Chapter 6
Eli fingered his tie nervously as he stood in front of the mirror in his front hall. He wondered why he was feeling nervous about this date with Sebastian. He'd known the man for over three years, after all! But now...Now he knew that the photographer was in love with him. That changed everything. He didn't know quite how to act around Sebastian anymore. Whenever he started to speak with his normal asperity and sarcasm, he was brought up short by the thought that this man was in love with him. He wasn't sure speaking to Sebastian like he normally did wouldn't end up hurting him, and he didn't want to do that. So their last two conversations had been rather awkward and stilted, which Eli wasn't happy about. He wanted to go back to being able to talk to Sebastian easily, just as he always had.
He sighed, shaking his head at himself. Smoothing the lapels on his suit jacket, he decided that he was as ready as he'd ever be for a date with Sebastian Versang of all people! He started to turn away from the mirror, then jumped when there was a knock at his front door. Cursing his own nervousness, he walked over and swung the door open to show Sebastian standing there on his doorstep. The photographer was nicely dressed for him - he was wearing a long, loose black coat, over a half-open white linen shirt and a pair of black jeans. He'd shaved the perpetual scruff off of his chin, and his face looked odd clean shaven. He'd even smoothed his hair back, so that it was less unruly than usual. "Hey, Eli," he said, his eyes traveling over the agent appreciatively. "You look nice."
"So do you," he managed to say. "You clean up pretty well."
"I guess so," Sebastian replied, glancing casually down at himself. "It's the best I can do. My wardrobe isn't what I'd call formal."
"I know," Eli said dryly.
Sebastian's lips lifted crookedly at one corner. "You ready to go?"
"Yes," he stepped outside and closed the door behind him, locking it. Sebastian waited for him, then led the way down the walk toward his vintage Jaguar. It was a candy-red beauty, lovingly restored. The car was Sebastian's baby, his pride and joy. In all the time that he'd known the photographer, before Sebastian had made his confession of love he'd only ever shown any deep emotion toward his precious Jaguar. In fact, before he'd admitted that he loved Eli, the agent would have thought that the only thing that he loved and had ever loved was the car.
Sebastian gallantly moved to open the passenger side door for him. "Thanks," he said as he climbed in.
Sebastian shrugged, closing the door after him and walking around to the driver's side. He climbed in and started the engine, which roared to life with a cat-like purr. Relaxing back against the hand-stitched leather upholstery, Eli glanced around the car. "I love this car," he commented. "Although I'm sure that I don't love it as much as you do."
"She's my beautiful lady," Sebastian agreed, pulling out into the street. "The only female I'll ever love."
Eli laughed. "You certainly pamper and cosset it like a high-class female," he agreed. "I swear, if there were spa days for cars, your Jag would be massaged and given auto pedicures."
"That's for sure. I'd do anything for her," Sebastian agreed.
Eli was suddenly reminded with a jolt that the photographer had given up drinking for him, and sleeping around, and had been semi-nice to his assistant at Eli’s request...because Sebastian would do anything for someone or something that he loved...his heart was racing, and his mouth felt dry. Of course, he'd believed Sebastian when he'd admitted that he was in love with Eli, but at the same time some part of him had wondered if the photographer wasn't just deceiving himself into thinking that he was in love when he wasn't. The stark reality that this wasn't just a delusion on Sebastian's part made his nervousness return full force.
"You okay, Eli?" Sebastian asked, concern in his voice.
"Yeah. Honestly, Sebastian, I'm just feeling kind of nervous."
"Why?" the photographer asked in puzzlement.
He laughed in a cracked sort of way. "WHY?! I don't know, a man I've known for three years says that he's in love with me, and the weird thing is I believe him even though he’s always been a player! It's just...it's difficult, that's all. I want to act naturally around you, but I can't seem to. Because every time I start to talk to you normally, I remember that you're in love with me. Then it just feels weird again."
Sebastian snorted. "How do you think I feel?" he said dryly. "I didn't want you to find out that I was in love with you until after we'd started dating, if I could talk you into it or get you to take me seriously. You think this is awkward for you?! You don't know how you feel about me, and this may not work out if you don't fall for me, and if that happens what do I do then? Just go back to the way we were? Maybe you can do that, but I’m not sure that I can."
Eli felt a jolt at his words. What if this DIDN'T work out? What if he never feel in love with Sebastian? The photographer was right. They couldn’t just return to their old relationship. He knew that it was borrowing trouble to worry about it at this stage, but he'd always been a bit of a worrier.
