Will You Love Me Then?

Chapter 7 - Elijah

She seems like she could care less that I am here right now. She said she is tired, but she is just giving me one-word answers if she even talks to me at all. What is her problem?

"Summer, I just..."

She stopped and whipped around to face me, her face twisted in obvious frustration, "Eli, you don't have to give me a reason. If you were busy or you just simply forgot, that's fine. It doesn't really matter anyway. It's fine."

I looked away from her, and ran a hand through my hair, debating on what to say next. For some reason, I really want her to know that I didn't forget to text her. Addy just needed me, and she will always come before some girl, even if that girl is Summer.

Without meaning to, I blurted out the truth, "Addy and I were celebrating an anniversary this week."

She rolled her eyes and flatly said, "I am glad you got to spend time with your girlfriend. Congrats. I am not going to be the other woman so you can just lose my number. Okay?"

What the heck was that?

She huffed and turned away from me, quickly walking away but she was limping, so it only took me a few steps to catch up to her. I grabbed her elbow and quietly said her name again. I don't know what her problem is, but she shouldn't talk to me like that.

Her eyes flew down to where I was holding her arm, a frown on her face. I immediately let go of her arm and ducked my head, running a hand through my hair.

Without good reason, I felt the need to defend myself, so I did.

"Addy is my sister. I don't have a girlfriend and if I did, I would never betray her trust by asking someone else for their number. I am many things, but a cheater is not one of them."

I sighed and dragged a hand through my hair again, "And the anniversary was for my dad. He passed away seven years ago, and Addy and I always do a little celebration of life thing for him."

Her face softened as she sucked in her breath. I watched her mentally scold herself before she quietly said, "I'm sorry, Eli."

I shrugged my shoulders, "Yeah, me too. So, I mean it when I say I didn't forget to text you. I just...family is my priority."

Feeling embarrassed by my uncharacteristic vulnerability, I schooled my face into neutrality and slightly laughed, "Sorry for bringing the mood down, this is not exactly how I imagined our next conversation going."

"Interesting..." she coyly stated, a smirk playing on her lips.

"Why is that interesting?" I asked.

"You just admitted to imagining conversations with me."

I narrowed my eyes at her, but I felt heat prick the back of my neck. Her smile in response seemed almost triumphant and I shook my head, "That is not what I meant."

She smirked again, "Tell me, Eli, how did you imagine our next conversation going?"

"Not talking about my dead dad for sure..." I mumbled under my breath, but she heard me and laughed before walking away to the next aisle. I quietly trailed after her, thankful that she seemed to accept my reason.

As I fell into step next to her again, she surprised me by asking if I was actually going to text her now. So, I pulled out my phone and texted her right then.

She looked at her phone and when she read my text, she looked back up at me with an incredulous look on her face.

"Really?"

I smiled and winked. Lowering my voice in my best Joey Tribbiani impression, I said my text message aloud with a slight head nod, "How you doin?"

She shook her head and laughed at me. But a real laugh this time, where her nose slightly crinkled and some of the tiredness left her eyes.