Ana POV
We order some Chinese food for dinner, I make sure to order some extra food in case Elliot wants some before we go to the bar. Kate has made her famous margaritas that we are drinking as we are eating the food at the coffee table.
"You really like Elliot, don't you?" Kate asks me suddenly with a face I can't read.
"Yes. I do," I say sincerely.
"Do you think you are gonna have sex with him tonight?
"Honestly, I don't know... I mean, I want to, but I don't know if it'll be tonight," I tell her honestly. I know that there is going to be quite a lot of alcohol flowing around, and I don't want my first time being while I'm drunk out of my mind.
After we finish our dinner, we quickly get dressed and do a few finishing touch-ups. At 8:45, our door phone goes off, I go pick it up right away.
"Hello?" I say.
"Hey baby, it's me," Elliot says, I can already feel my breath quicken slightly.
"Come on up El," I say pushing the button to unlock the door to the building.
"Elliot is on his way up," I yell to Kate. Kate makes some kind of sound or grunt to acknowledge that she's heard me, but I choose to ignore it. I hear the knock on the door, telling me Elliot is here, so I hurry and open our door.
"Hey baby," he says kissing my cheek.
"Hi El,"
"So I finally get to see your place huh?" he says with one arm around me and our faces only an inch or two apart.
"Third time's the charm, right?" I say all breathy.
"Yeah, I guess it is," he whispers into my ear, pulling me further into the living room.
"We saved you some food in case you were hungry and hadn't had time to eat," I say, pointing to the food on the coffee table.
"mmm a woman after my heart," he says digging into some cashew chicken.
"I'm just gonna go get my purse, and then I'll be back, okay?" I say giving him a peck on the lips. He just nods as his mouth is filled with food.
I quickly get a small black purse and pack my essentials; phone, keys, wallet, and lip-gloss.
I go back to the living room, and Elliot has already managed to devour all our leftovers.
"I guess you were hungry after all," I giggle.
"I'm always hungry Ana Banana," he chuckles.
"Let me just go check if Kate is ready,"
I go to Kate's room and knock on the door asking if she's ready to get going.
"Yeah I'm ready, and the taxi just called, it's downstairs," she says coming out of her room, looking a little apprehensive.
"Are you okay, Kate? I whisper to her.
"Yeah, fine," she says, but I can tell she's not honest.
We go into the living room to meet up with Elliot. This is a moment I've been nervous about since Kate's first outburst.
"Kate, this is Elliot. Elliot, this Kate, my roommate and best friend," I say introducing them to each other. Kate looks like she's about to either pass out or throw up. And Elliot looks up with wide eyes like a deer caught in headlights.
I look questioningly between the two of them, coming up with all kinds of scenarios in my head.
"Uhm... Nice to meet you, Kate," Elliot finally gets out, looking mighty uncomfortable.
"You too," Kate mumbles.
"Okay... Let's get going, the taxi is waiting," I say, just wanting to get out of here as quickly as humanly possible. Kate goes first and practically runs down the stairs. Elliot and I walk hand in hand down the stairs after I've looked our door.
"So what was that about?" I ask him quietly.
"I'll tell you later, promise!" he says, giving my hand a comforting squeeze.
I let it go for now, and we get into the backseat of the cab. Kate has chosen the passenger seat, something she usually never does. I'm not sure if it's to avoid me or what.
We arrive at the bar, and Elliot quickly pays for the taxi before Kate or I have the opportunity. Kate hurries out of the car and heads into the bar to meet up with everybody. Elliot and I get out of the car and start walking towards the bar, but Elliot pulls me to the side outside.
"I'm not really sure how to say this," he says awkwardly, one hand scratching the back of his neck.
"Hey, relax," I say, caressing his cheek trying to get him to calm down.
"I've met Kate before, although I didn't know her name at that time. I think it was about a year ago, we met at my brother's club in Seattle. I was out with a few guys from work when Kate came over to our table. She was very flirty, practically throwing herself at me. I turned her down and made her leave our table. Later when I went to the bar to get us some more drinks, she came up to me again. If possible, she flirting even more, obviously not taking 'no' for an answer. I managed to make my escape back to the VIP area, where she couldn't get in after we had already warned security there about her. When we decided to leave, so did she and she managed to get into the same elevator as us, and she actually threw herself at me. She pushed me against one of the walls and jumped on me, kissing me, dry humping me. My friends had to help me get her off,"
"Wow!" I say, barely able to get my head around what he just told me. I can't believe this. I've seen Kate all over guys before although usually they're just as into it as she is. Her outburst about Elliot suddenly makes sense though. She is used to always getting the guy and me usually being ignored. But Elliot had turned her down. Multiple times. And yet, he asked me out.
