Chapter 102: Golden Frat Boy
** Harper **
"Well, my middle school and her elementary school," Eli clarified. "Wow, that does sound like so long ago."
"And my painting skills have not improved at all since then." Harper leveled her brush over Eli’s cheek again. "Speaks for this man’s bravery that he lets me use his face as a playground."
Chelsea cocked her head. "Actually, I didn’t know you could draw at all. You haven’t done much art in college."
"She used to draw plenty as a kid," Eli chimed in casually. "In very creative ways, such as painting her avatar on my t-shirt with pasta sauce—"
"Pretty sure that was tomato soup," Harper corrected him. "And Eli, stop grinning, I can’t draw straight lines if your face keeps moving!"
Though Harper was already grinning herself, finding the memory that Eli just reminded them of too hilarious to resist. She had been retaliating against him that time for ... beating her in her favorite game? Or eating all her brownies behind her back? She couldn’t quite remember. But she could recall all too clearly sneaking up on him while he took a nap on the couch and painting a large, menacing dragon with the tomato soup leftover from lunch. That was the end of one of his favorite white shirts.
"Birds aren’t supposed to have straight lines in them anyway, Harper. You’re welcome for these curvatures that make them look so natural and adorable." Eli examined the wiggly legs of the chicken-chickadee in the mirror approvingly, still beaming.
From the corner of her eye, Harper saw Chelsea shake her head again, though this time she was smiling. "You know, Eli, you are quite different from what I expected." She spun a chair around and sat down next to him at the booth. "Harper kept mentioning that she has this friend who’s a bigshot in some finance company, and I’ve always had you figured as one of those golden frat boys who’d be into luxury yachts and exclusive nightclubs. Never thought you’d be so ... well, not that."