AN: This is the opposite take on The First Trip. I hope you like it.
Madam Secretary Prompt: Henry spends a long time pursuing Elizabeth before she agrees to go out with him.
It was 8:03 when Henry McCord came flying through the classroom door. "Nice of you to join us Mr.?"
"McCord. Henry," the young man answered. He tried not to look as embarrassed as he felt. "I got confused and went to the wrong building. I apologize. It won't happen again." Glancing around the room, the easiest seat to get to was on the front row. "Of course," Henry thought, inwardly rolling his eyes.
"Alright everyone, this is World Religions. If you aren't supposed to be in this class, now is the time to leave." Everyone chuckled lightly and the professor began all of the necessary housekeeping kinds of things for the class. Each student received a syllabus along with a list of extra readings for the course. He was also gracious enough to pass out a list of tutors, should help be needed.
Henry looked over all of the information and then settled in to take a few notes as the professor started giving some introductory information. Although he was listening, Henry looked around to see if he recognized anyone. He didn't, but the blonde seated next to him piqued his interest. She was fully engaged with what the professor was saying and was taking notes at a furious pace. She had her head tucked down in concentration, her honey blonde waves covering most of her face.
Toward the end of class, she looked up and caught Henry watching her. She quickly ducked her head, but Henry thought he saw her blush. When class was dismissed, Henry dropped his notebook and papers into his backpack. He waited until the girl a seat to his left started to stand. He stood and said, "Hi. I'm Henry." He extended his hand to her.
"I'm aware," she said, their eyes meeting for the first time.
"And you are?" he asked, grinning, hoping to break the ice.
"Not interested," she responded quickly, her slate blue eyes piercing his causing him to blink. She shifted around him and walked out of the room.
"Ouch. Crash and burn!" exclaimed a guy from two rows back. The lanky young man with dark brown curly hair extended his hand. "The name's Tom Hodges. Do you live in Hammond Hall?" Henry nodded and shook Tom's hand. "I think you might be down the hall from me, but I don't recall meeting you before."
"I just got to campus last night, so I missed all of the orientation and meet and greet activities." Henry's thoughts flashed back to his father telling the foreman at the steel mill that he would work an extra week, making him unable to make it for Freshman Orientation. Anger bubbled up in him, but he pressed it back down. He made it here and that's what mattered, even if he showed up at the wrong classroom and made a spectacle of himself right off the bat.
They walked out into the hallway together. "Well, let me help you out. The girl that was sitting next to you. We've nicknamed her 'The Ice Queen.' Downright frosty she is. Won't give any guys the time of day, and only speaks to a handful of girls. Her roommate is Becky Turner. Becky swears she is nice, just quiet, but I'm not buying it."
"What's her name?" Henry asked.
"Oh, wow! I don't know. A couple of guys did the Ice Queen thing on the first day, so I don't know if I ever actually heard her name. But take it from me, there are way easier targets out there than that one." The two men came to a split in the sidewalk. "Anyway, I have another class now, but it was good to meet you Henry. See ya around."
"Yeah, you too. Thanks for the information." Henry took off walking toward the library hoping he could get his hands on a campus map to plot out where the rest of his classes were that day.
Henry made it to his next class and then to the cafeteria without incident. He was feeling pretty accomplished. He got his food and looked for a place to sit. He had only met a handful of people so far and didn't recognize anyone. Then at the far end of the room, he saw her. Well at least he thought it was her. His mom had always told him never to let anyone sit alone at lunch, so that seemed like a good enough reason to make his way over and sit down opposite her. "Fancy meeting you here," he said. "I didn't catch your name earlier."
Henry unfolded his napkin and placed it in his lap and took a drink, never taking his eyes off of her. She sighed, " Depends on who you talk to. I've heard Ice Queen is at the top of the list right now, and that's preferable to some of the other things I've been called since I got here."
"I doubt that's your given name, and I'm not particularly fond of nicknames. I figure if your parents named you something, that's what you should be called." She flinched slightly at the mention of her parents, even though it was a vague reference and he couldn't possibly know, but she had a feeling he wasn't going to back off.
"It's Elizabeth, but no one calls me that. Can I eat in peace now?"
