Chapter 10 - Eleanor - Purge With My Demons

When I woke up the next morning, Luci was waiting not so patiently on my side of the bed for her morning walk. My hand reached out of the covers to scratch her muzzle, and she licked my hand.

“Okay, let’s go,” I whispered gently, trying to roll out of the bed. I had to lift Giordana’s arm from around my middle to get up. We somehow always ended up spooning when we slept in the same bed.

Giordana got to my place around midnight. I was already in bed, staring at the wall, when I heard my front door open. Giordana greeted Luci at the door and dropped her stuff, then I was able to relax and fall asleep. Owen was at the forefront of my mind, but Brad was still a lingering thought. He knew where I lived and was sending me cryptic texts. It was not making me feel wonderful.

With Luci harnessed, we went for our morning walk, which was thankfully not eventful. I did my best to suppress thoughts of Brad and the texts from my mind. When I was successful in doing that, Owen took up my thoughts. His gorgeous green eyes and how caring he was. I had a feeling that even if Giordana didn’t tell him to walk me home, he still would have offered. Owen was otherworldly. My mind wandered several times to what he might have done if Luci hadn’t started scratching on the door yesterday.

We made it back home to more trinkets at the front window. This time a coin and silver button sat waiting for me. I scooped them up with a smile, a slight tingle ran down my spine,loving the familiarity of these little idols to collect. I placed them in my bowl by the door and started a pot of coffee.

My trusty cup of coffee with caramel syrup in hand, I made myself comfortable on the couch and pulled out my most recent read. A smutty vampire novel would be just the perfect escape from reality.

Next thing I knew, Giordana was nudging me awake. “Nor, good morning.”

“Hey,” I mumbled. “I didn’t even realize I fell back asleep.”

“It looks like you took maybe one sip of your coffee.” She chuckled. “It’s ice cold now. When did you get up?”

“Probably Iike 5:30 or 6? I think. I had to take Luci out, she was just staring at me.” I glanced down to the other end of the couch where Luci was lying on her back, snoring. “Is Lili in the bed?”

“Yeah, all snuggled up on your pillow.”

“Can we skip brunch this morning?” I begged, just wanting time with my best friend at home.

Giordana fell dramatically onto the orange oversized chair opposite me. “Now we’re talking. I’ll order food. See if the old lady wants anything.” Dialing the resident old lady, Ms. Nichols, she requested her usual. Giordana and I quickly settled in for a lazy morning at my place.

We sat in comfortable silence for about three minutes before Giordana piped up. “Okay, El, you have got to tell me what the fuck happened the other night.”

I let out a heavy sigh, knowing that recounting the events of Friday night would be exhausting. “I’m going to need coffee for this.”

“I feel horrible for encouraging you to join Spark.”

“No, don't. At least it’s out of my system now. G, I wish you could have been a fly on the wall because no matter how I tell you about Friday night, I don’t think you’ll believe it.”

“Oh shit. Okay.”

I began telling the story of Friday night, sparing no detail. Our food was delivered about the time I got to the part where we were going to Giordana’s office. She was just as confused as I was by Brad. Hell, I was still trying to understand how he seemed so charming and enticing, but then just fell totally flat.

Ms. Nichols insisted on coming down to get her food rather than one of us bringing it to her. Neither G or I were poised to argue with our favorite lady, so she came down right before I was about to drop the bomb.

“Then he said, ‘Look how good you take my hog, Eleanor.’”

Giordana nearly spits her coffee out. “I’m sorry. What the fuck did you just say?”

“Oh, you heard me right.”

Giordana blinked at me, stunned.

“Yeah. Sit on that for a minute.” I took a bite of my food and shook my head. I continued my story of Friday night and finished with Luci not having anything to do with Brad coming into the house.

“Sounds like Luci did a great job.” Giordana praised Luci, tossing her a piece of bacon from her meal.

“Oh, I’m definitely not complaining.” I took another bite of my food. “I am complaining about the panic attack I had afterward, but that’s on Brad, not Luci.”

“Fair enough. And yesterday?” Giordana looked more concerned now. “That text was obviously from Brad. Have you gotten any more? I mean, you must have taken his hog real good, El.” She smirked, lifting her brows several times, trying to lighten the mood.

“I’m going to fucking kill you.” I chuckled, shook my head, and took a bite out of my pancake. “But really, he wasn’t a good lay. For me, anyway. He finished and just sat there looking satisfied.” I stared off into the corner, getting annoyed all over again, my lips pulling up into a snarl. “Like fuck me and my orgasm."

Giordana busted out laughing.

“Now you have to tell me why the fuck you made Owen walk me home yesterday. Why couldn't you just tell me who he was? Fill me in on what the fuck all that was with you yesterday.” My eyes never left her as I walked into the kitchen to throw away my trash. I was going to get to the bottom of this. While I most definitely wasn’t complaining about meeting Owen, everything about the situation seemed idyllic. It was the meet-cute from a fantasy novel, for godsakes.

“You’re right, I could have handled that better.” Giordana grabbed my hand when I walked by again. “I’m sorry.”

“Thank you. For apologizing and for making him walk me home.” My smile couldn’t be contained. “Owen, Finn, and Cora were the silver lining in this whole fiasco. Three of the most gorgeous people I’ve ever seen.”

“Okay, I know Owen and Finn. Who’s Cora?”

“I just know she’s also in the band. G, she’s beautiful.”

“Ashton was so cute too when I met them. Damn, are they all just like drop dead gorgeous? That’s not fair.” Giordana moved over to the couch with me.

“Cora had this shoulder-length dark hair that just fit her vibe so well. Her voice was like butter, and she had these beautiful gray eyes.”

Giordana’s lips quirked into a small smile.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing!” She insisted. “It’s just been a long time since I’ve seen you light up like that talking about someone, anyone. It’s refreshing. I’m sorry I pushed you to download Spark and go out, I thought it would help.”

“I’m deleting that app right now.” Pulling out my phone, I did just that, clicking through the several confirmations. Yes, I do indeed want to cancel my account. “Brad is not your fault, G. You never could have known. And as for me meeting Owen, it was the most random interaction I’ve ever had. Even though it was like a burning from within me when Owen touched me to help me stand. I felt fire in my stomach. I don’t know how else to explain it. Actually, I thought our hands burnt each other, so I had to check and make sure I didn’t have burns on my hand. It felt like they sizzled when he helped me up. It was weird.” I looked down to examine my hand again. “You know how you can feel a connection with someone right away sometimes? It was like that, but also not like that at all.” Her soft smile warmed my heart. There was something about gushing over a crush with your best friend that does that.

I finished telling her the details all the way up to Luci scratching on the door. I’d been reliving the entire event over and over since yesterday. I didn’t even know how to move on from it. I was ready to text Owen right now.

Can you be more dramatic, Eleanor?

Giordana remained invested in my recount of yesterday’s events until the very end. Everyone deserved a friend like Giordana—a true ride or die—I didn’t know what I would do without her.

“I’m really happy for you, Nor. You look so relaxed and comfortable when you talk about him.” Giordana looked at me with an adoring gaze.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. I just met him yesterday.”

“There’s more to Owen, though.” Giordana shifted to sit closer to me. “Theres more to everything, actually, to all of it.”

Trying to decode what Giordana was talking about was impossible. My expectant look remained frozen on my face, waiting for her to share what she was talking about.

“Right, there has to be?” she finally said. “All of it was so perfect, and he kind of does seem perfect for you.”

“Sure, I guess you’re right,” I replied. I knew G far too well to fall for that. She had something else on her mind but stopped herself.