19. ELIZA'S BAE

"Where do you want to go for college?" Eliza asks sipping on her lemonade.

"I don't know. Harvard? Yale?" I reply looking outside the window at the busy road.

"Yale." Eliza spoke thoughtfully.

"You'll finish your lemonade before the food arrives." I smirk looking at her.

A pink blush spread across her cheeks and she reluctantly released the straw from between her lips making me chuckle.

"What about Yale? I ask.

"I want to go to Yale." She tells looking at me.

"Because of Elijah?" I ask with a small smile.

"Mm hmm." She nods her head looking at something over my shoulder.

I follow her gaze and turn around to find the waitress approaching our table with a food filled tray.

Eliza and I decided to go out after school to grab something to eat since we couldn't have something during the lunch break because of her. She was preparing for an upcoming quiz in the library so when I found her, I sat down with her completely ignoring my growling stomach.

The waitress was a blonde girl who was constantly looking at me but I ignored her before and I was ignoring her now hoping Eliza wouldn't notice. After she placed Eliza's plate in front of her, she placed mine and discreetly slipped a small folded paper with it and turned to leave.

What the fuck?

"Excuse me?" Eliza calls after her before I could stop the waitress.

The blonde turns around and looks at her raising a brow, "Yes?"

"You left something that belonged to you." Eliza speaks calmly while standing up.

The waitress looks at her in confusion as Eliza approaches her and without glancing at me, she takes a hold of the paper that is peeking out from the side of my plate and waves it in front of the culprit's unsuspecting face, "This belongs to you, I guess. Oh and look," she pauses and looks down at the ground, "I accidentally stepped on your dignity that fell when you turned to leave. Guess, that's a waste now." She says sourly.

The waitress gapes at her while I cover my laugh with a cough and sip on the chilled class of coke pretending to be focused on the drink. I grab bambi's wrist and she looks at me, "Don't pay any heed to her. I am starving, baby." I emphasize 'baby' and the waitress now looks embarrassed.

"I didn't want to do this. You embarrassed yourself knowing fully well he's with me." She admonishes with a frown.

Only when she leaves with a glare in Liza's direction, does she sits down and begins munching on her fries, "How many girls do I have to get off your back?" she grumbles with a mouthful.

"Bambi don't speak with your mouthful." I scold and she pouts, now munching angrily on her fries.

"And you don't have to get anyone off my back. Did you see me looking at her? Or any other girl?" I question.

She shakes her head and drops her head further down towards the plate while I stifle a smile, "Do you have a microscope in your eyes? What did you find in the burger so far?" I tease.

She huffs and puffs throwing her hands in the air with exasperation, "Ti odio." She speaks making my eyes widen.

"H-How do you know that?" I ask staring at her victorious face incredulously.

"I learned it yesterday from Duolingo." She smirks.

"It means 'I hate you.'" I tell her with a frown.

"Si." She grinned cheekily.

"What else did you learn bambi?" I smirk and her grin slowly wipes off from her face as she looks at me suspiciously.

"Nothing." She mumbles quietly and begins eating her burger.

When we finished our meals, I dropped a few bills on the table before standing up and grabbing Liza's hand as soon as she walked back from the bathroom and to the table we were previously seated on.

Instead of going to the door, I walked up to the counter and asked for the manager. Eliza looked at me in confusion, "What's wrong?"

Instead of answering her, I focus on the man who came rushing out looking worried, "Hello sir and ma'am. May I ask what the matter is?

"Yeah, your blond waitress over there misbehaved with my girlfriend." I speak in a matter of factly tone while pointing at that waitress who was serving another table.

Eliza's eyes widen and she pulls at my arm from her free hand, "No, don't do this. She's working here to pay the bills, most probably. Don't complain." She reasons.

My lips thin in a straight line as I look at her with a scowl, "Nothing about her. We'll take our leave now, please don't say anything to her." Eliza says quickly to the manager and drags me out.

"What were you doing?!" she screeches.

I shrug and walk to my car, "Nick!" she calls but I stay quiet and open the passenger door for her.

"Nicholas." She says softly fisting my black tee shirt in her hand.

I groan internally and keep looking at the busy street, away from her puppy dog face.

"Nicholas." She tugs softly at my tee shirt.

"You were wrong." She states standing on her tip toes and kissing my cheek.

"You can't get her fired for merely glaring at me." She tries to convince me again.

"Kay." I shrug.

"Kay?" she raises a brow as I finally look at her.

I hum in response and gently push her towards the seat. Closing the passenger door, I round the car and settle in driver's seat before turning to her, "Why do you always hold me back?" I ask.

