Log: A Reunion of Sorts
Who: Mercedes, Tina, and Eli
When: Friday, October 23, 2018
Where: Mercedes’ hotel room and Tina’s apartment
What: Meeting the boyfriend. And stuff.
Tina approached the glass doors of the hotel where Mercedes was staying. She had been pleasantly surprised when Mercedes called her a couple hours ago, informing her that she was already in New York. Then she promptly scolded her for not telling her sooner. She couldn’t stop herself from smiling, though; it had been way too long since they’d last seen each other.
She entered the building, passing the lobby of plush couches and modern lamps, and headed for the elevator. Double-checking she was headed towards the right room, Tina turned down a hallway.
She reached her destination and knocked on the door.
Mercedes, being her unorganized self was running around frantically looking for her boots. She had thrown them somewhere in her haste and now she could not find them. She hadn’t even unpacked anything and yet, her boots were missing.
She heard the knock whilst digging around under the bed and sighed, “Hold on!” She shouted out into the room, uncertain if the person behind her door could actually hear her. Finally, after another 30 second quick scan of the room, she gave up and pulled the door open. “Tina!” She greeted breathlessly, pulling her friend in for a huge hug when -
“Aha!” She shouted, “Found the little suckers.” She bent down and plucked her boots where they were lying next to the door.
After being enveloped into a hug only to be let go a split-second later, it took a few more seconds for Tina to realize what had happened. She laughed as she watched Mercedes swipe a pair of boots from the floor. “Oh, I see. Shoes take top priority. Guess some things never change,” she teased.
Mercedes grinned sheepishly, "Those were the only pair I brought!" She defended, although they won't be the only ones she leaves with, that's for sure. She gave her friend another hug before ushering her in. Pulling her boots on whilst she did so, which was a funny sight she was sure. A black girl hopping around on one foot trying to put on what looked to be the most complicated boots she owned, but that was Mercedes for you.
A grin took over Tina’s face as she watched her friend, offering her arm to prevent her from losing her balance. When Mercedes had accomplished her task, Tina simply shook her head and laughed again. “I can’t believe you’re actually here!” She pulled her into another hug, feeling like some excited teenager as she pulled back and addressed Mercedes. “Is there anything you want to do? Sightseeing? Shopping? I wish you would’ve told me sooner, I would’ve thought of something remotely cool to do.”
With her boots on, Mercedes felt like a completed woman, and grinned up at her friend. "Girl, I've missed you!" She squealed, pulling Tina into yet another hug, it was just so unreal and she had a feeling she's going to be pulling her friend into random hugs all day.
"Nah, did all my sight seein' the first time I came, but we should totally get new shoes later."
Tina smirked. “I knew you’d want to.”
And then Mercedes’ grin took a turn for the wicked, "So...when am I going to meet your man?"
Tina’s expression instantly morphed into a sheepish grin as she felt her cheeks warm. Stupid Rosacea. “He’s at work right now, but he said he could meet up with us at my place in a bit for dinner or something. I think he’s a little nervous to meet one of my friends from back home. It’s cute.”
Mercedes' grin just widened, "Oooh girl, I'mma get you so red by the end of today." She did a little shimmy in pre-celebration for the achievement she knew she would reach later. God it was good to be with friends.
Tina covered her face with both hands. “Oh God, please no embarrassing stories.” She looked at Mercedes for a moment. “Okay, knowing you that’s inevitable, but try not to flood him with them?”
She sighed dramatically before pulling her phone out to check the time. She noticed a text from Eli and smiled to herself, making a point to ignore the look her friend was giving her. “Okay, so since we have some time to kill, how about we...” She looked at Mercedes suitcase for a moment. “Wait, how long are you in town for?”
Mercedes was already thinking of all the amazing things she could spill about Tina, but was shot out of her reverie when she heard the question. "Oh, um, I haven't actually work that part out yet." She shrugged, brushing her hand through her hair, "I guess it really depends on how long I can afford this hotel for."
