We're both pretty wiped by the time we get back to my dorm after the game. Lack of sleep plus sunshine, beer and, in Elle's case, a post sugar rush crash, combine to leave us craving a nap.
"Movie?" I suggest, yawning.
"Yeah," Elle smiles drowsily as she climbs onto my bed.
I prop my laptop up and pick something at random, both of us realizing we probably won't last even halfway through it. Elle snuggles in against my side and I try to stay awake as long as I can, just so I can enjoy being here with her a little longer, burn it into my memory. But it's a fool's errand. My eyelids start to droop and my blinks last longer and longer each time, until my eyes simply stay closed. My whole body is heavy and perfectly content, Elle's presence a soft warmth that seeps into my bones.
I'm not sure how long I've been asleep when a featherlight touch drags me slowly back towards consciousness. I can feel Elle's fingertips tracing my face, from forehead to cheekbone and down to my jaw. I force my eyes to stay shut, reveling in the feeling.
"I can tell you're awake," she whispers, her breath soft on my face.
Grinning, I reply, eyes squeezed shut. "Nope. Still asleep."
"Liar," she chuckles before pressing her lips to mine.
Elle's leaning over me anyway, so it takes very little effort to pull her over on top of me as we kiss. The sweet softness of it all lasts for quite a while before things start to get more heated. And then Elle's pulling away, looking down at me, breathless, as she shakes her head, grinning wildly.
"We do not have time for this," she giggles.
"Promise I'll be quick," I smirk.
She smacks my chest playfully. "More lies. And also, how romantic."
Reaching up with one hand, I thread my fingers into Elle's hair, toying with the ends.
"Could be fun," I shrug. "Just like old times, back when we were sneaking around."
My eyes flick up to meet Elle's, and I see the heat there as the memories play in her mind, too. When we first started dating, and we were keeping it a secret from everyone, especially our families, Elle and I didn't get that many chances to be alone together. When we did, we made the most of it, but a lot of our encounters were a bit rushed, both of us scared that we were about to get sprung at any moment.
It hadn't been ideal, and was definitely frustrating sometimes, but it had also been... kind of hot. The thrill of it all, the added rush of adrenalin from getting away with something. The secret, knowing, looks we would share afterwards when we were surrounded by people who didn't have a clue what we were getting up to. As much as I wish we hadn't kept up the charade as long as we did because of how things ended, I can't regret any of the time Elle and I shared together in our own little bubble.
She's biting her lip now, trying to keep the grin off her face. "Okay," she nods.
I raise an eyebrow. "Okay?"
"Yep, let's do this."
"Now who's the romantic?" I chuckle.
Elle rolls her eyes, "Please."
I know she means it in the sense of, like, 'whatever', but I choose to take it as a request instead.
"Well, since you asked so nicely," I smirk, grabbing her waist and throwing her off me.
Elle shrieks before covering her mouth with one hand in an effort to stay quiet while I strip her jeans and underwear off her. Being quiet is not a bad idea since my roommates are probably still out in the living area for all I know. More like old times than I thought, laughing inwardly.
Ten minutes later, I've collapsed next to Elle, her back pressed against my chest, both of us covered in a slight sheen of sweat.
She starts giggling and I reach a hand up to lightly cover her mouth as I whisper in her ear. "Shh... you keep that up and people are going to wonder what's going on in here."
Elle pulls my hand away, but not before gently biting the pad of my index finger, sending a spark of electricity straight to a part of me that's currently useless.
"I think that ship has sailed," she laughs.
Not wanting to confirm her suspicions about my roommates, I nibble on the shell of her ear.
"Alright, enough!" Elle declares, throwing my arm off and slipping off the bed. "I need to shower."
"Want some company?" I ask suggestively.
Elle puts her hands on her hips, frowning at me, but the fact that she's naked takes some of the edge off her stance.
"Did you forget the reason we just had a quickie?"
I let my eyes stray from her face, deliberately lingering a little lower before shaking my head as if clearing my thoughts. "Sorry, did you say something? I got distracted."
"Perv!" Elle laughs, bending to pick up a discarded shoe from the floor and hurling it at me.
Smirking, I bat it away and shift to lie on my back as she retreats into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. Closing my eyes, I hear the shower start running, and then...
Elle's kissing me awake again. But when I start to kiss her back, she pulls away.
"Come on, sleepyhead," she teases, nudging my shoulder. "Time for you to shower and get dressed for dinner."
