Obsessions ⇢ Tony Stark

18 | Before He Cheats

Eleanora stirred awake, eyes opening blearily and glancing around the dark room. The television screen was black, but still emitting a green glow. She could make out Rhodey's form curled up against the arm of the couch to her right, meanwhile Tony was slumped against her left side, head resting on her shoulder and letting out quiet snores.

She smiled slightly to herself, let out a content sigh and rested her head against Tony's again. He made an indistinguishable noise, and then moved slightly, slinging his arm across her stomach. Shifting slightly so she was more comfortable, her eyes fluttered shut as a warmth bloomed in her chest.

• • •

A sudden jolt woke Eleanora the second time, and the first thing she noticed was how she was now the one resting against Tony. The second things she noticed was his wide-eyed, unsettled expression, pupils darting around as if figuring out where he was.

She hastily sat up and scooted away from him slightly as she asked, "You okay?"

"Huh?" he blinked, glancing across at her. "Oh, yeah. Just... I was about to die in my dream, that was... super weird."

"Sorry to inform you that you're still alive," she smiled wryly, quietening her voice when Rhodey stirred in his sleep.

Tony matched her volume. "I'm going to be honest, a small part of me thought Maddie was going to kill me yesterday."

"You didn't tell me that you guys even fought at the party."

He shrugged. "Didn't seem that important, I guess. I kind of forgot about it, actually."

"I still can't believe she did that," Eleanora shook her head. "Well... actually, I can. But that's so fucked up, and you can feel sad about it, you know? I know I've got no right to be mad, but you can do better than that. Like way better."

He gave a small smile and let out a sigh, "Thanks. You really were right about her not being a pleasant person. I didn't love her, but... it was still nice, you know? Having that."

Eleanora nodded, smiling sympathetically. "Welcome to the Lonely Hearts Club."

"How are you feeling after everything?"

She mulled over the question for a few moments, thinking about Rhodey's comment the previous night about missing the memories as opposed to Tucker himself. He was right. She was hanging on to all the positive memories, like their first date, awkward but cute and sweet, their first kiss, their nights in when they'd make dinner together, late nights in the pool. She couldn't let go of all the good little moments when he'd been an incredibly sweet boyfriend because she didn't want to think about what a shit person he really was, didn't want to think that she had been fooled, didn't want to think about him with his fiancee. She didn't want to be the second choice.

"Let me put it this way. It almost feels like a joke to play out a part when you are not the starring role in someone else's heart."

Tony ran his tongue over his teeth and shook his head. "That guy's heart isn't worthy of you in any capacity."

"I hate him so much and yet I'm still sad and I actually miss being with him and I fucking hate that. I thought after finding out something like that, that it'd be easy to get rid of my feelings for him but it's- it's like a stain. I don't get why it's so hard to stop loving him when he did something like that, you know? I thought I cut him at the root but... he keeps growing back like weeds."