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Making us each a plate, I get her settled into a seat and sitting next to her I start to eat.
CHAPTER 12
ELODIE
I’m burning up.
Not with a fever, but from the way Drake keeps looking at me.
This is definitely not an appropriate time to even be thinking like this. And honestly, I’ve never felt like this before anyway. Judging by the hard on he had in the hallway on the way down here, he’sfeeling it too.
I need to be worried about Reba, and I am. I’m going to try to trust Drake and Gio, but I will go there myself if I have to. If I can figure a way to get out of here. This place is locked down tighter than Fort Knox and I wouldn’t put it past Drake to tell everyone not to let me out.
Which honestly is a little comforting. It’s high handed for sure, but still comforting.
Drake keeps sneaking looks at me as we eat in silence. It’s making me nervous. You could cut the tension in here with a knife. So I decide a little small talk is in order.
“So the guest room is really nice. Who decorated it?” I ask, noticing that Drake looks really nervous all of a sudden. What’s that about? Drawing my eyebrows together, I ask, “What? What was that look about?”
“I don’t want to say. You’ll probably get mad. Oh fuck it, you already know I’ve been stalking you forever so I guess this can’t be that much worse. I designed it for you. There’s also a connecting door in your closet that goes to my suite next door,” he says in a rush.
I dropped the sandwich I was eating in shock. Is he for real?
Okay, just take a couple deep breaths, El. He knew your clothes sizes, it’s not that big a stretch that he would know your preferences too right? I just stare at him in silence though, because I don’t really know what to say.
Maybe, just maybe, I’m as crazy as he is too, because a part of me feels happy that he did something like this for me.
“There’s something else too. I can show you when we get done eating,” he says with a look on his face that tells me this is going tobe an even bigger thing. Oh shit. I don’t really know how much more I can try to be okay with.
“You know how crazy all this sounds right? I mean, do you hear yourself?” I ask.
“Listen, I knew I wanted you for a long time now. So I prepared for it. Since I couldn’t tell you, I kept myself busy doing things for you in the hopes that one day I’d be able to show them to you. So yes, I know how crazy it sounds, but I don’t care. You’re still here. You aren’t trying to run. Maybe that’s crazy too. If it is, we can just be crazy together,” he says, tipping my chin up.
Nodding, I look into his eyes and say, “In a weird way, it makes me feel good. Logically, I know I should run screaming. But the other part of me, the one that’s never known love, or safety, feels comforted by all of it.”
He blows out a breath and I see him relax a little.
We finish our food in silence. I think about all the things that are happening. It’s a lot. So I’ll let him do what he wants to help take my mind off of things. I’m sure this has been hard for him too. If he cares for me the way he says he does, I can’t imagine how seeing me this way makes him feel. Not to mention, Reba is a part of their life too. They aren’t going to just write her off.
Drake stands and holds his hand out to me. I take it slowly, laying my fingers gently in his hand. He wraps his much larger hand around mine and helps me stand. We head back towards my room,literally my room, I think, rolling my eyes internally. This is going to take some getting used to for sure.
We pass his room, and then mine, to another door just down the hall. Taking out a key, he unlocks the door and then hands the key to me.
“This is the part where I would cover your eyes and lead you in, but I don’t want to hurt you, so can you just close them gently and let me lead you in?” he asks.
Closing my eyes, I let Drake lead me into the room. I hear him close the door behind us with a soft click and hear him flip a switch. Seeing red behind my eyelids, I realize in just a few seconds what I’m going to see when I open my eyes. The tears immediately start forming.
“Okay, you can open them now, though it looks like you already figured it out,” he says with a soft laugh.
Opening my eyes, I see my guess was correct. It’s a darkroom. Not just any darkroom. It has all state of the art equipment, too. And so much space for hanging photos.
I see an enlarger and all the lenses and lens boards I’d need. Easels and contact printers. Print trays, tongs, squeegees, empty chem jugs, graduated cylinders for mixing chemicals, several containers of developer, stop bath, and fixer. There are also shelves lining the walls with everything else I could need and more.
Raising my hand to my mouth I look back at Drake.
“This is, I don’t even have words. I never thought in a million years I could ever have a workspace like this. It’s too much,” I say, hands and voice shaking.
“It doesn’t matter if we are just friends or whatever you decide, this space will always be here for you whenever you need it. You are going to school here in the city, and I know you will have projects. This way, you don’t have to wait for times to open up for the rooms at the University,” he says. He looks pretty cute with his hands in his pockets, almost as if he was afraid of how I might react. “Oh and one more thing.”
