I Spy With My Little Eye

Chapter 5

Eli:

We reached the hotel a little while later and checked in. The hotel was one of those really nice ones that, if it wasn’t for the fact that the agency was paying for it, I could never actually afford. Our room was clear on the top floor. Which would be great if someone was coming after us but would really suck if there was a fire. Rich people never thought logically. When we got to our room, I realized it was the top floor, or at least one half of it. There were only two doors. We got the door on the left. The windows overlooked the city skyline with the mountains framed behind it. Everyone seemed fascinated by the mountains just outside of Denver, but they had never seen ranges like the San Juan’s or the West Elks down around Gunnison and Montrose or else they wouldn’t be quite so impressed.

I dumped my clothes in the room that I deemed as “my room” and went into the living area to start watching T.V. I had picked the smallest room considering that I would never spend much time in there. I would be good with not sleeping till about noon tomorrow and by then the coffee will have kicked in. d**k picked the room at the farthest end of the suite and closest to the door. Grace’s room was right next to mine and was clearly supposed to be her room. It had been filled with Grace’s clothes and stuff for lack of a better term

“Eli, what’s your size?” Grace asked sitting down beside me holding her laptop. I glanced over at her briefly and went back to watching TV. It was some cartoon on Disney channel that I figured would be relatively mindless. I didn’t want to have to think.

“Eli, I asked you a question.” Grace said, getting a little bit annoyed at me. I smirked to myself. There was no way I was going to let her buy me clothes. I had three pairs of jeans and four shirts. I was good till the end of the week. Yes, one of those pairs was the “green” pair but I really didn’t care.

“Come one I’m really bad at guessing guy sizes, I don’t want things to be too big for you.” she pouted, and it was really hard not to give in because she managed to look cute whenever she pouted.

“Can’t you see I’m trying to watch TV?” I asked glancing over at her, then turning my full attention back to the TV. There were talking tools. I didn’t quite understand why the tools were talking but I figured it was a kid show.

“Why are you watching Handy Manny and the big build?” She asked, taking the remote from my hands, “That’s for, like, three-year old’s.” She hit the power button and the tv screen went blank.

“Well now I’ll never know what happens.” I grumbled crossing my arms and sinking down in the chair.

“They build the skyscraper even though no one believes they can.” She said, “After that no one doubts them again and they have a fiesta!”

“You ruined it!” I cried throwing up my hands and stalking into the living room.

“It was predictable.” She whined while following me into the kitchen with her laptop.

“I don’t care.” I said opening the fridge. I was surprised to find it fully stocked. I reached in a grabbed a package of tortillas, mustard, salsa, cheese, and sour cream.

“Now just tell me your size.” She begged, hopping up onto the counter and grabbing the mustard out of my hand. I walked over to the cabinet and grabbed croutons, and some noodles. I was the master of odd concoctions. On my way back to the stove I pulled out a small pot to boil the noodles in.

“No.” I said simply, “I don’t want new clothes, I don’t need new clothes.” Suddenly I was very happy I hadn’t told her the real reason behind my colorblindness. I was happy I hadn’t told anyone. My family knew but they had been there when it happened so there was no way I could have hid it from them. For the most part I just hid from them anyway. The last time I saw them had been six months ago when I freaked out. I hadn’t seen them for three years before that.

“Please let me do this for you?” she looked up at me with pleading eyes and I turned away to put the noodles on the stove.

“I also don’t need your pity.” I said setting my jaw and turning the heat on the stove up to high.

“You are insufferable!” she yelled, slamming her laptop closed, “I just want to be nice and help you! I was going to get clothes for Levi too because I noticed you only had a backpack full!” she hopped off the counter and stormed off leaving her laptop behind her.

“Great going now we don’t get free stuff.” d**k came up behind me and smacked me upside the head. I shrugged and turned back to my noodles and turned them down so they wouldn’t boil over.

“We don’t need free stuff.” I said pulling a couple tortillas out of the package and setting them on a plate. I added mustard, salsa, and sour cream.

“Dude when will you learn?” d**k asked grabbing the croutons and eating them out of the bag, “When a hot girl buys you stuff you take it because she’s hot.”

“She’s not hot.” I said flatly taking the croutons back from him. I was lying, I realized that, she was totally hot. She was adorable and hot and pretty and hot. It was just my assignment making her less hot.

“How can you not see how hot she is?” d**k asked taking my croutons back. I gave up on getting them back until I was ready for them.

“Because I have been following her around for two weeks, she became un-hot when she first jumped into a drug dealers’ car.” I said draining the water off my noodles and mixing in the cheese and adding some more sour cream.

“Ah, you like her!” d**k teased throwing a crouton at me. He could be such a girl sometimes.

“Shut up. She’s the boss’s daughter, if I liked her, I would get castrated.” I said adamantly, finally grabbing my croutons back from him and adding them to my burrito.

“I’d get to help right?” He asked, snatching the croutons back quickly once again.

“This is why I call you Dick.” I told him, adding my cheesy noodles and wrapping up the tortillas.

“You had better start being nice to me.” d**k said tossing a crouton up and catching it in his mouth, “Or you will have no friends in this world.”

“I wouldn’t consider us friends.” I said taking a bite of my burrito and mentally processing how well salsa and mustard went together. I would have to remember this combination only next time add chicken. I closed my eyes and chewed trying to figure out what my combination needed besides chicken.

“I forgot my laptop.” Grace said quietly as she slipped up beside me, “Is that a burrito?” she asked. I could hear the hunger in her voice. I sighed and opened my eyes and nodded.

“You don’t want to eat those.” d**k said, “They aren’t real burritos.”

“They need Chicken.” I said around my food.

