AN: This was an anon prompt I received on Tumblr. Thanks for all the love on my other stories. I am glad that so many people enjoy them. I love reviews, so please let me know what you think.
Henry/Elizabeth prompt: henry catches elizabeth off guard on campus — wearing his sweatshirt that he's been looking for.
"Henry. Henry! Time to wake up." The gentle push on his shoulder woke Henry McCord and he startled awake. He shook his head trying to regain his bearings. When his vision came back into focus, he saw that he was in the library and his favorite librarian was standing next to him.
"Sorry Margie," he said. "I must have dozed off. It's 1 o'clock already?"
"Yes. I think you've been up too much this week Henry. Time to go back to your room and get some real sleep."
"I will. Thanks, Margie." Henry tossed his books into his backpack and slipped his arms into his winter coat, hurrying down the stairs and out the door. As Margie picked up a few stray books left on the tables, she saw Henry's sweatshirt lying on the floor underneath the chair he was sitting in.
"He'll be back tomorrow," she said, not bothering to move it. "He can get it then."
Henry made it about halfway back to the dorm when a gust of wind blew right through him. "Wow, that's cold," he muttered under his breath, and that's when he realized that he'd taken his sweatshirt off and now just had his heavy coat on. He looked over his shoulder, thinking about going back when he saw two cars back out of spots next to the library. He figured that was Margie and the other late night research librarian, Helen, so he shrugged, figuring he would pick it up the next morning after class.
Elizabeth Adams slogged along, pushing into the heavy library door, while balancing her coffee cup and danish. It was 7:30 am and well before the time when Elizabeth preferred to be up and about. "Miss Adams, you know the rule about food in the library," one of the stickler librarians, Lorna, chided.
"Yes ma'am, I know the rule. I promise that I won't touch one library anything until I've eaten and washed my hands. I just knew that if I stayed back in the coffee shop to eat, I would get caught up in a conversation and then I'd miss my chance to utilize the library's wonderful resources and then my grades might fall and I'd have to drop out and live in my grandparents' basement. I just couldn't take that chance. I had to bring this one tasty cinnamon roll with me."
The woman buried her face in her hands. "What am I going to do with you?" She looked around to make sure no one was watching, "Just eat it quick, don't let anyone see you, and if you tell anyone I let you eat in the library, I'll deny it. And, yes, wash your hands when you're finished."
Elizabeth grinned, "Thank you Miss Lorna. I appreciate it." She dashed up the stairs, wolfed down the pastry and quickly washed her hands before settling into a chair and pulling her notes out to study.
It was at least an hour later and she yawned and shifted. She was a little chilled and moved to reach under the chair to grab her coat to throw over her shoulders. Her hand landed on something soft and she pulled it out realizing it was a sweatshirt. She held it up and her heart caught in her throat. It was a well worn Pittsburgh Steelers sweatshirt. Her memories were flooded of Sunday afternoon football games and how her father loved the Steelers. "The Steelers of the 70s were collectively the best team ever," her father had always said. It had annoyed her when she was younger, but by the time she was about ten, she enjoyed hanging out with him, eating chili dogs and corn chips and being allowed to have soda in the living room. They would cheer together and get angry together. She never realized how much she missed it until the first football season after her parents died. She had tried to watch a few games, but it wasn't the same to watch alone, so she just stopped.
Elizabeth snapped back from her thoughts to find that she had tears running down her face. She wiped them away quickly and studied the sweatshirt. She slipped it over her head and shoved her arms into it. It smelled of Irish Spring soap and some sort of cologne she wasn't familiar with. It didn't smell like her dad, but it felt like him and that made her smile.
Elizabeth finished her studying, gathered her things and headed out to class waving to Miss Lorna on her way out of the building. A few minutes later, Henry entered the library and headed upstairs to the spot he was sitting the previous evening. He looked around the area and didn't see his sweatshirt, so he headed back down to the main desk to see if someone had turned it in. Of course the woman had no idea what he was talking about. Henry just said he would check back.
A few days later, Henry ran into Margie who told him that it was on the floor and she left it there, so Henry knew it had been taken in the couple of hours when the library opened the following day.
Henry had kept his eye out, but had mostly given up. It was just a sweatshirt, even though it was his favorite, and he supposed that if someone needed it bad enough to take it, then he hoped they got some use out of it.