Tina shot her an incredulous look. “Why don’t you just stay with me? We have a spare room since Crazy Roommate #3 bailed. I’m just using it as a studio right now, but you’re welcome to it.” Tina paused for a moment before adding a little uncertainly, “If you want to, of course.”
Mercedes laughed, she remembered hearing stories about Tina's crazy roommates. "Are you sure though? I could like, crash on the couch if you'd rather, or I can stay here."
Tina simply rolled her eyes and waved her off. “Don’t be ridiculous. Courtney left her bed. Not that she ever used it; she joined some cult that preached that mattresses and women who wear skirts are evil. No, really. Like I told Eli, some of my clothes mysteriously went missing.” Tina frowned for a moment before shrugging and smiling. “So it’s settled. You’re staying with me. I already asked Yvette and she’s cool with it, so you’re welcome as long as you need and we can pig out and rent movies from uWatch just like old times. Sound good?”
Mercedes burst out laughing, "I don't know if I would want to crash on crazy's bed." She snorted, "You sure know how to pick 'um don't you?"
“We could always douse it with holy water first if need be. It’s not my fault they always appear normal when I first meet them,” Tina muttered.
Mercedes shook her head before walking towards where she had left her suitcase and picked it up. "Come on then, I guess I'm checkin' out now."
Tina grinned and followed her to the lobby. Mercedes promptly checked out of the hotel and soon they were faced with the task of hailing down a cab. “So what have you been up to the past few days? Other than flying here and not telling me about it, of course.”
“Nothin’ actually.” Mercedes answered honestly, “Just packin’ and comin’ up.”
When Tina had suggested Mercedes to visit the idea had been so appealing Mercedes didn’t think twice about it. Next thing she knew she was on a plane to one of her favorite cities in the world, seeing one of her favorite people in the world. Lounging around at home doing nothing was really not her style.
Tina nodded and sighed in relief when a taxi finally stopped for them. “Well, I’m glad you decided to come,” she smiled. She helped her put her luggage into the trunk before heading inside the cab. They settled into comfortable conversation as they headed towards Tina’s home. They reached her building, paid the fare, and made their way up to her apartment.
Mercedes lugged her suitcase into Tina’s place, she had only been in there once or twice before, and dropped it in the studio/spare bedroom. When she turned around to make her way out to the living room she noticed all the art pieces there.
“Oh wow,” she breathed.
Tina hung her keys on the rack on the wall by the door and walked towards the spare room. She entered the room to find Mercedes staring at a few of her works.
“Sorry it’s kind of messy in here.” She picked up a few sketchpads and stray brushes from the floor and set them on a desk already piled with photographs and tubes of paint. “Yeeahh some of these are really rough. I don’t even know where half of these came from,” she laughed lightly. At her lack of a response, Tina followed Mercedes’ gaze to a sketch she had done awhile back of Mercedes and Kurt based on a picture from senior year. “Oh, I remember that one.” She smiled fondly. “You two are hard to capture on paper, so no judging.”
Mercedes was pretty sure her jaw had dropped, Tina was a fantastic artist. Everything she had up, even the simple sketches were beautiful. The best Mercedes could do was one of those crappy little doodles she used to pass to Kurt in math class. “Girl, have you seen your drawings? These are amazing.” She paused for a moment, “And kind of creepy how real they look.”
“Thanks.” Tina offered her a sheepish smile, tucking her hair behind her ear. No matter how much she’d grown up from who she was in high school, she was still shy when it came to presenting her work. She laughed a little, affectionately nudging her friend. “Hey, Mike says that, too.”
~
Eli made his way up to his girlfriend’s apartment. Tina had called him to excitedly tell him that her friend Mercedes was visiting and that she was dying to meet him. He had to admit he was a little nervous to be meeting anyone from Lima. The Changs were fiercely protective of Tina, and he hadn’t even met the brothers in person, just the two of them spazzing out on his livejournal. So he knew that he would be tested tonight.
