A/N: Recap: Having been rescued by Eli from the unwanted advances of a group of inebriated idiots after her aborted attempt to reconnect with Logan, Lizzy agreed to get some food with him. It wasn't long before Lizzy has to admit to herself that she is attracted to Eli. Unfortunately, just as things were getting interesting, a woman from Eli's past shows up. He is gracious towards her, but obviously has some unresolved issues. Noting his change in demeanor, Lizzy suggests that they share dessert at some other location. After a quick deliberation, Eli agrees. They wind up sneaking into a drive-in theater, now closed.
LIZZY AND ELI
Chapter Four
Suddenly feeling embarrassed by my own boldness, I could feel my face growing hot. Flustered, I looked away, grinning nervously as I gave the fork back to Eli. I busied myself with getting my own forkful of cake, willing myself all the while to get ahold of my emotions. When I finally felt it was safe to look at Eli, he was grinning at me, clearly struggling to keep from laughing. He had obviously noticed my embarrassment and ascribed meaning to it. I guess there's no point in trying to pretend that didn't happen, I thought to myself. I grinned back at him and rolled my eyes, wordlessly poking fun at my own behavior. I took another bite of cake before adding, "Yeah, yeah," I said grudgingly, "I've never been very smooth. Go ahead hombre, laugh it up. I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself."
Having been granted permission, Eli did indeed indulge in a few soft chuckles before tempering his enjoyment by saying "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's just, you're face got so red, I couldn't help it."
I truly didn't mind his reaction, but I poured on the sarcasm as I remarked, leaning closer to make sure he got it "Yes, and I'm so lucky you're not the type to rub it in or anything."
He raised his hands passively, "Okay, mea culpa, you're right." But his grin did not fade and a moment later we both broke out laughing at our nonsense. After the laughter faded, Eli softly offered, "If you want my opinion, the thing with the fork was pretty smooth."
I looked at him a bit more closely. "Yeah?" Maybe he was just being nice, but I don't think so. Either way, it sure made me feel better and more confident at the time. He nodded and mumbled something in the affirmative while working on a huge bite of cake.
Feeling more at ease, we both relaxed and truly began to enjoy ourselves. We devoured most of the cake, talking easily about shared memories from our time at Neptune High. When we couldn't eat any more of the very rich dessert, we sat back, sated for the moment. Eli plucked a strawberry from the pile and dipped it in the whipped cream. Holding it out to me, he asked, "So am I forgiven?"
I gave him a playfully reproachful look. "Was there ever any doubt?" For a half a second I considered leaning over to take the strawberry in my mouth, but rejected that notion, feeling that it might be a bit much so soon after being reunited with Eli. Instead I accepted it from him with my thanks and bit it in half, sighing with pleasure. "That is delicious, thank you."
As Eli helped himself to a cream covered berry, I let my gaze drift up to the night sky. I had always enjoyed stargazing as a child and often imagined myself floating through space. Turning, I cleared the area behind me of debris and laid back to get a better view, my feet dangling over the edge of the platform. Eli closed the box and moved it out of the way. A moment later, he laid down next to me, peering up into the sky. Side by side, we stared into space, not talking, just breathing. After a while, Eli said, "This is nice. Really relaxing, you know?"
"Yeah," I agreed quietly. "I used to stare at the stars a lot when I was younger. And of course whenever I went somewhere new, I would always take time to learn the constellations. I know it makes some people feel small and insignificant, but I have always felt reassured by the fact that I am just one person walking around on a tiny planet, in a small solar system, of a not very big galaxy, out of billions and billions of other galaxies. It doesn't make me feel insignificant. It makes me feel lucky."
Eli turned on to his right side, resting his head on his hand. "Why lucky?"
I shrugged and responded, "We're all lucky to be here, to be anywhere really. I mean, the smartest people on the planet still don't know how life began here, which means we don't know how it began anywhere, or if there even is any other life anywhere, even with all the discoveries that have been made about the rest of the universe, or the multi-verse. I mean we don't know for sure yet how anything came into being at all, not even the universe itself, and it's probably something that will always be theory. Never proven. Existing at all is like this really unlikely…gift." I finally tore my gaze from the star-scape and looked at him. "You know what they say. Never look a gift horse in the mouth."
He smiled at me but didn't say anything. I wanted to ask him what he was thinking but I just waited. After a bit he sighed, "They do say that, don't they." A few moments later his smile faded and his eyes shifted to a point somewhere near my shoulder. "We should go."
I was a bit taken aback by this abrupt change, but a little voice reminded me that it was getting late. I'd taken up a lot of his time already. "Oh, okay, sure." He sat up, turning away. I wondered what had happened to bring about his sudden withdrawal. But the time I'd spent with Eli had been relaxed, fun and entertaining, for the most part. I was content for things to move toward the inevitable end of the evening. A short time later, Eli pulled up next to my car.
I had pulled my phone from my bag, hoping it wasn't as late as I thought. I was apprehensively trying to find the courage to ask Eli for his phone number and hoped that seeing mine would prompt him to bring it up so I wouldn't have to. No dice. He'd been quiet on the drive back and seemed preoccupied. I sighed. "Nope, no calls, no messages." I looked over to him. "Nobody loves me," I said, trying to draw him out.
Without turning, he stared out the window, a melancholy smile on his lips. "I'm sure that's not true."
Wishing I knew what he was thinking, I summoned my courage. "Thanks again for everything Eli. I was not having the best night and you really helped turn it around."
He turned to look at me. "Glad I could help. Promise me you won't come back here without backup."
I grinned. "Backup, huh? Okay, I promise." His gazed dropped to my phone. Gently, he took it from me.
"Call me if you ever get into trouble again," he instructed while entering his number. He held it out for me to retrieve without making eye contact.
Well that was easy, I thought to myself.Something was reallybugging him. I wanted to ask him about it but I held back. Instead I asked, "Can I call you even if I'm not in trouble?" He couldn't suppress the smile that sprang to his lips. He looked at me obliquely; one eyebrow raised in askance, but said nothing. "What?" He remained silent. My brow furrowed, I tried to suss out what was going on inside his head. I failed, so I just told him what I was feeling instead. "Eli, I had a really good time with you tonight. I know it wasn't like a real date or anything, but so what? Maybe I'm wrong, but it seemed like you were enjoying yourself too." He was quiet a bit longer and I began to consider the possibility that I'd misread things. I shook my head as if trying to clear it of these confusing thoughts.
I was just about to get out of his car when he finally responded. "You're not wrong."
