The Date
Elain felt terrible when she realised Graysen would not show up for their date, hating the pitying looks the people in the restaurant gave her. That is, until a handsome stranger sat down in front of her, loudly apologizing for being late.
A/N: Part II was originally (like waaaaay back) not planned since it was just supposed to be a cute random date thing, but oh welp I wrote this anyway. Constructive criticism is helpful and thus very welcome. Enjoy :)
Word Count: 3518
AO3
Part II
“You know, I’m glad I persuaded you to give me some of your food. It was really good.”
“I know, thank you,” Elain moaned, slowly rubbing her full stomach and shoving her now empty plate away. “I kind of want a dessert as well, but I’m so full.”
Azriel clearly thought about that, his head cocked to the side, until he came to a conclusion.
“We could share one if you’d like. I’ll let you pick which one.”
He had one of his eyebrows raised, something Elain was greatly jealous of, but what she would never openly admit.
Her eyes skimmed over the menu, debating what to pick. Chocolate cake sounded good, but the ice cream seemed delicious as well. Choices. Having a choice was great, but oh how horrible as well. Eventually she opted for the brownie, accompanied by caramel and melted chocolate sauce and ice cream.
It would be filling, but they’d share, and it would definitely be worth it. She hoped.
“Well, that definitely looks good.” Azriel looked up at her, the dessert plate put in the middle between them. While ordering Elain had asked for two spoons, so they each had their own spoon.
“I have to be real honest with you here, and if not appreciated please say so, but people who say your eyes look like caramel - I’m sure people do - are completely wrong. It’s nothing like it. They’re more like…” He trailed off, a hesitant look in his eyes. “I’m sorry.”
He glanced away, looking at his plate with his face contorted in a frown, but Elain spoke with a grin on her face, trying to get him to continue.
“Go on, I’d like to hear it.”
A sly smile gradually showed on his features, his face now fully facing her again.
“Okay. You asked for it though. They’re like… like the forest on a bright summer day, like the ground, after careful hands have been working in it, like the leaves in autumn, like old papers of a book, and like the sand in the desert, all mixed together. They’re not just caramel, there is no way to describe them with merely one word.”
She thought she had been blushing before, but now she could feel the heat from her face radiating off her, her face surely completely red.
She struggled to find words, to find just anything to say.
“No one has ever described my eyes like that.”
It came out like a breath, released from her mouth before she could even process the words.
Azriel sat up straighter at that, his eyes betraying how disappointed he was, for a reason Elain did not know. Why would he be disappointed he was the first to compliment her that way?
“Not even your boyfriend?”
She cringed at that. Should he have? Graysen had never complimented her on her eyes, let alone describe them in such a way. The only thing he ever complimented was when she looked ‘sexy’ according to him. The way Azriel said it made it seem like he should have complimented her eyes, should have done so much more.
It was Elain’s turn to look at her plate now, her face flushed again.
“No, he hasn’t.”
Opening his mouth and then closing it again, Azriel looked at her, deciding whether he would say what he wanted to say or just leave it.
“Your eyes are stunning.” He’d started speaking softer, so Elain had to lean a bit over the table to hear him, careful not to let her hair fall into her dessert. “They shine bright like a comet at full speed, are full of life like nature, and are open, like a never-ending plain. If not from him, you should at least hear it from me.”
Right now, she didn’t think she would ever stop blushing as she shot back in her chair, barely managing to squeal out a small ‘thank you’.
They finished their dessert in silence, glancing at each other when the other wasn’t looking. It was a nice silence, without the need to fill it with words, both just happy to be with the other’s company. Once they finished, Azriel lifted his hand for the bill.
Elain started to search through her purse, until she felt and saw a slightly tanned hand atop of hers.
“What are you doing?”
She locked eyes with Azriel, who was leaning on the table to reach her hand.
“Looking for my credit card and praying I did at least bring that. I would be fine without my phone or keys, but I would need to pay eventually for my food so past-me must’ve packed that,” Elain mumbled.
She continued rummaging through the folds of her purse, but before she could even look again Azriel’s hand lifted hers and held it.
Elain froze.
Slowly, she looked up again.
“I’m paying.”
