As it turns out, it hasn't been that hard for Elle and I to find time to be together. Because Sundays are already taken up by our weekly Flynn-Evans lunch, Lee pretty much spends every Saturday with Rachel. Which means I get to spend most Saturdays with Elle. Her dad leaves their house to take Brad to baseball, and I generally show up ten minutes later to pick her up. Sometimes we don't leave the house right away, though...
Contrary to popular opinion, I'm not an idiot. I know Elle and I jumped a bunch of steps in our relationship that night at the Hollywood sign. But I'm doing my best to fill in the blanks, to make sure she knows that I'm not just using her. I want Elle to have every experience. I want her to have fun - with me. Because she's one of the most fun people to be around, she makes me smile and laugh more than anything. And I want to be that for her, too.
I don't worry about looking stupid in front of her, because she's known me forever. She remembers every dumb costume I wore for Halloween as a kid, and I know all the times her and Lee's wild schemes got them into trouble. We never run out of things to talk or tease each other about, because there's just so...much between us already. We spend hours just hanging out, walking along the beach, or acting like idiots in random parks we find while we're out riding the bike.
Elle is over her distrust of my motorcycle now, in fact I think she secretly loves it. Today I'm taking her on a ride up the coast, and if she doesn't already love the bike, I'm confident she will by the end of the day. We leave her house in the morning like normal, knowing we have extra time together because Brad's baseball team is going out for pizza after their game. The breeze is cool and Elle's wrapped tightly around me, her hands under my jacket like normal, her head pressed against the middle of my back.
I slow right down as we get to a small seaside town, taking in the sights before parking near the pier. We wander along to the very end, looking below for fish, then trying to spot seals or dolphins. With the sun shining, it's the perfect place to have lunch, and when Elle tries to steal my fries, I pretend to be mad, swatting at her hand. Of course she sees right through my fake angry expression, and turns it into a game. But I have my own tricks, too, and easily reach out with one arm to tickle that spot on her ribs I know drives her insane.
And that's how Shelly nearly ends up on the ground, gasping for air around her giggles. If I could bottle that moment and keep it with me forever, I would, but I settle for storing away the memory instead. After lunch we walk around the town, looking in all the shops, before finding what Elle really wants - ice cream. Giant cones in hand, we sit under a tree in the park in front of the beach and talk about anything and everything, except me maybe moving 3,000 miles away in a few month's time.
"You've got a little chocolate...just there," I say to Elle when I'm done, gesturing near the corner of her mouth.
"Oh, do I?" she sticks her tongue out to the side, trying to lick it off, and inspiration strikes.
"Here, let me," I shake my head and lean towards her like I'm going to wipe it, but right at the last moment I veer off and kiss her instead, taking her by surprise.
"Did that make it better, or worse?" Elle giggles.
"Kind of worse," I chuckle.
"I see..." is all she says before smooshing the last of her ice cream into my nose.
In my shock, Elle's up and running away from me before I can grab her, but I quickly jump up to give chase, catching and play-tackling her to the grass, holding most of my bodyweight off her on my forearms.
"That was a bad idea, Shelly," I growl, knowing that some of the edge is likely lost with me looking ridiculous right now. I don't give her the chance to make any wisecracks, instead rubbing my nose on hers, dragging ice cream all over her face in the process.
"Ugh! Noah!"
"You brought this on yourself, you know," I laugh, and that's how we end up lying on our backs on the grass, laughing like idiots. It seems like whenever we recover, one of us starts laughing again, setting the other off. Eventually our chuckles subside, and I reach out to hold Elle's hand, staring up at the fluffy white clouds chasing across the bright blue sky.
"If it weren't for the fact that my whole face is sticky, I could stay here for hours," Elle grins.
"Me too, Shelly. But we've got places to be. Come on."
We find a water fountain at the edge of the park and clean ourselves off before getting back on the bike for the ride home. The timing works out just like I'd hoped, and we catch the sunset as we get back towards Malibu. There's something about riding the bike south along the PCH at this time of day, like you're almost travelling inside that glowing orange sky.
"Cool, huh?" I say, turning back to Elle for a second.
