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I giggle at their responses, especially Caelan’s. His laugh is infectious. “Well, anyway.I’llask, maybe see if I can switch for some extra shifts during the week. It’ll be worth it for whatever time I can get with you.”
“Let us know what you can arrange,” Elias says calmly. Then, just as calmly, he picks up one of my pillows and throws it viciously at Caelan. Caelan takes it full to the face and only laughs harder.
Despite apparently resolving the issue with the agreement that neither of them would get involved, I wonder if Elias did somehow speak to my manager. It probably wasn’t Caelan—the trauma would be more obvious. But when I ask during my next shift, everyone seems unusually obliging to let me shuffle my hours around.
Still, it’s not something worth worrying over. I’m just glad to be able to get the time free. Because that means I have the whole weekend to spend with Elias and Caelan. There’s a Friday morning class I can’t do anything about, but I text them to let them know they can pick me up in the afternoon.
That’s still a week away, and I see them both separately before then. But neither are particularly forthcoming on any details. I know we’ll be going out to a restaurant on Saturday night, and they say there are no plans beyond that other than enjoying the time together, but they won’t tell me where we’re going.
The matter is only confused further by the fact that they’re driving when they come to collect me.
I hug them both, and they kiss me until I’m giggling and breathless in return. Caelan takes my bag as I lock the apartment up behind me, and Elias leads us to where he’s parked.
“Okay, stupid question time,” I say as I slide into the back seat with Caelan. Elias is driving, as usual. I wonder if he just doesn’t trust Caelan behind the wheel of a fast-moving two-ton vehicle. “Why on earth are we driving?”
There must be a reason. Elias places a high value on efficiency, and he wouldn’t be wasting time and effort on driving when he could just carry me through the abyss, not unless there was some purpose to it. Like when he took me specifically out on a scenic drive. We’re over the whole thing about him not wanting me in between dimensions now, so that can’t be it.
I catch them sharing that same glance again. They’re up to something or keeping something from me, and I’m not sure how I feel about that.
It is our anniversary, I suppose. Just six months, so not exactly significant, but maybe they have a surprise planned. That’s probably all it is.
So, I try to not worry too much about it. Whatever they’re up to, I’ll find out when they are ready.
Elias gives Caelan a noncommittal look, tilting his head in a silent gesture of ‘do as you will’ and Caelan shrugs.
“Figured you should see what the drive’s like,” he explains.
“Um… why?”
Another pause, another shrug. “Eh. It’ll make sense when we get there.”
I should have seen that one coming. They have been cagey about it this whole time, and they’re not going to spill their secrets now we’re right on the cusp.
Even though I spend most of the time chatting freely with them, there’s a part of me that remains distracted. I watch out the window far more than I normally would, keeping track of the time and trying to figure out exactly where we’re going.
We head out of the city and toward LA. There’s a moment where I wonder if that’s where we’re going, but we turn off the highway long before that. Then Elias drives us into a more residential area, somewhere generically upper class and suburban-looking, and my confusion increases exponentially.They live in the city, don’t they?Close to each other, but with separate places, although it’s a moot point, given they stay with each other most of the time regardless. The space is there if they need it. That’s what they’ve always said anyway.
We travel all the way to the outskirts, where the houses are larger and even further apart— private. Elias pulls to a stop outside a large brick manor. Maybe a manor. It’s either that or a large house. I’m not sure exactly where the boundary lies.
“What is this place? An Airbnb or something?”
“Not exactly,” Elias says smoothly.
He walks to the door, unlocking it with a key of his own, and I grab my bag from the trunk, trailing after him, with Caelan bringing up the rear. Caelan has that smug grin on his face, hands in his jeans pockets as he leans against the doorway and watches me.
I’m starting to have suspicions, and a heavy weight of guilt settles in my stomach. The feeling gets worse as I step inside, and my eyes go wide. There’s a living room immediately to the left, andopulentis the only word I can think of. The high ceiling reaches all the way to the second story, a mezzanine balcony overlooking the room from upstairs. The living room alone is twice the size of my apartment. The wooden floors are covered with an expansive rug in the center, dark leather sofas, a matching mahogany coffee table, a piano in the corner, and an honest-to-God fireplace. To the right is an open-plan kitchen with marble counters arranged around a central island. The house expands with what looks like a dining room beyond the kitchen and a set of stairs leading upstairs and down.
“Elias,” I say quietly. “Please tell me you didn’t buy this.”
“Would it be a problem if we had?”
The casual lack of denial tells me enough. “You bought a house!”
“Do you not like it, darling?”
I bite my lip. I can’t assume that their buying it had anything to do with me. It seems almost narcissistic to give myself that much credit.
Maybe they just wanted to move or a change of pace. I don’t dictate their lives to that degree. Maybe it’s just coincidence that this place is far closer to where I live in San Diego, like a halfway point between the three of us.