His eyes, so sincere, were wholly fixed on her.
“Can’t just barge in and let you pay, now can I? If so, I would definitely sit down with every single person I could find.”
He grinned at her, but she saw how he assessed her every move, her every reaction to him. She knew he would not. But oh, he noticed a lot. Hiding things from him would probably prove fruitless. Just as resisting.
He’d proven to be quite stubborn, in just those little ways he tried and succeeded to make her feel happy after being ditched.
“Fine.” She faked a sigh. “But next time I pay.”
An eyebrow rose, and she realised her slip up just a little too late.
“Next time?”
He sounded amused, but Elain started stammering anyway, trying to set it right.
“If… if you want to of course! Go somewhere, I mean.”
He was still looking at her with his raised brow, so he scrambled on.
“Just do something nice. As a thank you!”
His smile had turned into devilish delight, seeing her struggle with words. She gasped as she saw, pointing at him accusingly.
“You… you evil bat!”
He downright laughed then, no mere chuckle, a sound so wondrous that it automatically made her smile as well. She decided there and then that she wanted to make him laugh more.
----
While Azriel went to pay, Elain managed to clean her knife and put it in her purse, grinning like a maniac in the process. It might not be a token of their love, but the story behind it was just as good.
She stood and walked towards the door, where Azriel was already waiting.
“Like a mint?” he asked.
He held the door with one hand, the other offering her a wrapped mint from the counter. She took it, trying to hide her smile as she asked: “Are you saying my breath stinks?”
He held up his hand, his face the epitome of innocence.
“I wouldn’t dare.” He smiled. “I thought you might like one though.”
Looking at him with a straight face for a few more seconds, Elain eventually broke and smiled as well.
“I absolutely love those restaurant mints, thank you.”
He grinned, offering her his arm.
“I thought so.”
With a blush staining her cheeks she took it, immediately feeling as though she was a lady from a time long since passed. Azriel obviously thought the same, for he led her to the street and then turned to her.
“Where to my milady?”
She lifted her chin a bit, trying to look down on Azriel, but he was way too tall.
“Follow me.”
They strolled along the canal, Elain leading the way. Because she’d forgotten her keys, she had to go to Graysen to get her spare key. If he was even home. They were both silent, and while she loved chatter, the silence was calm and soothed her.
She would have to confront Graysen about not showing up. Not a single bone in her body wanted to, but seeing that she needed her keys, she didn’t really have a choice in the matter. She might have debated about staying with one of her sisters, had they not been busy with… whatever. She would face Graysen.
Now, Graysen’s place was considerably further from the restaurant than her place, and she’d been standing all day already, so her feet really started to throb.
“Hold up.”
She let go of Azriel’s arm to bend down, unfastening the clamps around her ankles. Next, she hooked her arm through his again, now some centimetres lower, with her heels in her hand. All the way Azriel had just looked at her, eyebrow raised, a twinkle in his eyes.
“Better?” He asked.
She grinned, wiggling her toes on the stones.
“Definitely! I love heels, but damn they can hurt.”
“I always admire people who walk on them, even for a little while.”
He seemed to hesitate, a small smile on his face. Then he glanced at her, eyes full of a good memory.
“My two brothers once lost a bet to our friend, and she decided it would be a good idea for them to dress up. Heels, dress, make up, the whole ordeal. I refused to participate in the bet from the beginning since I’d seen her smile - it was truly evil - and I’ve never been so glad of something in my life. They looked…” He shuddered. “Let’s just say I’m scarred for life.”
He pulled a face and she laughed, loud and free, leaning a bit on his arm to make sure she wouldn’t fall.
His eyes were bright when he looked at her, his smile not necessarily wide but so very happy. Slowly, that smile disappeared, his face turning a bit sombre, his eyes far away.
“You’re the only one who didn’t immediately look at me with pity when you saw them.”
He said it so soft she barely heard it, not with her laughing still. So soft, so broken. Elain stopped them then, facing him. She could see in his eyes that she wasn’t meant to have heard it.
“They pity me, even if they don’t want to. There’s always that slightest moment where pity flashes across their face. Yet all you did was order, as if you never saw them. You did though. You saw.”
