I'll Cover You
Author's Note: I don't own Degrassi nor any other literary or pop culture references. I'm glad you guys liked the first chapter. This one turned out a bit… fluffier than I had originally intended, but oh well. We all need a little fluff sometimes.
Chapter 2
Comfort
"Eli, where are we?" Clare asked, looking at the huge house before her.
"This was my grandmother's house. Nobody lives in it anymore, since she passed away, but my grandfather still has the property maintained. We're not here for the house though," he said, taking her hand in his, and leading her around to the backside of the house.
Once they rounded the corner, Eli felt the familiar ease he always got from coming here. It was as if for the brief hours he spent here, nothing else mattered. It was its own universe. Eli watched with a lop-sided smile as Clare's face lit up, eyeing the spacious backyard. The backside of the house was lined with huge rose bushes of all colors. Across the yard, a huge tree held an old-fashioned swing, while two more trees held a simple woven hammock between them. The yard faced a serene lake, where Eli could remember fishing with his grandfather when he was younger, before napping in that woven hammock. His grandmother would push him on the wooden swing, before taking him inside for her amazing homemade snacks.
"Why doesn't your grandfather live here anymore? I can't imagine leaving a place this perfect," Clare said in awe.
"Poppa doesn't like it here without Nana. He says he has a memory of her for every inch of the property, and it hurts too much to be here without her," he explained.
"Wow, that's so tragic, but still so romantic," Clare gushed.
"Yeah, I know how you like your sappy love stories," he smirked, pulling her towards the wooden swing.
The old swing was tied tight to the tree with a thick, weather-stained rope. The swing itself was a thick, dark plank of wood, wide enough for two. Eli motioned for her to sit, then walked behind her before sitting down opposite her. Eli gazed at her bright blue eyes, thinking he would never tire of seeing her this happy. The last several weeks had been rough on her, and he was happy to see the carefree bliss present on her face.
"I think you owe me an embarrassing story of your own, sir. It's only fair," Clare said softly.
"I don't have embarrassing stories," he teased.
"Oh come on, there's no way you made it through the last sixteen years without one single embarrassing story," she replied.
Eli continued to shake his head.
"I can always ask your parents…" Clare teased.
"Low blow. Alright fine, one story," he conceded.
Noticing Clare trying to push the swing even though her feet barely touched the ground, Eli used his left foot to push them softly to and fro.
"When I was in grade 9, I had a crush on this girl…" he began.
"Was it Julia?" Clare asked.
"No, this was a couple of months before I met her," Eli explained. "Her name was Hannah, and I was just disgustingly in love with her. Of course, she didn't even know my name, much less that I liked her. So this one day in the cafeteria at my old school, I was going through the line, getting my tray, and she was in line in front of me. Of course, stupid fourteen-year-old me starts freaking out. Next thing I know, she turns around and asks me to hand her a bottle of water since she forgot to pick one up, and I knocked my tray off the line, spilling everything on her shoes."
"Oh geez," Clare giggled.
"Yeah, and of course, it wasn't burger day or chicken nugget day; it was sloppy joe day, so it was everywhere. From then on, every time she passed me in the hall she would give me at least a six-foot radius."
"Wow, I can't imagine you being so girl-crazy," Clare laughed.
"Yeah well, it's no vampire fetish, but there you are," Eli smirked.
Clare elbowed him lightly, still giggling.
"What about you, did you date anybody at Degrassi before I came and swept you off your feet?" Eli inquired, curiosity getting the better of him.
"Yeah, just one guy. Do you know K.C. Guthrie?"
"Uh… tall guy? Hangs out with Adam's brother?"
"That would be him."
"What's the story there?"
"Well, we were friends, then we kinda weren't, because neither one of us would admit that we liked each other," she began.
"Now why does that sound vaguely familiar?" Eli teased.
Clare returned his tease with a steel-blue glare before continuing.
"Then, at this school dance we got pushed into admitting it, then started dating. It was fun, for a while, but then he started having eyes for Jenna when she came to Degrassi," Clare explained. "And that was that. He dumped me and started dating her a few hours later."
"Jenna's the pregnant girl, right?"
"Yep," Clare answered.
"K.C.'s baby?"
"Yep."
"Eeesh, well, if there's anything they can learn from that, it's that karma's a bitch," Eli stated.
"Oh hush, that's not karma. That's just being careless," Clare replied.
"That's one way to look at it, but either way, I think you got the better end of the deal. If all that hadn't happened, we might not be sitting here right now," Eli explained.
"D'you think Mrs. Dawes knew exactly what she was doing when she made us English partners?" Clare asked, intertwining her fingers with Eli's.
"That woman sees more than we give her credit for, I think."
A moment of silence fell between them, as Eli continued to push the swing lightly with his foot. Reaching up, he caught a strand of Clare's hair between his fingers and twirled the auburn curl. As he did, Clare leaned her head into his hand, closing her eyes for a brief second before Eli softly touched his lips to hers. He dropped the strand of hair from his hand, reaching behind her neck and pulling her to him. In a rare move, Clare was the first to deepen the kiss, grazing her tongue on Eli's bottom lip. As she kissed him fiercely, Eli couldn't help but think how lucky he was. What felt like only a moment ago, he thought he had blown it, scared her away with the insanity that was his room, but here she was.
With a sigh leaving her pink lips, Clare retreated, standing up from the swing. She took Eli's hands in her own, leading him to the woven hammock. After Eli climbed in, Clare followed, resting her head on the arm Eli held around her. Eli felt her arm snake around his torso as she leaned into him. He leaned down, stealing another deep kiss before laying back and letting the soft breeze and light swaying of the hammock rock them to sleep.
Eli awoke an hour or so later, feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. As he thought to himself that there was something magic about this hammock, he noticed Clare's innocent face, fast asleep on his chest. He took his free hand and pushed a curl from her face, brushing past her porcelain skin. He leaned down, as carefully as he could so as not to wake her, and kissed her forehead. Despite the fact that he barely moved, Clare's eyes fluttered open, looking up at him with a small smile adorning her face.
"Hi," she said simply.
"Hi. Sleep well?" he asked, his hand still cupping her soft cheek.
"That might be the best nap I've ever taken," she answered, stretching slightly. "I might be in love with this hammock."
"Funny, I was thinking the same thing." Eli smirked, knowing full well it had nothing to do with what he was laying in, but who he was laying with.
Too fluffy? Reviews make me smile =)
