After the waiter left to get their order, Emily glanced at Lexi, "Where is Elijah?" she asked her, "He texted me on the way and said he was here already. Was he messing with me?"
"Now why the hell would I do that?" a voice said behind them.Elena didn't need to look behind her to know who owned that voice….Elijah.—-------Elijah Kendrick was a handsome young man. It was one of the reasons why Elena had had such a huge crush on him in their university days.Elena and Emily were identical, and sometimes students and teachers would confuse them for each other if they didn't know them well. Elena and Emily met Elijah at the same time. But there was something about Emily, some energy buzzing at an undetectable level, that drew Elijah's attention and made him feel comfortable.Elijah and Emily had been best friends ever since, and Elena hated that she looked like Emily—exactly like her—and was still different enough that the sweet, shy guy, the one with a cute smile and long legs, didn't look twice at her.Elijah was quiet and observant when he was in public, a knife-sharp sense of humor and playful personality when he was with people who knew him the best. He was the reason Elena hated being a twin for the first time in her life. She didn't think about that day much anymore, and her crush on him lessened to a low-lying simmer. Barely detectable unless you held your hand directly over the heat. But then one day, she opened stupid I*******m and saw that he'd followed her. Of course, she'd followed him right back, and saw a picture of him in his stupid “don't I look good in blue” scrubs, and felt her heart die all the deaths from how cute he looked. So now she couldn't stop thinking about him.Which was why she'd avoided her sister by locking herself in her room to study. Scared that locking up the butterflies that wanted to flutter through her veins at the sight of him, her sister would take one look at her and know.Picturing her twin sister's best friend was one thing that made her head and heart war mightily. And every single time, her head won.Leave him alone.It would be too weird.He doesn't even look at you that way.Those were all the things Elena told herself when her crush on Elijah flared out of control. And it had worked too. Worked until they graduated, and everyone went on and focused on their lives and careers.Four years ago, Elijah had been the man of Elena's dreams. The guy she couldn't stop thinking about and couldn't stop staring at, but right now, he was standing right in front of their table, but her attention was not on him. Another man was standing on Elijah's left and that was where her gaze was.The man was taller than Elijah, broad shoulders encased in midnight black, hands tucked into the pants pockets.Elena's eyes narrowed. His hand came out of the pants pockets, and she caught a flash of ink along the back of his big, rough-looking hand. Her mouth was hanging open when she realized that Elijah was speaking to her.She took her gaze off Mr strange and stared at Elijah's smiling face and clean-shaven jaw, then spread out her hands to receive his warm hug. She smiled back at him. "Elijah," she said, "It's really good to see you again. How have you been?""Very fine, thank you," replied Elijah, "Emily has been talking non stop about your arrival. I'm glad you are here. Trust me, you'll enjoy the city,"Elena grinned at him, "Well, time will tell," Her gaze fell on the other man again, and Elijah's voice seemed to come from a distance when he introduced the other man to her,"This is my elder brother, Chandler Kendrick,""Hello..." Elena whispered. Her head was nodding before she could even attempt to mask her reaction.There was no smiling from Chandler. No, his facial expression could be categorized as a smirk if she'd ever seen one. His mouth was firm and wide, a hard, smirking slash in his face.Which was also not clean-shaven. There was a jaw, all right, but the similarities ended there. He was darker, bigger, and taller than Elijah in all categories. But the eyes, she noted immediately; he had the same color eyes as his brother."Hello, it's nice to meet you, Elena," he muttered, eyes glancing down the front of her body. Is it okay if I sit here…Beside you?"Oh, it was very okay, Elena thought, but she couldn't say that out loud, so she simply nodded, and tried not to sniff loudly when he squeezed into the space beside her. He was a big man and he seemed to occupy not just the seat but the air around her too. Spicy and clean and male, and Elena like that… She liked that a lot.Emily sat with Daniel, and although they joined in the conversations, they seemed to be in their own world too. Holding