Her heart broke then. Such unsure words, a confession he never thought he would make.
Slowly, she grasped his hands, never looking away from his eyes.
“They’re beautiful. They’re you.”
Healed yet scarred. Scarred yet beautiful.
Not saying any more, she smiled, hooked her arm once again through his, and started walking.
----
Elain halted as the apartment complex where Graysen lived came into view, untangling her arm from Azriel’s.
“This is it.”
He seized her up, looking for something, what she didn’t know.
“Do you want me to come with you?”
Yes. No. She did. She felt safe with him, steady. But she also knew that Graysen would flip if she came in with another man, even if he was the one who hadn’t shown up.
“No, thank you. I’ll be fine.”
She bit her lip. “Can you maybe wait for me though? I don’t want to stay here nor do I want to walk with Graysen.”
Looking down at her bare feet, she felt her face heat as she asked it. Why had she asked it? Hadn’t he helped her enough already?
“You don’t have to of course”, she rushed, “I just thought it would be nice.”
One side of his lips was slightly turned up as he nodded at her.
“I won’t move. You go.”
Beaming at him she turned, then quickly whirled around again.
“I’m leaving these here.” Her heels fell to the ground with a thud, and she could hear Azriel laugh as she ran to the building.
Graysen lived on the third floor, so she had to climb a few stairs to get there. All the food in her stomach made her want to lie down and go in a food-coma, but that had to wait until she was home. She would not crash here today, not after what he’d pulled.
On his floor, she marched down the hall and without pausing to think or prepare herself, she opened the door.
The living room was empty, apart from some clothes strewn around. That made her halt just a second, for Graysen was normally ordered to the max, but then she breathed in and kept walking towards Graysen’s bedroom door.
She faltered in her tracks as she opened it.
Graysen was in his bed, yes, but so was another woman. It formed a perfect explanation for the clothes in the living room. She felt so very naïve.
Although her feet were stuck, like a deer facing headlights, she managed to turn her body around, her feet following to prevent from falling. A choked sob came out her throat, but she was already at the door, unnoticed by Graysen or his date.
Fighting back tears she did not realise someone walking in until she bumped into him. Jurian.
Of course he would decide to return right when she wanted to rush out.
Something flashed across his face at the sight of her shattered eyes, but then it was gone. He merely moved aside for her to pass, which she gratefully did. Never had she run down the stairs so fast, nearly falling off some steps. Still, she managed to keep her tears in. That is, until she ran outside and saw Azriel, still standing exactly where she’d left him. He hadn’t moved at all, just like he’d said.
She crumbled to the ground, clutching her stomach.
Within seconds she felt a strong pair of arms around her. Hesitant, but there.
“He… he”, she choked on her words.
“I know,” he mumbled. “I know.”
For a while he just held her as she sobbed. No one came out of the door behind her, and she was glad. Never did she want to see him again.
After some time he spoke again, soft as not to startle her, but without pity. Never pity. She was thankful. “Come on, we can’t stay here.”
She felt him look at her as he heaved them up.
“I don’t suppose you have your keys?” It wasn’t much of a question but a statement.
A shake of her head.
His eyes darted off for a moment, contemplating.
“You can stay at my place if you want.”
That made her look up at him, her eyes meeting his. She saw the doubt in them, the question whether she would want to stay at the house of a person she just met. She would’ve said yes to almost anywhere right now, but the fact that it was Azriel made the decision as easy as could be. A watery smile formed on her lips as she nodded.
“Thank you, Az.”
His eyes widened slightly, a blush creeping up on his cheeks, and she couldn’t help the little smile that formed as he stumbled to grab her heels from the ground.
Her legs still felt a little shaky, so Az silently held out his arm for her to hold again.
She felt more than saw that he looked at her, but her eyes had zoned out and she knew she was not about to zone back in. His voice was a comforting rumble when he started to lead her away from the building, and the people within. “Let’s go.”
----
Their walk before had been silent as well, but the silence was different this time. Elain’s mind had somehow shut off, and her body just functioned on instinct. Nothing of the walk registered with Elain, not the flowers she knew were there and she would usually admire, nor the shops and the sky.
