Page 33 of Elijah
Amy
aged 20
“Do you like it?” Elijah asked expectantly. “I know it’s small, but the location is perfect - halfway between your uni’ and my college, and the rent is reasonable.”
I looked around the apartment, with its huge arched windows overlooking fields and the canal, and grinned.
“I love it,” I almost squealed. “But are you sure we can we afford it?”
“With my gardening jobs and your shifts at the restaurant, we’ll be fine.” Elijah’s eyes were pleading with me. “We need this Amy. I fucking miss you so much and at least this way we get to spend every night together.”
He was right, we’d barely seen each other when we first started our interior design and landscaping courses, but in our final year, work had ramped up and we were lucky if we spent a night together each week and because I worked in a restaurant, we usually only got to spend Saturday night together at the weekend. It was our busiest night for diners, but I was more than happy to give up the huge Saturday night tips to someone else so that I could have time with Elijah.
“Plus,” he said, pulling on my hand. “Sam is going to take the second bedroom, so we’ll just split the rent three ways.”
“He is?” Even though I loved Sam, I felt a little deflated that this wasn’t going to be mine and Elijah’s little oasis away from everyone else, but it made sense having him, someone, live with us.
“He’ll hardly be here anyway. He works until eight most nights and weekends he’s always out.”
It was true, Sam was putting in long hours at the employment agency where he’d worked for the last three years. He wanted to learn everything there was to learn, so that maybe one day he could buy it from Hazel, his boss. She was in her late fifties and didn’t hide the fact that she was ready to retire and with no children to leave it to, Sam was the ideal person to takeover.
I looked through to the kitchen which was separated from the lounge by the breakfast bar. It would be lovely to be able to cook for us both without having to check Mum didn’t need the kitchen, or worry that Dad and Matty were going to barge in in the middle of us eating and start talking to Elijah about football.
“We get the bedroom with the en suite?” I asked.
Elijah nodded enthusiastically – hopefully.
“Okay,” I finally said. “Let’s do it.”
The next thing I knew, I was being dragged into Elijah’s arms and lifted from my feet. Wrapping my legs around his waist, I leaned in and kissed him.
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” I asked.
“So fucking ready you wouldn’t believe.”
With one hand on my bum and the other stroking my thigh, he carried me over to the breakfast bar and sat me on it, pulling me to the edge with my legs still tight around him. Lifting up my t-shirt, Elijah placed a warm hand on the small of my back, while his other cupped my cheek.
“This is what I’ve wanted for so long, Amy,” he whispered, his chocolate coloured irises darkening to almost black as he stared at me intently. “To have a home with you. To know that when I get into bed every night, you’re going to be there.”
I rolled my eyes and giggled.
“Not just for the sex,” Elijah groaned, tickling my side. “Although, not having to be quiet or grab a quickie while no one is home will be pretty epic.”
“Hmm,” I said, grinning. “It will have its plus points.”
“There’ll be lots of plus points. I’m not saying we won’t argue over me leaving my shoes around, or you not getting rid of your used make-up wipes, because we probably will, in fact we’ll argue about loads of stuff, but we’ll be really happy too. I just know we will.”
“You do?”
I gave a contented sigh as I traced a finger down Elijah’s nose, feeling the little bump that’d he’d apparently had since the age of six, and then followed the outline of his lips which puckered and kissed my fingertip.
“Yeah,” Elijah replied. “And I know because I can’t imagine being happy without you. Ever.”
“Well, I doubt you’ll have to find out, as long as you want me, I’m all yours.”
Breathing deeply, Elijah took my mouth with his and kissed me – telling me without words that I’d always belong to him. His tongue brushed against mine and his hand against the small of my back pushed me closer to his warm, hard body. We kissed, desperately trying to convey all that we felt for each other, which was too overwhelming to express with words. It was everything.
“This is it Amy,” Elijah whispered, as we slowly parted. “The beginning of our life together and it’s going to be amazing.”
