His First Valentine

31 | a different life

Zolina 'Zo' Smith
[ sat, jan 21st 5:57 PM ]
Starlight Cinemas - Drive-In

After the all white party, Eli fell back. Zolina was starting to think that she spoke too soon; that Ace really did scare him away.

Eli's schedule coincidentally changed drastically. It went from, 'I'll make the time for you, Zo', to 'I wish I had some time today.'

Zolina wasn't mad about it, though. She actually blamed herself. It was unrealistic to think that she was in the 'bathroom' at Infrared for 20 minutes, especially when everyone except Ace remained in the section.

Regardless if nothing happened at the club, things definitely happened at her apartment after.

Guilt started to eat away at her. She didn't want to go from feeling played, to now being the player. She didn't want to have to get dick and dates in different places.

Zolina wanted it from one person. But she was slightly torn, and back to comparing the men in her life.

Sure, she liked Eli. She was attracted to his fine ass, and his peaceful aura was something that she needed in her unstable life. She missed him when he wasn't around— but not like how she missed Ace.

Zolina was certain that Eli was preparing to ghost her, yet her world was still spinning. Unlike when Ace had done it, and everything seemed to come to an abrupt stop.

And even though it surprised her when Eli had asked her out the following week, she wasn't excited in the way that she would have been if Ace did.

Knowing that she needed to figure out exactly what Eli was to her, she decided to use this date as an opportunity to try.

Eli took her out to Colour Valley Park; a popular outdoor graffiti spot with live music and gourmet food trucks. They strolled while admiring art, ate fried foods, and caught up with each other.

When he showed her pictures of all of the canvases he had tattooed, she realized that he really had been just busy. And even though he didn't need to, he apologized for it.

Eli was the exact same charmer from when they first met, which was another quality that drew her to him. He was consistent, and left no room for confusion.

The two were currently sat parked inside of his tinted Mazda at Starlight Cinemas; a Black owned drive-in theatre. 'Really Love' was playing on the screen, which was a movie about a struggling painter trying to balance an unexpected romance.

How fitting.

There were only a handful of cars around them; the majority were a few screens over, watching 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.'

"What you mean you don't like Mike and Ikes?" Eli looked at her wildly.

There was a spread of movie candy on his dashboard, and they were debating on which one was the best.