Chapter Seventeen
LEE
18 years earlier
Ellie is coming out here to visit. She’ll be staying with Steff in her new apartment, and she’s going to be here all summer. When she told me she was coming, my mind immediately cut off everything else and became consumed by her. She occupied my thoughts during the day, and my nights were spent dreaming of her.
We had talked about it almost every night on the phone for weeks leading up to her arrival. We had gone from not talking at all for months to me waiting by the phone, craving the adrenaline rush of hearing her voice during our nightly call. But of all the ways I played this out in my head, nothing prepared me for the moment I saw her step out of the car, and every bit of my being tingled with excitement and love just as intensely as the day I met her, three years ago.
I was frozen when I saw her. My feet wouldn’t move and all I could do was smile as she ran over to me. When she got within arm’s reach, I grabbed her and swung her around in circles. Taking her in, I felt her arms wrap around my neck and I set her down, looking into her eyes.
Damn! Those eyes.
There they are.
Her big brown eyes.
“Hi Ellie!”
I said with a smile so big that I could feel my cheeks tighten.
“Hi Lee!”
She returned, her arms still around my neck, my hands at her waist. Her breaths were sharp and fast, and I heard them echo in my ears as I slid my hands up and down her back, making her rise onto her tiptoes. And then our lips met, and I swallowed the gasp that fell from her mouth.
When she opened her eyes again, I had to make sure that I was breathing now. What did I miss over the last few years, Ellie? She was a beautiful girl last time I saw her, but she was stunning now. Sixteen-year-old Ellie had this exotic beauty that no words could justly describe, and she had – well – matured quite a bit.
In one of our letters, we talked about who would be more excited to see the other this summer and I think I won that one. I could certainly feel the excitement growing beneath my belt, and I took a step back so she wouldn’t feel it too. Don’t get ahead of yourself, Lee.
“God, you’re even more beautiful than I remember.”
I tell her.
“Thank you.”
She smiles and bites her bottom lip. Her hands slide down from my neck to my arms; fingers tapping my biceps.
“And damn! You’ve been in the gym, I see.”
“Hah, just a bit.” I laugh.
“Well, it looks good on you.”
“Thanks.”
I look down at her and smile. Her body is molded against mine and I think damn, she fits good here like this.
“I didn’t realize how much better it is actually looking into your eyes instead of looking at them in your picture.”
She says, taking my hand and walking us back toward the car she arrived in.
“Same.”
I say, squeezing her hand in mine.
We grabbed her suitcases from the trunk and met Steff in the apartment. It was late-afternoon but Ellie hadn’t eaten all day since she was on the plane so while she unpacked her clothes, we decided where to eat for dinner. After some back and forth, we landed on Taco Bell and hopped in Steff’s car to hit the drive through before going to Ryan and Chris’s house so they could say hi.
We didn’t plan to stay at their house long because Steff had to get back to the apartment since she had to wake up early for work. I could feel Chris staring at Ellie as soon as we walked into the house. He had a thing for her back when we first met and it’s not a surprise that he would still have a thing for her now and especially with how amazing she looks in those jean shorts she’s wearing.
“Damn Ellie, look at you, all grown up.”
Chris said waving his hand in front of her.
She pursed her lips into a tight smile “Thanks.”
And then turned to Ryan to tell him how great his apartment looked for being a bachelor pad.
I tried to hide my smile at that – to know she didn’t care that he thought she looked good – that was an inside high five for me.
“You still don’t have it.”
Ryan laughed, slapping Chris on the shoulder.
“What?! She wants me, she’s just playing hard to get.”
Chris came back shoving his hands in his pockets.
“Right! Keep telling yourself that, Chris.”
Steff was laughing.
“You do know she’s here all summer to see Lee, right?”
Chris looked at Ellie, then at me and back at Ellie again, “You and this dude still? Really?”
he scoffed, and that made her look at me with a shy smile.
“Okay, alright, I see how it is then.”
Chris said, walking to the kitchen to nurse his bruised ego. Ryan hazed him some more and then he reluctantly brought out glasses of coke for each of us.
I hadn’t talked to Chris and Ryan since last summer; we weren’t that close and we don’t usually hang out without Steff, so Chris wasn’t filled in on the whole me and Ellie situation. I tried to cut him some slack since he didn’t know she was unavailable. Listen to me, already laying claim on her. I don’t know that she actually is unavailable, but that kiss earlier sure made it feel that way.
As we played a round of air hockey with the guys, I noticed Chris eyeing Ellie again as she stretched across the table to reach the puck, her tanned legs becoming the center of attention. His lingering gaze made me uncomfortable, and I balled my hands into fists at my side. Luckily, Ellie didn’t notice his ogling and she excused herself to go to the bathroom. When she was out of earshot, I knuckled his arm to get his attention, “Dude, could you stop staring at her ass like it’s a piece of candy. Show some respect.”
