City Romance Ch. 03

Monday

The weekend went off without a hitch. After spending the night at my place, the girls and I went shopping and decided to stay at Dawn's place to utilize the hot tub and swimming pool.

"God Dawn, if I lived here, I'd never leave this pool!"

This was the typical response for Ariel, who had coincidentally been on our swim team in high school.

"And we'd find you frozen like leftovers in the middle of the winter you idiot. Come eat and let your skin stop looking like a raisin before you get premature wrinkles hobo."

Sigh Courtney, isn't it wonderful to have a friend so blatantly honest that rudeness comes natural? That's Courtney, it's a wonder we all don't hate her sometimes honestly, I mean... she's a real pain in the ass sometimes! But of course, in our group, if you can't handle it you get over it and move on.

Every since the club the other night, Eli and I have been texting like crazy which makes me giddy to even think about. I secretly wondered what Mrs. Greenwich was doing now that her grandson was here and I wasn't around to meet him. I still can't believe that sneaky old lady! I had left a message in her mailbox that I wouldn't be home this weekend and to call me if she needed anything.

So far, no calls, which I can't say disappoints me really. This weekend is about my girls and me relaxing before we finish up our last semester of college.

It was abnormally hot for an April day, the temp being over 80 degrees Fahrenheit. So with the warm weather come the skimpy bathing suits and the short shorts. We were all lounging by the pool at Dawn's house soaking up the sun and praying for a tan that would last. I was pleasantly napping when Framing Hanley's song "Slow Dance" jerked me awake.

>I'm thinking of you. What r u doing?
-E

My heart raced as I reread the text.

>I'm sitting by the pool at Dawn's, you?
- Anna banana

>At the fam's, the one I'll b stayin with.
-E

>Cool, Cool. You should b here instead... its hot.
-Anna banana

After an hour of playful texts, Eli didn't send a reply and I found myself pouting and slipping back into my nap. Forty-five minutes later, I was awoken again by the now familiar ringtone.

>Sorry, helping my grams with furniture. She's tryin to set me up w some chick... lol
-E

>Oh? Sounds like my neighbor, you'll have 2 meet her... she's a hoot.
-Anna banana

After yet another forty-five minutes of chatting through text messages, we finally gave up and called each other.

"So when are you going to let me take you for dinner Anna banana?"

"Soon I hope, this upcoming week is going to be horrible thanks to finals though."

"No problem, Friday night it is then. That gives me plenty of time to humor Grams with a friendly 'encounter' with her mystery woman. I still can't get over this, I'm old enough to find my own dates."

His deep laugh knocked the wind out of me, how the hell is he doing that through the phone?!

"I'm sure she means well. Friday sounds great by the way, I'll be finished with exams Thursday so that gives me plenty of time to pack a few things for my trip to North Carolina."

I filled him in on how Dawn and I had been accepted into an archaeological field study program that gave us college credit towards our major and how we would be gone for two weeks shortly after finals. He sounded disappointed that I would be gone for so long, yet supportive at the same time and that made his attractiveness skyrocket even higher. It's important for a potential boyfriend to support my career, and Eli was only making himself look better without even trying.

"Well, I better go before Grams decides to lift the couch on her own. I'm still not sure why we're moving all this furniture, it looked fine the way it was. Anyway, I'll text you later tonight okay?"

We exchanged niceties and hung up, I promptly followed the conversation with a squeal that made Dawn smile like a crazy woman.

"I told you he was special."

Shrugging her shoulders in triumph, she rolled over and went back to her sunbathing.

*******

The following week was as bad as I thought it would be. I was frantically trying to get my finals taken, my house cleaned, my mail and cat taken care of and a few things packed away for my trip. True to his word, Eli texted or called me every night to check on my progress and calm my nerves a bit.

By Wednesday, I was ready to collapse in a big heap of crazy and tears. My anatomy final hadn't gone well at all and I was dreading taking another test on Thursday morning. I groaned in agony as I climbed my steps, only to find I hadn't gotten the mail in two days. I turned to walk to the mail box when I nearly ran directly into Dawn holding a bouquet of lilies.

"Hey girl, I ran into Eli at the coffee shop and he asked me to give you these. He's worried about you Anna, you go a little crazy during finals week just like everyone else. So what's up? I haven't really seen you since last weekend."

She handed me the large bouquet of flowers and I dove in, in search of the card.

I grabbed my cell phone and sent a quick thank you to Eli.

"Dawn, I'm so stressed out for my final tomorrow. Do you think you can help me study a little?"

"Relax Anna; you know this stuff like the back of your hand. Hell, you know most of it better than I do! So calm down and just take it easy, stressing out isn't going to help your grade at all. Let's go inside and grab some food, then we'll look over the material together. Okay?"

"That sounds great D, let me just unlock the door. Damn it, the mail!"