hands, smiling at each other at intervals, and sneaking in kisses at some point. Elena thought that her sister was lucky. Emily seemed to have everything and have life figured out. She had her career figured out, her friendship and marriage figured out, and Elena couldn't relate to that.The waiter returned with their drinks, took Elijah and Chandler's order and left again. He returned with a bottle of Hennessy and Elena watched through the corner of her eyes as Chandler poured himself a shot and drank it in one gulp.Elena learnt that Lexi was actually Elijah's girlfriend, and that Chandler was a businessman and owned his own company. She also observed that Charlotte couldn't seem to keep her eyes off Chandler. She batted her eyes at him numerous times, flirted subtlety with him and laughed at almost every comment he made. It was funny and a little cringey, but Elena didn't blame her. The man was very attractive.Chandler on the other hand didn’t seem to care about Charlotte's advances. He didn't seem to be interested in her —or anyone else for that matter. He seemed reserved, and spoke only when someone spoke to him or asked a question. Which was why Elena was surprised when he suddenly took another shot, dropped the glass, turned to her and said, "There's a lot going on over there," he nodded in the direction of the dance floor, "Wanna dance?"Elena blinked at him, unsure of what to say and surprised about how direct he was. Her mouth opened, but she didn't have a chance to say anything before Emily chipped in. "Yes, she would really like to dance. Wouldn't you, Elena?" Emily asked, with an evil, mischievous smile on her face. Elena narrowed her eyes in her sister's direction, and watched as Emily laughed out loudly before returning her attention to Daniel. "Sure," she told Chandler, "But just so you know, I'm a terrible dancer," He smiled at her then. "For some reason, I find that very hard to believe," "I'm serious," Elena insisted, "Then I guess you don't have anything to worry about because you see, Elena," he leaned closer to her ear, so close that every hair on her body became erect, "I'm a terrible dancer too so I guess we'll figure it out there," Thankfully, he moved away so she could stop holding her breath and she smiled at him. Chandler stood, then held out his hand to her. Elena took it, and together, they
"See? I'm full of surprises, too," he told her."Apparently." She replied. "So …" he watched her face. "Do you like Vacaville so far?"She shrugged lightly, "Well, I can't say for sure right now. I've been here for only two weeks. In Fact, I just got my apartment today, so…. I think I'll hold on to my review for now," "Too bad," he said, "I was hoping you'd say you felt much better about Vacaville since you've just met this really cool dude—," he paused and gave her a look, "—That's me by the way…" Elena couldn't stop the smile this time. Chandler continued, "...But I guess I was wrong. You're not a fun person."Elena set her jaw stubbornly, and the smile quickly disappeared. "That doesn't sound very fair. You can't make a conclusion just like that because of one thing.""No?" he turned her again, pulling her back into his chest. "Agree to disagree.""So you'd want me to dissect you right now?" Elena asked, face flushed from the way he'd just tilted her back. "Because I have made
Chandler caught her arm, stopping her movement. She stared at his place where he made contact and he dropped his hand to his side. The thing was that he did understand. He understood how it felt to have a sibling who seemed to be the apple of everyone's eye. The child the parents were always proud of. The one who had everything figured out. "I'm not complaining," he said, "I kinda did the same thing and you listened…. And it's okay to start over. As long as you don't give up. You can try as many times as you need to," Elena smiled at him. It was weird and funny at the same time. How she'd come here, anxious to see her crush from years ago… Who happened to be his brother, and now she couldn't even remember if Elijah existed. She stared at the clover tattoo on the side of his hand and wondered why he had so many of them. Chandler noticed her staring. The wavy length of her deep brown hair caught the lights in the room and he tilted his head and watched her for a moment. It had been a