He feigned hurt and held up his hands, like he accepted defeat in an invisible war we were fighting for her attention.
I started to reach for my glass of coke and then had to quickly cover Ellie’s glass when Ryan tried to pour rum into it. He rolled his eyes at me and whispered, “Come on, it’ll loosen her up for you.”.
“I don’t need to loosen her up.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, and he backed off. Steff heard this conversation and glared at him. I just shook my head and when Ellie returned, Steff stood up and said we should head out.
“Did I miss something?”
She asked, looking between all of us and feeling the tension in the room.
“It’s nothing, I’m just tired and ready for bed.”
Steff yawned.
Thank God. I didn’t want to stick around for these two to play any other tricks because if Steff didn’t punch one of them, I sure as hell would.
* * *
On the ride back, Steff told me I could use the car to drive Ellie around as long as I took her to work and picked her back up – and filled it up with gas. That meant that I got to spend the night with Ellie. For the first time ever. For fucks sake, I’m as giddy as a kid in a candy shop over the fact that I get to sleep in the same room with this girl. She’s got such a hold over me and she doesn’t even know it.
It was about 8’oclock when we returned to Steff’s apartment and her neighbors, Sarah and Erica, were on the patio waiting for us.
“I didn’t know you guys would be here.”
Steff said, unlocking the door and holding it open for everyone to go inside.
“I thought you went to the beach.”
“We were going to”
Sarah said “but it turns out, I got the dates mixed up for our condo rental. So now I have a week off work to stay home.”
“Thought we’d see if you guys want to join us in the pool.”
Erica chimed in, shaking her beach towel for emphasis.
“What do you think?”
Steff asked nodding in our direction.
“Maybe just for a bit? I have an early morning.”
“Cool, let me just throw on my suit.”
Ellie rummaged through her plastic dresser in the living room and pulled out a navy-blue bikini.
“I’ll be right there.”
She said as she walked into the bathroom to change.
“We’ll meet you outside in a sec.”
Steff said.
I had shorts on already, so I just grabbed a towel for each of us from the hallway and followed Sarah and Erica out to the pool. It was so hot outside even though the sun had already started to set. I pulled my shirt off and the three of us tossed our towels onto the closest table before jumping in.
I swam to the other end of the pool and felt the coolness of the water drip down my face when I came up for air. I turned around and shook the wet hair out of my face just as Ellie came up to sit on the edge of the pool by me. She kicked her feet in the water and splashed me, then giggled.
“Oh it’s like that, huh?”
I said to her before slapping my hand down hard, so she got sprinkled with water in her face.
“Ah!”
She wiped her eyes and hopped into the pool, grabbing me on her way and pulling us both under.
We came up laughing hysterically and coughing.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m good,”
I leaned over and wiped the hair out of her face. “Are you?”
“Aside from swallowing a mouthful of pool water, yeah, I’m okay!”
she laughed at me.
We threw the frisbee with the others for a while before Steff reluctantly dragged herself out of the pool and said she needed to get to bed if she was going to make it to work on time tomorrow. She said she would leave the door unlocked for us to come in when we were done. I don’t think Steff has to work the whole time Ellie is here, but she wasn’t able to take off the first week so I’m glad I was able to be here so she’s not home alone.
Sarah and Erica started to get cold and moved over to the hot tub, so we followed. Ellie sat on the seat next to me and I hooked my leg into hers, pulling her closer. She was like a magnet, and I couldn’t help but keep her close to me. Only she floated over to sit on my lap. I inhaled sharply at the unexpectedness of her and rubbed my hand up her leg. I could feel myself growing more excited with the intensity of her placement and when she turned back to look at me, I squeezed her thigh and whispered in her ear, “We should probably go inside now.”
“Why? We just got in.”
she asked with raised eyebrows.
“Because if you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to take you right here and I don’t want our first time to be in a hot tub with other people here.”
I told her with a wink, trying to keep my voice low.
“Mkay.”
She said, getting up slowly off my lap and telling the girls, “We’re gonna head in to call it a night. See you guys tomorrow?”
The girls laughed knowingly.
“Sure. You two have fun!”
Sarah chuckled.
“See you tomorrow.”
Erica splashed us as we got out of the hot tub and grabbed our towels. I wrapped mine tightly around my waist to save myself from further scrutiny.
Steff had already filled Sarah and Erica in on the history between me and Ellie and they had a blast poking fun at me all week. They kept joking that Ellie wasn’t going to be interested in me anymore or how she was going to break it to me that she had a boyfriend back home. I didn’t care. Once she looked at me, I knew she felt the same way as I did. Sarah, Erica and Steff are all a couple of years older than us and see Ellie as their little sister; they became very protective and warned me about not making this a quick summer love fling and leaving her to go home with a broken heart. I had no intention of hurting her. In fact, I wanted to leave with her.
