Part VII: Perfect Last Day
Grace pulled herself out of bed when the doorbell chimed for the second time. Whoever was on the other side was going to die. She forgot her robe, her brain too sleep-clouded to be proper this early. Yanking the door open, she glared at Eli. "What do you want?"
He smiled, clearly amused. "Did I wake you?"
The brunette immediately went to shut the door. Stupid, smart-ass boys. Eli stuck his foot in the doorframe, stopping her. "Sorry. Can I come in?"
"It's seven a.m.," she said, stating the obvious. "What do you want?" Grace still did not move to let him in her apartment.
"Jessie dropped me off on her way to a friends. I thought we could spend the day together."
"Why?" She'd hardly seen him since five days ago when she'd stupidly given in and kissed him.
"Seemed like the thing to do." He motioned towards his laptop case and guitar. "Can I come in?"
Grace considered her options for a moment, before stepping to the side. "Couldn't you have come by at, I don't know, ten? Why seven?"
"That's when Jessie was leaving. You can go back to bed if you want."
She eyed him carefully. "What would you do then?"
Eli motioned towards the supplies he brought with him. "I know you're working on a paper or something, so I was just planning on working on some songs."
"You couldn't have done that at home?"
"I could have," he agreed. "But then I wouldn't have been able to spend New Years Eve with you."
His words stopped her. She'd almost forgotten he'd promised to give up pursuing her on New Years Day. He wasn't going to go away easily. "Eli."
His hazel eyes turned back to hers and he smiled. "I'm not going away. Why don't you go shower, and I'll make us some breakfast."
"I don't have food."
"Then shower and I'll go get something," he suggested. "Give me a key and I'll be back before you know it."
"Eli," Grace hesitated. She wanted to say something to him… something that might change his mind. The brunette felt he was setting himself up for a major letdown.
He came to her, putting two hands on her shoulders. "I'm not going away," he told her softly. After steering her into her bedroom, he repeated, "Take your shower. I'll be back in a few."
Grace found herself agreeing, even if it wasn't what she really wanted. It was too hard to tell him no. "Eli," she stopped him.
"Yeah?"
She picked her keys up off the dresser. "You'll need this." Grace finished taking her apartment key off the ring and tossed it to him. "See you in a little."
Eli closed his fist around the key and smiled. "Thanks. Any preference for breakfast?"
Grace shrugged. "Surprise me?"
His smile turned into a full grin. "Will do. Bye."
When Grace heard the lock turn in the living room, she closed her bedroom door. She began to undress, going through the motions she practiced each morning. It wasn't until she looked into the mirror that she realized she was smiling.
Even if she didn't realize it, Grace Manning was in serious trouble.
Eli was surprised that the water was still running when he returned. Instead of grabbing something quick, he'd chosen to go to the fresh food market on the corner. They had a good selection of the fresh fruits and vegetables he needed to make breakfast. He knew Grace would be more impressed with a homemade breakfast and not powdered doughnuts. It was easy to locate the supplies in the kitchen, though he was surprised that some of her utensils looked unused. Earlier he'd opened a drawer stuffed full of take-out menus, so it was possible that she never cooked.
There was a small radio on the counter and he easily found a station he liked. Eli was careful to not turn it up too loud and then went to work.
Grace appeared ten minutes later, fully dressed. The smells coming from her kitchen had pulled her out of the bedroom. "Eli?"
He turned, a spatula in one hand and saltshaker in the other. "Hey." His eyes skimmed over her wet hair and fresh clothes. "Nice shower?"
She pushed some hair out of her face. "Yeah. What're you making?"
"Omelets."
"Smells good." Grace went to stand beside him. "Can I help?"
"I've got it," he said, expertly flipping the eggs. "Why don't you just sit over there? I'll be finished in a few minutes."
The brunette found she didn't really want to sit on the sidelines, but did so anyway. It was different, seeing this side of Eli. He looked so… domesticated. Not to mention, at home, in her kitchen. Grace watched as he opened a few cabinet doors before finding the plates. He served their breakfast up, before going to the refrigerator and taking out a platter of fresh fruit and a carton of orange juice. After adding the fruit and getting some silverware, Eli joined her at the bar. "The last time I tried to make omelets, it turned into scrambled eggs halfway through," she told him. "My mom is such a great cook, why didn't I ever ask for lessons?"
"Well, when food is just a phone call away, you don't need to know how to cook, do you?" Something inside twisted when she blushed prettily. "You don't have a table."
