An Unexpected Love

Surprise!

It has been four months since the last time Elena saw Neil, which was at the wedding.
They have been together for six months now. Since then, they have FaceTimed at least once a week. They seem to have this long-distance thing under control.

Even though Neil only lives about two hours away from her, he can barely find the time to leave because of constant surgeries. Since the wedding, Elena has been super busy, thanks to Amber, so she doesn't really have time to visit him either.

"Hey." said Lynn, entering the office, to Elena, who is deep in thought.
"Hey. What's up?" she said.
"Are you okay? You seemed quite out of it this past week."
"Yeah. I am just thinking about the upcoming holidays and how busy we'll be then."
"And you're thinking about Neil, aren't you?"
She shrugs. "Is it that obvious?"
Lynn smiles. "Well, I've known you for a long time so it's obvious to me."
Elena smiles. "I just wish I could just go to him, you know? I know San Jose is about an hour and half away, but I don't think it is a good idea to just go there and then come back. I want to spend more time with him." She sighs.
"But shouldn't you go, even if it means that you're just going to spend a minute with him?"
Elena thinks. "Maybe. But I can't leave now. We're busy."
"Look, leave now. It's only 14:00. You can get there by 16:30 and then come back later. Or even tomorrow morning."
"Where will I stay? Grams and Grandpa are and visiting my parents."
"Go to Neil's."

Elena raises her eyebrows.
"Are you insane? I'd rather stay in my car, then."
"That's also a plan."
Elena looks at her.
"I'm serious. Or book a hotel room."
Elena quickly grabs her phone and books one.
"We'll hold the fort here."
"Are you sure? You can close up early if we get no customers later."
She nods.
"Thanks."
"Anything for love." Lynn winks.

Elena heads home and packs an overnight bag and heads to San Jose.

She gets to her hotel room and texts Neil.
"Hey. You busy?"
"Hey. No, just doing some paperwork. You?"
"No. What are you planning on doing tonight?"
"I was just going to go home and maybe I'll cook something. Or get take-out. My surgery got rescheduled to tomorrow afternoon."
"Oh okay. What time are you done at work?"
"Seven."
"Ooh. Early night."
"Yeah. For once."
"Anyways. I got to go. Busy day. Just thought I'd check in on you."
"Okay. Chat later?"
"Yeah."

She takes a nap.

Later...

She showers and changes into different clothes.

She looks at the time. It is 19:30.
She leaves her room and gets the car to drive to Neil's place.

As she pulls up, she checks for any sign that he is home. She notices a light is on inside. He doesn't seem to notice that someone is outside.
She stands in front of his door and calls him.
"Hey. Are you home?"
"Yeah. I just finished some paperwork. You?"
"Not exactly."

She knocks on the door.
"Just hold on a second." He heads to the door.
She ends the call.
He opens the door.
"Hi." she said, exhaling.
Neil is unsure if he is dreaming. His eyes widened. "What are you doing here?"
"I just thought I'd drive down to see you."
He pulls her into his embrace, closing the door.
"You have no idea how happy I am to see you right now."
She smiles. "Me too."
He leans in to kiss her, but then stops and leans back.
"Wait. Did you drive all the way from Salinas?"
She nods.
He whispers. "Just to see me?"
She nods.
"That's insane." he said smiling and kissing her.
She pulls away, smiling at him.
He tells her to have a seat.
"Your place is quite nice." she said.
"Thanks."
There's silence as he gives her something to drink, non-alcoholic, knowing she has to drive.
"So, I assume you're staying with your grandparents? How are they, by the way?"
"They're okay. I am staying at a hotel. They're with my parents in Newport Beach."
"You're staying at a hotel?"
She nods.
"Okay."

"So, since you're here, I was thinking of cooking for you."
She raises her eyebrows.
"Oh?"
He nods. He checks what he has and decides to make tamales.
She moves to the kitchen counter.
"Ooh. What are you making?" she tries to peek.
"Uh-uh. No. You're going to have to wait."
She sulks.
He smiles at her and continues cooking.
"How was your day? I hope you weren't too busy?" he asked.
"We were, but then this afternoon, there weren't many customers."
"What made you come here?"
"Lynn actually convinced me. She could tell that not seeing you has been bothering me for a while."
He nodded. "You're not the only one who felt that way."
She smiled, sympathetically.

