The Girl At The Last

Chapter 20

Elaine

I woke up this morning to the sound of birds chirping and the smell of someone baking. Diana's cooking made me question my appetite, when It comes to her dishes there's no turning back until the container was empty.

Walking downstairs I saw Alex seated at the breakfast bar with a plate of pancakes and an orange juice on the side. No surprise, Diana served her guest well.

His hair stuck in all possible directions, he had his jacket laid on the armrest. He sat there on his plain white t-shirt and blue jeans, with a lazy morning look on his face. Yet he could give Calvin Klein models a tough competition any day.

I must've stared at him for too long as I saw a smirk playing across his lips.

I took my share of pancake and sat beside him, he passed me the syrup.

We ate in silence with the clings and clangs of the fork and ascending theme track of friends from Diana's room as the only sound resonating among us.

"Want to talk about it?" I chewed my bite of the fluffy goodness slowly, but I had to ask him.

He sipped on orange juice wiped the side of his lips with a napkin.

"My dad's in town" He seemed tense but tried to appear casual. "He said he wanted me back in Orlando"

My heart fell, the pancake tasted like mud in my mouth as I forced myself to swallow. He must've sensed the change of mood as he shifted on his seat and looked deep into my eyes. Suddenly I felt vulnerable, never I ever had this hard of a time masking my emotions.

"I said No" he smiled as I exhaled in relief.

"But dad and I don't get along well" he ran his fingers over the hair, making it messier. it was palpable, his dad was a sensitive subject for him. And I am willing to give him enough space to open up and maybe someday I'll find enough audacity to do that myself.

"I left the house troubled and wanted to avoid the place till I could think straight, so-"

"It's fine, you can stay as long as you want" I cut him off.

His pensive feature bartered into that of mischief.

"So you want me around so desperately huh?" his lips shaped into a smirk.

"It's called humanity and flirting doesn't suit you well, especially with that disheveled hair and stained shirt" I pointed the spiky end of the fork at the brown patch.

Groaning he got up, collecting the dishes in his arms.

"Suggest any good hairdresser, I know my hair requires service" trudging to the sink, he started on his dishes.

"I know one, probably the best in town, but not recognized yet" with my own set of the platter I walked to him. Wiping his hands on a paper towel hesitantly he asked

"Who?"

After five minutes he was answered, but he wasn't thrilled about it.

"Are you sure about this, not that I am possessive towards it, but you're a designer and it's a hair and not a fabric?' I bit my lip to swallow the laugh as Alex sat there on a chair with a towel spread across his chest and a hovering scissor curled under Diana's fingers.

"You should be possessive about it, do you know how many people would die to have this color as natural and yeah I am sure about it, I have a diploma in this field" an annoyed Diana made her point, as Alex nodded, but still uncertain.

Subsequently, finally, an hour of happily haircut ever after and you're a pro at this, and thank you so much's later we purified Diana's room of Alex's sneaky little lingering hairs. We then decided to do our much talked about and mightily procrastinated English assignment. In my room.