.”
“Celebrate?”
“Your article?”
“Right, right. Let’s do it.” Eli pulls his comforter closer around himself. “Let’s do Doobu, first date round three?” He doesn’t
mean for it to be a question, but that’s how it comes out.
“Sure,” Peter tells him. “First date round three.”
“Okay, go to bed. Please.”
“I will,” Peter says. “You go to bed too.”
“I will.”
“Good night, Eli.”
“Night, Peter.”
Eli ends the call first, setting his phone back on the charger. He lies back down, but try as he might, he can’t fall asleep
for another hour. Because he knows what he has to do.
And frankly, he can’t wait.