She suddenly smells the food.
"Tamales?" she said.
He turns to look at her.
"I told you not to peek."
"Neil, I can smell tamales from a mile away."
He laughs.
He takes a spoon and lets her try some of the filling.
She opens her mouth and he eats instead.
She gasps. "That's not fair."
"It is so good and so fair. What's not fair is you figuring out that I am making tamales."
She laughs.
"Okay. You have a point."

She helps set the table.
"I am going to take a shower. Don't even think about trying the filling. I'll know."
She sighs. "Okay."

He leaves and she hears the water running.
"Okay. Let's do this."
She tries to take a bite, but she realises it's way too hot. She is disappointed. She decides to pour herself something to drink.
She looks around Neil's place, walking around and looking at the pictures. There's one of Neil as a child.

He comes out of a room.
"I hope you didn't taste it."
"I tried, but it was too..." she gets distracted as she sees Neil putting on a sweatshirt. She gets a glimpse of his upper body and blushes. She looks away.
"It was too what?" he said.
"Too hot." She was still blushing.
He laughs.
He sees her sitting with a photo.
"You were really cute."
"Were? What changed now?" he joked.
She laughed, nudging him.
"Nothing. I just meant you were cute then. And now."
"Just checking."
He dishes up the food.
"Dig in." he said.
She smiled and she tasted the tamale.
Her expression changed.

She was no longer smiling. Neil was worried.
"This...This tastes so... good." she said.
Neil sighs of relief.
"You had me worried there for a second."
He starts to eat.
"You want more?"
She nods and he leaves the table to bring her another one.
"Here you go. I can't believe you asked for another one before finishing the first."
She laughed.
He noticed that she didn't seem okay. He just stared at her and watched as she ate.
"Thank you. It was delicious."
He nodded and they cleaned the dishes.
"Do you want to sit on the couch?"

They moved to the couch. Elena crosses her legs on the couch. Neil puts his arm around her shoulders.
"You want to watch a movie?"
She nods.
He picks a rom-com, Elena's favourite genre.
"I love this movie." She smiles.
She wraps her arms around Neil.
He doesn't mind that she has watched it before. He is just glad to see her smiling again.
She then, stops smiling.
He exhales.

"Your grandmother told me that you love Mexican food, but because of your Abuela, you don't eat it as often."
Elena looked at him.
"When was this?"
"About two months ago."
Elena raised her eyebrows.
"She also said that the next time I see you, I should cook something for you. I wasn't sure what you'd like."
"So you decided on tamales?"
"Yeah. It was the first thing that came to mind. I thought maybe you wouldn't mind eating something Mexican."
"I don't. I really enjoyed it."
He looks at her and she exhales.
"Tamales was... Is my favourite. My Abuela used to make it all the time, along with horchata. When she died, I couldn't imagine eating someone else's tamales or any Mexican food. She added a special touch to it."
She pauses.
"When I got to San Jose, one day I stumbled across a Mexican restaurant, Hecho Con Amor."
"Their food is quite good." Neil said.
She nodded. "Definitely. I got there and it smelled like my Abuela's kitchen. I ordered an enchilada and an agua fresca. I... It was the first time I had anything Mexican since she passed."
Neil looked at her.

"Elena, I'm sorry for thinking you'd be fine if I made tamales."
"I am. It made me warm. Nostalgic. Happy."
He smiles.
"Did my Grams tell you that tamales are favourite?"
He laughs. "No. It is actually my favourite, so I make it regularly."
"Well, maybe I should come to your house more often." She said, leaning towards him.
He nods and looks at her lips. "Maybe you should."
They kiss, quite slow and passionately.
They pull away and Neil holds her in his embrace as they continue watching the movie.

After a while, Elena falls asleep. He switches the tv off and puts a blanket around her. He tries to let move away from her, but she holds on him. "Stay." she said.
He nods and they lay together on the couch.
"I don't want to leave." she mumbled.
He smiles and whispers.
"I don't want you to leave either."
She holds onto Neil and he caresses her face. They fall asleep in each other's arms.