By the time Tina heard knocking on her front door, she was mixing drinks in the kitchen while Mercedes excused herself to the restroom. She was kind of glad to be greeting him alone first; she knew her friend could be a bit intimidating and she felt the need to talk him or even herself down or something. Plus she knew if there was PDA around Mercedes she’d never hear the end of it, and she was kind of hoping she wouldn’t turn completely red before the night was over.
She opened the door with a smile on her face. “Hey.”
“Hi.” Eli leaned down to kiss Tina for the next part of his greeting. It was a lingering kiss. Eli got the feeling that they wouldn’t be able to get away with much for the rest of the evening. Tina smiled into it, wrapping her arms around his neck as she stood on her tiptoes to reach him. She regrettably stopped the kiss sooner than she wanted to, knowing that if she let it deepen they’d end up getting lost in the moment and then it would just be awkward having Mercedes walk in.
She took a step back, her arms still around him. “Would you call me a sap if I told you I missed you today?”
“Yeah, I would.” Eli smirked. “But I missed you too.”
She grinned, resisting the urge to kiss him again. “So Mercedes is in the other room. I’m pretty sure she’s planning to bring up every embarrassing story she can think of. Please don’t think any less of me if I turn all red, okay?”
“Are the stories that bad?” Eli teased.
“Maybe.” Tina looked at him innocently. “It’s not my fault I’m prone to blushing.”
“It’s cute.” He kissed the top of her head. “Come on, I think your friend got lost.”
She made a face at him before pulling away to call down the hallway. “Mercedes? Eli’s here.”
Mercedes was snooping around in the bathroom when she heard Tina's voice. She grinned, extremely excited as she immediately tried to figure out the craziest way to make her entrance. Should she be an intimidating Mama Bear? An open and enthusiastic crazy? She settled for a little of both right before she literally burst out of the door with her arms wide open.
"Hey hey hey!" She shouted into the room, there she spotted a gorgeous man, oh wow, Tina was not kidding. "Dayum girl!" She dragged the last word out, "You weren't kiddin', he's fine."
“Oh God, here we go,” Tina murmured. Since it was all in good fun, she tried her best not to turn around and hide her grimace against Eli’s chest. While she knew this act was all part of Mercedes’ test to evaluate Eli, she was really hoping she wouldn’t be forced to melt into the floor by the end of the night.
Mercedes walked up right towards the couple with a friendly smile, "You must be Eli."
“That depends on what you’ve heard.” Eli laughed. “It’s nice to finally meet one of Tina’s friends from back home. So what brings you to New York, Mercedes?” He wrapped his arm around his girlfriend, as if to tell her Don’t worry so much. Getting the message, Tina gave him with a warm smile and leaned into his embrace before looking back at Mercedes.
“The girl you’re holding in your arms actually.” She said smiling at Tina, “She’s like a sister to me,” Her demeanor immediately changed into something much more darker, “So if you hurt her,” She glared, “You’re a dead man.”
Eli liked that Tina has all these people looking out for her, even if he was the target of their threats. “I understand.” He felt that Mercedes could do some real damage as opposed to the two Changs, and that they would never find his body should the need ever arise for Mercedes to go through with her promise.
Mercedes flashed him a brilliant grin, “Good,” she said, as if she had never threatened him in the first place.
Tina let out a little laugh and shook her head, a fond smile in place. She realized she was grateful she had friends willing to protect her-even if that protection included comment spamming and the promise of bodily harm. It’s all she could ask for, really.
“Okay, now that the death threats are out of the way, do you guys want to get dinner?”
“Well, we have a functioning kitchen right here. How about I whip up something simple yet tasty for us?” Eli nodded his head towards Tina’s kitchen.
Mercedes perked up at the idea of good food. “Oooh, hell yes” She clapped, “And that’s how you impress your girl’s friends.” She had been wanting to try some of his food ever since Tina had gone on about him. A man that can cook, is a man you should keep.
