They order dessert first, for fun. Their waiter looks scandalized at the very idea, but a few minutes they're eating cheesecake anyway.
"So we leave in the morning?" She asks.
"Back to England." He confirms.
"I'm excited to sleep in my own bed." She admits.
He's been in her bed, it's comfortable. He's looking forward to his apartment. It'll be a bit odd, he thinks. He's used to hearing her a few feet away, his apartment might be too quiet after this.
"Are you an astronaut now?" He hears Elena asks.
"Hmmm?" He asks, looking away from whatever it was that had his attention.
"You were staring off into space. I thought I had lost you to NASA, there for a moment." She quips and his lips quirk, but he doesn't give her a full grin.
"I have no interest in being an astronaut." He assures her as she takes her last bite. The last is his, they've been alternating.
"Oh good. I was worried." She jokes and he gives her a quiet laugh, just as their food arrives.
He convinces her to drink wine with him, something he tells her will go with their food. She trusts Elijah, she tells herself, as wine arrives. She's not overly fond of it, she remembers one summer where she, Bonnie and Caroline had gotten completely drunk on stolen wine, the hangovers had so not been worth it.
But he's right, like he almost always is. It's wonderful and after they pay the bill they go to as many bookstores as her map app can identify. He pretends to be annoyed, groaning goodnaturedly, that she had already found the unfindable book. She tells him that it means they can look for even more books.
"Are you attempting to kill me with books, lovely Elena?" He asks.
"I'd never want to kill you." She swears.
"Except for that one time." He teases, and he's referring to the time she staked him.
"Hey, that was not permanent death. That was like, coma at best. Besides, I was planning on taking it out as soon as possible. I had a plan." She defends herself, her voice quiet as they enter a large bookstore.
"Of course." He's teasing her, she realizes. It's hard to keep a grin off her face as they buy seven more books, he wonders why she needs another journal, let alone four, but he leaves it be.
They return to their hotel with another backseat full of books and it's the perfect way to end the trip, she thinks.