“Hey,” I said, lifting a hand up like a complete jackass.
“Desta.” He gestured toward the seat next to his on the table. “Sit. Tsehay’s team only got in like ten minutes ago, so they’re running behind.”
I waved a hand at that. Tsehay’s team had the farthest to go today, so it made sense for her to need more time. And she would probably not forgo a hot shower because she was rushing to catch Elias alone like I had. “Oh, I’m fine to wait. That’ll give me time to check my email.”
He gave me an assessing look, as if he were making sure that no body parts had gone missing in his absence. Or maybe that was just what I wished he were thinking. “You had time to shower.”
I dipped my head and stared freely, since he was doing the same to me. He looked freshly showered too. He had on a gray sweatshirt and tan linen pants, and as usual in the evenings, his Birkens. “I was glad to get back to the hotel today.” I refrained from blurting out that was mostly due to my thirst for him.
“Did anything happen?” he asked, all commanding. Like he was ready and able to deal with whatever it was. A shiver ran down my spine, but this one took the route that went straight to my dick.
“Nothing bad happened,” I reassured him as I got my laptop plugged in. “Although I may have to take a hiatus from coffee.”
I was making a show of arranging my stuff on the table, but kept an eye on him to get his reaction. He actually jumped in surprise at my words, and his puzzled expression almost made me laugh. “No bunna? Something must have happened.”
You would’ve thought I’d said that I going to start working buck naked, but I still felt all warm and fuzzy at how seriously he took my caffeine obsession.
I shifted so I could face him, ready to fill him in. “Well, in part I blame you,” I said, barely able to keep from grinning.
He read my expression, and I saw when he realized that this was going to be one of our jokes. He could do that, just tune into my moods. I thought about how Miguel never quite got my humor. I’d come home with a funny story from work or my commute, and he’d stare at me blankly until the smile died on my face. I’d told myself again and again that maybe it was lost in cultural translation. And yet with Elias, from the first day we’d found a million things in common to laugh, talk, or even rant about. Even after just one week it felt completely natural.
“How could I be blamed for your coffee hiatus? I mostly drink tea,” he said in feigned disgruntlement.
“It would’ve been nice to be warned that I could get ghee and salt in my bunna. I almost threw up in one of the families’ houses, Elias,” I lamented with my hands over my face, actually remembering the embarrassment. “It wasn’t even that it tasted bad, it was just so unexpected.”
I could hear that he was making an effort not to laugh, wheezing and rumbling coming from beside me. When I took my hands off my face, I found him grinning while he shook his head, clearly biting his tongue.
“Don’t laugh at me, Elias. I threw up in my mouth!” Keeping a straight face was out of the question at this point. It was just a matter of who burst out laughing first.
He clicked his tongue, obviously not wanting to be the one to break, but he was showing more teeth by the second. “Desta, I can’t leave you even for one day.” He was kidding, of course, playing along with the game I started, but his words pummeled me.
“I’m hopeless,” I conceded, when what I’d wanted to say was, I missed you. I felt your absence all day.
He must’ve seen something in my face, because the humor in his eyes changed to something more subdued, but in no way less warm. “You’re not hopeless.” The way he said it, low and earnest, like he needed me to believe it, was almost too much. The air around us shifted and I leaned toward him. For what, I wasn’t sure. I just needed to be closer.
I could see his throat working, like he was struggling with making words too. I opened my mouth to say something that could bring back the humor from before. But at that same moment the door to the room burst open and two servers arrived with the drinks and snacks I assumed Elias had pre-ordered.
I shook my head as they moved around, trying to get myself together, and Elias stood up so fast his phone bounced off the table. He dove to catch it and knocked over his chair, making the servers stop what they were doing to look in our direction. Elias told them something in Amharic that sounded self-deprecating, or maybe that was just me projecting. But he had lost his footing for a second there. Elias, who was always the very picture of cool, calm, and collected, had gotten flustered. I wasn’t enough of a fool to think that it was because he’d been affected by me, but I did need to remember to keep my boundaries in check.
There were no more awkward moments or inside jokes after that. A few minutes after our food arrived, the rest of the team started trickling in, and soon we were caught up in our work. Even Sam had been on his best behavior, at one point thanking us for making sure we didn’t get behind