"Because you were being unreasonable, Nick. I matter to you, I get it but I don't matter to them and honestly speaking, I don't even want to. You almost got her fired for looking at me the wrong way?" she huffs.

"No, I wasn't going to get her fired. I was only going to let the manager give her a piece of my mind, that's it." I tell truthfully.

"Nick, I deal it my way just like you deal with all those pervert boys at school your way." She says with finality and crosses her arms over chest.

I raise my brow and she scoffs, "What? You think I didn't know?" she fires at me.

"Yes." I shrug and secure the seatbelt before starting the engine.

"Are we mad at each other?" she asks softly.

"No, baby. We're just a crazy pair." I say and kiss her left hand.

She chuckles and nods her head once in agreement before turning to look out the window.

After dropping her at home, I went back to my place and found Elijah sitting in the living room with Ezra playing video games.

"Aye! Where were you with my baby sister?" Elijah asks.

"Out on a date." I smirk cockily.

He narrows his eyes in warning and I chuckle, "She's a big girl, now." I say ad shrug.

"Oh yeah? Do you treat her like a 'big girl?'" he asks in a mocking manner.

I roll my eyes playfully and shake my head, "Thought so." He replies.

"Get off her back you both! Overprotective brother and overprotective boyfriend." Ezra intervenes taking his eyes off the flat screen.

"Yeah, whatever." Both Elijah and I say simultaneously fully aware of the fact that he would go as far as stabbing a person if they so much as even think of putting a finger on her.

---

I was sleeping when the loud ringing of my phone woke me up. I rubbed my left eye and grabbed my phone from the nightstand to see Liza's name flashing on it.

A wave of panic washes over me as I quickly sit up in my bed and answer the call, "What's wrong, bambi? Are you okay?" I ask slipping my feet in the slippers.

"Yeah. Can you come over?" she asks.

"Uh, why?" I ask already standing up from the bed and making my way to the bathroom.

"Liza's missing your handsome face." She says cheekily.

I chuckle and reply, "It's one in the morning." I tell her while twisting the faucet.

"I can hear the water running. See you in fifteen, bae." She says excitedly and hangs up.

I look at the phone in shock for a solid minute. Did she just call me bae?

Shaking my head, I place the phone on the counter and wash my face before grabbing a light sweatshirt from the wardrobe and leaving the room with my phone and keys.

In exactly seventeen minutes, I was outside her house and I saw her standing outside in a unicorn onesie.

"What are you doing outside?" I scold as soon as I get out of the car.

She comes running in my arms and hugs me, "I missed you, bae." She mumbled in my chest.

I grasp her chin and make her look at me, "What are you looking at, pretty boy?" she questions.

"You. Did you eat something when you came home?" I question.

"Yeah." She nods and plays with the hem of my sweatshirt.

The autumn wind was blowing and it was beginning to get cold at this time.

"What?" I raise a brow.

"Doughnuts." She answers staring at my hair.

"How many?"

"I lost the count after five."

My eyes widen, "Where does it all go?" I ask looking down at her petite frame.

She giggles and snuggles closer to me.

Wait.

Is she sniffing my sweatshirt?

I look down to see her nose buried in my the center of my chest, "You smell like apples and cinnamon, mmm." She comments.

"Oh God, Liza. Too much sugar isn't good for you."

"Buzzkill." She pouts at me.

"Get in the car." I say and we both settle inside.

"I will guide you the way." She spoke opening the glove compartment.

"Where are we going?" I inquire for the fifth time.

She shrugs, "Just drive, bae."

"What are you looking for?" I ask as my car becomes an inspection site for her.

"Nothing in particular, bae. Focus on the road or else you'll get us killed." She waves her finger in my face in a scolding manner.

I stay quiet after that, following her instructions. I have never been here before, wherever she was leading me.

When I park the car outside the iron gates, I look at the huge sign board and do a double take to make sure I am reading correct.

She gets out of the car and I follow suit. She leads me towards the back where there is no guard and points to a small door before we both walk inside and look around.

"Seriously? An animal zoo?" I ask her incredulously.

"Why do you guys have to call it animal zoo? Of course, zoo consists of animals only." she replies in a 'duh' tone.

"You could qualify for one as well." I say eyeing her unicorn onesie.

"Why? Oh right, because man is a social animal, too." she says thoughtfully with a cute frown between her brows.

"You're lame, bambi." I playfully roll my eyes at her.

"Pft. Still you love me." she says rolling her beautiful grey eyes back at me.

Silence surrounds us as soon as those words escape her mouth and she bites her lip. My eyes follow her movement and she swallows hard.

"I-I am so-" she stutters with wide eyes frantically looking from left to right.

"You're right, bambi. I do." I whisper, cutting her off, with a ghost of a smile tugging at my lips.