"It's beautiful," she says into my ear, clearly awed.
There are no lights on in Elle's house when I cut the engine and coast to her driveway, so I hop off the bike and walk her to her front door. Elle unlocks it and looks like she's about to invite me in, when her phone beeps.
"That's my dad," she frowns, looking at the screen. "They're on their way back now."
"Perfect timing," I smile at her from where I'm leaning against the doorframe.
Elle's frown turns into a smile as she steps into me, sliding her arms around my waist under my jacket.
"I had the best day, thank you."
"You're welcome. It's definitely in my top ten best days too," I grin. "Or it was, until someone covered me in ice cream."
Elle raises an eyebrow archly at me. "Maybe if I was more strategic with the ice cream, you might enjoy it more."
"There's an experiment I'll gladly participate in," I growl as I crash my lips down on hers. We kiss deeply, Elle opening her mouth to mine and our tongues meeting. But it's not long before she pushes me away, eyes blazing, cheeks flushed.
"Okay go...before my dad gets back," she giggles.
"Ugh! Fine! I'm going, I'm going," I drop my hands away from her, backing away with a grin on my face. "It was a good day, Elle."
"Yeah, it was."
Her smile is the last thing I remember before I fall asleep that night.
One week we get an unexpected assist from Elle's dad, who gets called away on business and won't be back until Saturday. Mike's arranged for Brad to go to a sleepover at a friend's house Friday night, which means Elle's house is going to be conveniently empty of her family. It's also going to be empty of Lee, who's going to some theatre thing with Rachel.
"Sooo, would you maybe want to come over?" Elle asks me on the phone on Thursday night. We haven't exactly had much alone time since that first night, and from the tone of her voice, Elle's as keen as I am to rectify that situation.
"Definitely," I grin. "But how about we go out somewhere for dinner? Then we can go back to your house.
"Like a proper date?" Elle sounds shocked.
"What do you mean? We've been on dates," I say, confused.
"Yeah, but there were all like, during the day," Elle drawls. "This would be a proper dinner-date date."
"Yeah, okay, fine. Whatever, Shelly. Can I take you out to dinner or what?"
"I'll think about it," she teases.
"Oh, okay, you just think about it, then," I scoff.
"Shut up, of course I want to go to dinner with you, dummy."
"Dummy, huh? You'll pay for that."
"Oh really?" she giggles.
I drop my voice a little lower when I quietly respond, switching to serious. "Absolutely."
Her quick intake of breath is enough to let me know she understood my meaning, and I smirk.
"I'll pick you up at 7."
"Okay," Elle squeaks.
I'm still smirking as I say goodbye and hang up the phone.
__________________________________________________
Showered, shaved and dressed in dark jeans and a plain black t-shirt, I head downstairs to the kitchen, grabbing an apple juice from the fridge and chugging half of it before I turn around. Mom's sitting on a stool on the other side of the island bench, eyeing me warily. I didn't even hear her come in. Groaning inwardly, I lean back against the fridge and wait.
"You look nice," she says, her tone light, but not quite casual.
I take another sip of juice before answering. "I'm going out."
"I figured that much. To a party?"
I won't lie to her, but I'm not going to tell her the whole truth, obviously.
"No. I have a date."
The fact that I'm looking her right in the eyes means I catch the brief flicker of a raised eyebrow before she smiles.
"A date, huh? So is this person the reason you've been so happy lately?"
My brain is scrambling, but I can't get into this right now, so I push away from the fridge and start to walk away.
"Mom, just stop. I'm not talking about this with you."
"Fine, fine, I didn't mean to pry," she half laughs.
"See you later," I mumble over my shoulder, not managing to reach the hall before her voice reaches me.
"Noah?"
Reluctantly, I turn back. "Yeah?"
"Just promise me one thing. Whatever you're doing, whoever you're doing it with - be careful, okay?"
"Mom!" I shake my head, now not able to meet her eyes. "Fine, yes, I promise."