"You're going to make me blush if you keep talking like that," Elena laughed out this time. Chandler Kendrick… Blush. Now wouldn't that be fun to see? She opened her mouth to say something when Emily, Daniel and Charlotte showed up behind them. "I really hate to break up…Whatever this is, but we have to go," Emily said, "Daniel has this really important meeting tomorrow morning so he has to go to work early," Chandler looked behind them and frowned when he didn't see his brother. Emily seemed to notice what he was looking for and said, "Elijah and Lexi are in the parking lot. They're waiting for you," Elena stared at Chandler and smiled politely, "I'm sorry I have to go," she told him, "I had a great time tonight. Thank you, Chandler," Chandler smiled back and nodded, "I had a great time too, Elena. Goodnight," to Emily he said, "Could you please tell Elijah that he can go. I'll take a cab back to my place and call him tomorrow morning," Elena began to leave with her sister and
Lost in thought, she had no idea when he got close to them. Chandler recognized her immediately, and he smiled at her. Elena found herself wanting to smile back, but she didn't. Knowing that she'd be living in the city, and how close her sister and his brother were, she knew that she would likely run into him sometimes, so the earlier she put boundaries between them, the better. "Hello, ladies," said Chandler, in that voice of his that had remained ingrained in her memory for the past three days. "Hey Chandler," Emily greeted back. Beth on the other hand simply smiled and waved at him, while Elena remained silent, although she couldn't stop herself from stealing glances at him. "What brings you to the mall?" Emily asked him, "Hunting for chicks? Or whatever the hell you men do with your spare time?" Chandler laughed this time. A deep, sexy, rumble that did something weird to Elena's insides. "Nah, I just wanted to get some stuff," he replied, "And I don't… hunt for chicks. If I wa
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she asked him, "You scared me!" Chandler raised both hands as he took a step inside the kitchen, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to. Emily said you were here so I came to say hello," Elena didn't roll her eyes, but she did let her eyelids fall shut before lifting them slowly. Hiding her reaction made her even more fascinating in Chandler's book. He saw her shoulders rise and fall as she took a deep breath and let it out. It made him grin."What?" she asked, with a bit more heat behind her tone."Just find it funny that you need breathing exercises to deal with the other Kendrick brother. Am I really that vile?""I wasn't doing breathing exercises," she explained calmly. "I just ... wasn't expecting," Elena paused, and her dark eyes flicked briefly in his direction, "Well… you.""Not many people are, love.""That is not my name," she snapped. "I am aware of that." He gave a brief glance of his own, careful not to piss her off more than he already
Emily's eyes widened dramatically as she stared at Chandler, then they flipped to Elena and blinked a few times. Chandler crossed his arms over his chest and leveled a dry look in her direction."Hey Emily," he said quietly. As frustrated as he was with Emily's interruption, he'd never been so happy to see her in all the time he'd known her. Because if she hadn't walked through that door, he might not have been able to keep himself from reaching for Elena just to see what she'd do. If he thought she was smokin’ hot in the yellow dress she'd worn to the club that day, what she was able to do with a pair of leggings and a crop top was a fuckin miracle of fabric. But instead of staring at her like he quite desperately wanted to, Chandler kept his gaze pinned on her twin sister. The one meeting his stare head-on, quite unapologetically."What's going on?" Emily asked no one In particular. Chandler decided to answer because Elena couldn't seem to find her tongue, "Nothing much. Elena and
In the living room, soft music played in the background, creating an ambiance filled with laughter and conversation. Everyone was getting along quite well, and Elena was happy. This indeed was the start of something new in her life. She didn't know how it was going to go or end yet, but she was here for it. Amidst the group conversations they all engaged in, Chandler found himself engrossed in an animated conversation with Charlotte. Her laughter was infectious, her sparkling eyes capturing his attention momentarily as she leaned in closer, her fingers lightly grazing his arm."You are a very handsome man, Chandler Kendrick," she complimented, making sure no one else could hear her, her voice carrying a hint of flirtation.Chandler, ever the polite and courteous gentleman, acknowledged her compliment with a gracious nod. "Thank you. It's very nice that you think that," he replied, "You are a lovely woman yourself, Charlotte," Charlotte smiled at his compliment and Chandler hoped she