Tina smiled as Eli entered the kitchen before looking back at Mercedes. “Way to be intimidating,” she half murmured, half laughed.
Mercedes shrugged, “It’s my job.”
“At least you didn’t threaten to breakdance-fight him like Mike would’ve.” Tina shook her head before nodding towards the living room. “Do you want to pick a movie or something? We can just let Eli do his thing in the kitchen.”
“Or...” Mercedes said with a mischievous grin, dragging Tina to the couches, “We can talk about Eli doin’ his thing in bed.”
“Oh, you did not just say that.” Before she had time to do much more than let her jaw drop, Tina found herself sitting in front of her friend, trying and failing to not turn a lovely shade of crimson. “Okay, I so should’ve seen this coming. But I-this is-Mercedes-” She spluttered, casting a paranoid glance towards the kitchen before sighing dramatically. “I’m not going to get away with not talking about this, huh?”
Mercedes gave her a look, “What do you think?” She asked, trying hard not to grin. “If you don’t tell me, I could just ask him.”
“You wouldn’t dare.” Considering they’ve known each other for the better part of a decade, however, she knew Mercedes actually would. Either way, Tina decided to not test that claim, and instead wrinkled her nose in discomfort. Mercedes really shouldn’t surprise her anymore.
She glowered at her friend for a moment longer before grabbing the remote and flipping to a random movie in her uWatch queue. She turned to Mercedes. “Fine. What do you wanna know?” Her hesitant resolve and withering glare were both rendered useless by her half-smile. “And keep your voice down,” she added pointlessly, knowing that was kind of physically impossible for her.
She was glad Eli was in the kitchen.
Mercedes couldn’t hold back a gleeful squeal. “Everything, I wanna know everything.” Her ears perked up as she leaned closer to Tina.
Tina felt weird divulging this. She knew she wouldn’t appreciate Eli discussing their sex life with his buddy, Park, but there wasn’t any stopping Mercedes’ curiosity. And so she complied with only just enough whispered detail to make her ears turn pink. “Okay, that’s all I’m giving you. So he’s amazing. Happy?”
Mercedes giggled the entire time, mainly because turning Tina into a tomato was one of her favorite past times ever.
In the kitchen, Eli had found some ingredients to make a nice stir fry. He had left the two old friends to do some more catching up. Well the way that Tina had explained it to him, it was more like Mercedes making Tina blush for the rest of the night. He knew that he was the topic between the two of them. And he was enjoying being talked about if he was being honest.
He got out a bowl to serve the stir fry in. And he took out plates and utensils for the three of them. Eli went to the living room to let his girlfriend and Mercedes know that dinner was ready.
Tina’s eyes wandered to Eli as he entered the room. She was sure her smile couldn’t conceal the fact her cheeks were flushed to a very unattractive shade of pink. She cleared her throat. “Is the food done? That was quick.”
“Yeah. I mean it’s a quick stir fry.” Eli grinned.
Mercedes grinned innocently at the both of them before getting up and moving towards the dining room. Tina shook her head as she watched her friend head into the other room. She turned towards her boyfriend with a sheepish smile. “Thanks for cooking dinner.” Her hand gripped his shoulder as she pushed herself up to place a kiss on his cheek.
They proceeded to the other room and sat themselves around the table where Eli had set up the food. Tina’s gaze flicked to Mercedes, her expression essentially meaning, “Play nice.”
Mercedes grinned innocently up at Tina. “Smells good.” She said smiling at Eli, “You must be some cook.”
“So they tell me.” Eli winked at his girlfriend.
Tina eyes narrowed. She looked over at Mercedes, who seemed to be holding back either a laugh or a smirk. “You two better not be conspiring to make me uncomfortable.”
Mercedes grinned at the two of them again and picked at her dinner, not bothering to answer Tina.