We dried off as much as we could before going back to the patio. I grabbed some glasses of water for us from the kitchen, and we sat outside taking in the cool summer breeze.
“Let’s play thirty questions.”
I said, setting my glass down on the table.
“Okay, me first.”
Ellie answered, sucking in her bottom lip. My eyes fell to her mouth, and I watched as she raked her teeth over her lip, leaving it swollen. I swallowed hard, forcing my eyes up to meet her gaze.
“Did you really mean what you said in your last letter?”
That was a serious first question and I wasn’t expecting it. My mind swam through everything I wrote to her in my letters trying to remember exactly what she was referring to and then it hit me. I had told her I loved her.
“Yes.”
And I meant it. I had known I loved her the very first night I saw her. I ran my hand through my hair, inhaling slowly, because this was the first time I was telling her out loud.
“I meant it, Ellie. I love you.”
She smiled that oh so beautiful smile that reached her eyes and made them twinkle.
“I love you, too.”
She shot up out of her chair and kissed me hard. When she parted her lips just enough for my tongue to invade her mouth, I grabbed her and pulled her down onto my lap, making our kiss last longer. Her hands tangled in my hair, pulling me closer so that her breasts crashed into my chest and that just pushed my self-control over the limits.
I stood us up and carried her into the apartment where we made love for the first time in her makeshift bed of blankets on the floor and I fell asleep with her in my arms.
I didn’t wake up until Steff shook my shoulder in the morning.
“Lee. It’s 6’oclock. Can you drive me to work?”
“Yeah.”
I mumbled softly and eased my arm out from under Ellie’s head. She smiled in her sleep as I laid her head back onto the pillow. I was about to get up but then I realized I didn’t have any clothes on under the blankets. I sat there and looked at Steff, squinting my eyes, wondering if she figured out why I wasn’t rushing to walk with her to the car. When she didn’t move or say anything, I tucked the blanket under my leg.
“You wanna go warm up the car and I’ll be right out?”
“Kay.”
she said and closed the front door silently behind her.
I grabbed my shorts that were sitting next to the blanket and pulled them on before getting up to look for my shirt and shoes. Ellie woke up just then and I kneeled to kiss her on the nose.
“I’ll be right back. Gotta take Steff to work real quick.”
“Mkay.”
She sighed before kissing me and laying back down.
“See you soon.”
I smiled down at her and closed the door quietly before walking toward the parking lot.
In the car, Steff was looking at me with a huge grin on her face.
“What!?”
I asked as I buckled my seatbelt and backed out of the parking spot.
“You guys couldn’t wait til I was at least out of the house today?”
she teased.
“Wait for what?”
I smiled at her.
“Don’t play dumb with me.”
She accused and swatted my arm.
“Ow. That hurt.”
I rubbed my arm jokingly.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Right. Okay. Well just remember what I said and don’t go hurting her. She’s still my baby cousin you know.”
“I would never.”
I tell her as she opens the car door.
“What time should I be back to pick you up?”
“4’oclock”
She closed the door.
“That should give you all plenty of time alone.”
She hollered through the window and turned her back to walk into the building.
Steff’s work was only a mile up the road, so I stopped and grabbed some coffees and banana bread from the café on my way back to the apartment. I didn’t know how Ellie liked her coffee, or if she even liked coffee, so I ordered her a caramel latte; it seemed simple enough.
When I walked through the door, trying to be quiet, I immediately saw that Ellie wasn’t in bed anymore. Then I heard the shower running, so I set the coffees and bag of pastries on the kitchen counter and walked over to the bathroom door. She left it open a crack and I debated if I should go in or not.
While I was considering my options: go in and revel at her naked silhouette through the shower curtain like a creep or wait in the kitchen to surprise her with coffee after she finishes showering; the car keys fell out of my hand and clanked loudly on the floor.
“Lee?”
I could hear her pull the shower curtain open and ask.
“Are you there?”
Idiot. I berate myself.
“Yeah I’m here, sorry.”
I leaned my forehead against the door softly, hoping she didn’t think I was watching her when suddenly the bathroom door swings open, and I stumbled forward.
brEATHLESS
MOUTH OPEN
Ellie is standing there, with nothing on, dripping water onto the floor.
“Well…”
she trails off with a smile.
“If you’re gonna stand outside making all that noise while a girl is trying to shower, you might as well come in!”
No other invitation was needed. I stepped into the bathroom, closing the door behind me and kicked my shoes and socks off. Ellie grabbed my shirt and tugged it up over my head. I pulled her into my arms and breathed her in before dropping my shorts to the floor and picking her up. She wrapped her legs around my waist as I walked us over to the shower. My foot got stuck in the clothes on the floor and I stumbled.
She laughed.
I laughed.
We kissed.
We eventually made it into the shower where I took in the entire glory of her, kissing every bit of water that fell down her body.
The coffee was cold by the time we drank it but neither of us minded that at all.