Chapter 47
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Friendzoned?
Chapter 47~ Friendzoned?
KYLIE’S POV
“How about we grab a bite?” Elijah asked me when we were in his car.
I looked up at him and smiled weakly.
“I’m not so sure I’m up for going to a restaurant when I just got out of prison, Elijah
“Nonsense.” Elijah said good–naturedly, “I’ll just take you home, you wash up and you’ll be fresh as new, looking as good as ever.”
“Elijah…”
“Come on, Kylie. It’s exactly what you need right now. I mean, weren’t you the one, grateful for your freedom a couple Of moments ago.”
I thought about it and shrugged, “I guess.”
“Great. Now let’s use that freedom to the max. Romanticise life a little bit.”
I couldn’t help but smile at him, “Is that what you do when you go to those restaurants alone? You romanticize your life?”
It was his turn to shrug, “I suppose you can call it that.”
“Alright then. Fine. But I think Jess is back at my place. I’ll only leave if she’s comfortable with it. Agreed?”
“No problem. No problem.” He agreed and set the car engine on.
“Jess!” She grabbed me when she opened the door and held on tightly.
“I was so worried. But Elijah, he said he’d handle it. He was so sure he would. Oh, I’m so thankful! Thank God!”
“Thank God,” I said when she let go, smiling at my overly emotional friend.
“Where is Elijah anyway?”
“He’s outside: waiting,” I added and her smile faltered.
“Waiting? Is there something else?”
“No. No. Nothing like that. He just… he wanted me to have a good time. But I told him I wasn’t going anywhere if you weren‘ t comfortable with it.”
“Oh.” Jess said and she visibly sighed in relief, “Oh, if that’s the case, then you should go right ahead. Oh my, you didn’t need permission from me.”
I went to her and hugged her, “You’ve been worried about me all day. I didn’t want to do anything to make things worse.”
She rubbed my hand, “and you’ve had a crappy couple of hours. You go right ahead and have a great time.”
And so, I did as she asked.
I took a bath to wash off the station, picked a floral dress and Jess styled my hair.
If I was making extra efforts to look good, Jess didn’t hyper–focus on it and I was thankful.
“You clean up nice,” Elijah remarked when I joined him in the car several minutes later.
I had heard better compliments from him, but I smiled regardless,
“Thank you.”
He took me to a new restaurant. Maybe Elijah did take romanticizing life a bit seriously and tried to visit as many restaurants as he could. The thought of it was charming.
The place had a warm ambiance. Low lights with gentle soulful music and I was thankful I went with a dress that had the pattern of fall
Leaves.
“It’s a nice place,” I told him after he had ordered our food and he smiled at me.
“Glad you like it here.”
When the food came, I filled my fork with spag Successfully unlocked! nd myself lost in thoughts of the past couple
Of hours, a good portion of my appetite was gone.
Elijah sat across from me, his gaze darting from me to the restaurant and back to me from time to time, but he said nothing. And my mind was too preoccupied to worry about whether or not our situation was awkward.
1/3
Chapter 47–Frettet?
“You might want to eat that before it gets cold. You won’t enjoy it so much if it’s lukewarm” He sad penty and if sighed
“You’re right. But I’m not so hungry right now”
“That’s understandable, but you kind of need the strength. So please, just a lele “So I ate what was on my fork, his eyes resting on me, but it didn’t feel weird
If anything, it felt good to have him there. Because right then, he wasn’t the usual annoying, arogant Eliyah. But rather, he was steady, and strong and made me feel safe.
Gone was the boy, here was the man, and the thought of him made my heart skip 2
“And another one.” He said, urging in to eat some more.
My appetite wasn’t suddenly back, but I found I could stomach some food, so
I did, eating little by little as we both fell into a comfortable silence.
After lunch, he surprised me by asking to take me skating.
“Skating?” I asked, feeling unsure. I had never skated before, and I wasn’t sure I would be able to hold myself up, but he nodded happily
I’ve never skated before, Elijah.” But he only waved me off.
“Well, there’s always a first time for everything. I think you’ll enjoy it too, plus ill be there to guide you.” He said and smiled. I knew better than to fall for his charm, but I told myself it would be harmless to agree just this time, so I nodded.
“Sure. As long as you don’t let me fall.”
“I wouldn’t never.”
But I did fall. The first time I got on the ice, I never found my footing and so I fell
“You look like a little stuffed koala down there.” He said, standing over me and then stretched out his hand. “Do I at least make a cute koala?” I asked begrudgingly when I took his hand, “This is hard.” I told him. “It’s your first time, don’t beat yourself up. Just follow my lead.”
I watched as he skated away from me and then found his way back to me.
“Show off,” I said and leaned on the wall for support, but he took my hand.
“Hold on to me. You won’t be a confident skater by clinging to the wall”
I looked at him feeling very unsure.
“I won’t be a confident skater at all if I break something in my body.”
He chuckled.
“I promise you won’t break a thing. Just trust me.” And so I did, and by the end of the hour, I was able to skate on my own, even though my motion was slow and measured.
“You did well today,” Elijah said to me when we were off the ring and heading back to the car.
“Well, I had a good teacher.”
“Hmm, what are friends for.”
My eyes shot toward him when he said the f–word to see if he made a mistake. But he didn’t seem to notice how I looked at him, so I decided to act like the friendship comment didn’t bother me.
“Yeah, friends. “I said and tried my best to sound natural. But there was a hollow pit in my heart where hope had just begun to blossom.
Friends…
Crazy how I was the one who asked for the whole friendship thing, but now I couldn’t seem to stomach the word without feeling a weird uncertain kind of way.
But it was fine. And even though it wasn’t fine, I would keep going until my emotions were settled.
When we got to the car and he acted all gentleman–like, opening the door for me, I tried to convince myself that him calling me his friend didn’t hurt, that I couldn’t possibly be craving more.
But I knew better. I could try to
Lie to my head, but my heart knew better.