Oh, she was going to have fun tonight.
When: Friday, October 23, 2018
Where: Mercedes’ hotel room and Tina’s apartment
What: Meeting the boyfriend. And stuff.
Tina approached the glass doors of the hotel where Mercedes was staying. She had been pleasantly surprised when Mercedes called her a couple hours ago, informing her that she was already in New York. Then she promptly scolded her for not telling her sooner. She couldn’t stop herself from smiling, though; it had been way too long since they’d last seen each other.
She entered the building, passing the lobby of plush couches and modern lamps, and headed for the elevator. Double-checking she was headed towards the right room, Tina turned down a hallway.
She reached her destination and knocked on the door.
Mercedes, being her unorganized self was running around frantically looking for her boots. She had thrown them somewhere in her haste and now she could not find them. She hadn’t even unpacked anything and yet, her boots were missing.
She heard the knock whilst digging around under the bed and sighed, “Hold on!” She shouted out into the room, uncertain if the person behind her door could actually hear her. Finally, after another 30 second quick scan of the room, she gave up and pulled the door open. “Tina!” She greeted breathlessly, pulling her friend in for a huge hug when -
“Aha!” She shouted, “Found the little suckers.” She bent down and plucked her boots where they were lying next to the door.
After being enveloped into a hug only to be let go a split-second later, it took a few more seconds for Tina to realize what had happened. She laughed as she watched Mercedes swipe a pair of boots from the floor. “Oh, I see. Shoes take top priority. Guess some things never change,” she teased.
Mercedes grinned sheepishly, "Those were the only pair I brought!" She defended, although they won't be the only ones she leaves with, that's for sure. She gave her friend another hug before ushering her in. Pulling her boots on whilst she did so, which was a funny sight she was sure. A black girl hopping around on one foot trying to put on what looked to be the most complicated boots she owned, but that was Mercedes for you.
A grin took over Tina’s face as she watched her friend, offering her arm to prevent her from losing her balance. When Mercedes had accomplished her task, Tina simply shook her head and laughed again. “I can’t believe you’re actually here!” She pulled her into another hug, feeling like some excited teenager as she pulled back and addressed Mercedes. “Is there anything you want to do? Sightseeing? Shopping? I wish you would’ve told me sooner, I would’ve thought of something remotely cool to do.”
With her boots on, Mercedes felt like a completed woman, and grinned up at her friend. "Girl, I've missed you!" She squealed, pulling Tina into yet another hug, it was just so unreal and she had a feeling she's going to be pulling her friend into random hugs all day.
"Nah, did all my sight seein' the first time I came, but we should totally get new shoes later."
Tina smirked. “I knew you’d want to.”
And then Mercedes’ grin took a turn for the wicked, "So...when am I going to meet your man?"
Tina’s expression instantly morphed into a sheepish grin as she felt her cheeks warm. Stupid Rosacea. “He’s at work right now, but he said he could meet up with us at my place in a bit for dinner or something. I think he’s a little nervous to meet one of my friends from back home. It’s cute.”
Mercedes' grin just widened, "Oooh girl, I'mma get you so red by the end of today." She did a little shimmy in pre-celebration for the achievement she knew she would reach later. God it was good to be with friends.
Tina covered her face with both hands. “Oh God, please no embarrassing stories.” She looked at Mercedes for a moment. “Okay, knowing you that’s inevitable, but try not to flood him with them?”
She sighed dramatically before pulling her phone out to check the time. She noticed a text from Eli and smiled to herself, making a point to ignore the look her friend was giving her. “Okay, so since we have some time to kill, how about we...” She looked at Mercedes suitcase for a moment. “Wait, how long are you in town for?”
Mercedes was already thinking of all the amazing things she could spill about Tina, but was shot out of her reverie when she heard the question. "Oh, um, I haven't actually work that part out yet." She shrugged, brushing her hand through her hair, "I guess it really depends on how long I can afford this hotel for."
