Until I Met Her

Chapter 21

We were at the local pub, the one that has pool tables and its nice enough that we can hang around in. Freddie liked the fries they served, so we spent quite a bit of time here. Joe had invited Eleanor and although we were being civil with each other, I could tell that by the end of the day, we were going to talk. I had given her the space she said she wanted, I just hope two weeks was enough for her. We had a conversation pending and I didn't want to keep postponing it.

Eleanor was sitting next to me, drinking cheap wine and laughing at something that Nick was saying. I was kind of distracted because her knee was touching mine and something in me told me that it was perhaps a peace sign but then again, maybe it didn't mean anything, maybe she didn't even notice it was happening.

I decided to make a move and I slowly let my pinkie touch her knee, she was wearing a skirt. I caressed her skin with my pinkie. If Eleanor didn't acknowledge it, I would've felt like the biggest creep in history but a heartbeat later, Eleanor intertwined her pinkie with mine.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. We were okay, then.

Eleanor was leaving in two days, she was going away for her internship which happened to be in London with a dude that her dad knew. I don't know how Eleanor felt about it, mostly because it would just be Jesse, David and her, Mrs Williams wasn't going. I know how she felt about her dad and it would be hard for her to be with him for so long.

Little by little, Eleanor ended up practically almost sitting on top of me and for once, I stopped overthinking and I just enjoyed the moment. I liked that it was easy with her, that we didn't have endless arguments where we blamed one and another. She didn't hold grudges and neither did I.

⚢

"Like, for a month, right?" I asked her, brushing my teeth. I looked over at the bathtub where Eleanor was showering. I could see the siluette of her body through the curtain.

"Yeah, he wanted the whole summer but no way I'll spend the whole summer at David's." Even when she talks about him, her voice gets tense.

"You won't spend much time with him, anyway, you'll work from like morning to six?" I asked and watch Eleanor's head pop up from the curtain.

"Yeah, but still, it's gonna be weird. Wanna come with?"

I laughed, flossing and drinking a bit of water from the tab. "Don't joke."

"I wouldn't mind it... if you came along." She smiled, I leaned in and pecked her lips, "However, I think my dad wouldn't be too happy."

"I could stay at a Bnb or something?"

Eleanor snorted and turned the water off. Her hand started patting around, looking for her towel. "In London? You'll come back broke." She steps out of the bathtub and looks at me with a sweet smile, "You don't even like London."

I look away from her. I can feel her staring, waiting for me to say what's really been on my mind but I don't want to say it because we've only just started to get back to normal, I don't want to ruin it.

"Say what's on your mind, Tyler." She said.

I sighed, resting my back against the sink. "I don't like thinking that you're going to be alone there."

I look up at her. She's thinking, she's wondering, she doesn't know what to say so she leans in and kisses me.

"It's not that I think you can't take care of yourself, because I know perfectly well you can—" I sigh, deep and long as I scratch my forehead. "I just— when he's around... you get... not okay."

"I'll call you every night?" Her voice is barely above a whisper, my heart's in my throat. "I'll call you in the mornings and in the afternoons, and then at night again."