From that point on, Eliza had eyes for David. They had become friends, and their families had become intertwined very quickly. Virginia was the first friend Catherine had made in their new home, and honestly it seemed as though that's all she was going to need. It became almost a nightly occurrence that Virginia would ring the Miller family doorbell, holding a bottle of wine and occasionally something that she'd cooked up in her kitchen.
"You know you can just walk right in, Virginia. You don't have to ring the bell." Catherine would playfully scold her as they walked in towards the kitchen.
"I know, I just like to be polite." Virginia would laugh and wink at Eliza as her and her mother would sit in their spots at the counter.
Just as Virginia and Catherine were growing closer, so were Eliza and David. He'd invite her over to hang out with the neighborhood kids while they were playing football in his front yard, when Catherine and Eliza would take trips to the beach they'd always invite David, and Virginia would always drive the pair to school every morning.
Of course, as their families grew closer, Eliza's feelings for David grew as well. She was drawn to his innate kindness. She loved watching him use manners around her mom, or be so incredibly kind to every person he met, whether he liked them or not. Whenever there would be a gathering at his house for all of the neighborhood kids, he'd always make sure to invite everyone, even the ones he didn't care for. Eliza loved him for that.
One day, when Eliza and David were thirteen years old, David decided to host a wiffle ball game for all the kids in their neighborhood. This wasn't an unusual occurrence, and when David rang Eliza's doorbell to invite her to play, she accepted without a second thought.
After putting on the proper clothes to play wiffle ball in, she headed over to David's. There was a wooden fence separating their yards, so she went around to the front and went in through the Grohl's gate, just as she had about a million times.
"Hi, Eliza!" Virginia called through their opened kitchen window. The smell oozing from the window was utterly mouthwatering. Virginia was always whipping up magic in her kitchen.
"Hi, Ms. Grohl!" Eliza responded as she shut the gate behind her and headed towards the backyard.
She found David already there, setting up the bases around his backyard. He was wearing a plain black t-shirt, with blue shorts, and his favorite red baseball cap. Eliza knew it must be his favorite because he wore it nearly every day.
"Hey, Eliza, what's up?" He greeted her with.
"Nothin' much. You need any help?"
"Actually, yeah, I do. Can you go into my garage and grab the cooler full of waters and bring it back here?"
"Of course." She said as she started towards the garage.
She went in and grabbed the red cooler that he'd asked for. "He's bringing out water for everyone. How sweet." She thought as walked out. She wheeled it around to the back of the house, and when she got there, everyone was waiting to play.
"Eliza, you're on my team." David said as she set down the cooler.
Eliza stood in line, waiting for her turn to bat. Once she got up, she could sense a change in tone from all the other boys there. She was one of three girls who were always invited to play with them, and Eliza knew she was only invited because of David. No one else here would want to play with her. She'd been playing around with these boys for two years now, and they still didn't respect her or see her as a friend.
When she got up to bat, she noticed the pitcher, named Blake, turn and laugh towards his friends.
"C'mon, throw the ball." Dave hollered from the side.
Blake rolled his eyes and threw the first pitch. Ball. He huffed and threw another, which Eliza fouled off.
"C'mon, we need the out, Blake." The second baseman shouted.
Blake stared at Eliza for a second, then wound up to throw the pitch. She'd been playing against him for years. She knew his curve was coming. Eliza timed the pitch perfectly, knocking the ball far into right field.
Eliza took off, easily clearing first base and turning to head to second. She looked up, realizing she might have a shot at third. Determined to show up Blake, she turned on second and ran towards third. At this point, everyone was screaming. She saw Blake line up to catch the ball, and just as she touched the base he came in to tag her. He hit her so hard in the back that she was thrown on the ground, right onto the Grohl's patio. Of course, it was made of concrete.
She heard the whole backyard go silent. She sat up, and there was blood everywhere. Both of her knees, the palms of her hands, her elbows, and a spot on the side of her forehead had all been scraped, leaving her to be a bloody mess.
"Oh my gosh, are you ok?" David said as he ran over to her.
"Yeah, I'm ok."
"C'mon inside. I'll clean you up." Dave offered as he helped her up.
"No, it's fine. I'll just head home."
"Seriously, Eliza. Come on in. Let me help."
Of course, she didn't want to turn down his offer. "Ok, if you insist."
David helped her in the side door, where his mom was standing cooking dinner.
"Oh my, Eliza, what happened to you?" Virginia said, shocked.
"Baseball incident. I'm fine."
"Who did this, David?"
"It was Blake." He told his mom.
"Of course it was. Never liked that kid. Go take Eliza into the bathroom. I've got a first aid kit under the sink. Should have some stuff to clean her up."
"Thanks, mom." David said as he led Eliza into the bathroom.
He set a towel on the edge of the bathtub and sat her down on top of it. He grabbed the kit and opened a package of wipes from inside. He then began carefully wiping away the mixture of blood and dirt from her knees.
Eliza shivered, not from the pain or the coolness of the wipes, but from the gentleness of David's touch on her skin. She could sense his compassion just through his touch.
"Everything ok?" He asked, sensing her tense up.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Hey, I'm sorry about Blake. I don't like him either. I need to stop inviting him to play with us."
"David, it's no big deal. I'm fine, really. I can handle the laughs from Blake."
"I mean, you did crush his curveball. I probably would have swung and missed at that one."
"Heck yeah I did. Did you see his face?"
David did his best imitation of a horrified look while Eliza giggled at him.
Once he was done with her knees, he cleaned up her hands and elbows. She loved the feeling of him being so delicate with her as he gently wiped off her wounds. When he reached her forehand, he paused.
"Do you want me to do this part?" He asked.
"Sure, I mean if you don't mind."
"Not at all. I just wasn't sure if you trusted me with something so perfect as your face." He said, immediately blushing after saying such a thing.
Eliza's heart stopped. Had he just called her perfect?
"Of course, David. I'd trust you with my life." She said, giggling, hoping to remove the tension in the air left by his comment.
He smiled and took her chin in his hand and tilted her head so he could get a perfect angle of the cut. He ever so slightly dabbed at the wound until he deemed it to be clean enough. Eliza swore that he held his breath the entire time. Once he was done, he continued to hold her face in his hands, looking into her eyes. It only lasted a second, but Eliza would have guessed it was a lifetime.
Their moment was abruptly ended by Virginia opening up the bathroom door.
"How's everything going in here?" She asked.
Startled, David released her face and started to put away the first aid kid. "Cleaned her all up. Should be good as new." He said, shooting a smile towards Eliza.
"Thank you so much, David. I'd better be getting home. It's getting dark."
"No problem. I'll walk you out." David said as he shut the cabinet.
They walked downstairs and headed for the front door.
"Thanks again, David. I really appreciate it." Eliza said as she pulled on her shoes.
"Don't worry about it. See you tomorrow on the way to school?"
"You know it." Eliza said, smiling just at the thought of being able to see David again as soon as tomorrow morning.