Paper Lanterns

Chapter 15 Φ

Chapter 15 Φ

Eric and I had stayed at the beach for a few more hours, arranging to meet up with Natalie and her boyfriend later on. When we got up to gather our things, Eric carried the small cooler in one hand, offering the other to me. I laced my fingers with his, feeling warmth on my cheeks.

It was quite a distance back to where Eric had left his car. There were only a few people left on the beach area, and a group of friends who were surfing at night.

We walked in silence for a while, and I would catch him staring at me from time to time. But it was different—the way he looked at me now. There was fondness and affection in his eyes. He never looked at me like this before, and I guessed what had happened between us had changed it.

"Are you happy?" I quietly asked him.

"Yes," he answered. "You?"

I gave it a thought, before I smiled and said, "For the first time in a while."

"Then I'm glad," Eric replied.

I smiled. "There's just something that I don't understand."

"What is it?"

"It's just off. I haven't even introduced you to them, and yet you were there, asking for my aunt's permission." It really bothered me. There was something else in my mind—one that even I couldn't comprehend yet, but I didn't voice it out. I just said to him, "I also don't understand why Aunt Coral insisted that you and Nat were dating."

Eric didn't answer for a while.

I wanted to trust Eric. It was true that he felt right to me, everything about him. But if I read much into what had happened earlier today, I would consider a thought that would seem almost impossible, even if there were signs that it could be going on.

It honestly felt like the three of them weren't strangers. There was a story that I didn't know about. But, what? Why did it feel like Aunt Coral didn't approve of Eric and me going out, like any other people out there? Why did Natalie have to make it seem like it was only because my feeling was mutual with Eric's that she was giving her permission to him?

What did Eric do, let's say for the span of a few weeks since I'd last seen him, that made Aunt Coral and Natalie act that way towards him?

After a while, he spoke, "Can we talk about it some other day?"

"Is there a reason why you can't tell me now?" I carefully asked him back.

"I want this night to be as it is," Eric asked of me, in almost a whisper. "I don't want to ruin it."

"Okay," I said, agreeing for now. I could ask Natalie, but I settled on hearing the truth from him. Whenver he was ready, I had decided.

***

"Hey there," Natalie said as we were approaching her. She was waiting near the 24-hour convenience store, which was where Eric's car was parked.

"So you were just testing us? All these weird things that happened today?" I disbelievingly asked her.

"I had to make sure," Natalie replied, giving me a nod, before her eyes shifted to Eric. She stared at him, in such a way that I suddenly fell silent and nervous.

"Is everything all right?" I asked, apprehensive.

"Of course," Natalie replied in a low voice.

"Good," I said, observing them. Okay, one night. Tomorrow would be another story. Maybe it would really be a shame to hurt a perfect day. And then remembering that Eric had mentioned that Natalie was with her boyfriend, I changed the topic, "So where is he, Nat? Your boyfriend. You had me there. You never really broke up, didn't you?"