The Perfect Place [Eduardo Saverin x OC]

10. Congratulations!

The cab ride back to the hotel was just as quiet as the ride to the office. They both sat in the back seat but didn't look at each other. It was now dark out and the beautiful city lights of San Francisco passed through their car windows. Lia was still a bit shaken up after what happened at the office, but she still felt close to him after what he said. "I'll never let anyone take you away from me. I promise". Why would he say such things, but then now not even speak to her? Suddenly, he was holding her hand, still looking away from her. She felt that he was shaking from the anger.

"Say something." Eduardo said, almost whispering.
"What?"
"Say anything, it'll calm me down."
Lia thought for a quick moment. "What you said to me, about not letting him take me away from you," she sighed, "Wow, you're really romantic, aren't you?" she said, speaking her mind.
The shaking immediately went down. "Shut up." he said, and she could hear by his voice that he was smiling.
"You gave them what they deserved. I'm still not sure exactly what happened-"
"They diluted my shares down to 0.03%! Can you believe it? After all I've done for this company? They're just removing me from it, completely!"
Lia put her hand on his cheek to turn his face to her. "It's gonna be okay, I promise. You're definitely going to win in court!"

The face that then turned to her was not the Eduardo she knew. Something deep inside him had broken. It seemed as though someone had ripped his heart out. It made Lia feel the same way just looking at him. He tried to smile back at her, quickly failing. He buried his face in her shoulder and her heart started racing.

"We're here." the cab driver said. He saw Eduardo on Lia's shoulder and gave Lia a sympathetic look. Eduardo took a deep breath, thanked the driver and paid. Entering the lobby, Lia was reminded of the room situation and felt embarrassed again. In the elevator she quickly pressed the "3" button, her room's floor, as if leaving Eduardo as fast as possible would make it any easier.

"If you need anything tonight, just call me. I'll be in my room." Lia said and tried to look him in the eyes, but his head was hanging too low.
"Thank you" he murmured.

The numbers on the screen reached 3 and the elevator doors opened. She waved goodbye to Eduardo and stepped out, but was quickly stopped by his hand on her arm.

"No, I'm sorry, please don't go. Stay." his eyes were begging.
The elevators closed but were stopped by Lia's body. She stepped into the elevator again.
"Oh, of course, I'm here for you."

They entered his room and it was smaller than Lia's. Her room had a queen size bed and a huge window with a great view. His room had a smaller bed and didn't even have a window. Did he really get her the best room? She decided to not say anything about it, he seemed too upset about Facebook. He sat down on his bed and opened the first few buttons on his shirt, still keeping his head low. Lia sat down next to him.

"You okay?" she furrowed her brows.
"No" he whispered. "Please... please hold me."

At those words, Lia hugged him again, even if it was awkward since they were sitting next to each other. Lia then lied down and brought Eduardo down with her. He put his head on her chest and took a deep, shaky breath.

"It's gonna be okay, hold my hand. We'll fix this." Lia said and Eduardo immediately followed.

They laid like that for a while, Lia running her fingers through his dark brown hair and him holding her tight. She felt his breaths getting lighter and slower, and thought he had fallen asleep. It was really late, after all. She tried to loosen his grip around her waist so that she could go to her own room and let him sleep, but he suddenly woke up.

"Hey, where are you going?" he asked, and still sounded sad.
"To my room, I thought you were asleep!" she explained.
"I wasn't, please stay. Stay for the night."
She sat up which made him have to sit up too. "If you want me to stay, then why did you get us separate rooms?"
He took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. "I don't know..."
"You don't know?"
"Of course I want you here," he sat closer to her. "I just didn't want to force you to share a room with me. In school, you have to be with me. But here, you don't, and I'm not going to force you."
"But I want to be with you!"
"You do?" he wondered, "I thought this thing, me and you, was just something temporary until you found an apartment."
"Okay, that's how it started out, yes, but now..." she looked him in his eyes, "it's something else, I'm with you because I actually want to be. Of course I'm looking for a new apartment, but when I get the chance, obviously I would want to be with you."
He smiled for the first time that night. "Obviously I want to be with you too."
Lia laughed. "When you said you got us separate rooms, I thought you took a chance to be without me."
"Oh no no no!" Eduardo exclaimed and hugged Lia. "I'm so sorry, it was all just a dumb misunderstanding!"
"Don't apologize, you're right, it was a dumb misunderstanding." she smiled and they stopped hugging. "How do you feel now?"
"Much better. I'm going to come back for everything, just like I said I would." he said, sighed, and put a strand of hair that had fallen out of her hairdo behind her ear. "Thank you so much for coming to San Francisco with me. I don't know what I would have done without you here." he laughed a little.
"Probably gotten blackout drunk alone in a bar." Lia smiled.
"You're right." he laughed. Their faces were now mere inches from each other. "I really want to thank you for coming here for me" he murmured and held an eye contact with her that made it seem like everything around her except him disappeared.
"You don't have to do that-"
"No, I want to." he interrupted. "Can I..." his eyes darted from her eyes to her lips, "kiss you?"

Lia answered by grabbing his face and kissing him, and everything finally felt like it had fallen into place. She started off slow, not moving her lips too much. But Eduardo picked up the pace and the kiss quickly turned passionate thanks to his desperation. He pressed his body against her before making her lie down and putting himself on top of her. She pulled her hand through his hair as he kissed down her neck. She was holding in the moans.

"No, baby, don't hold it in."
"Mhm'' Lia quietly moaned, still holding back. He had gone from kissing to completely devouring her. Her lips, face, ears, neck. "Can I touch your chest?" she asked.
"Go ahead, love." he answered between kisses. She put her hand up his shirt and felt his muscles contracting. He smiled at her touch and pressed himself even closer to her. His kisses began to slow down and he eventually pulled away, still leaving small kisses on her lips. He was unable to open his eyes for a few seconds.

"Wow" he took a deep breath.
"Yeah, wow" she smiled.
"I'm sorry if that was too much, I just, I really like you and I-"
"Don't apologize" She pecked his lips. "I loved it."
He grinned. "Me too."

Not much later that night, Eduardo fell asleep in Lia's arms. Like they weren't two people who had to live together but two people who wanted to live together. Lia was still up, still thinking about the kiss. Who could just fall asleep after a kiss like that? It's technically just lips colliding, but it made her feel wanted, heard, loved? Her head was too high in the clouds to sleep. That's when her phone buzzed. She checked it and she had gotten a message from an unknown number.

Congratulations!

She saw the title of the message and just assumed it was a scammer or something, but clicked on it anyway.

Congratulations Lia Meyer, you are now the tenant for the two-room apartment at 43 Cambridge Drive.