'You mean, no one but me, and you may absolutely eat on peace." Henry picked up his fork and started his salad, smiling to himself. He wasn't sure why or what it was, but there was something he liked about this girl, and he thought she would like him too, eventually.
Elizabeth ate with her head down, but occasionally lifted her head just enough so that she could see him. Henry McCord. He'd been pretty bold so far and she had an inkling that this was some sort of bet. She let out a little sigh and wondered why people wouldn't just leave her alone. She thought back to her junior year of high school, when some guy had started paying her a lot of attention. It was unwanted, but after a few weeks, she gave in, agreeing to go out with him. It was as much to get him to go away as anything, but in the back of her mind, she had the tiniest thought that just maybe she could love someone and not get hurt. She laughed ruefully. She got stood up at the school dance in front of everyone and she heard the guy got $100 out of the deal for getting her to go. It was devastating to be the butt of everyone's joke, but she never let it show. She pushed that hurt down deep, alongside the hurt of losing her parents and swore that she would never let that happen again.
She glanced up again to find him watching her. "Something funny?" he asked.
"Not in the slightest," she said.
Elizabeth felt a mix of annoyance and awe in regards to Henry McCord. He happened to be in three of her classes: Advanced Composition, Western Civilization and World Religions. He excelled in all of them and was her only real competition. He matched her grade for grade, but never bragged or even mentioned it at all. The only way she even knew was stolen glances when papers were returned, and she saw those because he chose to sit next to her in every class, and still at meals and in the library. It was like stalking, but not in a bad way. She never felt afraid of him and often, he didn't say a word. He just sat down next to her and did his own thing, but he was always around and that annoyed her to no end.
Once, at dinner, he started to sit down and she told him to go away. He did without saying a word, sitting two tables over, looking like a puppy that just got in trouble for peeing on the floor. The entire meal, she felt crappy for being rude and at breakfast the next morning, she made it a point to wait until he sat down and she sat across from him. Henry's whole face lit up, but he said nothing.
As September passed and morphed into October, Henry sat down one day next to her at "their" study table in the library. Elizabeth turned and looked at Henry. "You might as well give up, because I'm never going to go out with you."
'You are operating under a pretty grand assumption. Who said I wanted to go out with you?" Henry scoffed at the idea. "I can't even get you to have a conversation with me. I don't know that we'd even have enough in common for me to want to go on a date with you."
"Then exactly what do you want from me?" Elizabeth was unusually flustered. She hated not being able to evaluate a situation and Henry put her on edge.
"I don't want anything from you, perhaps other than friendship, but I can see you aren't ready to give that right now, so I don't mind waiting." He flipped open the book that he brought to the table and unzipped his backpack to pull out his notebook. He said nothing else, but got to work.
"Uuuuuuuugh! You are so damned infuriating!" Elizabeth said as she quickly gathered up her things and left, not only the table, but the library all together.
Henry chuckled when he happened to look out the window and saw Elizabeth stomping out of the library in the direction of her dorm room. "Now we're getting somewhere," he murmured.
The next day, when Henry came into the cafeteria for lunch, he sat with the guys from his floor in the dorm. He caught her watching him a couple times. The first time he smiled and the second time, he waved. Henry was surprised that laser beams didn't fly out of her eyes and turn him to ashes.
Elizabeth sat at the table by herself, fuming. Then she chastised herself for being so emotional about the whole thing. She had basically told Henry to get lost and now she was pissed that he did. When he smiled and then waved at her, she was so angry that she just started him down. It seemed to have no effect on him, but the situation occupied her thoughts all afternoon.
That night for dinner, he brought his tray over to where she was sitting. "Would you like some company?" he asked.
"How much shit are you going to give me if I say yes?" she asked, staring intently at him.
"None, as long as you talk you talk to me," he said.
"Fine," she said, waving her hand around. "Whatever. Sit down."
Henry grinned. "So, how's your day?"
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Lovely.". The sarcasm was thick in her tone.
"Mine was good too. It only took me seven weeks to get this girl to talk to me." He grinned at her.
"You are miserable."
"But I think you like me in spite of it. So tell me, what's your favorite TV show?" Henry was going to get her to talk if it killed him.
"I don't watch TV," she said, taking a bite of something Henry thought was meatloaf.
"What about music?"