Accurately reading his silence, Sebastian sighed. "Can we just concentrate on tonight and leave the rest for later? This is our first date. I don't know about you, but I’m psyched. I never thought I'd get here, because I was sure that you'd end up with Dave permanently."
He blinked. "You did?"
"Oh, hell, yeah. He seemed perfect. Not only perfect for you, but just PERFECT. How was some like me supposed to compete?"
He supposed that Sebastian had a point. If he were still with Dave, he would never even have thought about Sebastian. "We were perfect together on paper," he began slowly, "But not in reality. We really were too much alike. Sometimes opposites attract for a reason, I guess."
"Well, that’s good for me," Sebastian remarked sardonically. "Because you and I are just about as opposite as two guys can get."
Eli had to agree with that. Sebastian swung the Jaguar neatly into the parking lot of the restaurant he'd chosen for their first date. "Here we are," he said, pulling into a parking space.
Eli's mouth opened. Sebastian had chosen a Moroccan restaurant! "How?" he asked aloud, in total disbelief. "How do you know that Moroccan food is my favorite?"
Sebastian smirked smugly. "I'm just that good," he purred. "I know all things, Eli," he added, waving his fingers at the agent hypnotically.
"Ha ha. Seriously, how did you know? There’s no way you could have just guessed. It's not like it's something like Italian food."
"Very true. I couldn’t have guessed," Sebastian agreed, then took off his seat belt, and got out of the Jaguar without saying another word.
Eli scowled at him as he came around to open the door for him. "Sebastian," he began in a doom-laden voice.
"Okay, okay. I overheard you telling Dave that you loved Moroccan food one day when you were making a dinner date with him."
"And you remembered that all this time?" Eli said in disbelief.
"I remember everything that has to do with you," Sebastian said simply.
Eli didn't know what to say to this. He felt the strangest fluttering in his abdomen, a curious sensation. He swallowed heavily. Seeing his expression, Sebastian's lips quirked. "Come on, let's go inside," he remarked, taking Eli's elbow. "I don't know about you, but I'm starving."
Eli was enjoying himself more than he expected. Over dinner, he'd found himself relaxing enough to have an actual conversation with Sebastian. Maybe that was partially because the photographer treated him just the same as he always had. He didn't act nervous or uptight, even though he'd finally gotten what he wanted. That helped Eli to calm down, and this was further helped along by Sebastian making a disparaging remark about his latest client, forcing Eli to defend her. They got into an amiable argument about the way he treated the models he photographed, and time flew by without Eli even being aware of it. Only when they were leaving the restaurant together did he realize that over an hour had passed, and he hadn't struggled once to find a topic of conversation or to look Sebastian in the eye. He felt comfortable and relaxed, which was a good sign. Wasn't it?
As they got into the Jag, he asked: "Are you taking me home?"
Sebastian snorted. "Hell, no. I finally got a date with you. I'm not taking you home so soon."
"Then where are we going?" he asked curiously.
A fleeting grin. "You'll just have to wait and see."
Eli frowned at him, which made the photographer laugh briefly. He started the car and exited the parking lot, driving fast but not recklessly. Eli decided to just go along for the ride for now, since it was clear that Sebastian wasn't going to tell him their destination beforehand. The photographer reached out and turned on the radio, filling the car with the sounds of a mellow jazz band. Sebastian had always liked music from the 30s and 40s, and Eli had to admit that he liked it as well. "Reminds me of my grandpa," he mused aloud.
Surprised, Eli glanced at him. "Your grandpa?" he asked.
Sebastian nodded. "He loved jazz music. Said it was at a jazz club that he first met my grandmother. She was a waitress, and he said she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. He asked her out then and there, and she agreed. They were married six months later. And six month after that, he shipped out for Europe to fight Nazis. Grandma was pregnant with my Uncle Francis by then. Good thing Grandpa made it through the war, or I would never have been born. Not shockingly, my mother was born almost exactly nine months after he got back," he added with a chuckle.
Eli was fascinated by this bit of back history. Sebastian had never talked about his past before this. But wasn't that part of what going on a date was about? Getting to know each other better, in a more personal way? "Both of my grandfathers fought in WWII as well," he remarked. "One of them was badly injured. He had a wooden leg. When I was a kid, it used to scare me when he walked toward me, because he creaked."
Sebastian laughed. "I would have called him Peg Leg Grandpa," he said.
Eli laughed then as well. "I guess I sometimes thought that he might be a pirate," he conceded.
"Here we are," Sebastian remarked, stopping the Jaguar.
"Where are we?" Eli asked him.
Sebastian jumped out of the car. "Come and see," he said.
A/N: Where might they be going?>>
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