the twenty-first century ellinghams

chapter twelve: shoe box

~about eleven years ago~

     she looks up from the menu to a pair of hands leaning against the bar. along his left wrist was the beaten up rolex, and on his right ring finger, he wore a thick, silver class ring. she looks up to meet his eyes which were more gold than usual, most likely due to the setting sun.
     "two years and you still haven't changed your drink of choice," david notes.
     "why mess with what works?" stevie replies, trying to sound casual. he smiles and nods at this.
     "you got me there. hi, by the way."
     "hi."
     "and you?" the bartender asks david.
     "i'll have the same," david replies.
     "you got it."
      with his attention focused on the rooftop surrounding, stevie is able to get a better look at david without it being obvious. he was wearing black slacks, black shoes, and a black long-sleeved button-up, which he had rolled the sleeves up to his elbows because of the summer heat. his hair had been tamed a bit but was still as curly and wild as she remembered from college, and last week. last week he had looked good, but this was a different kind of good. everything about him was polished and infuriatingly tempting. when he looks away from the bar and back at her, he smiles his signature half-smirk, half-smile at her. and it was at that moment, that she knew. either this was not a mistake at all, or this was the biggest mistake she had ever made.

     drinks in hand, they make their way to an empty table and sit down. once they sit down, a waitress makes her way over to them and hands them each a menu. stevie scans it intently, not risking direct eye contact. it's all small plates and dishes perfectly fine the way they were but someone felt the need to "twist it up a bit". she decides on an apple walnut salad, you couldn't mess it up. she sets the menu down and presses her hands together, examining her nails.
     "so," she says. "how's your week been?"
     "pretty good," david replies, putting down his menu. "this city is humid as hell." stevie nods her head in agreement.
     "i spend most of my time with quantico in interrogation rooms and at scenes, so i pretty much get to avoid the heat and humidity. but, you're right, this is brutal."
     "isn't it crazy?" he asks. "getting to say stuff like 'interrogation rooms' and 'quantico' but it actually applies to you? like you're actually do it?" stevie laughs slightly, picking up her drink.
    "you have no idea," she says, taking a sip. "but, tell me more about you. tell me about this ellingham thing." he tells her about the work he does, visiting with potential donors and students. he gets assigned a city, or a few cities in close proximity, and spends about a week or so in each place. then, he goes home and does some research online, choosing the next place. "and where is home for you, right now?" stevie asks.
     "right now it's philly," he says. "it's pretty close to the school, and it's nice enough. but, i'm not exactly tied to it in any way." why had he said that? did he mean that he would move to quantico if she wanted him to? no, that was crazy. a waitress walks up to them to take their order, ending the thought. they order and return their menus, making it much harder for her to avoid eye contact. she looks at the scenery instead.
     "the sunset is really beautiful tonight," she says, looking at the sky.
     "i agree," he replies. "you, look really beautiful tonight." she looks away from the sky and back to him. his expression isn't serious but it's sincere. it stirs feelings in her she hadn't felt in years.
     "you do too," she says quickly. "i mean, not beautiful, but... handsome. you look... you look good." she takes a sip of her drink. "do you want to go look at the view from the path? the food won't be ready for awhile, now's probably the best time."
     "sure," he says, getting up. she gets up as well, and he gestures for her to lead the way. the make their way out of the maze of tables and towards the outer path. there's a thick pane of glass, about seven feet high, protecting them from falling. it allows them to look at the buildings below. she spots one of her favorite parks in the distance.
     "i love that place," she says, pointing in the park's direction. she turns, expecting to see david looking at the view below, but he's looking at her instead. when they make eye contact, he quickly looks to where she's pointing.
     "it looks nice," he says. they make their way along the perimeter of the rooftop, occasionally making small talk. after awhile, she notices the waitress placing the food on their table.
     "i think we should get back," she says. david turns, notes the waitress, and gestures for her to lead them back. she walks towards the table, david trailing behind her. she turns back towards him to make a joke about the seasonal drinks, so she doesn't see the man getting up from his table in front of her. she's about to bump into him when david grabs her by the waist and pulls her back.
     "close one," he says, as the man gets up and walks towards the bar.
     "yeah," she replies, unable to focus on anything but his hands on her waist. "very close."