She’d thought he would propose today. She grimaced as she remembered the look of the ring, so not her, and it dawned on her that that ring was never meant for her. The realisation felt distant, like it couldn’t touch her after what she’d seen. Not even the fact that he must have had something for longer with the girl could hurt her anymore. It was all pain, without any distinction between where it came from.
She only realised that they’d arrived after Azriel had softly sat her down on a mattress. Elain blinked, trying to come back to reality.
The room she was in was simple, but nice. Thick blue curtains were pushed aside, letting the light from the moon in through gigantic windows going all the way from the floor to the ceiling. She was sat on a king-sized bed, with a padded midnight colour headboard. The duvet was a slight grey tint, with a few different pillows at the top. She took it all in, slowly ordering her head and coming back to her surroundings.
Her gaze flicked forward, to where Az was squatting before her, his eyes scanning her face.
Relief flooded his face as she looked at him, actually seeing him now. More than listing everything around her, his eyes grounded her. There was a fierceness in them that told her he would not let her stay in this state, that he would not let her suffer alone.
She breathed in deep and, even though all her emotions felt so more present and painful, forced herself to face them head on, instead of hiding in her own mind.
Azriel looked at her for a few more seconds, assuring himself she would not slip away again, and stood.
For as far as she knew, he hadn’t said a word since they left the apartment complex, nor did he talk now. He did not ask if she was okay, which they both knew she was not. He was there, which was all she needed right now.
He’d turned around to a wardrobe, ruffling through it. Probably looking for a pyjama for her, she realised. He turned back to her, holding something red.
“I have...” He trailed off. Az looked down at the piece of cloth in his hands, then back at her.
“Never mind.” He threw it on the ground and grabbed a t-shirt from his wardrobe and handed it to her instead. “You can sleep in this.”
She took it from him, his hand trailing to his neck to rub it.
“The bathroom is the door right next to this room,” he said. “Just take whatever you need. I’m afraid I don’t have an extra toothbrush though.” He scrunched up his face.
“That’s okay. I’ll be right back.”
She stepped out of the room and into the neighbouring bathroom. Part of her wanted to take a scalding shower and not come out anymore, but she settled for a quick rinse of her face. She did not want to break down in Az his shower, no matter how much she trusted him. She found a towel to dry her face with in a cabinet, after which she put it on the closed toilet seat, taking the t-shirt and putting it on.
The t-shirt was warm and soft and big, falling just above her knees. The sleeves were too long, so she rolled them up to above her elbows, bending her arms slightly so they wouldn’t fall again. She didn’t know where her heels were, she supposed Az had left them somewhere, but she gathered her dress and purse from the floor and walked back to the bedroom, where a now changed Az was waiting for her.
He wore blue and white flannel pyjama trousers and a simple t-shirt, his sleeves rolled slightly as well. For some reason, seeing him walking on bare feet made her heart ache a little less, a tiny smile on her lips.
He looked up as the floorboards creaked, hair tousled after having pulled a t-shirt over it.
“I only have one bed,” he motioned behind him, “but luckily I have a very comfy sofa so you don’t have to worry about me kicking you.” He grinned.
Her heart ached, but seeing Azriel standing like that in front of her, without pity and trying to cheer her up, at least distracted her mind.
“I won’t mind your kicking,” she said. “And I won’t kick you out of your own bed.” She stepped towards the other side of the bed, dropping her stuff next to it on the floor. “It’s big enough.”
He looked at her a little longer, then moved to close the door and curtains, returning to the bed seconds later.
It wasn’t late per se, but her body felt heavy, her red eyes drooping. She wasn’t sure whether Az would’ve gone to bed if she wasn’t there, but he did and she didn’t ask about it.
Elain slid under the duvet, with indeed enough room for both of them. A glance at Azriel revealed that he was already looking at her and on a whim she quickly moved to his side, planting a little kiss on his cheek. She knew she’d turned crimson, just like he had, eyes wide, and she shuffled back to her side to lay down.
“Goodnight,” she mumbled. “And thank you.”
***************
A/N: There will be an epilogue of sorts after this, but as it's not written yet that might take some time. The original idea (as if any of this was planned beforehand) is completed, so thank you for reading!
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