His Naughty Lessons-Chapter 201: Outsider’s Interpretation

** Eli **

Eli spent the rest of the drive carefully watching his words, dodging any conversations that could possibly lead to women or personal life or, most terrifyingly, Harper.

He was thankful when they finally reached their destination, a restaurant named La Cantina. Though it was far from time to sigh in relief yet ... because he knew the worst part was yet to come when Harper waved at them from the table she had saved.

"My goodness, Harp, you look so different from when I saw you last." Tyler greeted his sister with an enthusiastic hug and an enthusiastic exclamation, blissfully unaware of the existential crisis he had just inflicted upon his friend behind him.

"Really? Oh, you mean the tan?" Harper grinned. "Yeah, a friend said that to me too. I guess I should start considering beach vacations more often."

"Nah, not just the tan. You look like you’ve been building some good muscles. Getting in great shape." Tyler patted her on the arm. "Been hitting the gym a lot lately? I’ve been telling you that you’d do well with more cardio exercises."

"... Ohhh! That!!! Right ... Yeah, I’ve found a ... new love in physical activities for sure. I can’t wait to tell you more about it."

Eli didn’t miss the sly way Harper winked at him when she turned to give him a "friendly" hug. He wished he could tell her, without raising her brother’s suspicion, that maybe she shouldn’t get too excited about sharing the "physical activities" part quite yet.

The two guys followed Harper back to the table as she went on to ask about Tyler’s upcoming interview and the potential new job. Eli took the seat across from them, unfolded the napkin in his lap, and he was about to pick up the menu when he noticed the guest sitting at the table next to them, right behind Harper.

A blonde with a casual bun that looked quite familiar ... Wasn’t that Harper’s friend Chelsea?

Instinctively, Eli wanted to point in that direction and tell Harper that her friend happened to be here as well. But Chelsea was fast to catch his gaze just in time. Before he could say anything, she placed a finger in front of her mouth in a "shh" gesture, then winked and touched her left ear, nodding at Harper.

Hmm?

Eli looked at Harper in puzzlement. Her hair was down today, falling gorgeously over her shoulders in those mesmerizing auburn waves. If Chelsea was suggesting that he pay attention to Harper’s ears ... They were both covered by her curls, leaving nothing to see out of the ordinary. And when he looked back again, Chelsea was already digging into her food, paying no more attention to her neighbors the next table over.

Hmm. Strange. He’d have to ask Harper later what that was about.

"So." Tyler had also settled into his seat by now, snatching Eli’s attention back with a simple announcement of a new conversation. "Hawaii, huh? How was that trip except for giving both of you lots of new tan?"

"It was great—"

"It was great!"

The two of them answered at exactly the same time. Oops.

Eli made an apologetic face and smiled — pretending to be courteous — to Harper, letting her continue with her version. Hopefully they hadn’t raised any suspicions by being on the same page too easily.

"I mean, you should try it at some point too," Harper continued and turned back to Tyler. "The weather was gorgeous, the food was nice, and the atmosphere everywhere was so laid back and romantic and—"

She suddenly paused, as if someone had called her out on using the word "romantic" that she shouldn’t be using quite yet.

Fortunately, Tyler didn’t seem to have noticed anything in particular. "Someday I think I should try indeed," he agreed, "but maybe not for a business trip. It must’ve been terrible to be stuck in a hotel room when the beach was ten feet away, right? You were always barely out of a meeting every time I called you."

"O-Oh? Was I? Ohhh ..." It took Harper a short moment to remember the hasty excuses she had made up when her brother’s calls interrupted their "business". "Well, our schedule in Hawaii was ... relatively flexible, actually," she tried to explain. "Apart from the few assigned meetings, everyone was free to sit in on other ones to learn about different aspects of the project. So, you know me, I’d never turn down those free lessons if there’s something cool I can get out of them."

"But then how come he was never in those meetings?" Tyler jabbed a finger in Eli’s direction.

Ugh, shit. The way Tyler had phrased his question sounded ... too suspicious. Was he trying to imply something? But with the way he was acting in the car ... It didn’t seem like he had picked up any hints of the news that hadn’t gone out yet?

Harper obviously hadn’t expected that reaction either, and the two of them took turns staring at Tyler in half surprise, half oh-shit-what-do-I-do-now. She opened her mouth to say something, but then she paused again, with the same expression from before as if someone suddenly had her attention instead. Her eyes shifted a little as she frowned slightly, and she touched her left ear.

The gesture was quick, and it passed quickly without catching anyone else but Eli’s attention. "Oh come on," Harper was smiling again and saying, with a sudden look of enlightenment, "you’re not thinking that Eli was bullying me at work by sending me to all the meetings he didn’t like?"

As she spoke, she habitually tucked her hair behind her ear, before immediately remembering something and hastily fluffing it back to drape over the side of her face again.

But the small move wasn’t fast enough to escape Eli’s eyes. And he saw that there was ... an airpod on her left ear?

Wait ... Chelsea’s earlier gesture finally made sense to him now. Was Harper somehow secretly listening to her friend over the earbud ... and getting an outsider’s interpretation of what in the world Tyler was thinking?