Grace took the plate he gave her, immediately taking a bit of the omelet. Her taste buds were assaulted by the goodness of eggs, peppers, and cheese. "It's just me," she said around the food. "Don't need a table. And I don't eat take out every night."
"Just six out of seven?" he teased. "I noticed you didn't have a roommate." Eli studied her for a moment, pleased with himself. After she'd taken her second bite, he started eating himself.
"Been there, done that. I hated it." Grace took another bite. "Mom brings food over a lot. I think she sometimes forget it's just her, Rick, Will, and Zoë. She'll cook these huge meals and then have too much food. Usually she or Rick will drop it by."
"Cool. It's kind of convenient, no? One of the reasons I learned to cook was because I missed Lily's cooking." The conversation reached its natural end, so Eli asked, "What was the deal with our roommate?"
Grace speared a piece of strawberry with her fork. "My roommate was loud, messy, and she slept with my boyfriend."
That stopped him. "Boyfriend?"
She continued eating, not answering his question. "Boyfriend?" he asked again. Eli put his fork down and reached for the glass of orange juice. "When was this?"
"A couple of years ago." She took another bite and noticed he wasn't eating. "What's wrong?"
"How many years ago?" Eli questioned. Something was nagging at him. Had she been dating this guy when they were together? "Two? Three? Five?"
The brunette sensed what he was getting at. "Three. It wasn't serious. Just someone that I liked for awhile and we went out sometimes. That ended when I came home to find him leaving her room one afternoon."
"So this didn't start until after we…?"
"Had sex?" she questioned. Grace noticed that he flinched at her terminology. "No, this was way after that. Like I said, it wasn't serious. What's the big deal?"
Eli watched her pick up her fork and start eating again. Even though it'd been three years ago, he still felt a pit grow in his stomach. Since their time together, he felt they sort of belonged to each other. Yes, he'd seen other woman since then, but it was never serious. And they were never anything but substitutes for what he really wanted. Was he really going to make a big deal about Grace dating someone a couple of years ago? Especially since he was the idiot who screwed things between them to start with?
He still wasn't eating and Grace paused. "Eli?"
Shrugging off the feeling, he started eating again. Looking up, he gave her a hesitant smile. He just couldn't let it go. "How long did you go out?"
"Are we really talking about this?"
"If it wasn't serious, how long did you date him?"
"What's with all the questions?" Grace asked. She studied him carefully – the straightness of his back, how his hands were curled into fists, and his aloofness about the situation. "Are you… Eli, are you jealous?"
"What?"
The brunette smiled. "You are. Why are you jealous?"
"I'm not jealous," he denied. "I'm just trying to find out about your life."
"Uh huh." Grace reached over and covered his hand with hers. "Michael and I went on dates for about eight months."
"That's pretty long term to not be serious."
Of course, Grace knew Eli considered anything more than a month to be long term. "It was really a pretty typical college relationship. We met in a class, had lunch together a few times, and it progressed from there. I cared about him, but it was evident it was never going to be anything more. After I discovered him with Sue, I broke things off completely."
"I'm not jealous," he told her again. Though silently he wondered. Even to his ears he sounded jealous. "I was just… curious."
She didn't say anything, but went back to her breakfast. "This is really good. Where'd you learn to cook like this?"
Eli blushed and stuffed his mouth full of food, mumbling something. "What was that?" Grace asked.
He swallowed carefully before looking at her. "I took a basic cooking class."
"You what?" In her mind, she could clearly picture the man sitting across from her in an apron and chef's hat. It made her laugh. "Eli Sammler in a cooking class?"
His hazel eyes danced at her amusement. "Go ahead, laugh away. But know this: when you finish laughing, you'll finish your omelet."
"It's just hard to believe," she said around giggles. "A cooking class? Why?"
"I worked in a restaurant for awhile. It looked interesting."
Once she calmed herself down completely, Grace leaned forward. "You have to tell me the whole story."
"I just did," he told her. "I worked in a restaurant for awhile. It looked interesting."
"That's it?" Grace questioned. "There has to be more to it than that! Lots of people work in restaurants, but don't feel the need to go to school to learn how to cook. And you… you hated school. Why would you go back?"
Even if she hadn't said it, Eli could still hear the other questions. Yes, he'd hated school, but this was different. This was something he wanted to do – there was no one to get him out of bed each morning, no one telling him it was something he had to do – it was just something he'd wanted. Eli pushed his plate away and stood. "I'm finished."
