Tonight We Celebrate.
Eli had watched Veronica leave the shop a grin on his face as he turned to look at his boys. "You know the best part of being accepted by her friends? I knew a head of time that the grades were going up today." He didn't tell her that though because it would have ruined the surprise. "Reservations are at eight, be ready you two." He said walking back to what he had been working on, he just had to clean his station and distract Veronica for the next three hours before her surprise party…well not just hers, but Mac's and Wallace's too. Keith and he had booked a party room at one of the local restaurants; it was a surprise dinner for the graduates in their lives, Veronica, Mac and Wallace had worked their asses off and Eli was proud of not only Veronica but their friends too. "You need me to bring anything Boss?" Hector asked a smile on his own face. "Yeah, can you stop at the flower shop? We got flowers for the girls…and Paulo if you and Leah could stop at the bakery and pick up the cake that would be great." Both men nodded before giving him a long look.
"What?" Paulo shook his head smiling. "Nothing, it's just you do know that you Eli Navarro have gone soft right?" Hector said laughing. "I have not gone soft." Retorted Eli a frown on his face. "Oh no? But you planned a surprise party for not only V but her friends too…the old Eli would have just crashed the party." Eli grunted, not giving them an answer because Hector was right, the old Eli used to crash parties not host them. "The old Eli didn't have the girl either…things have changed." He had the girl and he was marrying her which was still a shock to him…not that he was complaining. "Besides asshole they happen to be your friends too, so shut your mouth and get back to work." There was an edge is voice that said he meant business, but it didn't match the smirk on his face that said he was fucking with them.
Fifteen minutes later and Eli was headed out of the shop, with a reminder to both what their tasks where for the evening. Spotting Ashley he sighed. "Hey you can go home for the evening." He said looking at her, as she frowned. "Did…did I do something wrong?" She asked clearly worried she was going to get in trouble for either leaving the front or for giving Veronica a hard time, but Eli was feeling nice today. "Nope, we're just closing the shop early tonight, so you can go ahead and head out." She nodded her head and grabbed her purse from under the counter.
He watched as she left the shop, heading to her car and he knew he was going to have to decide soon if he was going to be keeping her on or not. Pushing that aside for another day Eli headed out, locking the door behind him since the boys just needed to clean up before they headed out. Eli was instantly thankful that Veronica had dropped him off that morning rather than him having to decide how his car was getting home later, walking to the passenger side he opened the door and slid inside just as Veronica was finishing up her conversation with her dad. Fingers crossed the Sheriff remembered his part of the plan. "How's the Sheriff doing?" Eli asked as she put her phone into one of the cup holders a frown on her pretty pink lips.
"He's okay, but he's insisting that we all go to dinner together…You don't mind do you?" Veronica asked, long since giving up on correcting him about the fact that her dad was no longer the sheriff of Neptune. "Naw why would I mind?" Eli bit back a grin as he waited for her to tell him more. "Because he said we had to dress nice, which means we have to go home and change." Props to Keith for covering everything; Eli did his best to seem upset about it. "Like how nice are we talking? Dress pants and a button up shirt or nice jeans and a button up shirt?" He knew what he was going to be wearing already, but then he'd picked out the restaurant a week ago. Veronica sighed and looked at him. "I'd bet you could get away with nice jeans and a dress shirt."
Eli nodded his head sitting back in his seat as they drove in silence, he could still feel her excitement and it made the smile stay on his lips; they pulled into one of their spots before coming to a stop. "What time did you dad say?" Eli asked as they got out of the car and headed to their apartment. "Quarter after eight." Another nod of his head Eli held the door open as Veronica brushed her body along his to get inside, reaching out he stopped her pulling her body flush against his. "We had an audience before." He said explaining himself before pressing his lips to hers, there was nothing quick about his kiss; Eli took his time savouring the feel of her lips against his. It didn't seem to matter how long they were together, he never tired of kissing Veronica Mars. Air became a necessity and Eli lifted his head a smirk curling across his lips. "What was that for?" Veronica asked as her chest heaved slightly, "I wanted too." Was his explanation before walking passed her and into their bedroom going straight for the bathroom. "V, I'm going to have a quick shower to wash off work. "
Eli was showered and dressed in less than twenty minutes and it was probably a new record even for him. "How's this?" He asked spreading his arms out so she could take a look of the black shirt he was wearing, it had a subtle pinstripe pattern adding a little to it, and he'd paired it with a pair of dark wash jeans. "You look good, is that a new shirt?" Veronica asked as she reached out fixing his collar. "Naw I've just never really had a reason to wear it." Eli said with a shrug as he took in Veronica's outfit, she had changed into a summery looking dress in a dark red, jutting his chin out in her direction he raised a brow. "How come you never wear that for me?"
