The Second Tour of 44West

ch. 31 - quiet

Elizabeth

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I woke up with a slight headache and some confusion as to where I was, and who I was currently sleeping on.

Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I lifted my head and looked around, seeing the final fight scene from Beauty and the Beast playing on a large television and a tattooed leg under my head.

"Hey," She said, and all of my clouded thoughts cleared as her voice brought me back to reality. I sat up and stretched out my aching limbs before readjusting the blanket over my lap and looking into her deep, blue eyes.

"Hey." I replied as she smiled.

"You okay?"

I nodded as I looked around again, and wiped at my face some more. "How long was I sleeping?"

She shrugged as she looked at me. "Not long. The movie is still on so only about an hour or so."

"Okay." I mumbled before I stood up, excusing myself to use the restroom. My body moved on auto-pilot as I refused to let myself think about the day. I knew I made the right decision. All I wanted to do was be with Rion. In what capacity, though, I'm still not sure.

I walked back out into the kitchen area and found Rion busy at the stove, boiling some water. Looking over at the time displayed on the microwave, I saw it was about five-thirty in the evening, and my chest constricted as I thought about what was probably waiting for me on my phone.

Sighing, I took a seat on a bar stool situated at the large kitchen island and rested my head on my palm.

"Everything okay?" Rion asked without even turning around, making me want to roll my eyes at how she knows exactly how I'm feeling all of the time.

Deciding it would be useless to lie to her, I told the truth. "I'm just dreading looking at my phone. I'm sure it has messages from Robbie begging for my forgiveness, media articles absolutely dragging me, and not to mention my parents probably disowned me for good, now."

Rion's body tensed at that last part, her jaw clenched as she looked over her shoulder to meet my eyes. "Have I ever told you that I hate your parents?"

I chuckled at the statement and played with my fingers on the countertop in front of me. "You didn't have to. They've gotten even worse since high school if you can believe that."

"I don't know how that's possible." She said through clenched teeth.

"I started making a lot of money and dated a man. They were only too proud of me for that. They loved Robbie, but not for the right reasons. They barely even spoke to me at the rehearsal dinner."

"Why did you invite them?" She asked, and I could tell she was trying to keep her anger at bay.

"Robbie insisted," I started, watching her hang her head with her back to me. "To be honest, Rion. I don't know why I did a lot of what I did."

Rion must have heard something in my voice, because she abandoned her pot and walked around the island to me, pulling me into a hug. Her arms around my shoulders with my head in her chest, wrapping my own arms around her waist.

"Are you comfortable with me, Elizabeth?"

Her question caught me by surprise, so I lifted my head to look up at her and my breath caught in my throat as I saw her with her eyes already trained on me, watching my every reaction. It's as if my answer was the most important thing in the world to her right now, and would affect every day of her life from here on out.