Eyes Off You

9.

"Would you like to do this again?" I could tell Salem was a bit nervous. His hands were behind him, and he bit on his lower lip.

It was 10pm, and Salem had brought me back home, walking me to the front step. His brown eyes shone more brightly from the outside lights, and I smiled at him before nodding, "I'd love to."

"Yeah?" He seemed pleasantly surprised, and he ran his fingers through his hair. "Great, uh, I'll text you?"

"Okay," I nodded again, smiling. "Goodnight, Salem."

"Goodnight, Lennon," he gave a small wave before I turned to walk into the house. I could see him walk back to his car when I'd gone inside and turned too close the door.

I gasped when I turned back around. Zee was standing in front of me with a mug in hand.

"You scared me, Zee!" I laughed softly, a palm over my chest. "Don't do that."

"Girl, I'm here for the tea," she looked down at the mug briefly. "How did it go? What did you guys do?"

I let out a breath, "It w-"

"Wait, first of all, did you have a good time?" Zee's smile was wide, and I nodded.

"Yes. It was great," I grinned. "So, we didn't go to a restaurant or anything. First, we grabbed some ice cream, and then we went to the aquarium, and from there we had dinner."

"Dinner? I thought you said you didn't go out to eat?" Zee looked confused.

"So that was the cutest part, right?" I took off my shoes. "He does a lot of photography jobs at the aquarium, so he's like, a very familiar face. And so, he was allowed to use the rooftop, and that was where we ate."

"Jeez-"

"Did you know he's a great cook?"

"He cooked for you?!"

I grinned, nodding, "You know how Chinese cuisine is like, my favourite in the world? I think Italian cuisine is going to take over. I had the best lasagna roll-ups and baked ravioli ever tonight."

"He made you Italian food?!"

"Mhm," I chuckled. "He had made the food and brought it with him. We had sweet white wine and we talked a lot, too. Apparently, he's half Italian."

"I never knew that," Zee said.

"Me either," I shrugged. "It was so good, Zee. I can't believe it, but it was really good. I had so much fun and I enjoyed talking with him. Plus, he's really sweet and he smells so good, too."

"Lemon, this is amazing," Zee said in excitement. "Are you guys- will you guys be hanging out again?"

"He asked me if I'd like that when he walked me to the door, and I said I'd love to."

"Yes!" Zee cheered. "I told you you would never know what it's like to hang out with him if you didn't try, but look at it, now. I love it for you!"

*

Me
Did you get home yet?

Salem
Sure did
Thanks for coming out with me today
I really enjoyed spending time with you

Me
I don't fully remember the last time I laughed as hard as I did.
I really enjoyed it, too.

Salem
What are you doing Friday?

Friday was the day after tomorrow. If I put together all the pieces that had to be sent to New York tomorrow and have them sent by Friday morning, then I should have nothing doing, especially since I wasn't actively working on any art right now.

Me
I only have to send out some artworks by Friday morning
I should be free after that.

Salem
I'm shooting for Vanity Fair on Friday, do you want to come with? We can also get lunch from there.

Me
Sure, sounds good!

Salem

Okay, perfect. I can come get you. I'll let you know what time I'll be coming by tomorrow?

Me

I'll be looking forward to that.

*

Edwin

Me and the boys had our flights to New York booked and while the guys seemed excited to get away from LA for some time, I was having mixed feelings.

Would Lennon want to see me? Did she still live with her family? What if she didn't? What if her mom hates me now? No, I don't think so. But worse, what if Lennon hates me? Oh God, I hope not. How should I apologise? Should I do something grand to show her how sorry I am. I can afford that. No, that wouldn't impress her. So, maybe just a sober, sincere apology? Nothing grand. That might suffice, yeah.

"Hey, what's up, Ed. What are you thinking about?" I looked up to see Zion.

"Nothing, actually, I'm just-"

"Liar," he pointed at me. "What's up?"

"So you know how we're going to New York next month, right?"

"Mhm," he nodded in response.

"What if it's a bad idea?"

"Boy, we already have our tickets," Zion laughed. "How are you going to ask that now?"

"I don't know," I sighed. "Just thinking about the whole thing with Lennon. What if she doesn't even want to see me?"

"Well, would you rather sit here in LA and not try to know if she'd even like to see you or not? Because I promise, you'll be more miserable staying here when you know you can go there."

"I-"

"You're not proud of what you did, and that's a good thing. You're sorry, so you should let her know you are. I think it's worth the try, Ed. What's the worst that can happen?"

"She may not want to see me or she does see me, but not care for an apology or she's dating someone or-"

"Ed." Zion stopped me. "Everything will be fine. Whether or not she cares for an apology or not- whether or not she wants to see you doesn't matter. Regardless of all that, you owe it to her to apologise. And if it happens that she's with someone else, I mean... it's not like she's doing something wrong."

"You're right," I sighed. "You're right."

Deep down, I hoped she wasn't with anyone, though. It seemed a bit selfish even to me. Zion was right- if Lennon was with anyone at the moment, she wasn't doing anything wrong. She wasn't at fault. It was only normal that she had moved on. Who would wait three years for someone who let them down so badly?