I Finally Got Adopted..Dang

“So, you can’t give me a hint as to where were going?” It was déjà’ freaking vu all over again. I had no clue where we were going, and Eli sure as hell wasn’t telling me. It was just like the time Derek took to the MCR concert. I doubt Eli was taking me there; he didn’t like them. I was obviously going to have to educate Eli in his musical taste.

Eli shot a grin my way, “We, my cute little girlfriend, are going to a place I love to go to.” I was about to ask him where that was when he continued, “Since you were charmed with my good looks, we skipped the first date and went straight to kissing. I thought it would be nice if we actually had our first date, even though we’ve been dating for about a week now.”

‘Aw,” I thought. Eli sounded sincere and sensitive there. I turned sideways in my seat so I could look at him. He looked like he always did: messy black hair, bright green eyes, dimples. The only thing that was really different was his swollen left eye. The fight was only three days ago, so of course it still look nasty. Eli’s eye didn’t blacken, but it was extremely swollen and he had five stitches through his eyebrow. I had forgiven both Eli and Derek for the fight. Each one of them apologized to me and to each other. Through the grape vine, since Derek didn’t say a word about it to me, Derek had two bruised ribs. It was obvious that he had stitches; he had some on his face. When I talk to Derek, he doesn’t mention the fight, so I don’t either.

“We’re here!” Eli sang. I looked around as I got out of the car. There was tree’s everywhere, grass too. In the middle of the trees was a dirt trail with a sign next to it. ‘South Carolina Stables,’ it read simply in big letters. I shot Eli a questioning look. He just smiled, grabbed my hand, and we walked down the path. At the end of the trail was a huge log cabin looking building. To the right of the cabin, there were two other huge buildings, the stables obviously. They were both simple buildings; wooden buildings painted red.

Eli led me to the log cabin. Inside he talked briefly to the older woman at the desk. She gave him a smile and some carrots. “Here,” Eli said, “if you could take these that would be great.” Eli handed me the carrots. They were cut into odd shapes: stars, squares, circles, and other shapes.

Eli still didn’t explain anything as we walked into the first red stable. He led me to the very last stalls. “Marley, I would like you to meet Sam and Eli Jr.” He said, pointing to the two horses. The horses were breath taking. Both horses were Clydesdales; each was brown with white legs and a white stripe on their face. The only difference between the two was that one was a slightly darker brown.

“Eli Jr.?” I asked him.

“Yeah, this fellow right here,” Eli said, patting the lighter horse lovingly, “I was ten when I got him and couldn’t think of a name.” Eli took the carrots from my hand and gave some to Eli Jr.

“I didn’t know you liked horses,” I said as I watched him care for the horses.

Eli stopped what he was doing and gave me a lazy smile. “I’ve liked horses ever since I was three and my grandpa took me out on his horse. He helped fund this stable you know. I come out here as much as I can to take care of Sam and Eli Jr.”

Another thing to add to my list of things I like about Eli. “Wow Eli, that’s amazing. I would have never pegged you as a horse rider.” He just shrugged his shoulders.

“You ever rode a horse before?” he asked me.

“Nope,” I said, shaking my head, “I’m from New York remember?”

“That doesn’t mean anything. Anyways today is your lucky day then. We’re going riding.” Eli had already put saddles on both horses. Eli grabbed my hand and led me to Sam. “You’re to be riding Sam. She’s really gentle and perfect for first time riders.” Eli motioned for me to pet her. I was hesitant so he grabbed my hand and moved it up and down Sam’s nose.

“Well, we better head out,” Eli said after a peaceful moment. He helped me get into the saddle correctly, explained a few key things about horse riding, and then hopped on Eli Jr.

I had to admit, I was nervous about horse riding. But Eli said I was a natural. We rode around for a while. The sun was setting when we reached the beach. Eli stopped Eli Jr. and got off. He helped me down and covered my eyes with his hands. “What are you doing?” I
asked him.

“Another surprise. You have to keep your eyes closed until I say so.” We walked about ten paces when Eli stopped me. “Are you ready?” he whispered in my ear. I nodded my head. Eli slowly removed his hands. When I opened my eyes I gasped out loud.

We were on the beach, of course. Twinkling lights were everywhere. Connected to trees, casually laid on the sand, anywhere and everywhere. In the middle of the sand was a blanket complete with a basket.

“What is all this?” I whispered.

“Our date,” Eli replied in an obvious tone. Eli led me to the blanket and we sat down. He began taking food out of the basket.

“How did you do all of this?”

Eli shrugged his shoulders. “I came out here earlier today and set it all up. I had our cook put the food out about two seconds before we showed up. That’s our beach house right there you know,” he said, pointing to a house right in front of the beach. Eli had pulled out random food: chicken salad sandwiches, Ruffles Sour Cream and Cheddar chips, Fruit Roll-Ups, Brown Cinnamon and Sugar Pop tarts, Gushers, Chocolate Chunk Rice Crispy Treats, Wild Cherry Pepsi, and many other foods; all of which was my favorite.

“This is all of my favorite foods,” I murmured.

“Well of course it is,” Eli said.

“How did you know I liked these things?”

Eli stopped what he was doing to stare in my eyes. “Marley, I notice everything about you. Your eyes change colors daily, and you can never tell what color they’ll be because they don’t follow a certain pattern. When you’re mad, they flash; when you’re happy, your eyes sparkle.” He paused and when I didn’t say anything, he continued. “When you’re nervous, you bite your lip. When you’re angry, instead of going quite, you yell and play your guitar; you play the piano when you’re sad. You’re different from anyone I’ve ever met. You don’t care what people think and you speak you mind and that’s what I like about you.”

I stared at Eli in silence for a moment. “Wow Eli, I didn’t know you noticed all of those things. I notice that your hair’s a mess everyday and you have the prettiest green eyes ever.”

Eli smiled wide at me, “Well, it’s a start. Better start taking notes,” he said, making us both laugh.

“Eli, this is amazing and perfect,” I said after a while. Eli and I hadn’t said much after we ate, we didn’t need too. We just laid there on the blanket, staring up at the stars, enjoying each others company.

Eli turned on his side and rested his head on his hand. “I’m glad you like it. Because I like you, a lot.” He whispered before kissing me.