But Sweet Kisses I've Got To Spare || Eate [November 28th]
E gave her a thoughtful smile as he unfolded his arms and began folding up his sleeves, pushing them up to above his elbow so that he could put his hands in the soapy water without making a mess of things. He shook his head when she said he didnât need to do the dishes and waved her off. âYou cooked all that great food, this is the least I kin do târepay you, Miss Fate. Thatâs how it always was growinâ up in my family. The one that cooked didnât have tâdo the dishes, that ainât very fair, is it?â he asked with a soft smile, turning back around and dipping his hands into the soapy water, searching for the dish rag. When he found it, he began scrubbing the food off of the plates in the sink already.
"Well, only if you insist, but I might end up just callinâ ya Miss Fate anyway. I think itâs more of a habit by now. Sâlong as you donât call me Mister Parks. That reminds me of my pop and wellâŠ" he frowned and furrowed his eyebrows, clearing his throat before looking back up again. "But you kin call me E," he murmured softly, looking back over his shoulders at her. "Or Elijah, if yaâd rather. Not many call me that but I wouldnât mind if you did," he said softly, not exactly knowing why he gave her the permission to. He didnât particularly like his first name, but something told him he wouldnât mind it if she called him it.
Fate nodded softly, realizing just how much she meant to him as he said those words. She realized the weight of his words, and did not underestimate the worth, and delicacy of that license. She could call him Elijah, something very few could do. "Very well then," she said softly, letting her arm fall back to her side. "Elijah. If you don't mind, of course." She didn't want to overstep her boundaries, she needed to make sure he was okay with her calling him that. She would prefer it to E, since Elijah was his full name. Names could say a lot about a person, they made them who they were. E was exceptional, and a delicious human being. Fate wanted to savor every syllable of his name, every letter. But only if he let her.
She stood next to him in silence, as he did the dishes, the rushing water and clinking glass serving as background music. "You must know, it...it means a lot to me that you came," Fate finally spoke. It was rare of her to show any kind of affection, but with Elijah, she had no fear. "Not once, in my entire existence, have I celebrated Thanksgiving. And it meant so much to me that you were here, for my very first Thanksgiving dinner, with the rest of my family," she looked up at him, in a rare moment of honesty. Again, something that she didn't fear when she was with him. He just seemed to tear down all her walls, revealing a completely different person within.