Tina shot her an incredulous look. “Why don’t you just stay with me? We have a spare room since Crazy Roommate #3 bailed. I’m just using it as a studio right now, but you’re welcome to it.” Tina paused for a moment before adding a little uncertainly, “If you want to, of course.”
Mercedes laughed, she remembered hearing stories about Tina's crazy roommates. "Are you sure though? I could like, crash on the couch if you'd rather, or I can stay here."
Tina simply rolled her eyes and waved her off. “Don’t be ridiculous. Courtney left her bed. Not that she ever used it; she joined some cult that preached that mattresses and women who wear skirts are evil. No, really. Like I told Eli, some of my clothes mysteriously went missing.” Tina frowned for a moment before shrugging and smiling. “So it’s settled. You’re staying with me. I already asked Yvette and she’s cool with it, so you’re welcome as long as you need and we can pig out and rent movies from uWatch just like old times. Sound good?”
Mercedes burst out laughing, "I don't know if I would want to crash on crazy's bed." She snorted, "You sure know how to pick 'um don't you?"
“We could always douse it with holy water first if need be. It’s not my fault they always appear normal when I first meet them,” Tina muttered.
Mercedes shook her head before walking towards where she had left her suitcase and picked it up. "Come on then, I guess I'm checkin' out now."
Tina grinned and followed her to the lobby. Mercedes promptly checked out of the hotel and soon they were faced with the task of hailing down a cab. “So what have you been up to the past few days? Other than flying here and not telling me about it, of course.”
“Nothin’ actually.” Mercedes answered honestly, “Just packin’ and comin’ up.”
When Tina had suggested Mercedes to visit the idea had been so appealing Mercedes didn’t think twice about it. Next thing she knew she was on a plane to one of her favorite cities in the world, seeing one of her favorite people in the world. Lounging around at home doing nothing was really not her style.
Tina nodded and sighed in relief when a taxi finally stopped for them. “Well, I’m glad you decided to come,” she smiled. She helped her put her luggage into the trunk before heading inside the cab. They settled into comfortable conversation as they headed towards Tina’s home. They reached her building, paid the fare, and made their way up to her apartment.
Mercedes lugged her suitcase into Tina’s place, she had only been in there once or twice before, and dropped it in the studio/spare bedroom. When she turned around to make her way out to the living room she noticed all the art pieces there.
“Oh wow,” she breathed.
Tina hung her keys on the rack on the wall by the door and walked towards the spare room. She entered the room to find Mercedes staring at a few of her works.
“Sorry it’s kind of messy in here.” She picked up a few sketchpads and stray brushes from the floor and set them on a desk already piled with photographs and tubes of paint. “Yeeahh some of these are really rough. I don’t even know where half of these came from,” she laughed lightly. At her lack of a response, Tina followed Mercedes’ gaze to a sketch she had done awhile back of Mercedes and Kurt based on a picture from senior year. “Oh, I remember that one.” She smiled fondly. “You two are hard to capture on paper, so no judging.”
Mercedes was pretty sure her jaw had dropped, Tina was a fantastic artist. Everything she had up, even the simple sketches were beautiful. The best Mercedes could do was one of those crappy little doodles she used to pass to Kurt in math class. “Girl, have you seen your drawings? These are amazing.” She paused for a moment, “And kind of creepy how real they look.”
“Thanks.” Tina offered her a sheepish smile, tucking her hair behind her ear. No matter how much she’d grown up from who she was in high school, she was still shy when it came to presenting her work. She laughed a little, affectionately nudging her friend. “Hey, Mike says that, too.”
~
Eli made his way up to his girlfriend’s apartment. Tina had called him to excitedly tell him that her friend Mercedes was visiting and that she was dying to meet him. He had to admit he was a little nervous to be meeting anyone from Lima. The Changs were fiercely protective of Tina, and he hadn’t even met the brothers in person, just the two of them spazzing out on his livejournal. So he knew that he would be tested tonight.
