Elle - Book 2

Chapter One.

Elle

Saturday 12th June

        My body ached with exhaustion after a restless nights sleep and a long day of photographing possibly the most beautiful wedding I have ever witnessed. I saw a lot of weddings with the job I did, from large lavish ones to small traditional ceremonies, but that day I had photographed a gorgeous small ceremony in the place that the couple had met, with the ceremony venue only lit by candlelight and it seemed like the groom and bride were the only people in the room when they looked at each other.

 My eyes prickled with tears when the couple's favourite song begun playing and Gracie, the bride, floated down the aisle holding her father's arm and Matthew, her groom, stood at the top of the aisle with his hand over his mouth as tears built in his eyes. I got some amazing shots of that moment, a moment they would remember for as long as they lived.

That was what I wanted.

 I wanted someone to look at me the way Matthew looked at Gracie, to love so openly and to have that special moment. I always cherished being apart of these couples days, to see them celebrate their most special day together. It just made me want something like they had so much. 

I pushed my key into the keyhole of my front door and pushed it open, warmth enveloping me as I stepped inside of the threshold and a tired smile brushing my lips as I saw Caleb sat on the couch with the television playing a pass-the-time show as he watched. One of his muscular tattooed arms was stretched across the back of the couch and the other sat on his lap with a bottle of beer in his hand.

 "Evening gorgeous, how was work?" He asked, putting his beer down so he could walk around the couch to give me a hug and kiss my lips. 

 Caleb was slightly taller than myself, he had a toned body and muscular arms that were covered in tattoos. It seemed that after Ace my type had morphed slightly, and Caleb was a nice guy too. He was the lead singer of his band which were decently successful, and he could give me what Ace couldn't, love and stability. His hair was auburn coloured and cropped short at the sides, and he had the most stunning blue-gray eyes. 

 "It was exhausting, I feel like I could pass out any second now," I grumbled, accepting as Caleb lifted me from the ground with my legs hooked around his thin waist, and carried me to the sofa where he sat down with me straddling his hips. I nuzzled my head into his clothed chest and groaned in relief, feeling myself getting drowsy already.

 "Hey Sleeping Beauty, lets get some food into you before you sleep," he said softly to me and I nodded into his chest. "Feeling takeout?"

 "Sounds amazing," I moaned and felt as he moved to grab his phone. He tapped away at the screen for a few minutes before placing it back down.

 "It's ordered. In the meantime, let's get you into a relaxing bath," he said and lifted me off of him. I whined at the loss of contact and he chuckled, pressing a kiss to my temple as he walked to my bathroom and began running the tap, pouring in some of my favourite bubble bath.

 "Where is Kit?" I asked through a yawn into the palm of my hand, looking around as I realised he hadn't welcomed me from work like he always did.

 "He's out with Delilah and some guy, his name was Ace or something," Caleb replied nonchalantly, acutely unaware of the shivers that name sent through my body, igniting every one of my nerve endings in flames. 

 "Oh," I replied dumbly, not knowing what else to say. I walked to meet him in the bathroom where he was finishing up my bath. I slipped out of my clothes and allowed them to drop onto the ground near my feet, stepping into the bath and sinking deeply into the water. 

 "Delilah was wearing one of those outfits so I assumed they were going out," he said, brushing the hair from my face as I relaxed onto my soft bath cushion.

 Delilah and Caleb didn't get along and neither of them hid their distaste about the other. They always made sly digs about each other, but Caleb seemed to make a lot about her dress style and drinking habits. "When is your next gig?" I asked, completely avoiding his comment about Delilah. When it came to Caleb I just stayed out of their hatred for each other to avoid him getting angry at me taking her side. 

 He sat down on the closed toilet seat as he spoke to me. "It's in a couple weeks for this new bar that's opening, you'll come yeah?" He asked.

 "Of course," I nodded. His gigs were always late at night, especially when they were at clubs, and so I always knew that my photographing would be over by then and I would be free to go to the gig. I always went, even when I was basically passing out on the dance floor from exhaustion after my long shift.

 I was always in the front row yelling along to the lyrics and dancing. Sometimes Delilah and Kit joined me, even Delilah could admit that he made good music. 

 "Can you do your magic and take some photos?" He asked hopefully and I sighed, nodding.

 "I'll probably be coming straight from a wedding so I guess I could take a few shots when I'm there," I said, playing with the bubbles in the bath by swirling my finger in the water and making shapes.

 "Did you think about my offer?" He asked in a strained voice sort of out of the blue.

 He had asked a few weeks ago if I wanted to move in with him but I had said several times that it was too soon and that I was happy in the apartment I rented with Kit. We had a good thing going and I loved living with him. "We spoke about this, I'm not ready yet and I want to stay here for a while," I said to him, not looking up from the shapes I was making with the bubbles.

 "It's weird that my girlfriend lives with another guy," he said matter-of-factly but I just rolled my eyes.

 "It's not like that with Kit and you know it," I said, letting out a sigh of frustration when Caleb rolled his eyes, got up and walked out of the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. I groaned and leaned back in the bath, cleaning myself quickly before I climbed out and wrapped a towel around myself.

 I dried briskly and walked out of the bathroom to where he was sat on the couch with a sour expression. "I don't want to fight tonight," I said to him as I walked over to the couch. He glanced at me and his gaze flicked down to what I was dressed in, or more accurately what I was not dressed in and I could see the internal fight to not get distracted.

 "Then agree to move in with me," he said.

 I raised my eyebrows. "You know that's not how that works, I've said I'm not ready and that should be good enough Caleb," I told him and he sighed, sulking like a small child who's mother told them they couldn't have any candy. 

 "I love you, I want to spend the rest of my life with you, I just don't want to wait," he said to me, and I blew out a breath from my nose. I had never told Caleb that I loved him because I wasn't sure, we were so early in the relationship for us to be saying things like this and for him to be planning out lives together. Caleb was much older than me and so I knew he was ready for more things than me, but he should understand with a younger girlfriend that they might not want the same.

 "I'm not ready," I said to him sternly.

 "You can't say it, can you?" He scoffed, shaking his head.

 I held tighter onto my bath towel. "I'm just not ready yet, stop pushing me."

 "You're never ready!" His voice raised and I didn't need to hear anymore, so I turned and walked down the hallway to my bedroom. Inside my room, I dug out some comfortable clothes and dropped my towel, pulling on the sweatpants and t-shirt. I hung my towel back where it came from and then joined Caleb once again in the living room where he had the front door open and was accepting a food delivery.

 "Thank you," he said before closing the door. When he turned to me, he gave me an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, let's just forget it for now and eat something," he said and I agreed. We needed to discuss these things and just pushing it to the side constantly wasn't the best idea, but I was exhausted and didn't want to deal with Caleb being angry.

 We settled down for the evening and cuddled up on the sofa eating our Chinese takeout whilst watching some random movie that was on one of the channels we flicked past.