Work Text:
Elijah Moore loved his niece.
He loved her like she was his own child. She’d had him wrapped around her finger since the day she was born 13 years ago, and neither him nor her suspected that would change, ever.
That was the only explanation he could think of as he let her drag him down the strip toward a used book store.
“Because I might find some good vintage books, you never know!” he recalled her exclaiming when she laid out the entire day for the two of them earlier that morning. Eva was spending the weekend with her ‘favorite’ uncle while Stack and his girlfriend went out of town to visit her family.
Elijah didn’t need to be asked twice to keep his favorite girl in the world, even if that meant she’d be running his pockets on her ‘vintage’ finds for the whole weekend. Some video she watched on her phone a few months prior had created an obsession in her for all things vintage, which led to them running around all afternoon shopping in stores around town that Elijah had barely noticed.
“Uncle E, I’m gon’ start over there,” she tells him, pointing toward the ‘classics’ section. Elijah nods and gives her a little space. He doesn’t stray too far away from her, wanting to keep an eye on her, but respecting her space.
Eva was entering the phase of life where she didn’t want to be treated like a little kid anymore, and though she knew just how protective her uncle was of her, she still tried her best to get him to give her some leeway.
It took him some time to get used to the change, he’d barely gotten used to her not clinging to him like he was the only person in the room. He remembers when the itch for freedom and space grew in him, though, so he let her do her thing.
As she drifted away from him, he found himself getting pulled in by the smell of the books. It was strangely nostalgic, reminding him of the sitting room in his grandmother’s home.
Him and Stack spent plenty of summers down south with the woman as children, and she made them sit and read every day before she allowed them to run about.
Now he stood in the literary fiction aisle of a bookstore in Harlem, letting his mind float back to Clarksdale. That is until he’s brought back to the present when someone turns the corner and bumps right into him.
When he turns to face them, a scowl is already growing on his face as a stack of books fall to the floor, but the crease between his eyes melts away when they land on her.
“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry!” Annie exclaims as she kneels down to start picking up the books.
Elijah is frozen for moment before he’s squatting to help her.
“That’s alright, I was in the way,” he replies.
“No, no. I wasn’t lookin’ where I was going…” her voice trails off when she looks up at him.
He almost forgets where he is as he takes in her appearance. The late afternoon sun framed her with a glow that made her deep brown skin seem radiant. Some of her curls hung loose around her face, and his chest tightened as he looked into her doe eyes again.
Annie was stuck in the same way he was, her eyes locked on him. The sharpness of his lineup, the crispness of the shirt that hugged his broad shoulders just right, and his lips, she found herself circling back to them even as they held each other’s gaze.
At the same time, they both realize they’re still on the floor though all her books were in their hands and no longer on the floor. Annie is the first to stand up, and Smoke follows.
“Thanks for the help,” she starts, trailing off with a raised eyebrow as she reaches for the books he held.
“Smoke,” he says, handing them to her before tucking his hands into the pockets of his jacket.
“Smoke?”
“Yeah.”
She raises an eyebrow, letting out a short hum.
“And what’s your real name? ‘Cause I know your mama ain’t name you that,” she questions, a hint of sass laced through her words.
Elijah can’t help the chuckle that escapes him. Normally he’d be annoyed at the inquiry, but something about her had him ready to give up the information.
He didn’t right away, though.
“What they call you?” he asks instead of answering her question.
She rolls her eyes softly. “Annie.”
“And that’s not just a nickname?” he teases, and a faint smile ghosts her lips.
She’s about to respond when fast footsteps come toward them.
“I found them!” Eva exclaims as she comes up the aisle behind Elijah. He turns to look at her, seeing her holding up two books.
“I saw this one on tiktok!” she says, holding up a thick hardcover book.
“Then this one, it just looks cool so I-” she stops when she peeks behind her uncle and sees Annie standing there.
“Um, hey,” she says sweetly to her, and Annie gives her a warm smile as she waves.
Eva looks at Elijah again. “You know her?” she asks, a small smirk forming on her face.
Elijah glances back at Annie, a small sigh escaping him as he already knows where this is going.
“We just bumped into each other.”
He turns so that he’s in the middle of the two of them.
“Eva, this is Annie.”
Annie nods once. “Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you, too,” Eva replies, her smirk turning into a mischievous smile.
“Uncle E, she’s pretty.”
Elijah closes his eyes for a moment, trying to keep calm with her not even attempting to lower her voice.
“Eva…”
“I’m just saying,” she says, holding up her free hand after tucking the books under her other arm. “You single and lonely, she’s pretty and talking to you. I hope you were being nice before I came over here.”
Annie lets out a soft laugh at that, and Elijah looks at her as the sound seeps into his chest.
Annie looks at him, a smile holding permanent residence on his face.
“Was that you bein’ nice, Uncle E?”
“See, I knew it,” Eva says. She holds her books out for Elijah to grab them, and he does with a look of confusion.
She clasps her hands together as she turns her attention to Annie.
“I’m sorry if he was rude, he got all the mean while my daddy got the charm.”
“Eva,” he cuts in before she can say anything else. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his wallet, passing the books and his card to her.
“Go pay for your stuff. Don’t forget to look at all the stuff by the register real good either,” he adds, hoping it’s enough to keep her from saying anything else crazy to the woman he’d only just met, and would keep her busy enough to let him end this encounter before she was all checked out.
“Thank you,” Eva says, smiling sweetly at him once more before walking off.
Elijah watches as she disappears from the aisle before turning back to Annie.
“Sorry about her,” he says, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.
Annie shakes her head. “It’s okay, she’s cute. Plus, she said I’m cute, she alright with me.”
Elijah chuckles softly, shaking his head. “She a handful.”
“I bet,” Annie replies with a chuckle, adjusting her books in her arm.
“Maybe you can tell me more about her, and you some time?”
Elijah’s eyes widen for a split second as he looks at her. He tries to recover from his shock at her question as he stares into her eyes, but the smirk that forms on her face tells him she’d caught it.
She pulls her phone from her pocket, handing it to him once she opens her contacts.
He looks at it, then at her again before grabbing it and typing in his name and number.
Annie looks at it, and a smile forms her face as she reads his name.
Elijah.
She locks her phone and puts it into her pocket.
“It was nice meeting you, Uncle E. Hopefully next time I won’t be bumpin’ into you.”
“Yeah,” is all he manages to get out before she turns to walk away.
“And my name is Antoinette,” she looks back and says.
“Antoinette,” he finds himself saying under his breath as he watches her walk away.
He stands there until Eva is walking up to him with two bags in her hands.
“They got some good stuff in here,” she tells him as she hands his card back to him.
“I bet,” he says, eyeing the bags. He wonders how much she spent, but doesn’t bother asking because he wouldn’t have told her no anyway.
“So, did you get her number?” she questions giddily.
Elijah tilts his head slightly as he looks at her.
“I gave her mine,” he mutters after a moment.
Eva smiles widely, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
“Good! You’re welcome, by the way.”
Elijah smacks his teeth softly, following behind her as she leads him out of the store.