Temptations

54. LEADING ON

ELLIE

"So where do we go now?" Drake asked once we were in the taxi. We had asked the driver to drive towards the city while we thought of our destination.

"Let's have dinner first. I'm starving." I said. I didn't have breakfast today and had just a smoothie in between.

"Chinese?" He offered.

"Nah." I shook my head.

"Mexican?" He asked.

"Not in mood for something spicy." I replied.

"Let's have good old pizza then." He offered and I nodded after some thinking. We told the driver about a new pizza place and then began scrolling our phones to pass the time.

"I still don't understand though. Why did you do it to Nathan? Poor man looked like he wants to kill someone, preferably me." Drake commented.

I sighed, reminiscing the look on Nathan's face. Drake was right, he looked really murderous back when I told him I was leaving with Drake. But to be honest, he deserved it. I wasn't a prize he could flaunt to the world. I wasn't just another addition to his trophy collection, I was a human being with feelings.

"He is a jerk." I groaned, looking at a distance.

The taxi took us to our destination and once we reached there, we sat down at a farthest corner. Ordering a Margherita pizza and lemonades, we went back to talking once again. But to be honest, we didn't have much to talk about so we ended up on the topics related to our work.

"Tell me about your family?" I asked.

"I live alone. My parents and my elder brother and his family live in our family house in Manhattan. I have a sister and she is currently studying fashion in Milan." He replied. "What about you?"

"I'm the only child of my parents. They live at a farm in Texas. My parents are very humble people who avoid city life like a plague." I told him and sighed. I needed to visit my parents soon. Ever since the wedding, we have only been in touch through calls and I was missing them badly.

"And what about you? What are your likes? Your dislikes?" He asked.

"Umm…. Let's see." I sighed. "I love to work. I mean I'm not a workaholic but I don't like staying home, doing nothing. Especially at Nathan's, where there are maids for everything. A person feels useless sometimes." I trailed off.

"What are your expectations from a guy?" He asked and I chuckled. He didn't beat around the bush and came straight to the point.

"You want me to give you a cheat sheet?" I asked and he laughed in return. "Let me think." As I thought about the kind of guys I like, a particular face erupted in my memory, someone that I very desperately wanted to hate.

"What happened?" He asked, watching my expressions change.

"Nothing." I said and that's when the pizza arrived. I smartly changed the topic of guys to pizza and began talking about my favorite pizza places in town.

"I love me some good old Papa John's." He grinned and I laughed at that.

"I like to think of myself as a Pizza connoisseur. I've tried pizza from all over New York and my favorite is definitely Mamma Mia's." I said.

"Damn, you're really passionate about pizzas. I should have brought my A-game." He laughed.

We ate pizza while talking about such silly stuff and then the question at hand was, where should we go next?

"I don't want to go home yet. Nathan should sulk some more." I said.

"Um… would you like to come to my apartment? We can have hot chocolate while watching Netflix." He said.