"Eli." Grace sighed when he turned his back on her, taking his plate to the sink. She popped one more slice of fruit in her mouth before standing. "Eli, don't be like this."
"Like what?" he asked, not bothering to look at her. "I know what you wanted to say, Grace. You wanted to tell me that I was a screw up, that I'd never take a class voluntarily. That I'd never get up at seven in the morning for Saturdays on end to attend this class, just to learn how to make an omelet. Well, guess what, Gracie? I did."
She could hear the bitterness in his voice. "That's not what I saying at all," she said softly. "I just… it's so out of your character."
He turned to her then. "How do you know? Do you even know who I am anymore, Grace?" Eli closed his eyes and exhaled. He could feel the anger seeping out of him. "It was a mistake coming here. I'm sorry."
"Then why did you come?" Grace prodded him. "Why wake up at dawn to come over on the last day of the year? Why bring your laptop and guitar, huh? Why pull me out of bed, make me this amazing breakfast, then tell me it was all a mistake? Why'd you do any of that Eli?"
"Because I wanted to!"
She flinched at his tone. "And you always do what you want, don't you? Maybe you haven't changed at all. Maybe you're still the spoiled little boy who pouts when he doesn't get his way and doesn't know when to quit."
Eli turned on her, backing her against the refrigerator. "Something's haven't changed, Grace. I'll give you that. I hate not winning and I do whatever I want whenever I want." He continued to advance on her and Grace was helpless to stop him.
"But I'm not a quitter. That's all I knew how to do in high school, but I'm not that guy anymore. Just like you said – you don't ever want to be that girl again. Well, I'll never be him again. But yeah, some things are still the same. For instance, I'm still crazy about you."
He closed the last bit of space between them. Eli bent down so that he was standing nose-to-nose with her. "But you haven't changed that much either. No matter how much you deny it, you feel it too. You'll always want me, despite what you say."
Grace lifted her hands and planted them on his chest. She meant to push him away, but then his hands closed around her wrists and she was pulling him forward. She questioned what the point of fighting fate was right before his lips settled over hers.
He kissed her over and over, using different techniques. One moment he was pushing her into the refrigerator behind her, eagerly drinking from her mouth. The next she would be clinging to his mouth as she tried to take all of him in. They kissed for a long time, both too wrapped up in each other to notice anything around them. When Grace finally broke for air, Eli continued kissing her. He planted kisses across her nose and on each of her eyes. He kissed her ear, before following the curve of her face to her chin. He went down her throat and his tongue settled into the dip there, licking eagerly. His teeth nipped at her collarbone and she moaned. Back up to her mouth, Grace eagerly accepted him again.
"Grace," he moaned. Eli started to feel the effects of all of the kissing. His blood was rushing away from his head and to other parts of his body. "We have to stop."
"Why?" Her hands were on the back of his neck, urging him forward. "It feels too good."
Closing his eyes, Eli stepped backwards. His hands went up to cover hers and he exhaled loudly. "We have to stop." He looked down at her and saw brown eyes clouded over with lust. It was almost enough to make him kiss her again. "This isn't… I didn't come here for this."
Her eyes drifted shut and Grace licked her lips, wanting to taste him again. "Why did you come?"
"You'll laugh if I tell you."
"Tell me."
He hesitated, not sure how she would react to his admission. When her eyes opened, full of questions, he began. "I…you're supposed to spend the last day of the year doing what you want to do for the next year. Or so I've heard. So I thought, if I came here, and spent the last day with you… maybe it would be a good start for the next year."
"Really?"
Eli nodded. "But now that you know my master plan, I'm afraid I have to leave."
Grace wouldn't let go of his hands. "Why?"
"I've been discovered. If you know what I'm doing it's no fun. I've let you in on the secret plot."
"I don't want you to go."
"Really?" He smiled, pleased with himself again. "Why's that?"
She felt her cheeks grow red from embarrassment and looked away. "I just don't want you to."
"Not good enough. Give me a real reason or I'm gone."
Grace heard the teasing in his voice and didn't think he would really leave. But she would give him what he wanted anyway. "Well, you are my stepbrother and I know you're going back to New York soon. I thought we might hang out before you go back."
"Stepbrother, huh?" Their hands were still clasped, so he pulled her forward. Eli kissed her quickly, liking the moan that came from the back of her throat. "Is that your real reason?"
She smiled up at him. "That and the fact that Mom asked me to be nice to you."
"You're going to pay for that one, Manning."
The brunette pulled him down for another kiss. "Not if you can't catch me, Sammler." Pulling her hands away, she took off running.