I open one eye, peering at her. She's wrapped in a towel, her hair damp. I open both eyes, but make no move to get up.
Elle's hands come to her hips again, the same classic bossy pose as before.
"Move!" she demands, pointing at the bathroom.
Stretching, I smirk. "What will you give me if I do?"
I note Elle's distraction as her eyes roam over my body with smug satisfaction, but all too soon, her eyes snap back up to meet mine, narrowing.
A small smile makes her lips curve up slightly and she arches an eyebrow.
"I think it's more a matter of what I won't give you, don't you?"
I'm off the bed in an instant, sprinting towards the bathroom as Elle's laughter trails behind me.
A little under an hour later, we're walking along hand in hand, nearly at the restaurant I booked for dinner so that Elle could meet the rest of my friends. Speaking of which... I slow to a stop, turning to face Elle, clasping her hand in both of mine.
"So, just before we get in there, these guys are cool, but they are a liiitle intense."
She chuckles. "Noah, I'm fine."
"Okay?"
"Yes!" she says, impatient. "Come on!"
"Okay," I concede, turning away and moving to open the door. When I give my name to the host, he shows us through to a large round table in the middle of the place, and unsurprisingly, the guys are already here.
"Noah," Aiden grins, standing up and clapping me on the shoulder. "We were just about to send out the search party."
"Dude, we're like, five minutes late." Elle squeezes my hand, and I add, "Which is completely my fault, and not Elle's."
Aiden's attention is already focused on her and he pulls her into a quick hug. "Elle! It's so good to meet you in person! This one talks about nothing else."
"Alright, you can shut up now," I laugh, putting an arm around Elle, who's grinning at me.
"Nonsense," Aiden says, grabbing her hand and pulling her away. "Come, come, meet the rest of our band of lonely losers."
Elle glances back at me, and I just shrug helplessly, shaking my head before taking a seat. There's no use trying to reign Aiden back in at this point. He leads Elle around the table, introducing her to Dylan, Caleb and Joseph, before pulling out the chair next to me for her to sit down. As he moves past me, he leans down, gripping my shoulder as he stage whispers to me, "She's way too good for you, you know that, right?"
Elle smiles broadly and the guys all crack up as I nod. "Uh huh, I'm well aware."
This is just the kind of friends we are, always ragging on each other in the most well-meaning of ways. 'Taking the piss' as Chloe calls it. Thinking of Chloe, I glance at the empty seat next to Aiden before looking questioningly at him. He frowns and shrugs, obviously none the wiser about her whereabouts. It feels kind of weird not to have spoken to her for a couple of days, and I fish out my phone as a waiter takes our drink orders. No messages from Chloe, either. Strange, but I guess she's not that late yet.
It's not long before the guys resume the conversation they'd started before Elle and I arrived, and soon they're in full flight, debating the details about a federal case from like a decade ago that is part of the curriculum of one of the social justice subjects now.
"Okay, that's not what that case was at all," Dylan says, disagreeing with Caleb.
"That's exactly what that was," Caleb says dismissively.
"Wait, wait," Joseph tries to interject, but Dylan's back on his soap box already.
"Oh, Citizens United was a classic example of judicial activism, right?"
"True. Correct," Joseph agrees.
"After conservatives bellyached for years about the liberal Supremes."
"Same thing," Joseph says, "They were doing the same thing."
"You are a hypocrite at its finest," Dylan jeers.
"No! That was not the case."
I glance over at Elle then, watching her looking on at the debate. I put my arm around the back of her chair and lean over to put my hand on her knee.
"I told you they were intense," I smile, nuzzling her hair as she giggles, grabbing my shoulder. I watch her relax a little and we lean back to enjoy the rest of the show.
"One word and an acronym!" Aiden cries, and I don't think they'll ever let this go, but just then Dylan raises his hands, calling for quiet.
"Guys, guys, guys, guys, guys!" He gestures towards the front of the restaurant. "Look who's here."
We all look it that direction, even though it's obvious who's arrived. The missing member of our group, Chloe, sweeps inside, greeting the host with a smile and a kiss on each cheek. She knows him, because, well, Chloe knows everyone. This restaurant was her recommendation. It takes her a minute to reach us because she spots two more people to say hi to, and then she's here, grinning broadly.
"Hello, hello, hello!"
Caleb's the first one to greet her, with a kiss on the cheek, "Hey, how are you?"