Several weeks passed and Henry had forgotten all about his missing sweatshirt. That was, until he happened upon it at a party one Saturday night. He had just filled his cup with beer from the keg when the girl behind him caught him by the sleeve. "Would you mind filling my cup? I always get too much foam."
"Sure," he said, not paying much attention. "Trade me for a second." She took his cup and handed him hers. When he straightened, they switched cups back.
"Thanks," she said, and started to turn away.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait just a minute." he said, catching her by the sleeve this time. "I think I need to have a word with you."
"Oh, you do?" Elizabeth threw back, just a little sass in her tone. Henry looked at her fully. She was drop dead gorgeous and he just about lost his nerve.
"That's an interesting shirt you have there." Henry said. "You watch football?"
"I haven't lately, I more of an old school girl. You aren't going to get better than the Steelers of the 70s," she said, flirting just a little with the incredibly cute guy in front of her.
"Are you here with someone?" he asked, making sure he wasn't about to step on anyone's toes.
"Just with some friends." She downed her beer. "Wanna get me another?"
Henry grinned and nodded, chugging his beer as well. He filled his cup and handed it to her before taking hers. When he went to return her cup, he noticed she was already drinking from his, so he kept hers. "I'm particularly well versed in the Steelers of the 70s. Do you want to go sit somewhere?"
She reached down, taking his hand,and pulled him through the crowd to the screened in porch on the backside of the house. It wasn't as crowded. Elizabeth plopped herself down on the two seater glider and patted the spot next to her. Henry sat down. "Alright, spill it. Are you an offense or defense man?"
"Terry Bradshaw all the way baby," Henry said, laughing.
"No way. Mean Joe Greene and the Iron Curtain. Untouchable." They continued their banter well into the wee hours of the morning. Football talk transitioned into classes and majors and career aspirations. Looking at her watch, Elizabeth realized exactly how late it was.
"Let me walk you home," Henry offered. Elizabeth accepted, having no idea what happened to the group of girls she came with.
They talked easily as they walked and made it to Elizabeth's dorm room much quicker than either liked. Henry stood in front of Elizabeth and everything that was so easy up to this very moment was now confusing and awkward. "I'm not sure really what to do here. It was nice to meet you Elizabeth."
"It was nice to meet you," she said. Elizabeth, too, felt like they needed to do something to end the evening, so she leaned in and hugged him. Pulling back, she smiled. "You can call me sometime. Maybe we can watch a game or something."
"I'll definitely do that," Henry said as he took a couple backward steps away from her. Elizabeth turned and started to go into , but something struck her.
"Henry? Can you come back here a minute?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"I want to smell you."
"You want to do what?" Henry laughed. "That is the oddest request anyone has ever asked of me."
"Oh, if you spend much time with me, you'll find I come up with all sorts of odd things. But seriously," she said.
She took hold of the opening of his jacket and buried her nose in the crook of his neck. She pulled back and slapped him on the arm. "You could've said something you know."
"What are you talking about?" Henry asked, now greatly confused by Elizabeth's erratic behavior and slightly agitated tone.
"The sweatshirt. It's yours. I found it in the library and it reminded me of my dad, so I put it on. But you didn't have to spend the whole evening with me trying to figure out a way to get it back. You could've just asked and I would've told you the truth. I'll wash it and get it back to you in a couple days, okay?"
"I didn't spend the night talking to you because of the shirt. I did start the conversation because I saw it, but I didn't keep it going because of that. You are an amazing person. I had a great time tonight and actually I wasn't ever going to say anything about it. It looks good on you. Keep it." Henry shifted his weight from one leg to the other. "Do I still get to call you?"
"How about we discuss that over lunch tomorrow? I'll meet you in the cafeteria at noon." Elizabeth grinned.
Henry mirrored her expression. "I like that plan. A lot. I'll see you tomorrow then, Elizabeth."
"Until tomorrow," she turned to walk into the building. Henry stayed rooted to the spot, watching her go. Elizabeth flashed him a bright smile and a small wave just before she disappeared behind the door. When it thumped shut, Henry turned to walk to his room. The thought crossed his mind that leaving his sweatshirt in the library might well end up being the best mistake he'd ever made.