"Not really other than the occasional Beach Boys song,"
"So what do you do with your time?"
"I read. I go on walks. I like to-nevermind." She shook her head.
"What do you like to do? Really, I want to know." Henry asked earnestly.
She looked away. "I like fly fishing," she said softly, preparing herself for some sort of hateful comment, and at the same time, wondering what in the world possessed her to share that anyway.
"Wow, my granddad took me a few times and he got so frustrated with me because I never could get the hang of the whole wrist action thing. I kept getting the flies hooked in trees, in my granddad's hat, everywhere but where I wanted it to go.". Elizabeth laughed.
Henry folded his arms in front of him on the table, and leaned in. "You're really pretty when you laugh. You should do it more often."
"Don't mess it up by saying stuff like that," she said, retreating back into her shell, pulling her arms close around her and dropping her eyes.
"So, are you any good?" Henry asked and Elizabeth tilted her head slightly. "At fly fishing I mean."
"I'm okay I suppose."
"Who taught you?" he asked. The question caught Elizabeth off guard. There was no way she was going to open that topic up for conversation.
"Well, it's been fun. Thanks for sitting with me." Elizabeth stood to go. The look on Henry's face was one of confusion and maybe even hurt. She shifted her eyes away. She didn't want to think about it. She left the table, her tray still full of food and tossed it all in the trash, unable to take another bite even if she wanted to.
Henry was most certainly confused about what had happened at the table that evening early in October, but whatever it was triggered something in Elizabeth and whatever progress he made was erased in a split second. For the next few weeks, things went back to the way they were, with him just sitting next to her.
His friends gave him quite a bit of grief over it and Henry just brushed it off. He couldn't explain why, but he felt drawn to Elizabeth and one of these days he hoped she would open up so he could figure out what exactly it was about her that had him so interested in her. Until then, he operated under the premise that in order to make a friend you have to be a friend.
It was Thursday, the first week of November. Elizabeth's alarm went off at 6:45, just like it did every morning, but she slapped at it hitting the snooze button and rolled over. She took a deep breath, hoping that would help, but the ache in her chest only grew and a tear escaped, trailing down her nose and landing with a soft thump on her pillow. Being at UVA was hard, so much harder than high school had been. At least when she was in high school, she got to go home every weekend and she could hang out with her grandparents and they filled her up with strength to get through the next week. Now, she lived too far away for them to come get her and she hadn't been home since Labor Day. It was wearing on her. Grandma called her twice a week and it did help, and she knew she would get a call today.
Today, the anniversary of the accident, the accident that killed her parents. Five years. It seemed like yesterday and an eternity all at the same time. Elizabeth was amazed that there were times she could function normally and put her parents out of her mind and then at other times, it hit her so hard so couldn't even breathe properly. She took another deep breath and turned her alarm off as she rolled out of bed to shower.
Henry was walking down the sidewalk on his way to the library to pass the hour between classes when he spied Elizabeth walking in ahead of him. He double checked his watch, and then he watched her with a concerned look. She had Calculus class in 5 minutes, followed immediately by Western Civ with him. Henry had never known her to miss a class. He entered the library and made his way to "their" usual spot.
Her things were tossed on the table, but Elizabeth wasn't around. Henry sat down and waited. He'd been waiting about 15 minutes and was really becoming concerned when he watched another girl come out of the bathroom at the end of the room. As she walked past him, he called to her. "Does there happen to be someone else in the ladies' room?"
She raised her eyebrows. "A blonde? Yeah." The girl eyed him suspiciously. "Are you the reason she's crying?"
"I don't think so. At least, I hope not," Henry replied honestly.
She smiled. "Good luck then." She started to walk off, but then turned back to Henry. "There isn't anyone else in there-just in case you wanted to go in after her." She shrugged and walked on down the stairs.
Henry sat at the table weighing his options. Ultimately, he decided that he should try to see why Elizabeth was skipping class and crying in the bathroom. The worst she could do was send him away, and he figured that's exactly what would happen. He rose from the table and cautiously made his way to the bathroom, checking to make sure no one was around to see him go inside. He chuckled at his behavior. He was stepping into the ladies room, not taking part in some grand clandestine scheme. He knocked softly before pushing the door open. She was sitting on a counter with her knees tucked up against her chest, her forehead resting on them. He could hear her crying softly. She didn't move. Henry took a step closer. "Elizabeth?" She looked up. "You could tell me what's wrong, you know."
