"I love Dua Lipa!" Eli screamed like a fan girl, shocking me as her hit song Physical blasted from the stage.
"How many edibles did you eat?!" I giggled, almost forgetting my conversation with Franc. Almost.
"Only the one." Eli smiled easily. "I just really do love her and her music. She's hot."
"Eli." I pretended to slug his arm.
"What?! Are you jealous, Aves?" Eli taunted, turning me and spinning me, doing an awkward two step with me, ignoring the others around us who were still none the wiser to who he was. Thank you Dodgers hat...
"Not jealous at all, West. Just surprised by your taste in music."
"I guess I'm full of surprises..." Eli's smile split his face and I could only be left staring. He was positively gorgeous, radiating like my own personal sun.
"Stop staring and kiss me." He demanded and I greedily obliged, stepping forward and tilting my face to the side under the bill of the hat so my lips could capture his. We stood like that, caught up in each other, through one song and into the next. Dua Lipa's dreamy voice brought me back to reality, singing my exact feelings like she somehow knew...
'I know that I seem a little stressed out,
But you're here now and you're turning me on
I wanna feel a different kind of tension
Yeah, you guessed it, the kind that's fun.'
I pulled away, dancing against Eli and his body was quick to respond, his large hands gripping his hips and pulling me close to him. Everything about Franc Blanchett's proposal was so confusing, but being here with Eli, in this moment was easy. Like life made sense when I was with him. Like I knew who I was.
"Why are you in your head right now?" Eli pouted and I stepped up on my tip toes to press a kiss to his protruded lips.
"I'm not in my head."
"You're a terrible liar, kid."
"So you say..." I danced away from him and grabbed onto Leisha who had joined us, spinning her and howling as we both stumbled a little into Tommy who looked annoyed.
"Nothing cuter than two sloppy lesbians..." Tommy spat.
"I'll take your revulsion as a compliment." Leisha bowed sarcastically and I laughed harder, considering how much I loved this girl. At least Eli was batting .500 in the friend department.
***************
Somewhere around two A.M. I found my legs dangling in the Olympic sized swimming pool while my head swam. Franc wanted me in Paris in four days. I could feel the clock ticking down and I still had no idea what I was going to do. Did I want that? Did I want to go back to UCLA where I felt so alone and without purpose? Not really.
"What are you thinking about?" Eli's voice startled me from the darkness.
"Shit West, you scared me." I held a hand over my racing heart. "I thought you went to bed..."
"Nah, that girl that Tommy brought home is being loud as hell."
"How do you know it's not the one Leisha brought home?!"
"Touché." Eli laughed and sat beside me, bumping my shoulder with his, sending waves across the pool.
"Can I ask you something?" I ventured, running my hands through the still warm water. Despite it being late, or early whichever way you looked at it, the pool still held the heat of the sun from the day.
"Okay." Eli shrugged.
"How did you know you wanted to be an actor?" I kicked another small wave into the pool and Eli dipped in his tanned calves beside mine.
"I don't know." He admitted slowly. He had changed into a pair of black athletic shorts sans t-shirt and I felt overdressed in my festival top and makeup. "I guess I was always interested, but it was almost like acting chose me."
"How's that?"
"Well, I got a call from the studio about an upcoming project in Canada, and how they had seen me out and about with my mom and dad and thought I had 'the look'. Whatever the hell that meant." He laughed but my mind wandered to how Franc Blanchett had said something similar.
"They asked me to come in and audition, so I did and they liked me for some reason. Even though thinking back, I'm sure it was terrible. I had no idea what I was doing..." I laughed, but rolled my eyes, knowing Eli was a natural at everything he tried...but then again so was I. I taught myself how to ride my longboard in an hour, and by the end of my snowboarding lesson as a kid I was ready for the more advanced runs. Perhaps modeling wasn't so different.
"I need to tell you something." I admitted, never wanting to keep secrets from Eli. He was my best friend and so much more.
"Can it wait until tomorrow?" He asked suddenly standing from the water's edge.
"What?"
"Look, I'm super interested in whatever it is, I promise. I just need some sleep first..." He held out his hand to me and I slowly accepted, getting the feeling that Eli's exhaustion wasn't entirely to blame. His avoidance was evident, like he somehow knew our discussion would be unpleasant.
"Okay. We'll talk about it in the morning." I relented and followed him back into the house toward the master bedroom, my footprints leaving a wet trail behind me on the concrete flooring.
"Let's go to bed..." He grinned, and my mind flashed to a future of going to sleep every night with Eli, waking up wrapped in his arms, hearing that he loved me while making love to me. It was the ultimate fantasy, and I would've let myself believe it. If it weren't for my dead cell phone on the nightstand and all the secrets it held.
YOU ARE READING
The Sweetest Summer
Romance**COMPLETE** Elijah West was everything, and I was just...Avery Adams. The tomboy, the girl next door, the friend zone occupant. The girl who somehow grew up while he was gone filming his television show. But this summer he's back, and the sparks a...
