“What’s he like? I’ve never had a boyfriend. I’ve kissed guys, and done things and stuff, but my parents are so strict they’d never let me actually date anyone.” She smiles. “That’s part of what I love about being over here. I dream about falling in love with an American boy and having little American babies. Is that weird?” She giggles.
Eli enters my mind and I smile. “No, not weird. I know exactly what you mean.”
“So, tell me: How old is he? Do you have a photo?” She stares at me, waiting for answers.
I hesitate, torn between telling her the truth and keeping our secret. “If I tell you about him, and you happen to guess who he is,” I begin nervously, “will you keep it between you and I?”
“Oh, so I know him?” Her eyes light up. “It’s Jamie, isn’t it? Jamie and Jill, sitting in a tree,” she sings before collapsing into a heap, laughing. She sees my horrified expression and laughs even harder. “Relax, I was joking! You Americans have no sense of humor.”
I shudder. “God, I think I just vomited in my mouth a little bit. I have no idea why he hates me so much.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it. They were the family I was with when I first arrived here and I asked to be moved. The whole family is crazy. His father is a scary man.”
“I saw them arguing today in the yard. Jamie saw me watching him, so now he’s going to make my life even worse.”
“What were they arguing about?” she asks curiously.
“I don’t know. Jamie hassling someone.”
Sophia’s eyes widen for a second, and then she reaches over and nudges me. “Don’t think this is getting you out of revealing your mystery man,” she teases.
“Okay, okay. He’s twenty-five.” I lie back on the bed and stare at the ceiling, not wanting to see the look on her face when she guesses. “He’s tall and sexy, with beautiful deep brown eyes, and short, dirty-blond hair that I just want to run my fingers through.” I smile. “He makes he feel special. I feel safe when I’m with him, like nobody else in the world matters, you know?”
She smiles as I turn to look at her. I can tell she knows, but she doesn’t delve further and I don’t tell her any more.
Until school is over, Eli needs to stay my dirty little secret.
Chapter Sixteen
Jill
It’s New Year’s Eve and Eli surprised me with strawberries and champagne on the banks of Lithgow Lake before dinner. I sigh when his large, soft hands envelope mine as we walk along the edge of the water. The sunset is casting its final light upon us as the breeze starts to cool. Eli wraps his arm around my shoulders and places a kiss on my temple.
“I love being with you, Jill,” Eli says. My heart flutters.
Turning my body so my front is against his front, I wrap my arms around his waist and look up at his soft eyes. I can’t believe that in a few days we will be back at school. I cannot wait to graduate. Things will be so much easier when I’m no longer his student.
He still hasn’t mentioned ‘us,’ although I know the talk is coming, and I know what he’s going to say. The only reason I haven’t brought it up is because I don’t want to hear it. I’m racking my brain, trying to think of a way around this . . . around us, but I’m coming up empty.
“I love being with you too,” I respond with a small smile.
Resting my head on his chest, I hug him tightly. It’s moments like this when nothing in the world matters. It feels like it’s just us, and nobody can stop us from being together.
We stay that way till the dark night greets us. He kisses my forehead, his arm enveloping me. There is a definite chill in the air.
“Come on, babe, let’s go eat,” he whispers softly in my ear as his hands run up and down my back.
Pulling away from his face, I grin. “Can just I eat you?”
He laughs and swats my ass. “Food, woman, food. A man’s gotta eat to keep his energy up.”
Eli has booked us into the little tapas bar that sits overlooking the water. It’s a quaint restaurant with dim lighting coming from big black industrial lamps, and old black and white pictures hanging from the red brick walls. We are sitting opposite one another on one of the several long thin black tables that line the room. Our fingers are entwined as his thumb rubs gently over my skin. There are no words needed to express how relaxed I’m feeling right now, with him.
“I’ve never quite met anyone like you.” He gazes at me. “You’re like the complete package—everything I’ve wanted. I’ve never met someone who I’m so compatible with.”
And here I thought I couldn’t like this guy any more than I already do.
The waiter walks over, and plates of deep-fried Spanish food fill the table along with a large carafe of sangria. I’m so glad they didn’t ask me for ID as that would have ruined the night. I’m surprised Eli actually ordered the wine, but I love acting older than my age, living the grown-up life.