Elias glanced up briefly from the sketch he was working on. “I wouldn’t be here if she didn’t.”
After the encounter on the Fourth of July, he’d ended up rearranging his appointments and spent Monday and Tuesday with her. He knew Nesiah had texted Eri to check in, but he also knew his girlfriend hadn’t said much beyond saying she was okay and thanking her for checking on her.
She’d spent the past few days in some article of his clothing, wrapped in a blanket on the couch, eating all her favorite foods and snacks, and watchingThePowerPuff Girlsepisodes. Elias had been there right along with her. He’d even been prepared to move his appointments again last night if he had to, but she’d assured him she was okay, and he didn’t need to.
“I’m glad she’s feeling better. I can’t even imagine what she was feeling,” Nesiah replied. “In case you were wondering, a potassium overdose is lethal. You know, for…hypothetical reasons.”
“So is an insulin overdose, and after several hours, levels will return to normal, and it’s like it wasn’t even there,” Elias responded. “Hypothetically.”
“Talks of hypothetical murder?” Marco asked, coming into the main area.
“Hypothetically speaking, if we cross paths again, it might not be hypothetical,” Elias replied.
“Well, hypothetically, I know a guy,” his cousin informed.
Elias knew he knew several guys and a girl, but honestly, it wasn’t something he would pass off to anyone else. The way he felt about the situation, he wanted to handle it himself. If he were lucky, he’d cross paths with the man again.
He turned his attention back to the sketch as his cousin and Nesiah started a conversation about a client they’d both worked on, and a complaint he had about the pricing difference. Elias would never understand why people assumed artists in the same shop charged the same hourly price. You were paying for experience, how long someone had been in the business, how sought after they were, and that differed for all of them.
Elias only had one more client, and it wasn’t for another hour. He checked the time and thought about calling Eri, but she’d told him she had an appointment, and he knew she was getting ready for it.
Instead, he put the tablet aside with a sigh, which drew Marco’s attention, and his cousin came over.
“You good?”
“Yeah,” Elias started. “I just…” he trailed off, unsure of what he wanted to say.
“Don’t want to be here?” Marco supplied. “Or you’re worried?”
“She said she’s okay, and I’m trying to take her word for it and give her the space she subconsciously asked for, but yeah. I’m worried, and other than being there when she needs me, I feel helpless. And I don’t like that feeling.”
“I get it,” Marco started. “The last thing we want to feel when the person we care about the most is going through something or hurting is helpless, but you have to trust she’ll come to you if and when she needs you.”
“I do, but you know me. I like to be proactive.”
And Elias felt like he couldn’t be in this situation because he was reacting to what happened. He was comforting and being a safe space. Both of which were perfectly fine, but he hated that she even had to go through that, that she even had to see that fucking man to begin with, because of all people, they let him out early. The court system was truly fucked.
“I know, but in this instance, you just need to be available.” Marco patted him on the back before leaving him to his thoughts.
Elias knew they were both right, and he wanted to make sure Eri remembered that, that she knew he’d come right back if she needed him. He knew his girlfriend well enough to know that she wouldn’t say anything if she thought she was keeping him from something. She would try to tough it out. He didn’t want her doing that, and regardless of being with her for the last several days, he didn’t want to leave her on her own just yet. He pulled out his phone to send her a text.
Elias: Can I come over after my last client?
He wanted to ask to make sure he wasn’t smothering her. If she needed that time alone, he trusted her to tell him no. He would do whatever she needed. His phone vibrated a minute later.
Eri:Yeah, you can.
Elias tucked his phone into his pocket, made a mental note to pick up more of her favorite snacks because she’d gone through most of them, and then got ready for his last client to pass the time.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Eri sat in Cherell’s office, playing with the tasseled edges of the pillow she so often used for comfort as the other womanwaited for her to start the topic of discussion. She’d spent the last few days dealing with the encounter and trying to get over it. However, she knew that speaking about it would help her move forward.
She took a deep breath. “Last weekend I ran into…Keith. The man who assaulted me.”
“I’m so sorry, Eri. I can imagine that was uncomfortable and frightening for you. Do you want to discuss it?”
“It was uncomfortable, and I was afraid, but not as much as I expected to be if I ever saw him again.”
