I Spy With My Little Eye

Chapter 10

Grace:

Levi and I sat on the couch watching the Spongebob marathon on nickelodeon while Eli was taking a shower. We had nothing better to do and we both agreed that Spongebob was secretly trying to warp the minds of children and turn them into society rebels. Actually, that was Levi’s interpretation. I was pretty sure Gary was using mind control on Spongebob and Patrice so he could take over the world. Say what you want but it’s true. I hadn’t actually watched Spongebob sense I was ten for that reason. That and daddy said it was mindless non-sense and I had better things to do. He was probably right.

For some reason I was a lot more comfortable around Levi than I was around Eli. Eli had this tendency to be all Grrr most of the time and Levi just liked to make people laugh. Eli was so painfully emotionally damaged whereas Levi was happy with who he was and everything around him. I couldn’t help but want to talk to him. I was happy daddy didn’t just leave me with Eli.

“Can I ask you something?” Levi asked muting the tv. I nodded and turned toward him fiddling with the drying strands of my hair. I didn’t believe in using blow dryers because they burned your hair and made it really dry. “What’s your opinion of Eli?” he asked narrowing his eyes.

“Um… scary.” I said dropping my hands into my lap. Levi laughed.

“You seriously think he’s scary?!” Levi looked at me in disbelief.

“Well… yeah.” I blushed and looked down at my lap, “He’s so tall and moody.”

“Gracie, I’m tall and moody.” Levi said smiling at me. I shook my head.

“He’s just scary okay?” I said turning away from him. Of course, Eli wasn’t scary to the rest of the world… I was an easily frightened person.

“Eli’s the equivalent of a ST. Bernard.” Levi said shaking his head, “He’s big, and intimidating, but he’s a pansy that drools a lot.” I burst out laughing and nodded grinning.

“That’s a pretty good description.” I said with a nod trying to suppress a smile as Eli walked out of the bathroom with only a pair of sweatpants on. I tried not to stair open mouthed at his wonderfully sculpted torso and shoulders. If I hadn’t actually met him already, I would have been in love. He looked nothing like a St. Bernard. He looked like something out of a Ralph Lauren advertisement.

“Eli you dog!” Levi said beside me turning the volume on the TV back on. Eli hit Levi in the back of the head and made his way to the kitchen. His life seemed to revolve around the kitchen. Levi grinned and winked at me. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Is it socially acceptable to eat mustard out of a spoon?” Eli asked examining the food in the fridge.

“No.” Levi and I chorused as we glanced over at him. Eli scowled and tried to look for something to eat.

“Is it socially acceptable to eat any condiment out of a spoon?” He asked craning his neck to look at us.

“Is the puppy hungry?” I asked. I couldn’t help but bring it up. Maybe if I teased him, he wouldn’t be so scary. Eli scowled. Beside me Levi hooted with laughter.

“Shut it d**k!” Eli said turning back toward the fridge.

“I should warn you,” Levi whispered loud enough for Eli to hear, “He doesn’t know how to make normal food.”

“He made breakfast this morning.” I whispered back confused.

“No, he watched breakfast cook this morning.” Levi shook his head.

“Hey, I cooked the bacon!” Eli said slamming the fridge shut and turning to glair at us.

“dude you set off the smoke alarm.” Levi’s shoulders shook with laughter.

“How did I not hear that?” I asked wide eyed.

“Cause you’re miss oblivious.” Eli grumbled, “Now what is considered socially acceptable to eat around here?”

I sighed and unfolded myself from my seat on the couch. Levi promptly took up the rest of the couch and continued watching Spongebob. As I walked into the kitchen a braided my hair and pulled a rubber band off my wrist to tie the end of the braid. Clearly this boy needed to learn how to survive in the real world.

“Do you want something hot or cold?” I asked leaning against the counter as he turned to stare at me.

“Hot.” He said raising an eyebrow and smirking. I decided to ignore the possible thoughts that were going through his head and turned to the fridge. Knowing daddy, he probably stalked the kitchen with all my favorite foods so I knew I had everything I would need.

“Alright,” I said pulling thickly sliced ham out of the fridge along with mustard, butter, cheddar cheese and some potato salad as a side, “this is actually really easy and really fast to make. It’s one of my favorites.” I pulled some bread out of the pantry. Daddy had made sure to get the potato bread too. He knew me too well.

“Can you make me one too?” Levi asked from the couch.

“I’m making one for all of us.” I said calmly as I set out my ingredients. When I was little mama and I used to cook together. When she died, I spent a lot of my free time in the kitchen because it had reminded me of her. While there I picked up a few tricks. When I got out of school, I wanted to open up my own sandwich and coffee shop. I actually loved to cook, so teaching Eli how to fend for his self was really no big deal.

“New. Favorite. Person!” Levi exclaimed throwing his hands up in the air.

“Some friend you are.” Eli grumbled behind me.

“Dude I think you’re out of a job!” Levi sat up and looked over the back of the couch at us, “Gracie, you’re hired!”

“I think you should keep Eli.” I said laying out everything thing I needed, “We can’t just send him back to the pound.” Levi fell back against the couch laughing while Eli growled and sent death glares my way. I turned toward the cupboards to get out the George Forman. It wasn’t ideal. I would have preferred frying in a pan with a little olive oil, but the George Forman was easier to clean. I stood on my tippy toes to reach the stupid grill, but it was way up on the top shelf. Which was about two feet above my head and way out of my reach. I sighed and tried to jump for it. I failed miserably. Just as I was about to climb up on the counter to retrieve it, as demeaning as it was, someone pressed their half-dressed body against my back as he reached up to grab the grill for me. I felt my face get hot as I unconsciously breathed in his sent. He smelled amazing! Like green apples and fresh cut grass. There was something else I couldn’t place but he reminded me of early fall, when everything was still warm, but you were anticipating the pretty leaves of late fall and the snow of winter. I really wouldn’t have minded if he stayed pressed against me like that, but I knew I shouldn’t think that way. I turned around quickly as he lowered his arm George Forman in hand. One of his hands was resting on the counter by my waist as he looked down at me. I was rendered completely immobile as I gazed up at him, completely transfixed by how very pretty he was. His jaw was clenched, and he had a weird look in his eyes. It was something I hadn’t really seem before from any guy and I was a little frightened not knowing what it meant. It was also coming from Eli; therefore, it was scarier than normal. He was slowly leaning down. And I just stood there secretly hopping he would kiss me and not bite me.

“Spongebob square pants!” the tv and Levi blared at the same time jolting Eli and I out of the moment. He jumped back nervously running his hand through his hair and setting the George Forman down. I grabbed four slices of bread a jammed them into the toaster.

“First things first,” I said trying not to look at him, “You need to toast the bread and start heating up the grill. It shouldn’t take more than a minute.”