9

Elie was looking at herself in the mirror with a sheet wrapped around her. She was talking to herself.

"What in the flying fuck, Elie? What have you done? You happy now?" She was trying to keep her voice down, in case Kendall hears from outside. "This was a bad idea. Bad, bad, bad. Bad."

She suddenly felt tears stinging her eyes. Elie sat on the edge of the tub and wiped the tears from her eyes. Kendall's too good for this, too good for me. What are you doing, Elie? Shit.

Elie got dressed and went out of the bathroom. She found Kendall sitting on the bed already dressed except for his shoes, patiently waiting for her. He smiled when he saw Elie and held out his hand. Elie took it and was supposed to sit beside him, but Kendall made her sit on his lap instead and hugged her.

"What are you doing?" Elie asked.

"Hugging my girlfriend," Kendall replied.

Oh my god what I have done. "Kendall…"

A look of worry spread over Kendall's face. "Did I do something wrong?" he asked.

"No. It's just that we really don't know each other that well and…" Elie was getting distracted by the way Kendall was looking at her. Freaking green eyes. "And aren't we moving a bit too fast?"

"When you know, you know Elie," Kendall softly said.

Elie just nodded. It got her thinking that maybe she was overthinking things and maybe she should just sit back and enjoy it. Maybe she shouldn't be as scared as she was. Maybe she should come clean about being scared.

Elie and Kendall checked out of the hotel and Kendall drove Elie home back to her apartment. She was telling Kendall that she had a friend to meet back in LA in a few hours, but that she was going to take her car to that appointment. Kendall was insisting on taking her to her friend and then picking her up if she wanted, or he could come with her so he could meet some of her friends. Elie relented. She finally found herself with a boyfriend she really, really liked. Might as well introduce her to the special people in her lives. On the way back to Anaheim, Elie's phone rang. She checked who it was and Kendall noticed that she smiled when she saw who was calling. Who could that be he thought.

"Hey baby boy," he heard Elie say. Kendall cocked an eyebrow but kept driving. He could hear the smile in Elie's voice as she discussed dinner plans with this "Baby Boy." That was probably a really old term of endearment. Baby Boy was probably gay. When Elie got off the phone, Kendall asked her, "So was that your friend?"

"Yep. He was asking me where I would like to go tonight, then I told him I was gonna bring somebody, but he didn't bring anyone with him but I told him to suck it up," Elie was smiling as she recounted her conversation with Baby Boy.

"Is he gay?" Kendall asked bluntly.

"What? No," Elie replied. "Wait, are you jealous?"

"No," Kendall kept on driving, but Elie laughed hysterically at how Kendall was acting.

"My boyfriend is jealous!" Elie teased.

The fact that Elie called him her boyfriend was enough to make Kendall smile and forget about the ridiculous jealousy – if that was what it was – he felt earlier. Elie kissed him on the cheek while they were at a red light and said, "He's like my brother. I call him baby boy because that's what I've called him since he was young, and I love that boy to death. And he's not gay. In fact he's a big hit with the ladies, and that's why I'm quite anxious to meet up with him, try to see if he's being a cad. I haven't seen him in a few years."

They finally arrived at Elie's apartment in Anaheim. Kendall couldn't believe that he had been here only yesterday and now Elie was his girlfriend. It seemed like everything was moving fast for them, but it didn't matter to Kendall. All he knew was that he was so happy and Elie was happy.

They had a few hours to kill and they used up the hours watching a movie, making lunch, and making love for the second time that day. Elie seemed to have relaxed more and was slowly but surely easing her doubts and apprehensions away. She had always loved lazy Sundays, and this was one of those that she'll remember for a long time.

They were gonna meet Baby Boy at the W Hotel, where he's staying. Thankfully, traffic easing into LA wasn't that horrible, given that it was a Sunday and there were able to get into the hotel faster than they estimated. They entered the hotel and asked for Baby Boy by name, the first time that Kendall heard it.

"Let me see if I remember this right – Zamir Yassin Brennan. I don't know if he goes by Zamir now, or Yassin," Elie told the concierge. The concierge dialed Baby Boy's room and then told Elie and Kendall that Mr. Brennan will be coming down shortly. They decided to wait by the welcome desk.

"Baby Boy's name is Zamir?" Kendall asked.

"Uh-huh," Elie replied, peeking over where the elevators were. "It means "singer." And then his middle name, Yassin, means "rich." His parents really had high hopes for him."

A booming voice with a distinct British accent shouted out into the W Hotel lounge: "EEEELLLLIIIE JEEEELLLLYYYYYYY!"

Elie and Kendall turned around to where the voice was coming from, and Elie ran to him. Kendall had a quick look at the guy before he started twirling Elie off the ground. Crap! He's not bad-looking and he's known Elie for much longer and they seem close and Elie seems so happy to see him I mean look at her. He's actually good-looking. Shit.

Kendall just stood by the welcome desk as Elie and Zamir did a quick catch-up on what's going on in each other's lives. Kendall saw a petite blonde approach Zamir, who then introduced her to Elie. Must be the girlfriend then, Kendall thought. He then saw Elie, Zamir, and the blonde girl walk toward him.