~present day~

     stevie first checks becky's room for david, but he isn't there. becky and allison are deep in conversation, and stevie doesn't want to interrupt. she ducks out quickly, shutting the door as quietly as possible as she leaves. she then checks the guest room, only to find it's just jack, dana, and henry.
"have you seen david?" she asks jack.
"not since the living room," he replies. she nods her head a bit and leaves. finally, she checks his room. this is where she finds him, not sitting on the window seat, but against it, his legs stretched out long in front of him. his head is tilted back, resting on the bench, his eyes shut. the door is open, but she knocks anyways, announcing her presence.
"hey stranger," she says. he lifts his head up, opening his eyes, and when he sees her, he smiles a bit.
"hey." she closes the door behind her then makes her way over to him. she sits down beside him and rests her head on his shoulder. her head suddenly feels heavy, and she's overcome with exhaustion. she had been so tense since the moment eddie walked through the door, she feels her shoulders relax a bit and her breathing slow.
"quite the morning," she comments. he sighs.
"yeah," he replies.
"you wanna talk about it?"
"not particularly. not right now at least."
"okay," she says, placing a hand on his right knee, making little figure eights with her thumb. "but, i'm here. if, or when, you do." he nods.
"i know," he replies, smiling a bit. he taps against her left foot with his right, and she taps back. he does it again with a little more pressure, and she does the same. they go back and forth, adding more force each time, until they're both smiling again.
     "i think we have a phone call to make," she says, once the laughing has died down a bit. he gestures for her to do so, and she pulls out her phone.
     "merry christmas!" janelle says when she picks up. she and vi are sitting on their couch, an orange cat, curled up and asleep, sits on the top of the cushion.
      "merry christmas!" stevie and david reply.
      "does this mean that you..." janelle leaves the ending out, not wanting to ruin the possible surprise.
     "we'll be seeing you in february," stevie replies. janelle emits a little squeal, startling the orange cat.
      "we cannot wait," janelle replies, looking at vi who nods in agreement. "you guys are going to love chicago so much, i know it. there's so much to do and see and-" she stops herself from rambling further. "it's gonna be a great weekend."
"absolutely," stevie agrees.
"what do you guys think abo-" before she can continue, the sound of smashing glass can be heard from janelle and vi's end of the line. "shit," janelle exclaims. "rex! get off of there! we got to go. stupid cat!" the screen switches from janelle and vi's faces to the previous facetime call list.
"good call," david notes as stevie puts her phone away. "so... i actually have one more gift."
"what?" she says, playfully slapping his upper arm. he grins and turns around, facing the bench seat. he removes the cushion, revealing a storage compartment in the seat. he pulls out a shoe box covered in dust and places it in her lap. she drags a finger over the lid, leaving a clean streak.
"fancy," she jokes before carefully removing the lid of the box. inside were dozens on paper snippets: some post-it notes, some index cards, receipts, napkins.
"i honestly don't know how these ended up here," david explains. "they were all made back in the apartment, and i could have sworn the box was somewhere in the house. but here they are."
"what are they?" she says, curiously picking up different snippets and looking at the phrases written in david's messy handwriting.
"my vows. snippets of them anyways. some make more sense than others, some of them are just ideas but some are actually drafts." the words and phrases suddenly making much more sense in context, she reads each one, placing the read ones in a separate pile. some were movie quotes or song lyrics. some were bullet point lists or inside jokes. each one was special and made her melt a little, looking at the ink splotches due to hesitation or crossed out words. one in particular grabs her attention, a gasp quickly changing into an uncontrollable laughter.
"is this a haiku?" she says through giggles, falling on her side with laughter.
"give me that!"