His Naughty Lessons-Chapter 195: Third Wheel Situation

** Eli ** fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com

Speaking of the trip coming to an end, it wasn’t long into the week before Eli got a straightforward reminder of the undesirable fact.

Two days after the scrumptious dinner night, he was sitting in his last budget meeting, halfheartedly listening to the various reports and proposals — none of which sounded good enough for Harper’s project — when his phone buzzed with a text message:

[ Tyler: Sent you my flight info. I’m getting there next Wednesday evening and leaving late Sunday night. ]

Ugh. That was a discussion Eli wasn’t ready for yet. Not when he was counting every second of his last couple of nights alone with Harper, occupying all their remaining time together by trying out his favorite recipes, and too swept away by the precious feasts to want to think about anything else.

Tyler wouldn’t have liked to hear just what types of recipes they were.

Keeping the unholy thoughts to himself, Eli ignored the uninspiring budget presentations and turned his attention to his phone. [ Sounds good. Four full days, huh? ]

That was longer than he expected, to be honest. A bit of a misfortune that his potentially hostile once-best-friend-turned-girlfriend’s-brother was actually staying over for half a week, making Harper’s sparse company even more sparse upon their return to Davenshire.

But wait, there’s more.

[ Tyler: Yeah, my boss might get suspicious if it’s just one day off. Might as well take a mini vacation. ]

[ Tyler: What’s your plan next weekend btw? Harper said we can go camping if you’re up for it. ]

... Camping? Harper? As in, she actually suggested that?

Eli stared at the message, knitting his brow. He knew that Harper wanted to go on another one of those favorite trips of hers — it was one of the things in her daydream list from that night, and he had already started his planning so that they could tick off another checkbox as soon as they got back — but with Tyler? The three of them together?

That was not what was promised before, and Eli felt a bit ... cheated. Which gave him an impulse to switch to Harper’s phone number and immediately typed: [ You invited Tyler to go camping? ]

His wounded possessiveness was healed ever so slightly when she replied within seconds:

[ Harper: Omg, don’t mention it. I can’t believe I did. ]

[ Harper: Should I call you? ]

When he replied with the templated "In a meeting", her typing seemed to have slowed, and it took a little longer before the messages started coming through:

[ Harper: So he called me last night. When I was cooking. You know, getting things ready for that new pudding recipe you sent me? I was too busy and distracted so I just said yes to whatever he was jabbering, and I guess one of them turned out to be camping. ]

[ Harper: I swear I’m as disappointed as you are! ]

[ Harper: I was totally planning to surprise you with a camping trip for just the two of us. At the same place where we saw those shooting stars the first time. But guess what, that’s the place Tyler picked for next weekend and I think he might already be making a reservation. ]

[ ... ]

The three dots in the typing bubble were still blinking, and Eli could practically hear her groan on the other side of the screen. Her reaction turned his wounded feelings into a quiet chuckle — oh well, so he himself was the one to blame after all, for distracting her with that delicious pudding recipe.

Fully recovered from jealousy now, he was quick to take on the consoling side instead. [ Lol, it’s alright. Take it as a practice run for our own trip in the future? ] He thought for a second before adding, [ It’s been a while since we camped. I don’t even own a tent anymore. ]

The blinking dots paused, as if he had just reminded her of something. Then:

[ Harper: Oh, good point. I need to buy a tent too, I don’t like rentals. ]

[ Harper: Hmm, but how many should we buy? Will we get to the point where Tyler is ok with us sharing a tent by the time we go? ]

... Right, optimistic much. Eli sent her a raised eyebrow emoji.

[ Harper: Alright, fine. Single person tent then. ]

[ Harper: Damn, what have I gotten myself into. I’m going to be sleeping almost literally next to you but not be able to see you. ]

[ Harper: Will you snore loudly please? So at least I’ll hear you? ]

Eli barely succeeded to bite back the second chuckle this time, and the slight snorting sound that escaped earned him a few confused glances around the meeting room.

Pretending that he was paying full attention to the presentation — poor presenter who must be thinking that their boss was laughing at some stupid mistake in their slides — he gestured for everyone to continue. Only when all eyes were off of him again did he get back to his phone.

[ You can text me. ] He typed and looked up to double check that no one could see his phone screen. Then he added, [ Or sext me? ]

The blinking dots bounced back almost too immediately, and then the rest started flowing much faster than the presentation going in the background:

[ Harper: Ohhh. ]

[ Harper: Your good girl has gone bad. She likes this idea very much. ]

[ Harper: How’s the image quality of your phone? ]

[ Eli: Decent. Not quite as impressive as the hardware quality it needs to work with, but will do in a moment of need. ]

[ Harper: <drooling face> ]

[ Harper: What do I need on my side to get ready for that moment of hardware need? ]

[ Eli: Hmm ... ]

[ Eli: Maybe invest in an extra power bank? Some things last long, phone battery life is not one of them. ]

[ Harper: <drooling face> ]

Eli decided that he liked this bad girl very much.

With a silent smile, he swiped the messaging window back to Tyler and replied with a "sure" that was not at all grumpy. Yep, challenge accepted to turn this triply undesirable situation into a secret hot date, and now he had a brand new shopping list to work on before the next weekend arrived.