A/N: I own nothing. This is the first chapter of "A Certain Level of Maturity," the sequel to "Real Girls Play Softball." Please review and enjoy!
Chapter 1
"If I make this goal, I win."
Will, with a smirk playing on his lips, whispered the words so softly that even Elizabeth barely heard them.
"But if you don't, I win," she replied triumphantly, a matching grin spreading across her own face, as she rested her arms on the desk, holding her forearms straight up directly in front of her.
"Okay, here it goes," Will said quietly. "Three…two… one…" He flicked the triangular piece of paper with his index finger, sending it flying through the air. It sailed through Elizabeth's arms and smacked her lightly on the face, before dropping onto her lap. "Yes!"
"Damn it," she muttered, laughing softly. "Why do you have to be so good at paper football?"
"It's a talent of mine," he replied, shrugging. "Though, I must say, I've never seen quite as well-formed paper footballs as yours, Miss Bennet."
"Oh, you're so full of it," she said, rolling her eyes affectionately at her boyfriend of eighteen months.
"That's mature," he snorted. "Elizabeth, what are we? Twelve? I think not. I am turning eighteen in January, you know. I think being seniors requires us to possess a certain level of maturity."
She looked thoughtful for a moment, before saying, "I don't think I can manage that."
Will chuckled and shook his head at her. "Honestly, Elizabeth. You are one of the most ridiculous people I've ever met," he said, still laughing quietly at her.
"I can almost say the same for you, Will," she retorted.
"Almost?"
"Well, I can certainly say you're the most stubborn person I've ever met," she told him, smirking triumphantly.
The bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. Elizabeth stood and slung her backpack over her shoulders, waiting at the doorway for her boyfriend. When he finally joined her at the doorway, they proceeded down the hall together, making their way to the other building. "Any plans for tonight?" Will asked her, shifting the weight of his backpack nervously from his left shoulder to his right.
"No," she shook her head. "Jane has something to tell me when we get to her house, but she said it wouldn't take long."
"Oh," he said, running a hand anxiously through his hair as he bit his lip. "Do you want to come to my house tonight?"
"Why the hell are you so nervous?" she asked him, shaking her head at him affectionately. "We've only been going out for a year and a half."
He shrugged in reply, still looking nervous. "I don't know. Well…? Do you want to come over? My mom has a business dinner and Georgiana is sleeping over at a friend's house. So it'll just be the two of us."
"Oooh," she joked, "sounds… dangerously sexy."
"I wasn't thinking along those lines at all!" he sniped back, pushing her on the shoulder jokingly. "We'll just… play Halo and Guitar Hero."
"Sure, sounds fun," she finally said, still chuckling from their banter. "What time do you want me to come over?"
"Sevenish?" he suggested, cocking his head at her as they finally reached the other building. They paused in the library and he took both her hands in hers, brining a slow kiss to the knuckles of each hand.
"Okay," she nodded, her eyes trained on his large hands, which were still firmly grasping her small ones. "Seven sounds good."
Tugging gently on her hands, he brought his face closer to hers, planting a slow, famished kiss on her lips. "I love you," he murmured gently, pulling away slightly and tucking a lock of her dark hair behind her ear.
Placing a kiss on his lips, she replied, "I love you, too, Fitzwilliam." The corner of his mouth twisted up into a smile at her use of his full name.
"See you at seven?"
"See you at seven."
CLMCLMCLM
"So, Jane, what did you need to talk to me about?"
Elizabeth observed her best friend, who, now that she thought of it, looked nearly exactly the same as she did in their sophomore year, when the best friends had first met Charley and Will. They sat next to each other at the foot of Jane's bed; awaiting Jane's reply, Elizabeth bounced absentmindedly on it, wiggling her foot, and thinking of Will. Jane bit her lip, looking more agitated than Elizabeth had seen her in a while. "My aunt in California sent me a letter," she said slowly, refusing to look Elizabeth in the eye.
"All this fuss for a letter?" Elizabeth giggled. "No offense, I, personally, love your aunt, but… really, Jane? You had me all worked up for this."
"No, no, no," Jane said, sounding a bit frustrated. "It's the content of said letter that I need to talk to you about."
"Well, what did it say?" Elizabeth asked.
"My aunt has requested that I visit her in California," she said reluctantly.
"And…?" her friend prodded, unable to ignore the feeling that there was more to it than Jane was letting on at the moment.
"She wants me to spend the remainder of the school year with her, attending a local magnet school," Jane whispered, closing her eyes determinedly.
"You're shitting me," Elizabeth said disbelievingly. Shaking her head as if to clear her thoughts, she said, "Well…?"
"Well, what?" Jane snapped, looking up at her, her eyes opening quickly.
"Are you going to?" she pressed. "What other question could I possibly be asking?"
"I don't know if I'm going to," she replied quietly. "I think I might though. Graduating from a magnet school would make getting into college a lot easier."
"True, and I don't doubt that you could do well in any school, Jane," Elizabeth said, standing from her sitting position and pacing about the room. "But do you really want to do this? Your senior year?"
"I… I think so," she said slowly, looking up at her friend. "What do you think, Elizabeth?"
"When did you receive this letter?" she asked, not looking Jane in the eye.
"Last night," Jane replied.
"I think that you need to think about it more before you make a final decision," Elizabeth said. "But if you do decide to go, I certainly will miss you a lot."