“Can I try one?” she asked. I sighed and handed her my burrito. Gingerly she took a bite and a look of horror crossed her face.

“That’s disguising!” she yelled after spitting it into a napkin. I smiled to myself knowing I could at least eat and not have to share.

“It needs ranch too.” I said taking another bite.

“How can he eat that?” She asked, turning to d**k. Apparently, our argument had been forgotten.

“He gets his eating habits from his mom.” d**k said offering her a crouton, “His dad used to do all the cooking.” I sent d**k a death glare. He didn’t need to bring up my dad.

“Just order pizza if you don’t want to eat my food.” I said tossing them the phone which was sitting on the counter by the stove.

“Thank God!” d**k said quickly dialing the number, “Hi yes, we would like three large pizzas, one pepperoni, one Hawaiian, and one with sausage. All three-double stuffed…. The name is Eli Fisher. Yeah, we’ll meet you in the lobby of the hotel. Cool, thanks see you then.” d**k hung up with a smile and tossed the phone to me. I caught it easily and set it down back in its original place. Grace glanced at the clock and squealed running over to the tv and grabbing the remote.

“What gotten into her?” d**k asked, glancing at me. I shrugged and walked over to sit on the couch beside her.

“Please tell me we get this channel.” she mumbled pressing the guide button and scanning the different T.V. shows. “Score!” she shouted throwing her hands up as she hit the select button and the baseball game came on.

“I was supposed to go to this tonight.” She pouted a little bit.

“Sorry.” I mumbled, taking another bite of my burrito.

“Oh, it’s not your fault.” she waved her hand absently and intently watched the screen, “If you hadn’t been there, I might not be able to watch the game at all.”

“So, who’s playing?” I asked. My dad had been a backup second baseman for the tigers when I was little, so I enjoyed watching baseball when I had the chance, I just didn’t have the chance very often.

“Rockies and the Dodgers.” she said a little breathlessly, “Dodgers lost their best pitcher this season, so the Rockies have a shot.”

“And they didn’t before?” I asked studying her. Who would have thought little princess would be a baseball fan?

“They did but now it’s better.” she grinned and rubbed her hands together in an evil manner, “Ever since they went to the world series a few years ago they have had the potential, but they never actually used it."

“You’re a Rockies fan?” I stated, “Who’s your favorite player?”

She grinned, “It’s a toss-up between Troy Tuloiskie, and Dexter Fowler.”

“Why those two?” I asked setting my plate down.

“Tulo is one of the best short stops in the business.” She said jumping up and down in here seat, “Dexter just has a funny laugh, not that he’s not a good ball player, I just like his laugh.”

“Okay, cool.” I said, shrugging my shoulders.

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“Eli?” I turned my head at the sound of her voice as she padded softly from her room over to the couch. It was late, or early, depending on how you looked at it. “What time is it?” I smiled at her as she sat down beside me and curled up at my side.

“Um…” I looked at my watch and rubbed my hand through my hair, “About 1:30” I said. I turned off the muted T.V. and turned to her. I was bored watching the Rockies win for the thirtieth time. I remembered how much she had squealed and yelled throwing her pizza as she jumped up and down and smiled. Over the day she was turning into less and less of an i***t and into an actual human in my brain. Sure, she was still too trusting, but I was starting to see it as kind of cute.

“What are you doing up?” she asked, looking up at me. There was still sleep in her eyes and I was wondering the same about her. Her hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail and falling around her face. It would be hard to comb in the morning; she should have braided it. Don’t ask how I know. Her voice was tired too. I got up and walked into the kitchen to get her a glass of water thinking maybe she was just thirsty.

“I can’t sleep.” I said filling the glass us and walking back to her, “It’s a bad habit, no big deal.”

“I can’t sleep either.” she said with a yawn as she reached out for the glass in my hand. I chucked because she looked so darn tired it was hard to believe she couldn’t sleep.

“Why not?” I asked, sitting down beside her. She pouted a little as she thought about it.

“Just a lot on my mind.” She said quietly, “Do you think they’ll find me?” She looked up at me as I slowly eased back into the couch cushions.

“That’s what d**k and I are here for.” I said quietly wrapping my arm around her shoulder in a comforting manner. I had sisters; I had been through something like this before. “We won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Do you hate me?” she asked resting her head against the crook of my shoulder.

“No.” I said dragging a blanket off the back of the couch and wrapping it around her.

“Are you sure?” she looked up at me again with those big eyes and I couldn’t help but smile, she reminded me of Cammi only smaller and more naïve. “Because you are so mean to me sometimes.” Her eyebrows scrunched together as she looked up at me with a puzzled expression.

“Yeah, I’m sure.” I said with a sigh as she snuggled closer, “I don’t hate you, I just…” I paused, what did I feel exactly? A sense of duty to protect her sure. Annoyed at her naivety and her pity.

“Just what?’ she prodded.

“You annoy me sometimes, that’s all.” I told her honestly, “But I don’t hate you.”

“I’m sorry about your eyes.” she said her voice getting softer. I felt myself tense. This again? Really? “I didn’t know you were trying to help me when I pepper sprayed you.”

I almost laughed with relief. I had no hard feelings toward her pepper spraying me. I would hope my sisters would have done some similar act if they woke up with a strange man watching them. “No hard feelings okay princess?” I smiled down at her. She sighed softly. Her breath was coming deep and even now. I waited a few more minutes until I knew she was pretty sound asleep, then I picked her up and carried her to her room. I laid her down in her bed and covered her up, tucking the comforter under her chin.

“Eli?” she asked when I reached to door her voice still soft with sleep.

“Yeah Grace?” I turned my hand on the doorknob.

“Thank you for saving me.” she whispered, then snuggled into the blanket and fell back to sleep.