Chloe compliments his new suit, which I think is slightly over the top, but very much him. There are more hellos and then I stand, hugging my friend, this person who I'd honestly be lost without. Somehow, I'm relieved that she's here and also anxious about her and Elle meeting. I really want them to get along. The thought sort of distracts me and we take our seats again, the guys ribbing Chloe about being late.
She turns back in our direction, smiling.
"Oh, my God. Wait, no, is this Elle?"
"Yeah," I smile and Chloe gasps, covering her mouth.
"I have heard so much about you. Seriously. My God, you're gorgeous," she enthuses.
"You- you're gorgeous," Elle says a little nervously, and Chloe grins at me.
"I love her already." Looking back at Elle, Chloe gestures to me. "Too bad this one here's so ugly, though, isn't it?"
Everyone laughs, particularly Caleb and Dylan, who always enjoy Chloe's ribbing of me.
"But he does do as he's told, so I keep him around."
This comment earns her more laughter and I take a drink while the conversation turns to why she was late. Chloe launches into a retelling of her disaster of a day that has us all in stitches, as per normal. Dinner is fun with good food and a lot more laughs, mostly due to Chloe and her stories. Because of her parent's jobs and moving around so much as a kid, she's really well-traveled and has led such an interesting life. It's nice to just sit and listen without having to feel like I need to add a whole lot to the conversation in situations like this. I think maybe that's one of the reasons why she's easy to be around, for me at least. Talking has never really been my strong suit.
At the end of one particularly crazy tale, Chloe bangs her hand down on the table, declaring that it's time for shots. Everyone cheers, because this is usually the point at which our nights start to ramp up, but Elle speaks up.
"You know, we actually-- we need to go." She gives me a small inclination of her head.
Everyone complains that it's way too early to be packing it in for the night.
"No," I say, putting my arm on her shoulder. "Elle's got college interviews tomorrow, so..."
"Well, in that case," Chloe smiles, lifting her glass. "Here's to Elle kicking ass at her interviews tomorrow."
The guys cheer and we all toast Elle. After that, we say our goodbyes and head out into the cool and slightly breezy night. It's definitely getting colder again, and I keep Elle close to me as we walk back to the dorm, my arm around her shoulders while hers is around my waist. She's noticeably more quiet now than she was on the walk to the restaurant, and I wonder if she's getting nervous again about her interviews.
"Hey," I squeeze her. "You're going to do fine."
"Huh?" she looks up, confused.
"Tomorrow," I prod. "They're going to love you."
"I hope so," she says quietly.
"I know so. Who wouldn't love you?" I pause then, pulling us both to a stop. "In fact, maybe I should come with you, make sure none of the admissions officers try to get too friendly."
Elle laughs at that, the tension visibly leaving her face as she rolls her eyes at me. "You're ridiculous. I'll be fine."
I scrunch up my nose. "Are you sure? 'Cause I could come and stand nearby, look a little threatening? I'm pretty sure I remember how to do that."
"Noah!" she smacks the back of her hand against my chest as she laughs. "If you do that you'll probably ruin my already slim chances of getting in."
"Please," I scoff. "You've seen the kind of jackasses Harvard lets in."
She laughs again, then sobers. "Thanks."
"For what?"
"Making me feel better."
"Hey," I say quietly, reaching out to cup her cheek. "I love you."
"I love you, too," she smiles. "Now, can we go already? It's freakin' freezing out here!"
When we get back to my dorm, Blaine and Eli are still sprawled in the living room and have now been joined by Steve, who's back from his weekend visit home.
"Have you guys even moved today?" I laugh after introducing Elle to Steve.
"Of course we have!" Eli smirks. "We went out to get pizza," he gestures at the mostly empty boxes scattered across the coffee table.
"Oh? You mean you walked downstairs to grab the boxes from the delivery guy?"
"Well, yeah," Blaine chuckles. "But we stood outside on the path so he didn't have to come up the stairs, we're not animals."
We make small talk for a bit before Elle gives me a look that clearly says 'bed', and I'm only too happy to make our excuses. The guys look at me knowingly as she leads me away by my hand and I give them the finger behind my back.
We brush our teeth and get ready for bed, but I'm not sure why Elle bothered with pajamas, since she seems pretty intent on taking them off as soon as we're under the covers. She's also pretty focused on getting mine off, my t-shirt disappearing quickly before Elle starts kissing her way down my chest to my stomach.
Elle seems to be on a mission tonight, to claim me as her own. It's amazing, but completely unnecessary.
I am hers.
I always have been.
I'm starting to think I always will be.