Synergy

Ten

"You know you can't escape me that easily."

Ela's POV

"What?" was the only thing that came out of my mouth.

How in the world did he get here? Well duh, Alexa must have told him but still. How did he know I would be right here?

He threw the paper pad behind him and smiled. "You ditched on the hangout. So did I." he chirped.

He had that cocky little grin that I have learned to enjoy plaster proudly on his face.

I see my plan failed miserable.

I left the house to make sure I avoided him, and yet he shows up in all his glory. Regardless of him showing up, I still need to stick to my plan. Without a reply back to him, I grabbed my purse and walked away. There is no way I am going to spend my night touring around the park with Harry.

Even though the very thought of him made my stomach flutter, I had to stay strong.

"You know you can't escape me that easily." he says as he pops up next to me.

I try to ignore him. That's really hard when he is so damn intrusive.

"So, what are we doing tonight? Chilling in the park? Avoiding the paps?"

He keeps blubbering on about all the things we could be doing here.

"Or are you avoiding me?" He blurts out.

I abruptly stop walking and it just so happens to be in front of a stroller. The mother runs over my toes and looks back at me with a scowl.

"Wow. You just got run over by a stroller. Pretty smooth if you ask me." he laughs a little at my clumsiness.

"Why are you here? What do you want?" I ask him aggressively, mad at my failed plan and that my foot is throbbing in pain.

"I wanted to spend time in the park. With you." he tells me so sweetly.

"With me?"

"Yes, with you. Would you mind if I showed you around the park?"

At the moment, I want to say no. I want to be strong as independent and just say no. But, I can't. His smile makes all the walls I put up to block him out fall down instantly.

I inwardly laugh at him wanting to show me the park. This is one if my favorite places to come. I know this area like the back of my hand. However as he bounces back and forth on his feet in anticipation, I quickly decide, for the sake of his ego, to just go with.

"Fine. You can show me three places tops. Then I'm going home."

With that, he grabbed my hand and pulled me straight towards the pond. I tried to ignore the immediate butterflies in my stomach.

"Okay, sit there on the bench." He points over to a small brown bench with gold arms and legs.

I do as he says, and wait for him. I watch contently, swinging my legs back and forth as he makes his way to a small vendor. With one last glance behind his shoulder to smile at me, he ran around the vendor area.

Moments later he returned holding a small package.

"Alright! Here's some bread." He thuds down next to me with handful of buns and loaves.

"Bread? That's what you got?" I giggle as he hands me a piece of the sponges substance.

He winks at me before ripping a tiny piece of the first bun off and throwing it into the pond. Immeditaely, a duck swims up to it and snatches it up. It waits there for another piece to eat.