Two Fish

fifteen || alaska

Alaska hovered around the corner for a few minutes until Elver turned up in his car, swerving into a parking space near the front.

“I came as quick as I could,” he said, jumping out of the car. Alaska nearly snickered at his enthusiasm, and she would have too if she hadn’t been so upset. “What’s wrong? Are you ok?”

“I’m ok,  it’s just …” She tugged his arm by his elbow. “Well, I have this friend,” she said. Elver’s heart sank at the thought that she was trying to fob him off on a friend of hers. “And she told me she was at her grandma’s house, so she couldn’t meet me. God, this sounds so pathetic, but she’s in there, with some of my other friends.” She rubbed her forehead and stared at the floor. “I didn’t want to go in on my own and look like an idiot.”

When she looked up at Elver, her cheeks were pink.

“You want me to go in with you?” he asked, furrowing his brow.

“I’m sorry, I know it sounds so stupid and like I’m completely using you.”

“No, I get it. You want to prove to them that you’re way better than them, for hanging out with me. Because they’re, well, they’re losers.”

Alaska smiled. “Exactly.”

Elver nearly had a heart attack when she slipped her hand into his – it was a shock to her, too – and they strutted into the shop. To any outsider, they were a cute couple, a confident couple. When they stopped to peruse the magazines by the door, Elver draped his arm around Alaska’s shoulder, enjoying the role of her boyfriend and she didn’t shrug it off. Her heart was pounding, racing a mile a minute under Elver’s touch. She didn’t even like it when her own family touched her – her mother’s hugs had become an exception, unwillingly.

It was only a matter of time before Hannah and the posse rounded the corner and Alaska, in a move so natural you’d have thought it to be practiced, slid her hand back into Elver’s and rested her cheek on his arm, gazing up at him.

“Is that them?” he whispered. She smiled.

“Yeah.” They walked, synchronised, up the aisle as though they hadn’t noticed the girls.

“Alaska?” Hannah said. They stopped walking and Alaska feigned innocence.

“Hi, Hannah. Having fun at your grandma’s, are you?” she said, cool as a cucumber. Hannah stammered and blushed.

“I, uh, well, I …”

“Yeah, I thought so,” Alaska said, a calm smile creeping across her face. Elver just stared at her, adoration and respect filling every fibre of his being. “Well, it’s nice to know I’ve got a trustworthy friend.”

She kept her voice low; it was effective. Hannah was trembling, actually quivering as she looked from Alaska to Elver to her friends.

“I, uh, Alaska, I’m sorry.”

Alaska dipped her chin, just a little, and lifted one shoulder. “Well, it’s a bit late for that, isn’t it.” She crossed her free arm across her stomach to wrap both hands around Elver’s. “You wouldn’t be sorry if you hadn’t lied.”

“Lass, please. I’m sorry.”

“And I’m done.” She looked up at Elver and her mouth, against her will, twisted into a smile as she nuzzled his shoulder. “Come on, Elv. We’ve got things to do.”

They stalked off, leaving Hannah a gaping mess in the middle of the shop as the rest of the girls stared after Alaska. She made sure to swing her hips as she walked and before they left through the doors at the other end, she squeezed Elver’s hand and came so close to him, he could feel her breath on his neck. His heart and brain went into overdrive and he thought he might die.

Once they were safely away from the shop, Alaska fell against the wall and fanned herself with her hand.

“Oh my God, scariest thing I’ve ever done,” she said, caught somewhere between giggling and crying.

“That was amazing, I mean, the way you stood up to her. And she was stumped! She was stuttering more than me,” Elver said, leaning against the wall opposite.

“It felt pretty good. I put her in her place.”

“You really did. That’ll serve her right for lying.”

“Thank you,” she said, joining Elver on his wall. “I don’t know what I’d have done without you.”

“Well, you know, I do it all the time. I’d say a good fifty girls have me on speed dial for this precise situation.”

She smirked and knocked against him. “Thank you,” she said again. “I mean it.”

“I know.”

“How do you know I’m not just lying?”

He held her hand and she did nothing, allowing it to happen, so he held up their clasped hands for her to see. “That’s how.”