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"Thanks again, lovely doing business with you, doll," Eliana smiled at the girl on her doorstep as she folded the cash handed to her, counting eighty dollars in tens.
"No, thank you. I will definitely be telling everyone to go to you when they need their bags restored," the girl smiled, most likely from a younger class at the high school, or maybe even an eighth-grader, but Eliana didn't mind the business.
"Safe travels," Eliana offered before closing the screen door, bringing her nails up to the tiny holes and scratching them softly as she waited for the girl to get to her car safely, noticing she jumped into the passenger seat so she was right to guess the girl was too young to drive. She had been getting good at guessing the ages and other details of the lives of her so-called clients.
Once the car drove off, Eliana scratched the back of her neck and began walking back towards her room. She had forgotten all about the purse for the girl, so it was a good thing she already had it done because as soon as the doorbell rang, Eliana was scrambling to find a pair of pants and a t-shirt.
She settled for dark blue cotton shorts and the nearest shirt which was a white one with a comic strip from Black Panther printed on it. She wasn't wearing a bra, but she honestly had the kind of chest where she could get away with it. She also had no idea where her clothes from last night were.
Opening the door to her bedroom, she was hit with the sight of Fez in her bed, the smell of Fez in her bed, as well as an instant replay of that morning. It was a nice, peaceful morning at the Romano household — mom was working and the twins were at their friend's house. Fez had come over to drop off a soda, Eliana inviting him inside for an omelette, and before they knew it, they were right back on the kitchen countertop like they had never left.
"Lovely doing business with you, doll," Fez mimicked Eliana with a chuckle. When Eliana and Fez had been dating, she was only really into thrift flipping, but now she had taken it a step further and gotten into restoring bags and sometimes makeup cases. For a side business, Eliana was really teaching herself a lot. "Wow, girls got a hustle."
"Girls gotta eat," Eliana sighed. "Can you please not smoke in here?"
"Ah shit, I forgot you quit. I'm sorry, that one's on me."
Eliana shook her head softly. "It's okay. I just don't want my room to smell, mostly. Then my family will know something is up."
"Your room already smells darling," Fez said, lowering his chin to his chest.
Ellie knew damn well what he meant. They'd been slacking around since about nine that morning and it was now nearing one in the afternoon. They ate, fooled around, watched TV on Eliana's bed, fucked again on Eliana's bed, and repeated the cycle. Her room smelled like two teenagers.
She rolled her eyes, walking over to her vanity. She pulled out her Hello Kitty lighter and brought her favourite candle to her, lighting the wick carefully as not to catch her nail in there. Fez almost forgot how dainty she was.
"Room fucking smells like you," Eliana muttered, closing her lighter and putting it back on the marble tray on her vanity by the gold outlined mirror. She tapped her nails on the sides of the candle, the smell of rain sweeping through the room as she made eye contact with Fez in the mirror. He sat upright, her sage green comforter and white sheets covering the majority of his body, yet she could still see his chest rising and falling. Wrinkled pillows laid behind him sloppily as he cleared his throat softly.
"You weren't complaining an hour ago," he retorted.
"Whatever, you need to shower."
He furrowed his brows. "Hey, this is you too!"
She turned around, bringing her hand to her chest in mock shock. "How absurd of you to make that assumption!" she laughed, unable to hold a serious composure whenever she was joking around with Fez. He wasn't able to either, chuckling at her actions, the stupid ones he would never grow tired of. "I... got you something," Eliana bit her lip.
Fez raised his eyebrow at her. "Me?"
"Yeah, you know like, on the off chance that I saw you around the holidays before school kicked up again."
Oh, he'd been doing a lot more than just seeing her. He chuckled. "You always liked gift-giving."
"Yeah well, this year I could actually afford nice things for..." she trailed off. What she was going to say was for her people, but it was dangerous enough as it was just to be in the same room again — much less doing all the things they'd been sneaking around doing the past week since she ran into him at the corner store. She didn't want to group him in with "her people" and risk leading him on or sending mixed feelings. She grabbed a white box on her vanity, complete with a red ribbon fashioned into a tiny bow. "Let's just say that this year I could actually afford to put thought into it."
Of course, it was too late for that but in being genuine, Eliana really thought she was being careful. She wasn't.
Fez nodded, swallowing hard. He looked down at his hands in his lap. "That's real nice of you, Ellie. I uh, kinda got you something too. It's back at the crib."
She cocked an eyebrow at him, coming over to sit on the bed with him. "Oh really?"
He nodded, bringing his hand out to rub her arm as she sat on the edge of the bed, next to him and staring right at him. It was just the two of them, no one else in their world, every time their skin touched. "Yeah. I guess I'll have to get it to you soon, sorry if it's not by Christmas."
She couldn't believe how generous he was being, but she knew better, that was Fez. He always showed up for the people he cared about. "No, no, I could care less, another year you are happy, healthy and safe... that's all I could ever want for Christmas."
But neither of them were happy without the other.
"You have such a way with words, Eliana."
"Please just open my present," she sighed.
"Right here? Right now?"
"Yes!" she laughed, handing him the box. He unfolded the ribbon carefully, removing the lid to reveal a new gold chain sparkling against black felt. "What do you think? I thought you needed one more."
He smiled at her, unable to control his actions every time she was around. "Thank you, princess. It's great," still holding the box in one hand, he brought the other to her neck, gently pulling her in for a kiss. When he broke away, he stroked her soft cheek with the pad of his thumb. "Now... about that shower."
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when they're happy in their own world but the next chapter is the new years eve party episode and eliana will have to start holding herself accountable... hmmm.