"I don't know what to say," I tell him, looking up into his ocean blue eyes.
"You don't have to say anything, Ana Banana. It happened, and there's nothing to do about it. Now let's go in so you can enjoy your last days as a college student," he says with a smile, pulling me into the bar filled with students.
I can see my friends at the booths in the corner, so I steer Elliot by the hand towards them.
"Hi guys, this is Elliot," I tell them as we get to the table.
"Elliot, this is everyone," I say smiling gesturing around the two tables. Elliot greets everyone before whispering in my ear that he'll go get us something to drink. I just nod and ask him to get me a margarita. He smiles and disappears into the crowd to head to the bar.
There is only room at the opposite table that Kate is sitting at, so I go sit over there, secretly happy since I have no idea what to say to her. Jose quickly moves over to my table, he tries to get the seat next to me, but I've put my purse down to save the place for Elliot. Jose realizes that I'm not going to move my purse, so gets in on the other side of the booth.
"So who is Elliot? I've never seen him around before," he asks me with an edge to his voice.
"He's not in college," is all I manage to get out before Elliot takes his seat next to me and puts down a drink in front of me.
"Who is not in college?" he asks, apparently having heard what I was saying.
"You aren't," I smile.
"No, thank god for that! I never liked homework," he laughs.
"So how long have you two known each other? Can't be long, Ana has never mentioned you," Jose says sounding a little offended.
"We've known each other for about a week," Elliot says with a huge smile on his face that I can't help but reciprocate.
"I met him in Seattle when I went there with Kate last Monday," I supply, still looking at Elliot.
"So you came all this way to hang out with college students?" Jose asks, making it sound ridiculous.
"Well, I mostly came to hang out with my girl, but I wanted to meet her friends as well," Elliot responds pretending not to hear animosity from Jose and gives me kiss. I feel giddy like a school girl, hearing him call me 'his girl', while Jose looks like he's eaten something sour, and shuffles out his seat and move to the other table.
"So how long has he had a thing for you?" Elliot whispers into my ear before licking the shell of my ear before kissing and sucking on the point under my ear, that makes me go crazy. I can't help the whimper that slips out.
"According to Kate, it's been years, his dad and Ray were in the Marines together," I finally manage to get out.
I introduce Elliot to some of the others, and we go to the dance floor with them and have fun. Kate avoids us like the plague despite my trying to go up to her to talk, but she quickly excused herself and disappeared into the crowd. After that, I gave up and decided to let her come to me when she was ready.
At 3 am, both Elliot and I were ready to go home. I told him, I had to pee before we left but he could go get us a taxi. Kate had already gone off with some guy from the paper, I just hoped they'd gone to his place.
Coming out of the bathroom, Jose immediately comes up to me and blocks my exit from the hallway.
"Why are you with him?" He asks accusingly.
"Because I like him. Why?" I ask, trying to remain calm. I can smell the alcohol on his breath, it's powerful, and I can tell he is wasted; his eyes can't even focus.
"But I am here, I've always been right here," he says. I'm not sure if he's actually talking to himself or to me.
"I don't feel that way about you," I tell him quietly, trying to get around so I can get out of here. The stench of alcohol coming from him is making me nauseous. Jose grabs my arm when I try to walk around him and push me against the wall. His grab on my arm is tight, and it's getting painful. I really wish someone would come back to this hallway right now.
"Please Jose, let go of me!" I shout, hoping someone might hear me.
"No! I've always been here, it should be me!" he roars. He tries to kiss me, but I turn away and try to push him off of me. But he still has a tight grip on my arm, and he is too strong for me. He continues to try and kiss me, and I can feel him becoming more frustrated.
"Please, Jose! Stop!" I scream. I can feel tears well up in my eyes, threatening to spill any second.
Suddenly Jose is gone, and I'm in Elliot's arms.
"Oh God, are you okay, baby?" Elliot asks. I can't even talk, so I just cling to him, hiding my face in the crook of his neck, hoping his scent might calm me down.
"It's okay, I've got you" he keeps repeating, not sure if it's to himself or to me. He keeps kissing my hair, making sure I know he is here for me.
I look up from Elliot's neck and see Jose being escorted out by security, he looks like he's taken a few punches, so I quickly turn my body to check Elliot's hands. They're a little bruised and have a little blood on them, but I can tell it isn't his.
"I'm fine, Ana. Come on, let's get you home," Elliot interrupts my thoughts and leads me outside. We get into a taxi right away and are quickly on our way back to my apartment.
"Thank you, E.T.," I say, not knowing what else to say right now. This wasn't exactly how I'd seen tonight going.
"You don't have to thank me, baby. I'm just glad I was there," he whispers, his lips resting against the side of my head, while he's holding me.