"What this old thing?" Veronica said smoothing the fabric over her belly. "I just bought it actually, I'm planning to wear it for my actual graduation too so why not wear it to my celebration dinner." She said a slight bit of sass in her voice. "Well you should wear things like that more often." Eli said purely because he wanted to see her in them, all that leg was too good to hide. "You just want to stare at my legs." Veronica said with a scuff as she walked from the bedroom to the living room. "Is that a bad thing? Cause from here it's a good thing." Following after her he grabbed the keys and went to the door, waiting as she grabbed whatever else she needed. "I never said it was a bad thing, it was purely an observation."
Snorting they left the apartment and went to the restaurant, the entire ride there was spent with Veronica singing along to songs on the radio, her smile wide and bright sucking him in like a moth to the flame. Eli parked next to Keith's car hoping that the others had parked between other cars so it wasn't obvious what was happening, it was hard to surprise Veronica so he was hoping to pull this off. Walking into the restaurant he stopped Veronica where she was. "Let me talk to the host." She rolled her eyes but waved him off; talking to the hostess he said who they were and was directed in the right direction. "Alright, lets go." As Eli winded his way through tables towards the party room he could feel Veronica's stare on his back.
"Are you sure you were listening to the hostess?" She said finally as he walked to the open doors near the back. "Come on now, I can follow basic directions from time to time." Just as they were reaching the door, Mac and Wallace were there looking confused. "What are you doing here?" Wallace asked just as everyone made their presence known. "Congratulations!" Veronica was the first to recover, looking from her dad to Eli. "Does this mean I finally get that pony?" A collective groan filled the room which was followed by laughter. "Told you Keith we should have just went in on a pony instead."
"I'll have to remember that for next time." Keith said as he gather his daughter into his arms for a hug. "I'm so proud of you honey." He said before letting her go and moving to shake Wallace's hand. "I'm proud of all three of you." Keith said moving on to hug Mac. The even progressed with everyone talking and mingling together, the room was filled with chatter and easy laughter. "You did good Eli." Leah said as she came up beside him, holding a tired looking Marco in her arms. "Keith helped, thankfully because I have no idea how to plan a party that doesn't involve poker and pizza."
Leah laughed. "Well then let me go thank Keith." She teased nudging his shoulder as she looked at Paulo who was talking with Hector and Wallace. "I saw you talking to him already, I'd wager
Leah laughed. "Well then let me go thank Keith." She teased nudging his shoulder as she looked at Paulo who was talking with Hector and Wallace. "I saw you talking to him already, I'd wager you already did." Leah shrugged. "You'll never know, anyway we came over so Marco could say good bye to Uncle Eli before he steals your fiancée from you." Eli snorted taking the sleepy kid from her arms. "Are you going to steal Veronica from me?" He questioned, earning a sleepy nod. "Imma marry her." Smile he laughed softly. "Am I invited?"
Marco nodded his head. "Well alright then, I guess I can't argue that. Come one lets go see her." Eli walked towards Veronica who was sitting at a table talking with Mac and Hector's girlfriend Emilie. "Veronica your future husband wants to say goodnight to you." He said earning confused looks from both Emilie and Mac while Veronica simply stood up and reached for the boy. "Bed time already?" She asked softly. "Mom's making me." Sulking Marco said a pout on his face. "You need lots of sleep so you get big and strong." Smiling he nodded. "Thank you for coming." Veronica directed it to both Marco and Leah. "Well we wouldn't have missed it, but it really is this guys bed time."
Handing Marco over, Leah walked to Paulo, dragging him out of the party with a wave to everyone. Slowly the party ended and everyone was heading on their way home. It was warm outside and Eli rolled the windows down as they drove towards home. "Thank you for tonight." Her whispered words met his ears over the outside sounds. "You're most welcome, it was nice to be able to show you how proud we all are." And they were, all of them. "I didn't need a party to know that, but it was a really good way to spend the night...after this summer we'll all be going off to do other things...and it was a good send off."
Eli nodded his head. "Well I'm glad you liked it and enjoyed yourself." A hand reached out, resting on his as they drove down the PCH, the warm breeze filling the car as another chapter finished opening the blank pages for the next one to begin.