By the time Tina heard knocking on her front door, she was mixing drinks in the kitchen while Mercedes excused herself to the restroom. She was kind of glad to be greeting him alone first; she knew her friend could be a bit intimidating and she felt the need to talk him or even herself down or something. Plus she knew if there was PDA around Mercedes she’d never hear the end of it, and she was kind of hoping she wouldn’t turn completely red before the night was over.
She opened the door with a smile on her face. “Hey.”
“Hi.” Eli leaned down to kiss Tina for the next part of his greeting. It was a lingering kiss. Eli got the feeling that they wouldn’t be able to get away with much for the rest of the evening. Tina smiled into it, wrapping her arms around his neck as she stood on her tiptoes to reach him. She regrettably stopped the kiss sooner than she wanted to, knowing that if she let it deepen they’d end up getting lost in the moment and then it would just be awkward having Mercedes walk in.
She took a step back, her arms still around him. “Would you call me a sap if I told you I missed you today?”
“Yeah, I would.” Eli smirked. “But I missed you too.”
She grinned, resisting the urge to kiss him again. “So Mercedes is in the other room. I’m pretty sure she’s planning to bring up every embarrassing story she can think of. Please don’t think any less of me if I turn all red, okay?”
“Are the stories that bad?” Eli teased.
“Maybe.” Tina looked at him innocently. “It’s not my fault I’m prone to blushing.”
“It’s cute.” He kissed the top of her head. “Come on, I think your friend got lost.”
She made a face at him before pulling away to call down the hallway. “Mercedes? Eli’s here.”
Mercedes was snooping around in the bathroom when she heard Tina's voice. She grinned, extremely excited as she immediately tried to figure out the craziest way to make her entrance. Should she be an intimidating Mama Bear? An open and enthusiastic crazy? She settled for a little of both right before she literally burst out of the door with her arms wide open.
"Hey hey hey!" She shouted into the room, there she spotted a gorgeous man, oh wow, Tina was not kidding. "Dayum girl!" She dragged the last word out, "You weren't kiddin', he's fine."
“Oh God, here we go,” Tina murmured. Since it was all in good fun, she tried her best not to turn around and hide her grimace against Eli’s chest. While she knew this act was all part of Mercedes’ test to evaluate Eli, she was really hoping she wouldn’t be forced to melt into the floor by the end of the night.
Mercedes walked up right towards the couple with a friendly smile, "You must be Eli."
“That depends on what you’ve heard.” Eli laughed. “It’s nice to finally meet one of Tina’s friends from back home. So what brings you to New York, Mercedes?” He wrapped his arm around his girlfriend, as if to tell her Don’t worry so much. Getting the message, Tina gave him with a warm smile and leaned into his embrace before looking back at Mercedes.
“The girl you’re holding in your arms actually.” She said smiling at Tina, “She’s like a sister to me,” Her demeanor immediately changed into something much more darker, “So if you hurt her,” She glared, “You’re a dead man.”
Eli liked that Tina has all these people looking out for her, even if he was the target of their threats. “I understand.” He felt that Mercedes could do some real damage as opposed to the two Changs, and that they would never find his body should the need ever arise for Mercedes to go through with her promise.
Mercedes flashed him a brilliant grin, “Good,” she said, as if she had never threatened him in the first place.
Tina let out a little laugh and shook her head, a fond smile in place. She realized she was grateful she had friends willing to protect her-even if that protection included comment spamming and the promise of bodily harm. It’s all she could ask for, really.
“Okay, now that the death threats are out of the way, do you guys want to get dinner?”
“Well, we have a functioning kitchen right here. How about I whip up something simple yet tasty for us?” Eli nodded his head towards Tina’s kitchen.
Mercedes perked up at the idea of good food. “Oooh, hell yes” She clapped, “And that’s how you impress your girl’s friends.” She had been wanting to try some of his food ever since Tina had gone on about him. A man that can cook, is a man you should keep.