I handed Dawn the door keys and put my phone down next to the flowers before heading towards my mail box, yet again. This time, instead of a Dawn blocking my stairs, there was a couch. Seriously, a couch? Did I fall into the big heap of crazy like I thought I would? A voice shocked me and quickly brought me out of my mental discussion with myself.

"Sorry ma'am! My grams got a new couch without warning me, and I'm having a hard time getting her to not lift the furniture herself. I'll get that out of your way as soon as possible."

My keys to the mailbox fell to the ground as my eyes met the man moving the aforementioned couch. My throat and mouth went dry as I tried to speak. I finally managed to choke out a single word...

"Eli?"

*****

Eli? What the hell is Eli doing here? Am I hallucinating on top of everything else now? There are two ways I can deal with this situation.

Option A: Turn around, lock my door and hide. After all, he didn't see me since he was moving the couch. I can act as if I didn't recognize him and go back inside, mail be damned.

Option B: Approach him and have a good laugh about the situation.

Let's be honest, option A is looking pretty good but what would I say when he found out?

"Oh yes, I knew but I was too embarrassed to say anything."

Not likely! Eli would have every reason to be furious and never want to see me again if I pulled that stunt.

I took a deep breath, picked up my keys and took a shaky step towards my front steps. What happened next, well, I guess I'll never really know. Everything went black as I felt my head hit the ground.

*******

I was sweating like no other; Grams had me bringing in the new couch and chairs she bought without warning. Never mind the fact that I had just moved the old furniture around earlier in the week per her request. My back and shoulders were killing me, but relief came in the fact that I was almost finished.

I heard the neighbor's door open and knew that I had forgotten to move the old couch out from in front of their walkway. Damn, that's all I need, an angry neighbor yelling at me for blocking their walkway. I'm moving furniture, when I should be taking Anna out to relax. I shook that thought from my head and continued moving the furniture. I remembered that grams said a young girl lived there so I yelled out to her my apologies.

"Sorry ma'am! My grams got a new couch without warning me, and I'm having a hard time getting her to not lift the furniture herself. I'll get that out of your way as soon as possible."

I heard something fall and turned to see a girl passed out on her porch. I dropped my end of the couch and ran to help her, but when I saw just who was laying there on the porch passed out, my brain went into overdrive.

"Anna? Oh my god, Grams! Grams, Call 911 something's wrong with Anna!"

*********

I followed the ambulance in my car so Grams and I could keep a close eye on Anna. The drive there was passed with Grams explaining that Anna was the girl she wanted me to meet, and then it was my turn to confess to already knowing her. A hesitant, but knowing, smile graced Grams' face.

"I knew you two would be perfect for each other, I just knew it! And look, I didn't even have to set the two of you up, you did it yourself! How romantic Eli, I'm so happy for you."

"Grams calm down. She and I haven't even had our official first date yet! And who knows, after this she may not even want to see me."

Grams turned to face me with a stern look, "Young man, I will not have you talking that way. Anna is a very intelligent young lady and you will give her the benefit of the doubt when it comes to her decision on dating you, do you understand me? You will not decide your fate before Anna has even woken up!"

We finished the ride in silence, both a little upset and worried at the same time. I couldn't stop worrying about my Anna. Wow, 'my' Anna? I guess that shows how much I care after all. Grams, thankfully, is Anna's emergency contact or we would have been stuck worrying about her with no prevail unless Dawn felt compelled to fill us in.

The doctor filled us in on how Anna's blood sugar was dangerously low, possibly from not eating that day, and that signs of stress were extremely prevalent.

"I guess she saw me moving furniture at my grandmother's home next door. Neither of us knew where the other lived, we had just started talking and hadn't gotten to that level yet. Maybe the shock on top of everything else caused her to collapse?"

I looked at the doctor's nametag which read 'Dr. Hale' and waited for an explanation. The blonde man stared at Anna's chart before meeting my gaze.

"To be honest, that seems to be exactly what has happened. My guess is that the stress from her finals had made her forget to eat regularly causing her blood sugar levels to drop drastically. The shock of seeing you probably made the low blood sugar take its full effect causing her to collapse."

"Then why is she still out Dr. Hale?"

My grams definitely looked worried and I could tell she cared a great deal for the fragile girl laying in the bed close by.

"The CT scan shows that she hit her head pretty hard during her fall. She seems to have a mild concussion; I've given her a mild sedative in hopes to let her body heal itself. I'm only slightly worried about the concussion at this time, I'm sure she'll wake up within a few hours. Until then, the nurses will be regularly checking in on her and you are welcome to stay for as long as it takes."

He smiled and shook my hand before leaving the room. I turned and took the seat closest to Anna's bed. I held her hand gently, pulling it to my cheek as I quietly spoke.

"Miss Banana? Its time to wake up now Miss Banana, you've given us all enough of a scare for one day."

I placed small kisses on her palm and traced circles down her arm.

"Anna, please, I can't stand seeing you like this. Come back to me baby."

