Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
Even the slightest act of kindness could result in another Junior, or another Alexi.
Plus, I didn’t want to make Elio worry either, though I doubted he’d get jealous.
“Um, sorry,” I said hesitantly. “I really can’t. And from what I saw, you’re very smart, so I’m sure you’ll be fine. But thanks again for the help.”
“Wait—”
I ignored his calls, disappearing into the crowd. I knew Anna would be waiting for me in the courtyard. Her classes didn’t start until noon, but she would always come early to get breakfast at the commissary.
Sure enough, it didn’t take long to find her planted at the fountain edge, sipping on a juice box.
“There’s my girlie!” Anna greeted me as I took the seat beside her.
I sighed heavily and she raised an eyebrow. “Rough day?”
I nodded silently.
“I’ve got you, girl,” Anna reached into her bag, pulled out another juice box, grape-flavored, and stabbed it with the straw before passing it to me.
The juice was still cold, and it was refreshing after such a tiring morning.
Anna didn’t push me, just hung out until I was ready to talk, and I was so grateful for her because of that.
“This guy ran into me,” I explained. “I fell on the floor and my stuff went flying. He helped me pick it up, but it made me late to class. Turns out the guy, Elijah was my classmate, but I didn’t know that before I accused him of stalking me to class.”
Anna snorted.
“It’s not funny,” I sent her a serious look. “I humiliated myself. And then the professor got mad at us for being two minutes late and kept calling on us to answer question after question, me then Elijah, then me, and—ugh, it drove me nuts!”
“I told you not to take his class. There’s a reason I dropped out of his class last semester.” Anna shrugged.
“Yeah, well, Elijah actually helped me out by picking up some of the questions I didn’t know. I was thankful for that, but….”
I paused and then sighed.
“But what?” Anna asked, taking a bite of her breakfast.
“Well, he asked me for coffee to study with him, or at least, that’s the excuse he gave. Of course, I said no, but it was weird, you know? I just met him.”
“Hm, that’s not too unusual,” Anna said thoughtfully. “You are gorgeous, my friend, after all. Of course, guys would ask you out. Was he hot?”
“Uh, what?” I asked.
She just stared at me expectantly and I thought about it. “I guess so. I didn’t really think about it.”
“Cool, then here’s what you do,” she said. “Introduce him to me, and I’ll figure out if he’s weird or just likes you.”
I had to admit, she had a good idea. Anna was oddly really good at getting things out of people. She could’ve been a psychologist or profiler if she wanted, but she preferred a more ‘exciting life’ in her words.
But I didn’t hate the idea of Anna scoping him out for me. If someone was after me the way Junior or even Alexi had been, then I needed to know.
I glanced at the big clock tower, sighing once I saw it was thirty past ten and already time to head to my next class.
“I’ve got a class to go to, so I’ll see you later,” I said. “Thanks for the juice.”
She hummed in acknowledgment. “Love you!”
She waved at me as I headed to the far building for the next class. Before I even left the courtyard, my phone started vibrating in my pocket and I fished it out. Nobody was supposed to be calling me during school hours.
“Hello?”
“Hey.” It was Elio’s voice that greeted me. “I have some news.”
My stomach dropped.
*Elio*
“What’s wrong?”
Even with her voice riddled with nervousness, she still somehow managed to sound like a boss being told his workers fucked up. I couldn’t help the pull of my lips at the image of her in a suit, dwarfed by a huge black swivel chair, trying to be serious all while looking more adorable than a kitten.
“Elio?” Cat asked, worry bleeding into her tone.
I coughed into my hand, throwing away the brief fantasy as I focused on the task at hand.
“Nothing wrong,” I told her calmly. “It’s good news, actually.”
I heard her breath of relief over the phone. “That’s good. So, what’s going on?”
I smiled to myself as she switched from stern and worried to excitement all with one breath. She was so goddamn adorable sometimes that I felt like screaming into the void.
“I actually wanted to take you to New York as soon as you’re done with classes for the week, just for the weekend,” I said cooly.
“New York?” She sounded dubious, and my heart skipped a beat as I swallowed uncomfortably. If she said no, I had more chances, but it would no doubt raise some flags in her head. The last thing I needed was to raise her suspicions.
“Why do you suddenly want to go to New York?”
“Just because,” I lied smoothly. “You’ve always wanted to see New York, right? And it’s been a while since we had a trip with just the two of us. Italy doesn’t count since I was working, and it wasn’t really our choice to go there. I figured, why not New York.”
“I do want to go to New York but….”
She hesitated. I could feel that she knew something was odd about this request, and I could only hope my lying skills came in handy.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to. We can stay home this weekend if that’s what you want. I just figured it’d be a nice surprise.” I let a little bit of disappointment leak out through my tone, not even faking it because if she didn’t go, I would truly be disappointed.
“No, no! I want to go!” she hurriedly responded.
I gave a faint smile, a little sad to know how well I was able to manipulate the woman I loved.
“New York would be lovely,” she said. “Thank you so much for doing this for me. I love you so much. I’ll have to get ready—oh, we have to see the Statue of Liberty and the Metropolitan, oh and the Aquarium! Jeez, there’s so much to do!”
“We’ll do our best to see it all.” I laughed at her enthusiasm. “But if not, we can always plan another trip later down the road, so don’t worry about it too much.”
“I’m just excited,” Cat said happily, and I could almost see the grin on her face as it stretched from one cheek to the other, beaming with happiness.