Eternal Adoration [ON PAUSE]

17. Weekends Like These (Part 2)

SERAPHINA

After breakfast, we silently decide to migrate to the living room, where I take up shop on the end of the longer couch, nestled underneath a throw blanket with my assignment on a sturdy cushion, while Aristide seats a few spaces from me, legs stretched and laptop open.

The television is on but the volume is low, the steady murmur of the news adding a cozy feeling while I scrutinize my assignment sheet instead of watching Aristide's arms clench while he frowns at his work.

He sadly put on a shirt when he went to get his computer, so his abs are hidden from me, but at least I can still lust after thigh meat and strong arms.

"This reminds me, I've been meaning to give this to you." He sets his laptop aside and I blink up in surprise as he leans forward to grab something from the lower level of the glass table. "Your phone."

He offers the white rectangular box to me, and after staring for a disbelieving second, I reach out to take it from him. It's heavier than it looks, and the device within it is protected by the solid material.

"My phone?" There's a picture of the smartphone on the front of the box, and I stare at it, at the warm purple shapes on the frozen home screen.

Is that what it's supposed to look like? A rectangle with slightly rounded corners and a tiny black bar, like an island on the sea of the screen? I've never seen a phone like this. Or more accurately, I have in shows and movies and the hands of others, but never at my fingertips.

The last phone I owned, before I left California, had a button at the very bottom of the screen nestled between an arrow to go backward and a button to open past tabs.

"We only do iPhone in this household," he explains when I say nothing, staring at the futuristic picture like I'm scared it's a blackhole leading to death. "Unless you have a strong passion for the Android operating system?" I can practically feel him wincing.

"My last phone was an Android," I attempt to joke, but it comes off like a statement.

"You poor thing," he mutters. "Well, are you ready to move up in life? Because I hear that once you go iOS, sweetheart, you never go back."

Good grief, he's sweet. How haven't I noticed just how damned sweet this man is? He knows I'm uncomfortable, shocked, surprised, and instead of being annoyed at my silence, he's making jokes to ease my flurry of feelings.

"Aris." I look up at him, shaking my head. "This is too much-"

"It's just a phone, Seraphina." Our knees touch and his fingers brush mine when he slides the box out of my grip to open it. "You need a phone for your own safety and my peace of mind, so I got one on your behalf."

"Not on my behalf, but for me. Look at this thing! It's expensive."

"It's a necessity." He opens the box, revealing a smooth dark purple finish and three cameras that give me the sense of being watched. "Don't glare at it like that, it's going to be your buddy. Can't hurt its feelings this early."

"Aristide-"

"Go ahead." He nods at it. "Pick it up and turn it on. Let it get used to your hand."

I frown at him because he's trying hard to ease my tension and, damn him, it's working. "You're acting like it's a dog or something."

"Enough with the talking and pick it up, woman."

I know what he's doing. Once I touch it, I'll feel a sense of ownership. The annoying man knows me so well because he knows that all it takes is for me to feel its weight in my hands to claim it as mine.