“I don’t think I’m up for the crowd there,” he agreed.
At least he wasn’t going to try and talk me into staying. But returning to Nate’s where I would just sit and worry alone didn’t seem appealing either.
“Let’s get my truck and then go to my apartment. We can watch a movie. I have vodka. I also have some peanut butter ice cream in my freezer that needs to be eaten. It’ll be quiet there.”
That was better. “Okay. Yes, that sounds good. Especially the ice cream.”
He smirked. “And I thought it would be my perfect personality that would win you over.”
“That is just a plus. The ice cream definitely is the ultimate draw.”
The server came, and Eli took the bill for our dinner and paid for it. This had been a date. A real one. Even after our drunken admissions on the beach. We talked about Sea Breeze and his childhood there on our way back to the truck. He had good memories of the place and a lot of friends who sounded a lot more colorful than the ones I had back home.
We didn’t go inside or say anything to Bliss and Nate. Instead, we got in his truck and headed to his apartment which was more of a condo on the beach. Bliss had lived there with him before she got together with Nate. I wondered if he had bought a two bedroom just for that reason—for her.
But I didn’t want to talk about that anymore, so I didn’t ask.
“This is it. Movies are in that cabinet if you want to look through what I have. Or we can rent something from iTunes. Your choice.”
It was a nice. You could tell a female had lived here once. There was a feminine touch that most guys didn’t know how to pull off when they decorated. Or they didn’t care to.
“I’ll see what selection you have first,” I told him walking over to the cabinet.
He left me in there. I opened the cabinet and saw the DVDs were in alphabetical order. He had a great selection. I found Top Gun toward the end and picked it up. I had seen this once when I was younger. It was a classic even back then.
Eli walked back into the room carrying a bottle of vodka, two glasses, and some cranberry juice. “I assume you don’t always drink vodka straight out of the bottle,” he said with a mischievous grin.
“You’d be correct. That was actually a first for me.”
“Figured.”
I handed him the DVD, and he nodded. “Nice choice,” he agreed then set the glasses on the coffee table and the vodka and cranberry juice behind them. “Help yourself. Want me to get the ice cream now? Or later?”
I wasn’t hungry yet. I was still full from the fried crab claws and fries I had eaten. “I’m good with the vodka right now.”
He sat down on the sofa then and waved his arm out beside him. “Then let’s drink. I’ve sobered up, and I prefer the numbness that came with the vodka earlier.”
“It definitely makes you brave. Which isn’t necessarily a good thing,” I said thinking about myself.