He nods. “Yeah, it’s kind of ridiculous, but I can’t say I’m surprised. He is a terrible person, and I’m glad that it wasn’t overlooked.”
After everything has been said, we sit perfectly curled up together on the couch. My legs are draped over his, feeling content. It feels ridiculous that we spent so long apart only to be feeling the same way about each other, but I’m trying not to dwell on the past. What’s done is done, and I’d rather focus on our future together.
That thought is what snaps me out of our comfortable silence, realizing that Patrick never told me what they said abouthis job.
On the way home from the bar on Friday, Patrick told me everything, and the main part of his plan was asking for his job back. Since the only reason for quitting was refusing to work under Greg, there was a chance that it all might work out.
Breaking our silence, I smack a hand to his chest. “What about you?! Did you ask for your job back?”
“Geez, it took you long enough to ask.” He chuckles, placing a kiss on my nose.
“You are such a jerk!” I hit him again, and he just smiles at me. “Tell me what happened!”
“Fiiiiiine.” He loves teasing me, but I refuse to wait. After nudging him multiple times, he finally responds. “They offered me my job back!”
I squeal, jumping up off the couch in excitement. It might seem like an overreaction, and I should probably be embarrassed. But, I can’t hide my emotions, and honestly, I don’t wantto anymore. Pulling Patrick up off the couch, I wrap my arms around him.
After spending the last two months pretending I didn’t have feelings for Patrick, I’m over it.
This was the one of the last things holding us back from officially dating. I was ready to commit to a long-distance relationship if he had moved back to Raleigh temporarily, but getting his job back means that we don’t have to do any of that.
It takes a while for my excitement to die down, but Patrick watches me thoughtfully, happy to go along with my antics. I flop back down on the couch and pat the seat next to me, but he doesn’t sit down.
“I just remembered something." Giving him a look of concern, I watch as a big smile fills his face."Wait here.”
Patrick goes upstairs, leaving me confused and alone on the couch. Hearing him rummage around upstairs, I don’t exactly know what to think. It must be a good thing if he was smiling like that, but I have no idea what he could be doing.
It feels like he has been gone for a while, but in reality, it probably only takes him two minutes to come back down.
“This—” Patrick places a fairly thick manilla folder on my lap, and all I can do is stare up at him in confusion. “—is foryou.”
As my fingers leaf through the papers, I realize that it all focuses on one specific topic: book editing. There are graphs outlining average salaries across the D.C. area, a list of companies that offer paid internships, some print outs of email conversations about steps to get started in editing, and countless otheruseful items. It feels stupid to get emotional, but my eyes start to fill up with tears anyway.
“You did this?” I sniffle through my sentence. “For me?”
“Of course, El. If this is something you want to do, I am here to support you every step of the way.” He tilts my chin up and leans down to kiss me softly. His lips fit into mine so perfectly, and I don’t want him to stop. He pulls himself away, but stays close, looking in my eyes. “You can do whatever you want for whatever reason, but if you want to do this, I figured that you should know your options.”
He sits down next to me and is meticulous as he walks me through everything. This is not something that he looked up on a whim and threw together. It’s obvious he spent hours researching, putting together data, and reaching out to experts to find specific answers.
“When did you have the time to do all of this? We’ve only been ‘not fake’ dating for three days, and I was here the whole time.”
“I started it when you told me that night in Working Class—” He pushes a stray hair behind my ear and keeps his hand on my face, stroking a thumb over my cheek. “I was already looking into it, but it turns out that being temporarily unemployed gave me a lot of free time to get some good insight on the topic. I was going to come into The Brew and give it to you sometime this week, but then you showed up on Friday. And, well, you know the rest.”
This might be one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me, and my heart feels so full. “I can’t believe you didthis. Weren’t you upset with me after our fake break-up? Why would you do all of this?”
“El, baby, I never stopped caring about you. I never wanted you to be unhappy just because I thought you weren’t interested in me. I wasn’t sure that we’d be able to go back to the way things were, but I still wanted you to have this.”
Patrick’s encouragement and support makes me feel whole again, and I close the folder, wanting to give him my full attention. “You should be careful. If you keep doing stuff like this, I might actually fall in love with you.”
Pulling me into him, he kisses me and moves the papers onto the coffee table. “That’s what I’m hoping for.”
Epilogue
Patrick
OneYearLater…
There will never be a day that I tire of waking up next to Ellie.
