Slow Down | ✓

35. ANNOYINGLY PERFECT

35. ANNOYINGLY PERFECT

"THE WEDDING IS TWO months away," Aliyah rambles as she shuffles through her binder. It was early in the morning when Elijah came back home only to see his best friend sitting up in bed, a multitude of papers in front of her, "And we have to send out the wedding invitations but I haven't been in the office for a month so Loren decided she would pile it up on me at last minute. I have to ━"

"Calm down," Elijah stops her, pulling his jacket off his body, "You have to calm down. You're gonna run yourself down if you keep worrying."

Aliyah rolls her eyes, "I'm already run down. This won't cause any more damage, I promise."

After staying with Elijah for a month, the two had gotten into a rhythm. He comes home at the weirdest of times and Aliyah tries to not go insane from memories of that night. Toni, usually, comes over without warning to keep her company and annoy Elijah ━ the two seemed to already become close friends with a weird dynamic.

Aliyah has made some improvements and gotten better at telling them her feelings.

That was probably mainly due to the fact that they finally caught her attacker, three weeks after the actual incident. She still didn't feel comfortable at home but her insurance company was still working on recovering her belongings that were in her bag.

She has no clue why that's taking so long.

He pulls his shirt over his head, stealing Aliyah's focus. She bites her bottom lip as he approaches the bathroom, his toned back facing her.

As soon as she hears the shower begin to run, she cranes her neck back and closes her eyes, "Dear Lord, please give me the strength. Amen."

Also in the last month, she's been trying to keep herself from pouncing on the man she currently lives with. He just makes it so hard sometimes with his annoyingly perfect teeth and annoyingly perfect blue eyes and annoyingly perfect face and annoyingly perfect personality.

Ugh, he's just annoyingly perfect.

She rolls her neck before going back to work.

Grabbing her laptop from the night table, she gets to making the invitations. She expected that the couple was at least capable of making their own damn invitations but she was obviously wrong.

All she would do is make them then send them over to Kayla and Trevor who will get them printed out and sent off.

She's halfway through typing in the date when Elijah walks out of the steamy bathroom, just a towel wrapped around his waist.

"What are you doing up so early anyway?" He questions, making his way to his drawer. Elijah plans on sleeping the day away. He's off for the rest of the weekend and he couldn't be happier.

"I have a therapy session today," She tells him, her eyes not leaving the screen. If I look, I'll pounce, she tells herself, "And since I start work back on Monday, I decided to just get an early start."

Elijah is beside her in under a minute, clothes on his body. Unfortunately.

"I can't believe you got a month off," He chuckles.

Aliyah sends him a playful wink, "Perks of having my own business." He shakes his head in amusement before grabbing his phone. He begins to scroll through it before Aliyah turns to look at him ━ more specifically, his eyes, "Where do you get your eyes from?"

He looks at her, "What do you mean?"

"I've met both your parents and neither of them have blue and/or green eyes," She explains, her eyes narrowing in thought.

Elijah drops his phone on the bed and flops over, his chest pressed against the mattress. He props his head up on the pillow Aliyah is resting her back against. She moves her hand to rest on his back, raking her fingernails down his tense muscles.

"My grandpa on my dad's side," Elijah tells her, "He had these blue eyes that all the ladies fell for. Especially my grandma." The two laugh together before he continues, "He passed away three years ago from prostate cancer."

His solemn tone and words has Aliyah rubbing his back gingerly, "I'm sorry."

Elijah shrugs, his eyes scanning Aliyah's face, "Yeah, we weren't that close."

Silence passes between them ━ a sudden urge for Aliyah to admit a part of her past floods her thoughts.

"The anniversary of my dad's death is coming up," She mumbles, "I mean, first it's Kyree's birthday but then, it's the anniversary. Fifteen years."

"Lee, you don't have to talk about it ━"

"It's been fifteen years, Eli," She says, nonchalantly, "I don't mind talking about it." She huffs through her nose before taking a glance at the time on the bottom right corner of her laptop, "It's 7:32, and I know you're tired. Go to sleep."

"No," Elijah mumbles, yawning, "I wanna talk to you."

"You wanna sleep," Aliyah laughs, "Go to sleep, hun."

His words come out, sleepily, "Wake me when you're ready to go. I'll drive you."

"Okay," she whispers.

With one hand rubbing his head, soothingly, and the other making wedding invitations, she tunes into his even breathing pattern. Glancing down, she watches as his eyes close and he passes out in less than a minute.

Annoyingly perfect.

YO THEY'RE SO DOMESTIC IN THIS CHAPTER I CANNOT

^^^ that is exactly what i texted @palinoia before publishing this chapter 🤣🤣

but like the next couple of chapters are gonna have time skips

also, as some of y'all have figured out already 🤣 w toni, liyah and eli, im going for a mer, derek, cristina vibe