Sugar // Marliza

21

- Eliza -

The trial was coming up in just a few days, and I could tell Maria was getting very nervous about it. I tried my best to be there for her and give her some affirmations so she knew that it would all be fine, but I could tell she was still anxious about it.

We had hardly been apart at all after she had learned that James was bailed out. She spent the night at my dorm with me every night because she hadn't yet moved out of her and James's old apartment. We weren't sure if he'd try something and come to the apartment. We decided it was better to be safe than sorry and took a whole bunch of her stuff to my place so she could stay.

I had to admit, I really liked having her presence with me so much. Not only did I get the privilege of waking up to her beautiful face, but I got to go to work with her, spend time with her afterwards, and fall asleep with her in my arms.

However, with all this time we were spending together, I was nervous that she was going to get burnt out and sick of me. One night as we were watching TV in the living room, I voiced my concerns.

"Are you sick of seeing me so much? Like, do you feel like I just take up your entire day?" I asked softly. She looked over with surprise etched into her face and shook her head.

"Eliza, I don't think I could ever get sick of you. Being with you is my favorite thing." She said, grabbing my hand and giving it a light kiss.

"Okay... I just was nervous, you know. Since we went from not seeing each other as much to constantly. I wasn't sure if it was too much, too soon." I said. She shook her head, assuring me that everything was fine.

We went back to watching TV, but quickly got bored of it. We sat on the couch together, trying to think of something to do that could get us out of the dorm for a little bit. After a few minutes of brainstorming, she sat up and grabbed her phone, telling me she had an idea.

"What's your idea?" I asked as she clicked around on her phone and began to type. She typed for a moment before looking up to me and answering.

"I have this friend, Theodosia. James wouldn't ever really let me see any of my friends, and we've been trying to get together for forever now. I think you'd really like her, I'm trying to see if she wants to meet us out somewhere with her boyfriend, Aaron." She told me. After another moment, she smiled and put her phone on the table.

"Wanna go meet them for dinner and hang out for a bit?" She asked, standing up. We were both wearing our work clothes still, little spatters and splotches of food and coffee on them. We both needed to get ready.

"Of course, love. How long until we meet up with them?" I asked. She looked at the time and told me we had a little over an hour before we had to head out.

We went into my room to get ready, and I took my hair out of the bun it had been in since my shower this morning. My dark hair cascaded down past my shoulders, it was really starting to get long. I massaged my scalp for a moment, releasing some of the built up tension from my hair being tied up for so long.

I slipped out of my work clothes as Maria changed, basing my outfit off of hers because I wasn't sure where we were headed. She put on a pair of dark jeans and a red, flowered blouse. I decided on white jeans and a blue and white polka dotted shirt, flowy with long sleeves like hers was. I put on a pair of strappy sandals and sat in front of my little mirror to touch up my makeup.

Before I knew it, I was grabbing my purse and we were walking out the door, calling out a goodbye to Angelica. We walked through the bustling streets of the city, carefully making our way down to the restaurant we were meeting Maria's friends at.