My grams' giggle reminded me that she was still there.

"I'm going to go grab a cup of warm tea Elijah; do you want me to get anything for you?"

"No thank you grams, I'll just stay here with Anna until you get back."

**************

My body hurt, more specifically my head and it hurt bad. I swear I can hear the ocean swishing around in my skull. I was warm, but not overly so, yet my left hand was burning up. I tried to open my eyes but was met with a drumming that felt like someone was playing a bass drum directly in my ear. Squeezing my fingers together, I found the reason for the extra warmth, someone was holding my hand.

"Anna? Are you with me honey?"

I groaned trying to answer the muffled speaker.

"Anna?"

Muffled again, what's wrong with my ears?

I distinctly heard Dawn's voice in the background somewhere talking with Mrs. Greenwich.

"And she just passed out. I heard the thump of her falling as I was grabbing something to snack on while we studied; I was hoping to get her to calm down some."

"She still has one more final, how in the world is she going to take them when she's like this?"

"Don't worry Mrs. Greenwich, I spoken with Anna's professor and he has agreed to let Anna take it Friday morning instead of tomorrow morning as originally planned. Mr. Bethard is usually very understanding about these things and when I explained what happened he agreed immediately to moving her final."

My head was spinning and I felt like I was on the tilt-o-whirl at the fair. I started groaning from the dizziness and everyone in the room went silent.

"Anna, please take it easy. Don't try to open your eyes too fast and certainly don't get up. I've turned the lights off so try to slowly open your eyes when you're ready."

Eli? Oh god, I've made a fool of myself! I need to get up from here, now. I hate hospitals, oh god, I'm in a hospital! I could feel the panic rushing over me and my heart rate sped like I was running a marathon.

"Anna! Breathe honey, calm down!"

My eyes flew open and met Eli's dark eyes, my heart rate slowed and my breathing increased to a normal state.

"There, that's my girl. Just breathe baby, focus on me and breathe."

He leaned in and kissed my forehead making me shiver delightfully.

"You gave us quite a scare Anna, are you feeling okay?"

"I feel so foolish, but other than a headache I'm fine. I'm so sorry everyone."

It was then that I looked around to see just who everyone was. Dawn, Courtney, Ariel, Joseph, a guy I didn't know, Mrs. Greenwich, and of course Eli.

Dawn walked forward holding the unknown guy's hand, "Honey are you feeling okay? You scared the hell out of us! I rode with you in the ambulance; I was so scared for you."

"I'm fine Dawn, just embarrassed."

"Don't be, we're all just happy you're okay. Don't worry about your final tomorrow; Mr. B moved it to Friday morning in the testing center for you. He said to tell you to feel better too."

"Got to love Mr. B, huh Dawn?"

"For many reasons Anna banana," she replied with a quick wink.

I noticed she was pulling the unknown one towards me and he silently obliged, I mean, what else was the poor guy supposed to do?

"Anna, this is Beau, Beau, my best friend Anna."

"Beau's going to take me back to your place so I can grab you a few things. Is there anything in particular you want?"

I waved her off slightly and caught Eli's eye.

"Do you folks mind if I have a few minutes alone with Anna?"

Oh, crap... I was silently pleading for them not to leave me alone with him. Dawn smiled because she knew the look in my eye but left anyway. I'll get her ass later for that one. They all piled out of the room leaving behind a gentle acting Eli and a scared-out-of-my-mind me.

"You scared the shit out of me Anna, how ya feeling?"

"Are you mad Eli, I swear I didn't know your grandmother was Mrs. Greenwich. I swear on all that is holy I didn't know."

His laugh eased me a little and his eyes met mine and held them. His strong warm hands took mine and he placed soft kisses on my knuckles.

"I could never be mad at you for something so foolish hun." I smiled a big smile of relief with that.

"I am however mad as hell at you though."

My smile fell, and fast.

"Anna, how could you not take care of yourself like that? Do you know what went through my head when I saw it was you on the ground back at the house? Seriously Anna, I almost joined you on the ground from shock and to find out it was because you had forgotten to eat??"

He sighed, "I take that back, I'm not really mad at you. I just wish I could have been there to help you through this week better. I feel like I've let you down big time."

"Are you serious Eli? Let me down? How in the world could you think that? We've talked everyday this week, which has served to calm my nerves down to the point I actually slept through the night. I never sleep through the night during finals week, I never have Eli. That seriously means something, and it really means something to me that you would care enough to do that."

I stared at him for a few moments and pulled him to me gently.

"Let's stop blaming ourselves and just kiss and make up, shall we?"

He smiled my favorite crooked smile and kissed me sweetly.

"Well, now that your last final has been moved, what do you say to me staying the night with you to take care of my patient hmm? I mean, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't?"

Boyfriend? My smile was threatening to break my face it was so big! I nodded my approval and leaned forward for a better kiss. Who in the world would pass up being babied by this gorgeous man, definitely not me!