My little diagram of Rei's house ð I hope it makes sense ðð^
22. Sunday Week Seven (pt2.)
As soon as we entered the house, Ty ran into Eli's arms as if he had known him since birth. What the hell?
My eyes narrowed at the sight of Eli crouched down in the kitchen talking to my little brother with my Nan in the background making dinner; this was wrong.
I cleared my throat to gain their attention before looking directly at Tyler, "shower, now," I demanded.
Of course, he argued with me, "but I had one yesterday."
"So? Do you know how many diseases you can pick up in 24 hours?" He looked confused by my question but I didn't care as I pointed to the bathroom, "you go now or I come with you and scrub you clean myself."
He huffed and mumbled about how unfair I was as he stomped off to the shower. He was almost 6 but Nan had always said that if you can't learn to clean yourself from a young age then you were never really clean as an adult. Made zero sense but then again, neither did she...
Eli stood up from his crouch and joined me in the living room a smirk gracing his gorgeous face, "jealous, tigru," he raised a hand and tucked a curl behind my ear as he spoke.
"Of what?" My eyebrows furrowed at his question
"Ty clearly likes me more than he likes you."
"What? Don't be ridiculous, you've met him, what, twice?" I stated, feeling defensive and trapped in my own home. I stepped away from him, further into the living room and away from my Nan who was whistling away in the kitchen. Conflicted by my emotions I started fussing with things in the lounge; tidying away Ty's toys, straightening the cushions.
"Three times actually," he had followed me into the lounge but he grabbed my hand and tugged me to face him. "Hey," he said, trying to gain my attention. Still, I wouldn't meet his gaze so he cupped my cheek and forced me to look straight at him. His head was tilted slightly to the side and his eyes were calculating as they scanned my face, "what's wrong?"
Annoyed that he could read me so well, I tugged myself out of his hold, "nothing, why would anything be wrong?" I ran my hands through my hair before stepping back, further away from him.
Eli continued to peer at me in question with his arms crossed on his chest, he gave me a pointed look with his eyebrow raised, "Rei..."
I sighed, "fine," my eyes flickered to him but I couldn't bring myself to look directly at him as I spoke, "it feels weird, okay?" At his look of confusion, I carried on, "having you here, in my home, with my family. I've never had anyone here before," my eyes flickered to his cobalt ones again, "I've never had a boy here before," I stated carefully, "other than Noah, obviously," I added as an afterthought.
He grunted, "obviously."
"I just," I took a deep breath in, "I don't know, having you here is kinda overwhelming. But I don't think it's the having you here which is freaking me out," I met his stare head-on before I finished, "I think it's that I like it."
My bottom lip was getting gnawed to pieces as I shuffled uncomfortably on my feet. Eli stepped closer to me and reached up to pull my bottom lip out from my teeth with his thumb. He then ran his thumb across my bottom lip before gripping my chin in his fingers, tilting my head back and placing a soft kiss against my lips.
"I like it too," he whispered.
A smile broke free on my lips but the moment was ruined by my Nan, "dinner's done," she practically screamed from the kitchen. Our living room/kitchen area was open plan so there was zero need for her to yell. When I glared at her, her response was, "what? I wanted to make sure you could hear me over all your bullshit."
I rolled my eyes at her and went to help Ty get out the shower and get dressed.
â â â â â
After dinner, we all watched a movie together before my Nan took Ty to bed, leaving Eli and I alone in the living room.
"Still freaked out?"
I turned in my position on the sofa to face Eli, he had his arm casually strewn across the back of the sofa leaving a metre between him and myself but neither of us made a move to shorten the distance.
My hair danced around my face as I shook my head, "no, it was actually quite nice. You're good with Ty."
Eli's shoulders lifted in a careless shrug, "he's the same age as the twins."
"I know but still, it's cute how good you are with them."
His scarred eyebrow rose, "cute?"
A small chuckle escaped me at his incredulity, "yeah, because it's so unexpected."
Eli didn't respond to my observation, instead choosing to motion his head, "Is that your mum?" My eyes landed on the photo of her which stood proudly in the centre of the bookcase and I nodded with a soft smile.
"She looks like you."
"Everyone always says that."
"Hmm, except for your hair."
A silky strand found its way into my fingers as I twirled it absentmindedly, "yeah, I have my dad's hair. I hope Ty's hair gets curly when he's older. Girls love a guy with curly hair." I gave Eli a cheeky smile, eyeing his wavy black hair.
"I've done just fine without curly hair."
I laughed at the disbelieving tone he adopted, "I don't think it's hair which draws girls to you."
"What is it then?"
"I don't know yet."
Neither of us said anything as we peered at one another, I took his hand off the back of the sofa and begun playing with his fingers unconsciously before I broke the silence, "my mum would, she had an opinion about everyone and everything. It used to drive us all crazy," I met his gaze and gave him a soft smile, "you know, everyday something happens which I wish I could tell her about."
Eli didn't say anything so I continued, "Noah had a huge part in helping me get over it, my break up with Marcus too. Safe to say, I would probably be a mess without him."
"I know, tigru, and I respect him for it but that doesn't mean I like him."
"I don't need you to like him, I need you to understand that he isn't going anywhere, that he's in my life for good."
