#aileenxeli 001

[lockwords]

Aileen stared at her phone which lay on her table, irritation evident on her features. Three days had gone by. Three whole days and not a single text or call from Eli? Sure he asked for time but by god, how much time did he need? She needed to secure a job fast because thinking about Eli and Noah every waking minute was not helping her in anyway. She glared at the phone some more before picking it up and calling Eli. And her irritation only grew when he didn't answer.

That bastard.

Huffing, she pocketed her phone, got her keys and drove straight to his apartment. Unlike last time she wasn't going to be patient, or even tried to pretend. It wasn't long after that she stood before his door, pretty much kicking at the door rather than knocking. "Eli, you in there?" she called, louder than necessary, huffing as she waited for a reply. @lewistan

[lockwords]

Aileen scowled when he heard him say no on the other side of the door, ready to kick at the door again, but then she heard footsteps and stopped herself. She had to keep reminding herself that she had to be reasonable here but it was so damned hard to be. Not to mention, she didn't really have much practice with it. Her pep talk to herself was, as always, useless because it slipped from her mind in a second when Eli finally opened the door and asked her what she wanted. Aileen imagined his question to be more condescending than it really was. "What do I want?" she snapped at him. "I am waiting for you to get back to me, Eli, and instead of doing that you're ignoring my calls." she pointed out, sounding irritated.

She moved to the side a little, trying to look past him without much success considering how massive he was. She knew she really needed to give Eli his space to make a decision about this, but the more time he took, the more panicked she became -- because what if his answer ended up being no? "Is Noah in there?" she asked finally, looking back up at him before she cleared his throat rather obviously. "Is my son in there?"

The last three days had been filled with an anxious sort of energy. There was simply no other way to describe it. Ever since he’d spoken to Aileen, Eli had been thrumming with anxiety. He was sure that everyone around him had noticed it, but he hadn’t been ready to discuss it yet. Noah’s mother had asked for permission to be a part of their son’s life again, and while Eli knew all of the reasons why he shouldn’t deny his boy this opportunity, a large part of him wanted to. Aileen had been so flaky and unreliable in the past and he wanted to hold that against her, wanted to put his foot down, and say that Noah deserved better. That he’d been the parent who’d stayed. But Eli also knew that had the circumstances been reversed, had he been the one who’d walked away for one reason or the other, he would want Aileen to be gracious to him even if it wasn’t fully deserved.

Eli groaned, glancing at the ringing phone. He’d get back to whomever was calling later. Or he’d ignore the world until everyone went away. That seemed like a more desirable alternative.

He’d been just about to throw himself on the couch, flip on a comfort movie, and forget everything when he heard the pounding at the door, followed by the voice. “No,” he called back even as he stood and trudged to the door. He slid the lock open and stood in the doorway eyebrow raised. “What do you want now?”