Chapter Five
ELLIE
21 years earlier
I got to spend every day of the next week with Lee, minus Christmas day – but we talked on the phone. He’s so much fun to be around. We never have any of that awkward silence – only when it’s quiet, it’s because he’s looking at me with those ridiculously beautiful eyes and I can’t catch my breath long enough to form words.
Today, we’re at Ryan’s house with Steff’s friends and everyone is inside playing air hockey. I suck at air hockey worse than I suck at bowling, so I kept losing each round and I sat on a stool watching Lee beat everyone. He even beat Chris and they high five after their match.
When he walks over to where I’m sitting, Lee asks me to go for a walk with him. I follow him outside and to the street, then he takes my hand in his and I dissolve. His thumb caresses my hand while we walk, and I think I might actually melt from his touch. But then he looks over at me and smiles.
MELTING
MELTING
MELTING
We were walking around the cul de sac when he squeezed my hand and asked, “Have you ever been kissed, Ellie?”
“No.”
I said it in a whisper. I was looking down at the street in front of us until I felt his gaze shoot over to me. When I turned to look at his face, he smiled that smirk that I like and gave a little nod. We kept walking.
“Have you ever kissed anyone?”
I ask after a few more steps.
“Would you be mad if I said yes?” he asks.
“No. Why would I be mad?”
“I don’t know”
he runs his free hand through his hair and says, “I don’t want you to think I’m making a move too fast on you.”
“I don’t think that.”
I say and keep walking.
“If I tell you something, you promise not to think I’m crazy? He asks.
“I don’t know… my threshold for crazy is pretty low.”
I shake my head, joking with him.
He laughs, a little less nervous than he was a second ago and then he says something under his breath. I’m not quite sure I heard him right and I don’t know if he meant for me to hear it, but I think he said God, you’re perfect.
“After that first night I met you, I couldn’t sleep because I kept thinking about you.”
I stole a glance at him, and he was looking straight ahead, concentrating on how to say what he wanted to say to me.
“I got out of bed and grabbed a notebook from my backpack, and I just started to write. I’m not really good at saying things out loud so I’m sorry if this is weird.”
I shook my head so he would go on. He shoved his free hand into his pocket and pulled out a folded-up piece of paper.
“I’m trying to tell you that I wrote you a poem because I’m crazy about you, Ellie.”
We stop walking and he lets go of my hand so he can unfold the paper, his hands are shaking, and I reach over to touch one of them so he would relax. It worked and he inhaled before starting to read from his page. I couldn’t stop smiling and he kept looking up at me while he was reading which made him forget where he was in the poem.
Your brown eyes are captivating,
And my heart is pounding.
But I
Don’t wanna come off strong.
So I
Just hold it back.
Woah, you got me way off track.
I wanna tell you something and then don’t say anything at all
Cause you make me smile, and it blows my mind
That anything and everything you say, girl, it makes me fall
A little bit harder, a little bit deeper
A little bit in love with you
Thirty questions and then thirty more
Just so I can hear her voice some more
Please don’t leave, don’t go just yet
You got me girl, that day we met.
Slowly, he put the paper down and slowly, he leaned toward me. My heart was pounding because … that was just incredible and then when I think he’s about to kiss me, something pulls him suddenly away from me and he dodges a flying object coming toward us.
We hear laughing and shouts coming closer to us. Ryan and Chris were riding their bikes up the street and once they got close enough that we could hear what they were saying:
“Get a room!”
and
“Do you need these?”
Oh.My.God. They threw condoms at us. Are you kidding me? My face turns red, and I can feel the flush of embarrassment creeping up my neck.
“Dude! Get out of here with that!”
Lee shouts at them as they ride away. He shakes his head, a little embarrassed himself.
“I’m so sorry, Ellie, that was wrong of them. I would never…”
I interrupt him “I know you wouldn’t. I don’t think you’re like that at all.”
Another hand squeeze. I’m beginning to like his silent communication.