All right, I wasn't happy with the first posting of this because I wrote most of it off the top of my head and in a hurry, resulting in a number of typos that peeved me greatly. Plus I left out the disclaimer and the foreword and all that stuff. So here it is, the characters and such don't belong to me, or else this season would have ended a lot differently. This is a one-shot because I don't think I'm very good at coming up with enough material to make chapter stories. I use "he" and "she" mostly but I think it's pretty obvious who I mean. And I'm not sure if "he" has actually said "it" to "her," but for the sake of this fic I'm saying no. Enjoy!
She had expected it might take him awhile to say it.
After all, wasn't it his inability to utter such words that had started the whole debacle the three of them had found themselves tangled in years before? Of course, she liked to think that it was so hard for him to say such things back then because he didn't really mean it, and that girl had lain such a guilt trip on him that he was forced into professing something he didn't truly feel. She had been there to witness his declaration, looking on as he stood locked in embrace with that vindictive little prude and finally telling her what she wanted to hear. All the while, her own heart had been turning vicious somersaults as his arms clung to her, his mouth speaking those words to her...his eyes however, his eyes were gazing past the female he was speaking to and deep into her own, and she knew that this scene on the front steps of their High School was nothing but an empty promise he didn't intend to keep.
Of course, her smothering behavior had led him to stray, the constant need to hear those things pushing him closer and closer into the arms of another, so needless to say, she was in no hurry to repeat such conduct herself. Andthus she was prepared to wait. It had always been a waiting game with him, for him, biding the time they spent separated by flirting with the affections of a few boys, keeping herself occupied until the wait was up and the time had come for the two of them to be reunited. She had been waiting since she had first laid eyes on him walking up those same High School steps, and she could bear to wait a little longer. She could endure eternity for him.
Because she knew it was so, even if he hadn't come out and blatantly declared it to be. His actions had always spoken louder than words, and they told her plenty without ever saying a word.
She could feel it in the soft tone of his melodic voice when they whispered together into the wee hours of the morning by means of long distance telephone calls, conversations pleasantly void of that awkward chatter they had experienced during the mall carnival so very long ago. She could tell by the cutesy little knick-knacks he sent her from California that he thought she would like, teasing her affectionately about her lack of maturation since the "fluffy-fluff" days in the accompanying postcards. Postcards he signed simply with his name, the lack of a single poignant antecedent which struck her with a sharp pang of hurt whenever she read his messy scrawl and lied to herself that she wasn't expecting to find those four letters before his signature this time. She didn't need to see it on paper, she knew it was there.
Besides, the sincerity of his feelings for her was all but spelled out when he sent those plane tickets to the Nelson residence after school had let out for the summer, a round trip flight for one to the west coast. She knew this was going to be their chance to get away, just the two of them, spending every glorious waking moment together far, far away from the infectious drama that thrived off the bleeding teenage hearts in Degrassi. A beautiful, perfect chance for him to finally tell her those three little words she so desperately longed to hear.
And best of all, there were no red-headed drummers or blue-eyed pianists lurking about to fuck everything up.
Not that she didn't feel the slightest twinge of apprehension upon boarding the plane that simmering July afternoon, after all even the longest of phone calls couldn't make up for all the miles that lay in between them. L.A. might as well have been in another solar system from the way he described it, degrading even the most shocking Toronto scandals to uneducated backwoods antics by comparison. It would be naïve of her to think that such a place not have an effect on a person, despite the fact that they had always lived lifeaccording totheir own rules as her boyfriend had.However, his surprise visit back at graduation had done its part to quell some of her fears regarding their relationship, and most of her was fidgeting with giddy anticipation once her plane began its descent. Still, she couldn't shake that apprehensive feeling, even after she had launched herself at his familiar form the second she had spotted his curly his through the crowd. And as she let his mouth overtake hers in a greedy and long-awaited kiss, this doubt wound itself around her like the brunette locks she was winding around her fingers, her tiny hands lost in his waves of hair.
But surely, this would pass.
He had immediately taken on the role of her personal tour guide, chauffeuring his dazed companion through this dizzying maze of a city in the car his record company had provided, pointing and commenting to the landscape and landmarks around them like a native while maneuvering the automobile with and easy confidence through the god-awful traffic. She was enrapt in him, drinking in his every word, hating to tear her eyes away from his lazy smile towards whatever he might be directing her attention to, and holding onto his guitar-calloused hand for dear life. It was with a slight frown, though, that she noticed a subtle difference in his pronunciation of the word "about." But then again she was being silly, it was only a word and change was bound to happen.
But what had definitely not changed was the fluency and deftness with which their bodies knew each other. Upon finally arriving at his apartment they wasted no time in shedding their unwanted clothing and exposing their perspiration beaded skin to the stifling summer heat. They fell back into routine seamlessly, stumble backwards until you make contact with a wall, lose connection with one another's mouth while shirts are pulled recklessly over head then capture it once again. Fall back against an unmade bed and shimmy out of pants, remembering to pull a condom from the battered wallet in his jeans pocket before allowing the pair to fall to the floor. Throw back your head to moan in release when he's inside you, fighting back tears at how badly you've needed this for such a long, long time.
Afterwards they lay tangled tightly around one another despite the high temperature, content to lay panting and sweating together in the comfortable silence that had followed their reunion. Soundlessly, she turned up her chin and brushed her swollen lips softly against his jaw line, feeling the muscles in his face tighten as he smiled with eyes closed. She knew he was moments from sleep, the dreamy expression she was seen occupy his facecountless times before was proof of that, and she wanted to tell him something before he was lost to the night.
"Craig?" she whispered tentatively, feeling a rush deep within her tell her that now was the moment she had been waiting for.
"Mmmm?" came his drowsy murmur
"I...I love you." She finally proclaimed, the words flowing effortlessly from her mouth and pouring themselves on to his pillow with the dark locks of her hair that lie spread haphazardly across it.
"Mmm, I love you too...Ellie"
I hope to God I mean a little more then the sounds that escape your tired 4 A.M. lips
And oh-how I wish I meant a little more then a symphony of heavy breathing and the friction of hips
-"Himerus And Eros" The Spill Canvas
Whatcha think? Let me know!