A Little Bit Yours

Chapter VII - The Barbecue

"Well, I don't want to tell them that we're dating.." Ella frowns and I roll my eyes. "Let me finish my sentences, please? I don't want to tell them that we're dating because I want to properly ask you out if you'll still take me after our date." This time she smiles and I get up, put on my tshirt and some old sneakers. I hold out my hand to help her get up and connect my lips with hers, giving her a long and passionate kiss. "You know what you mean to me, and I promise we will make it official but let's enjoy our time together before that. I'm not going to say that we're just friends either, that would be a blunt lie."

"And when are you planning on taking me out on that so called date, mister Harrison?" I laugh and put on my best fake thinking face. I know that I want to take her tonight but I don't want her to know, she'd overthink it too much and I just want her to be herself. "Perhaps we could go on Friday for a movie date?" 

Ella nods but at the same time she puts out her bottom lip, pouting at me. "What's wrong, miss Kent?" I press a gentle kiss on her pout. "Does that mean that I will need to stay away from you the whole week?" 

"Of course not, we can hang out after school or even during school." I caress her cheek and put a loose strand of hair behind her ear, leaning closer. "I heard that school has some pretty amazing empty classrooms during break." Ella laughs and slaps my arm. She makes her way towards the door and I follow suit, meeting everyone else in the backyard. Today was a good sunny day and we get to enjoy eating outside which doesn't happen very often.

"Finally! Where were you kids?" Dad asks raising his hands in the air in a playful gesture. "I'm sorry, sir, I ended up falling asleep and Josh only woke me up when Samuel came to call us."

"Oh dear, please don't call me sir, you can call me Bob." My dad smiles at her and she nods her head although she blushes slightly. "Or you can just call him father-in-law." Samuel lets out and they all starting laughing while Ella blushes even more and I just stare at them with my mouth open. That is of course, until I come up with a brilliant come back. You're welcome by the way, dumbass. Thank you, Jackie, you bright son of a bitch. Whoa there, champ!

"Sure, Sam, I believe that if Ella should call dad that, then so should Caroline, right?" I lift an eyebrow innocently which grants me an evil stare from my brother, a confused look from my father, a giggle from Ella and a very embarrassed Caroline. The different reactions around the table are absolutely hilarious. 

"But son, that makes no sense!" My dad says, still trying to make sense out of what I said. "If you are dating Ella, and Ella is Caroline's sister, that doesn't make her my daughter-in-law." 

"Oh no no, dad, not what I meant." I take a sip from my juice to make a dramatic pause as my father grows more confused. "I meant that Sam has been crushing hard on Carol for the past like 8 years and he just doesn't have the balls to admit it." 

"Oh.. I had no idea." My dad rubs his chin and Ella places her hand on my thigh gently while looking at him. "Don't worry Bob, it's completely mutual but she has no courage as well."

"Did you kids seriously just team up against us and managed to completely change the subject?" Sam shakes his head in disapproval but I can tell that he's not mad, specially because Ella said it was mutual, which is something I don't think that he knew. 

"Well, I'm going to spare everyone the awkwardness of this specific subject and change it myself." My dad raises his hands in a sign of peace and everyone resumes eating. "What are you kids planning to do after school is over?"

"I would like to go to the United States and take college there. It has been a dream of mine since I was a kid and I would love to make it reality." Ella says excitedly. We spoke about this last night in the tree house, the United States have several colleges with great journalism programs which Ella is interested in. She has done a lot of research about it, worked every summer to save money and she has the grades that she needs to be able to get a scholarship without any issues. She told me that she was secretly hoping for this ever since we met because she thought it was the only way that we could eventually meet again, however, in a twist of fate I did really end up in England again. "What about you, Josh?" Caroline questions, speaking up for the first time since we sat down.