Tina smiled as Eli entered the kitchen before looking back at Mercedes. “Way to be intimidating,” she half murmured, half laughed.
Mercedes shrugged, “It’s my job.”
“At least you didn’t threaten to breakdance-fight him like Mike would’ve.” Tina shook her head before nodding towards the living room. “Do you want to pick a movie or something? We can just let Eli do his thing in the kitchen.”
“Or...” Mercedes said with a mischievous grin, dragging Tina to the couches, “We can talk about Eli doin’ his thing in bed.”
“Oh, you did not just say that.” Before she had time to do much more than let her jaw drop, Tina found herself sitting in front of her friend, trying and failing to not turn a lovely shade of crimson. “Okay, I so should’ve seen this coming. But I-this is-Mercedes-” She spluttered, casting a paranoid glance towards the kitchen before sighing dramatically. “I’m not going to get away with not talking about this, huh?”
Mercedes gave her a look, “What do you think?” She asked, trying hard not to grin. “If you don’t tell me, I could just ask him.”
“You wouldn’t dare.” Considering they’ve known each other for the better part of a decade, however, she knew Mercedes actually would. Either way, Tina decided to not test that claim, and instead wrinkled her nose in discomfort. Mercedes really shouldn’t surprise her anymore.
She glowered at her friend for a moment longer before grabbing the remote and flipping to a random movie in her uWatch queue. She turned to Mercedes. “Fine. What do you wanna know?” Her hesitant resolve and withering glare were both rendered useless by her half-smile. “And keep your voice down,” she added pointlessly, knowing that was kind of physically impossible for her.
She was glad Eli was in the kitchen.
Mercedes couldn’t hold back a gleeful squeal. “Everything, I wanna know everything.” Her ears perked up as she leaned closer to Tina.
Tina felt weird divulging this. She knew she wouldn’t appreciate Eli discussing their sex life with his buddy, Park, but there wasn’t any stopping Mercedes’ curiosity. And so she complied with only just enough whispered detail to make her ears turn pink. “Okay, that’s all I’m giving you. So he’s amazing. Happy?”
Mercedes giggled the entire time, mainly because turning Tina into a tomato was one of her favorite past times ever.
In the kitchen, Eli had found some ingredients to make a nice stir fry. He had left the two old friends to do some more catching up. Well the way that Tina had explained it to him, it was more like Mercedes making Tina blush for the rest of the night. He knew that he was the topic between the two of them. And he was enjoying being talked about if he was being honest.
He got out a bowl to serve the stir fry in. And he took out plates and utensils for the three of them. Eli went to the living room to let his girlfriend and Mercedes know that dinner was ready.
Tina’s eyes wandered to Eli as he entered the room. She was sure her smile couldn’t conceal the fact her cheeks were flushed to a very unattractive shade of pink. She cleared her throat. “Is the food done? That was quick.”
“Yeah. I mean it’s a quick stir fry.” Eli grinned.
Mercedes grinned innocently at the both of them before getting up and moving towards the dining room. Tina shook her head as she watched her friend head into the other room. She turned towards her boyfriend with a sheepish smile. “Thanks for cooking dinner.” Her hand gripped his shoulder as she pushed herself up to place a kiss on his cheek.
They proceeded to the other room and sat themselves around the table where Eli had set up the food. Tina’s gaze flicked to Mercedes, her expression essentially meaning, “Play nice.”
Mercedes grinned innocently up at Tina. “Smells good.” She said smiling at Eli, “You must be some cook.”
“So they tell me.” Eli winked at his girlfriend.
Tina eyes narrowed. She looked over at Mercedes, who seemed to be holding back either a laugh or a smirk. “You two better not be conspiring to make me uncomfortable.”
Mercedes grinned at the two of them again and picked at her dinner, not bothering to answer Tina.
Oh, she was going to have fun tonight.