• • •

I gripped Elijah's hand as I slowly followed him towards wherever we were going, "I don't really like surprises."

"It's not a surprise. You know where we're going." He answered.

"Then why did you make me wear a blindfold?"

He ended up flaking last night, calling to apologize late that afternoon, and asking could we reschedule until this morning. I wasn't upset because it gave me time to help Jade with her request, and then straighten up around the apartment.

So here we were at the ass crack of dawn walking somewhere.

I heard leaves rustling and I sniffed the air, "Are we in the woods? Wait a got damn minute!"

Elijah's laughter reached my ears but I didn't hear a rebuttal.

"You mad about that hard muffin? I'll make you another one."

We finally stopped and he quickly undid the blindfold, making me squint against the rising sun. Once my eyes adjusted I just stood there stupidly until he spoke.

"They say if your eyes are covered when you first get out here, the effect is different."

"You didn't get to see it."

Elijah shrugged, "It wasn't for me."

It didn't take long for me to realize he was setting up a picnic.

I wrote poems in my spare time. They weren't very good at all, and I never let people read them, but I enjoyed writing them. Maybe a week or so ago, I expressed to Elijah that I couldn't get my thoughts to flow enough to write one.

He asked what I did when I wanted to focus, I told him when I was in Houston, I'd sit in my mom's makeshift garden in the backyard, but I had yet to find a spot like that in Dallas.

Now I stood in the middle of an uncountable amount of flowers, different shades of pinks, vibrant purples, mustard yellows, all aided in their beauty by the glimmer from the sun.

Elijah was making me feel like it wasn't a big deal by how nonchalant he was being, but everything about him was nonchalant. He was the poster boy for showing the least amount of emotion, other than when he was happy.

"Thanks?" I said awkwardly.

He shook his head and smiled, "You're welcome."

"So that's why you canceled?" I asked, sitting cross-legged on the blanket.

"Yeah. Ain't no way the mosquitoes was gone' tear me up, and Lauren said it's better in the morning."

"Who?"

Elijah pulled his phone from his pocket to show me a woman and a young girl, "My brother's wife."

"She's really pretty," I observed, "They both are."

"She okay. I ain't know what you wrote with, so here."

He'd dumped an assortment of pens and notebooks out.

My dad was always a thoughtful gift-giver. Our family often spoke of how he always seemed to know exactly what to get, but he shrugged it off and said he listens when people talk.

This was the first time I thought someone's gift had rivaled anything he'd gotten me.

• • •

"Which one is Jade?" Elijah asked.

"The other one." I replied, "She wants to propose so she needs me to get Ari out of the house."

I was extremely surprised because Jade had never mentioned marriage. Not that she had to say anything to me about it, but Ariana always spoke of getting married years down the line.

Of course, it wasn't my place to ask questions, and engagements can be as long as you want, so I agreed.

Elijah was silent for a second, "So Ari is the one who watched us all the way to the car?"

I'd noticed, but I didn't think he noticed.

I sighed, "That's the one."

"And she's getting engaged?"

"Yes."

Elijah snickered, "Yeah, okay."

I thought if anybody would understand, it'd be him. He knew the lifestyle just as well if not better than me, so I expected him to be able to grasp the concept.

There was no room for an attraction to grow because we weren't affectionate outside of scenes. I barely touched Ari unless I gave her a hug when I was coming or leaving.

She and Jade were happy, had been happy, and were going to stay happy.

All I had to do was get her out of the house.

I looked around the car for a charger, "My phone is dying."

"I don't have a charger in here. We can stop at a gas station if you want?"

"Save your $6. Get you something to eat." We weren't that far from home so I didn't see the point.

"I can't even think of nothing that's $6."

He fell right into my trap, "Give me $6 and I'll let you eat my-"

"Kensley I don't know where the fuck you come from but keep it up and you going back."

I couldn't really hear him over the sound of the ugly laugh I succumbed to, "How you walk right into that?"

"I'm over here tryna' see what cost $6 and you playing."

It was a picnic so we'd just eaten but I guess it wasn't enough for him. I tried to think of what food we had at home but all I could picture is bags from when we went out.

Both Jailyn and I could cook, we just didn't do it often. We preferred to order food and use the time we would spend cooking, doing nothing.

"Oh!" I shouted, causing Elijah to look at me, "We have cinnamon rolls. And eggs. I'll make you an omelet."

It took me a few seconds to realize that he didn't know what I was talking about, "I'm volunteering to make you breakfast."

"Forreal?" He reached across my leg to pull a $20 bill from the glove compartment and place it on my lap, "Here go $6. Keep the change."

I held it up to see if it was real, "I'm rich!" 

When we pulled up, I should've taken a second to take my head out of Elijah's nuts and paid attention to the surrounding cars.

Instead, I trotted happily up the stairs with Elijah in tow. I put my key in the door and pushed it open, only to immediately slam it back.

"What?" He asked.

"Did you wanna go to Ihop? My cinnamon rolls always taste weird."

Elijah was taking too long to agree so I did it for him and started back towards the stairs, "Yeah. Ihop."

I knew Jailyn must've been doing damage control since they hadn't come out yet, but I was running out of time.

This proved to be true when my dad poked his head out of the door, "Ken?"

• • •

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