Eli turned his head away from me with a sigh, choosing to lean it against the back of the sofa instead, looking up at the ceiling. I dropped his hand and shuffled across the sofa until I sat next to him where I cupped his head in between my hands, forcing him to look at me, "you know that right?"
Eli grunted.
"Eli...," I warned
"I'm never going to like him, Rei."
"That's fine, I don't need you to," he didn't respond so I leaned forward and pecked his lips but then I furrowed my eyebrows in contemplation, "why don't you like him?"
Eli groaned and pulled himself out of my hands, standing up instead, "why do I need a reason?"
"Because there has to be one. Surely."
"There isn't. Drop it."
His bluntness shocked me. I knew he wasn't going to completely open up to me overnight but I thought we had gotten past the point where he was rude whenever we approached a topic he didn't want to talk about.
Not wanting to argue, I breathed out a dejected, "okay."
Eli turned to face me on my perch on the sofa but unlike the other times this had happened, he found a way to move past his anger and discomfort. Crystalline blue eyes met mine before he strode over to the sofa and held his hand out for me, "you gonna show me your room, tigru?"
Smiling slightly, I placed my small hand in his much larger one and let him intertwine our fingers. As our house was tiny, he was able to easily locate my bedroom â it helped that it had my name plastered across the door. For some reason, I felt nervous about showing Eli my room but I sucked in a breath of air before pushing the door open and tugging him in behind me before closing it.
Eli dropped my hand and perused my colourful bedroom which was the complete opposite of his black and grey room. My walls were painted white but every accent in the room, including the furniture, was brightly coloured. To the left of my door was my wardrobe, desk and chair and then to the right of my door was my bookcase which was overflowing with art supplies and sketchbooks. The door to my ensuite was in the back right corner and pieces of artwork that both me, my Nan and professionals had painted littered the walls. My room was tidy but I had things scattered across the floor which seemed to just take up permanent residence there; the stack of books by my bed; the pillows which I never put on my bed anymore; a basket of make-up I never used.
Eli stopped in his scrutiny of my room and turned to face me with a raised brow when he caught sight of what was pushed against the back left wall, "a single bed, tigru?"
I smirked at him and cocked my hip out, "I've never needed anything bigger."
He turned back around, "Hmm, guess we'll be spending all our time at my house then."
I rolled my eyes at his back but he spun back around just in time to catch the movement. He grabbed my hand, tugging me to him, "I saw that, tigru."
"Good."
He leaned down to kiss me but I rocked back on my heels, avoiding his lips, "nuh-uh, my neck has only just started to clear up from the last time we did that."
"All the more reason to do it again."
I laughed and stepped away from him, shaking my head. He sighed in defeat and sat down in my desk chair instead. My eyes flickered over to my bed which was a single mattress on the floor, sans bed frame because I hated when they squeaked.
Deciding to tease Eli, I stepped up to him, stopping when I was stood between his legs. He looked up at me and placed his hands on my waist which made me smile before I straddled his legs and sat down on his lap â a position he picked last time, so he should definitely favour.
Eli released a deep groan at my movement and his eyes fluttered closed, "tigru, you cannot sit like that and expect me to not kiss you."
"Yes I can, you are just going to have to practice self-control."
He groaned again before leaning his head against my shoulder, "self-restraint is more accurate," he mumbled against my shoulder.
I only just heard him and raised my hands to grip the hair on the back of his head, using my hold to pull his head up until his eyes met mine, "I'm sure you'll be fine."
"That's subjective," he responded.
Automatically, my eyes rolled at his smart ass response, "you're just gonna have to deal."
Strong arms tightened their hold around my waist before he caught my eyes and offered, "or I tell you about Raven and you let me kiss you."
My eyes narrowed at him of their own accord, "that's blackmail."
"Yeah, you should be familiar with it," he smarted, asshole.
"Fine," I huffed out.
He smirked at my surrender, "Raven isn't related to us but my dad took her in when I was three, so she's always been there."
"How old was she?"
"She was six, she's three years older than us."
"She's not actually at university, is she?"
Eli looked contemplative for a moment before he responded, "no, she's not," and before I could even open my mouth to ask, "and no, I'm not going to tell you what she actually does." The pout that graced my face made Eli roll his eyes.
"Wait, is Raven her real name?"
Surprisingly, Eli laughed at my question. My arms hung from their perch around his neck and on his shoulders as I leant back to properly admire his face as it lit up in a bewitching laugh. "You're gonna have to ask her that one yourself," his hand rose to cup my face, "enough questions, I want my kiss."
"Since you were so patient," I replied, his lips quirked at the corners as he leaned forward to catch my lips.
The instant his tongue delved into my mouth I let out a loud moan and tightened my hold around his neck. I moved closer to him, scooting further up his lap which caused a groan to be expelled from his mouth into my own.
But just as he removed his lips from mine to start kissing down my neck there was a pounding on the door.
"Why the bloody hell have you two stopped nattering? You two better not be getting touchy on my furniture."
Honestly, I tried to hold it in, I did, but I just couldn't stop the bubbles of laughter from escaping me. All at once, they cascaded through until I ended up having a full-on laughing fit right there on Eli's lap. Eli said nothing, just sat there, holding me, watching me with a soft smile on his face. And I realised that at that moment, right there, if you paused time right on that moment:
I was happy.
â â â â â â â â â â
2304 words^
I love Mary