"It's just a bad day. That's all." She grabbed some toilet paper and dabbed at her eyes. "I'm fine."
"You have got to be the world's worst liar," Henry said, leaning against the half wall that separated the row of sinks from the solid counter Elizabeth was sitting on. "So, were you planning on going to class today?"
Elizabeth looked away. "I was on my way to class when I realized that I just couldn't do it, so I came here." She leaned back against the wall, and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes before speaking. "Tell me Henry, why do you continue to hang around?"
"That's the million dollar question isn't it? I've asked myself the same thing more than once," He offered her a small smile. "It started because my mom always told me never to be the kid that purposely let someone sit by themselves at lunch. No one wants to be the kid that's alone. They need a friend, even if they don't want one. Now, it's more than that. In my heart, I feel that there's something incredibly special about you Elizabeth. Over the last three months, I've seen glimpses of it, but you always pull back into yourself. One of these days, I'm convinced that I'll get to see the real you and I know it will be worth waiting for. You are worth waiting for."
"No one has ever said anything like that about me," she said, suddenly feeling very vulnerable. "How many other girls have heard that speech?" Her icy tone slipped back to protect herself.
"I've never felt the need to say it to anyone else. Besides I've never met someone who was such a pain in the ass to get to know." He flashed her a cheesy grin and she gave him a small smile in return. "I'm not feeding you a line of bull, I can't tell you what it is about you, but there's something, and I'm going to be there when you finally decide to be who you really are."
"Do you want to grab a coffee with me?" she asked.
Henry looked at her thoughtfully. "No," he said with finality. Elizabeth looked stunned and she started to speak, but he held his finger up to silence her.. "I'd rather take you for ice cream."
"Oh," she said. "I like ice cream."
"I've watched you get ice cream at every meal for the last three months and eat it before you eat anything else. I'm aware that you like ice cream. So are you up for ice cream with me and maybe a walk? And maybe some real conversation?"
"Yeah, I think I can do that." Henry stepped back and Elizabeth slipped off the counter, splashed her face with cool water and they headed out of the bathroom together.
Seven months later
Henry strummed his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of the song on the radio. Nervous energy coursed through his veins. His breathing quickened as he hit the city limits of Hagerstown, Maryland, the halfway point between Norfolk, where Elizabeth lived, and Pittsburgh, Henry's hometown. He pulled into the parking lot of the address Elizabeth had given him and his smile widened as he saw her leaning against the back of her car. He pulled into the spot next to her and leapt out of the car as soon as it was in park. She met him, with a smile to match his. He pulled her into an embrace and they hugged tightly. Pulling back to look her in the face, he murmured, "I've missed you so much."
She pulled him back. "Me too," she mumbled against his lips before slipping her tongue in his mouth. He hummed his approval against her. When they finally pulled apart, he brushed her hair away from her face.
"Hi babe," he said.
"Hi," she said, her hands placed firmly on his chest, feeling his heartbeat through his cotton tee-shirt.
"I see you decided to go way back for our summer rendezvous date," he said, pointing at the ice cream parlor behind them.
"You know I love ice cream," she said.
"I thought we might be hitting the movies and eat popcorn before making out." Henry shot her a devilish grin.
She slipped her arm around his waist and they started walking into the building. "Don't worry McCord, that's on the agenda. Ice Cream, walk and talk, dinner, popcorn while watching the beginning of the movie, make out for the rest of the movie, and then whisk you off to my hotel room for other sundry activities."
"You've thought of everything," he said, opening the door for her. Minutes later they were sitting next to each other, each holding an ice cream cone. She was flirtatiously licking it and Henry laughed. He reached under the table, linking his fingers in hers. "I was right, you know."
"About what?" she asked.
"You were definitely worth waiting for." Henry leaned in and kissed her cheek.
"Once I got past being deserving of the nickname Ice Queen?" she asked in a teasing voice.
"You were never that to me. Well, maybe Ice Cream Queen." he joked.
"You are a big dork," she said laughing.
"And you like me."
"I do like you. I like you a lot."