Turning away again, I get the hell out of there, stopping only when I get to my car. Why do I have this nagging feeling, like she wasn't talking about sex? I mean, Dad gave me that talk years ago and then Mom really gave me that talk, in excruciating detail, after she found a box of condoms in my room maybe two years ago. But tonight? That didn't seem like a reminder to practice safe sex.
Whatever you're doing...
Whoever you're doing it with...
Be careful.
There's no way she knows about Elle and I, though, because if she did that conversation would have been a hell of a lot less cryptic.
I barely have enough time to shake off these thoughts before I get to Elle's house, and instead of parking up on the street, I nose down into the empty driveway and jump out, walking to the front door and pressing the doorbell. From inside, I hear Elle coming down the stairs and then the door is flung open, her eyes hardly meeting mine before she turns away towards the living room.
"I just have to get my purse."
I can't help the smirk that appears on my face as I lean against the doorframe.
"Elle?"
"Yeah?" she spins back to face me.
"Hi."
"Oh! Sorry," she rushes back towards me. "Hi."
I wrap an arm around her when she gets close enough and bend down, brushing my lips lightly against hers. "You look nice. I like that dress."
She gives me a shy smile as she takes a step back, glancing down at herself and then back up at me. "Thanks. Is it date-appropriate?"
I let my eyes travel slowly from Elle's face, down her neck, over her body in that red dress, to her legs, finally reaching her little shoes, before working my way back up to her face again. Somewhere in there, my bottom lip got trapped between my teeth, and suddenly I'm regretting offering to take her to dinner instead of just staying in.
"Very date-appropriate," I say softly, and I'm willing to bet if I suggested not going out that Elle would agree, based on the look on her face and the tension in the air.
But of course she surprises me, with a little smirk of her own. "Cool. You look cute too."
"Ugh! Shelly, don't call me that," I complain as she smiles triumphantly, hurrying to get her purse now.
"Stop pouting and let's go," she laughs, grabbing my hand and leading me out the door.
"So bossy," I whisper under my breath as I pull the door shut behind me.
"I heard that," she giggles.
"You were meant to," I grin, unlocking the car so we can get in.
All the way to the restaurant, Elle keeps up a steady stream of chatter, talking about this teacher or that friend, with minimal input needed from me. It's only when she mentions something that happened yesterday that I butt in.
"You have fourth period free on Thursdays?"
"Ah, yeah. It's like the one thing on my timetable that doesn't line up with Lee's, because he has Biology lab then."
"Interesting. Good to know. Anyway, you were talking about Randy doing something dumb."
Elle picks up her story and I only half-listen, my mind busily contemplating the fact that Elle and I have the same free period before lunch on Thursdays...and the possibilities that might provide.
The restaurant I chose for dinner is a cool place in Little Tokyo. I remember Mom and Dad raving about it after they went there one night with friends, and now I can see why. The chef basically prepares everything right in front of you and I can't decide if it's more fun to watch him and his crazy knife skills or Elle's face as she watches him. But basically I spend the whole time with a grin on my face, and the food's pretty awesome too.
The street we walk back along after dinner has strings of lanterns hung diagonally across between the shop fronts and I have to admit, it looks pretty cool at night. Elle's arm snakes around my waist and pulls me against her side as we stroll along. I drop an arm around her shoulders and look down at her.
"You cold, Shell?" I'm mentally kicking myself for leaving my jacket in the car.
"Not anymore," she smiles up at me with that look that makes me feel like maybe I'm not a complete jerk after all.
When we get to the car, I turn the heating up a little and look over at her.
"So, is it too cold to go for ice cream, or...?"
She glances away for a second, biting her lip, before her eyes meet mine again.
"No, it's not too cold, but...there's ice cream at home. I stocked the freezer."
My eyebrows draw together, confused. "Okay..."
Elle blushes, "Remember we talked about an experiment?"
Oh. Ohhh. The strategic placement of ice cream experiment. I definitely remember.
"Home it is then," I smirk.
A/N - Okay, okay, I know this one's a tease....but it would have been too long if I didn't pause here. Next chapter can go one of two ways - cute or smutty. Let me know your thoughts.
Tsklareski - I already know your vote, but here's your chance to put your best case forward...