“Okay, did not know I was taking the ferry with a human Wikipedia,” I said with a laugh.
“I was told to show you New York,” Elliot said, gesturing at Lady Liberty. “So I’m sharing my knowledge with you.”
“I’m sorry,” I said with a giggle. “Please continue.”
“Lady Liberty stands 305 feet tall from ground to flame,” Elliot intoned, adopting a serious monotone. “And the torch used to be a viewing deck.”
“Are you reading this from your phone right now?” I asked, laughing harder as he shoved his phone into his back pocket.
“Like anyone keeps that kind of information in their head,” he muttered.
“Okay, phones away.” I dropped mine into my handbag. “We’re going to enjoy the sight and each other’s company, with no screens in sight.”
“Excuse me,” a little voice lisped from behind and we turned to see a young girl holding out her phone to us. “Can you take a picture of me and my mommy?”
“That no screens rule lasted a long time, huh?” Elliot cracked, as he accepted the phone from the child.
“Don’t be rude and do as you’ve been asked,” I said.
Once mother and daughter had the right picture, the mother accepted the phone back.
“You want me to take a picture of you guys?” she asked sweetly. “A souvenir?”
“Actually, yes.” I’d been in New York for two weeks and had a shameful number of pictures to show for it. I handed over my phone and dragged Elliot to the railing so we could have the statue in the background.
“Left,” the woman said, “No, a little – okay there.” She frowned at Elliot. “You could at least look like you wanna be here. Put your arm around her.”
Elliot looked down at me. “Is that okay?”
“Sure.”
Elliot’s arm slid around my waist and the tips of his fingers grazed the tiny gap of bare skin between my shirt and trousers. Instantly I was reduced to a trembling wreck like I had been at the junket, imagining what those fingers could do to me.
“Gorgeous,” said the woman, snapping away. “If you could both look at the – okay, great.” She gave me the phone back. “Such a beautiful couple.” She was gone before we couldcorrect her on our relationship status, and I busied myself with putting away my phone so Elliot couldn’t see the way my face was flaming. He said goodbye to the mother and her kid, but I couldn’t even speak. I looked out across the water again, grateful for the breeze calming my red cheeks.
“You good?” Elliot asked eventually.
“Fine,” I said, unable to meet his eye. Truth was, I was full of raging, inconvenient thoughts that made me terrified to meet his eye in case he intuited the filth raging through my mind. “Why don’t you share more facts about the Statue of Liberty?”
“I guess I can,” he said. “You look a little off, you sure you’re okay? You’re not seasick?”
“I’m fine.”Just a girl slowly losing her mind with lust, nothing to see here.
“If you’re sure …” he said uncertainly.
We made it to Staten Island and back without me melting into a puddle of uncontrollable horniness, my mind full of everything I’d ever wanted to know about the Statue of Liberty. Elliot clearly wasn’t convinced that I was fine, but I couldn’t talk about it and as we walked out of the ferry terminal, I could feel his worried eyes on me.
“I think I’m just hungry,” I said after his fifth inquiry into my wellbeing.
“Okay, let’s get food.” But he didn’t move, just stood staring at me.
“What?” I said.
“I think I know what’s bothering you,” he said.
Fuck.“You do?”
“That lady back there assumed we were a couple.” He raked a hand through his hair, causing rogue tendrils to tumble adorably into his eyes. All I wanted to do was brush them away from his face. “It made you feel weird.”
