the new york elites

valentines

Elijah had invited all the elites for a dinner. It was valentine's day and what better way to spend it than with all your friends. To be honest I was still in a shit mood, and it showed. Everyone was asking me if I was okay. Luca reassured them that I was being dramatic but insisted to sit next to me at lunch. We were sat in a booth at our favourite french restaurant in central New York. I leaned on Lucas shoulder and closed my eyes. I had barely slept all week, make up helped at first, but progressively, even the most full coverage concealer couldn't hide my under-eye bags and bruises of Hayden's strong Right hoot.

I was sat to the left of Luca and Rory was sat to the right. Opposite Luca was Daphne who had Elijah and Olivia either side of her. I was facing Elijah, and each time i would briefly open my eyes, I would catch him staring at me, he never diverted his gaze from the bruise on my cheek. There was concern and confusion hidden behind his eyes.
"fuck this. i'm done pretending everything is okay, adrianna what happened to your face and why do you look half dead" he huffed, out of nowhere. The rest of the group didn't protest and his words and just turned their heads in my direction. I looked at Luca, who nodded slowly whispering "only if your ready".

Slowly, I swallowed the lump in my chest and took a deep breath. I explained everything to them. They just sat there, each consumed by their own thoughts on the situation. Rory sat there, looking at me, genuinely concerned if I was okay. Liv and Daphne, reached their hands out across the table to my hand and looked at me with sympathy. Elijah's face was filled with pure rage. He said nothing, instead he just bit his nails. Each of them meant so much to me. After a while, Olivia and Rory headed back to their apartment and Daphne and Luca did the same. Elijah and I just sat their, I broke the silence. "I should've told you and I'm sorry". He remained in the same position, just flicking his eyes up to look at me. At first, I thought he didn't hear me but then he spoke.
"It's not your fault Ari, but I am going to kill him." Elijah whispered. I shook me head slowly at him.
"No, your not, promise me?" I looked at him, with glassed eyes before he spoke again. He hesitated before he finally agreed. I didn't want to speak about the matter anymore and Elijah seemed to understand. "How did you get here?, didn't Luca drive you?" he questioned, changing the subject. ok
"yeah, i'll just call my driver" I mumbled, smiling at the text Liv had just sent to Daphne and I. "shopping trip tomorrow at 2, reschedule any plans xoxo"
"No, I will drive you back" Elijah smirked before asking the waiter for the cheque.
"Elijah, it's 1am, my apartments not on your way home" I shook my head. He would have to go out of his way. The restaurant was in between mine and Elijah's apartment complexes.
"I'll just sleep at Luca's" he hummed before thanking the waiter and grabbing my hand, leading me to his car. "You can sleep in my guest room, doubt you want to third wheel with Daphne and Luca." I chuckled lightly.

We drove home in a comfortable silence before we arrived and clambered into the elevator. Elijah spoke up. "Are you okay...you know after Hayden, I never actually asked, I was too busy planning ways to kill him" he looked at me with wide eyes before realisation hit him. "shit—sor-sorry that was a dumb question" he caressed my cut under my eye before clearing his throat at the ping of the elevator and the door opening. I smiled at the security outside my door before swiping my key card and letting Elijah in. "You can sleep in a Luca's room, he has spare clothes and towels in his dresser". He nodded before taking his jacket off and making his way to the room.
"Elijah wait" I ran to him and embraced him into a hug. He returned it after the initial shock of my irrational actions. "earlier, you asked if I was okay, i'm not, shit sorry I don't know why i'm telling you this, it's a me problem i guess." I pulled away from his grip but he wrapped his arms around me tighter. "It's okay not to be okay ari, you know I'm here for you, always and a problem of yours is a problem of mine" he whispered just low enough for me to hear. We stood there for a while before we both went to our rooms and changed into sweats and headed to bed

I couldn't sleep again. This was my third night in a row. After the whole incident with Hayden, I had been having nightmares ever since, I was scared to close my eyes. I walked into my kitchen to make myself a coffee, this was going to be a long night. I tried to be as quiet as possible to avoid waking up Elijah, but when my hands started shaking and I dropped the spoon on the floor, all hope was lost. "Adrianna is 2am, why are you not sleeping" he yawned, stretching his arms above his head and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"I can't, I get nightmares about him" I whispered, hands still shaking.
"shit, again?" he mumbled. The truth is, this wasn't the first time this had happened. When Hayden and I first split up, I couldn't sleep, until Elijah started noticing I was taking pills to keep me from sleeping. He stayed with me every night for 2 weeks on the couch until I would fall asleep and then he would lift me to my bed and he would sleep in Luca's room.

"I can stay with you on the couch again?" he smiled before squishing my hands in between his to stop them from shaking anymore.
"are you sure, it's late and you should sleep too" I huffed, feeling guilty for keeping him up any longer.
"Don't worry about it, coffee won't help you to sleep either" Elijah smirked before patting the space next to him on the couch. I didn't say anything just nuzzled my face into his chest as he threw a fluffy blanket over my body.

I woke up the next day, in my bed. It was exactly like last year when he stayed with me. Elijah was cooking breakfast and made coffee. "Good morning princess" he winked, before handing me a glass of orange juice.
"thank you for last night, I have missed sleep...a lot" I chuckled before sitting down at the breakfast bar. "So, i'm going shopping with Daphne and Liv in an hour, you can stay as long as you want" I shot him a small smile before he nodded. " I'm free all week so I can stay with you till next Monday if you need to sleep" Elijah said as he handed me a plate of food and an iced coffee. "If you want, or I can go, it's up to you" he added quickly, raising an eyebrow at me.
"stay, please" I looked back at him. "You need to pick clothes up today though, can't live in Luca's stuff forever." I smirked and handed him the toast out the toaster. "This is really good food" I chirped as he took a seat next to me.
"What can I say, I am a professional, babe" he winked.
"babe? that's a new one Eli" I winked back, my stomach doing a somersault at his nickname.
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