"Kendall, I would like you to meet my baby boy –" Zamir nudged Elie when she said "baby boy" but Elie ignored it - "Zamir."

Zamir held out his hand and shook Kendall's hand. "Great to meet you, mate."

"Great to meet you too," Kendall said.

Elie went on. "And this is his girlfriend, Pamela." Kendall shook Pamela's hand as well.

"I made reservations at the restaurant here, the NineThirty I believe. We should get going or we'll be late," Zamir said.

At dinner, there was more catching up. Kendall was feeling a bit out of place because he seemed to have little in common with Zamir and whatever-her-name-was-blonde-girl, but Elie seemed to be having the time of her life so he just coasted by, trying get into the conversation here and then. Elie did manage to get him in the discussions, and God bless her for that, but when the topic was about the old times Kendall had nothing to say obviously.

"I have a question," Kendall piped up. Elie, Zamir, and Pamela stopped talking to hear what Kendall wanted to ask.

"Go on, mate, what is it?" Zamir said.

"How did you two know each other?" Kendall asked.

"That's a good question, Kibs," Elie said.

Zamir laughed. "You really want to know?" Kendall nodded.

"Okay," Zamir went on, "Elie here used to baby sit me and my older sister. She did that for a couple of years."

Babysitter? Wow. How old is this kid exactly. He looks around my age, Kendall thought. And she lived in England? What?

"Kendall's about a couple of years older than you, babe," Elie told Zamir.

Zamir's eyes widened. "Oh you saucy cradle robber!" he teased.

"Shut up, or I'll start telling Pam all the embarrassing stories I know about you," Elie retorted.

Their banter continued and Kendall was left to his thoughts. A few minutes later, the girls excused themselves to go to the powder room. Zamir and Kendall were left in their booth. Kendall was avoiding any type of conversation with Zamir because he thought he really didn't have anything to say to him. He sipped on his drink and people-watched, avoiding looking at Zamir altogether. Meanwhile, Zamir was looking at him with a smirk on his face. What is this boy's problem? Kendall thought. Then Zamir spoke.

"Don't be jealous of me, mate," he said.

Kendall turned his head towards Zamir. "Excuse me, what?"

"I said you don't need to be jealous of me," Zamir essentially repeated what he previously said.

"What makes you think I'm jealous?" Kendall asked.

"You've been awfully quiet. I mean I do understand that it's the first time you've met me, and I'm probably the first friend of Elie's that you met and you didn't expect for me to be a straight man she'd known a long time and pretty close to. I reckon you're thinking who I am in her life. And you roll your eyes every time I say something that Elie finds funny. I could go on," Zamir replied.

Kendall just looked at Zamir weirdly.

"I am not a threat," Zamir went on. "Elie's like my sister. She took care of me and my sister when we were younger and we've remained close all these years. I love her, man."

Kendall took a swig of his drink and just looked at Zamir warily.

"I love her but I'm not in love with her. I have a girlfriend, man, and I'm in love with that one. I know you're a nice bloke, Kendall. She has told me all about you. I just don't want to be a source of trouble between you two," Zamir said.

Kendall heaved a sigh of relief. So this boy was no threat. He managed to smile a bit. "I'm sorry if I'm acting like an ass. Everything's so new and it happened so fast that I can't believe we are where we are, you know?"

"But do you love her, man? I mean not in the way that I love her, but do you love her love her? Are you in love with Elie?"

"Yes. Yes. It's something that took me by surprise, not because Elie's not awesome or anything, but because I didn't expect it. I didn't expect it to hit me this hard. I really love her," Kendall replied.

"Take care of her, man," Zamir said. "She deserves all the best things in the world, especially after what she's gone through in her life."

Kendall gave Zamir a puzzled look. "Why, what happened?"

"What are you talking about, dearest boys?" Elie said from out of nowhere. Elie had the uncanny ability to seem to cut off conversations just when something important is about to be said. She kissed Kendall's forehead before she sat down.

"Nothing. Just threatening your boyfriend there of bodily harm if he ever hurts you," Zamir jokingly said. "But I was also telling him how awesome you are so he should really take care of you and never let you go, ever." He winked at Elie.

"Aww that's sweet," Elie smiled.

More conversation and food and drinks followed. This time around, Kendall found it easier to join into conversations and was smiling more. For Elie's sake, he'll try to get along better with her friends. Kendall admitted to himself that yes, he was jealous of all the attention Zamir had gotten from Elie and how happy Zamir was making Elie feel. Kendall felt that it was his job to make her happy, no one else's. But once he admitted what he felt to himself, he got over it and started to enjoy the night. All this for Elie's sake.

Kendall was still wondering about what Zamir said earlier though, the bit about Elie going through certain trials in her life. In the short time he has known her and in all that time they spent together, Elie has never mentioned anything. If it's something that affected Elie deeply, he wanted to know. But he didn't know how he'd start asking Elie about it.

Thank you for all your kind words. You guys don't know how much I appreciate it. I hope this chapter could tide you over for now. I hope to upload as soon as I can. Christmas parties left and right make it quite difficult to find some writing time but don't worry, I'll find time. Thank you again and I hope you keep reading. xx E