Richard had been avoiding her ever since the events on the meadow. She never got direct orders from him but only via other members of his team. When she was walking around the place where he had erected his tent, he would disappear inside and stay until she was gone. Whenever they met somewhere in the camp he just ignored her, pretending she wasn't even there. Ellie was hurt but she was intent on not letting it show. She did what she always did, concentrating on her work and trying to be a respectable member of the team. Every mission she attended was a success, which to a great extend was because of her remarkable skills. The other team members often looked up to her like people did to a leader, though she had to share this position with Charles, who was equally competent. Latter began to finally acknowledge her capacity and they started working more like a team than rivals, though they still fought at times. Ellie was still intent on getting Richard's attention but this time not for the purpose of praise but for winning his affections. She had started changing the range of colors of her wardrobe from muddy green and brown to more bright and female colors like red and pink. She also tried to not constantly frown but flash a smile every now and then. Especially when Richard was around (during those moments in which he couldn't just escape and hide in his tent like a coward), she forced a friendly smile on her face and tried to ignore the fact that he wouldn't talk to her. She always used those moments to speak and tried to force him to participate in a conversion and it made her angry when he always found a way to avoid talking directly to her. He couldn't avoid her forever. Maybe if he thought she got over him, he would start treating her like he used to, again. But she had never shown him how hurt she was, she had always pretended she didn't care. She had never tried to seduce him, either, though she still intended to make him love her some day and sometimes played different scenarios in her head in which she sneaked into his tent at night. She had always acted like she was strong and didn't care – what else was she to do to make him think everything was alright? Why was he able to see through her like no one else was? Why didn't he buy her charade?
A month before her eighteenth birthday, Ellie accompanied Richard on a mission. There had been an attack and two of their people were being hold prisoner by the Army somewhere in the jungle. The plan was to surround and force them to surrender. Charles was leading a team from the north side of the position of the prisoners, Richard was leading a team from the south. Ellie was surprised that he hadn't just put her in the team with Charles but she assumed that he had put their personal problems aside for this mission and concentrated on what was the best division of the team. Charles and Ellie were both good at giving orders and organizing a team, so it didn't make much sense putting them in the same group. Though Richard was in command of their team, he still needed Ellie because she was one of the few who didn't hesitate when a job was to be done.
They soon had encircled the small prison camp in the jungle and waited for the right moment to attack. Richard gave Charles and Ellie a signal and they opened fire. The enemy put up resistance and shot back. During the gunfire, two of Richard's team went into the camp, avoiding being shot, and releasing the prisoners. Richard ordered to retreat because he always avoided killing when possible. They had gotten what they'd come for and there was no need for pointless bloodshed. Cautiously, the team drew back, keeping their rifles in front of them. Ellie had just reached the trees and turned around to disappear in the jungle, when she heard a gunshot and then felt a sudden pain in her right shoulder. She cried out in surprise and pain and stumbled under the trees. Her vision went blurry and though she wanted to run, she couldn't move her legs and tumbled to the ground.
"Ellie?" she heard the concerned voice of Richard next to her. "Can you get up? We have to leave."
She didn't answer but moaned in pain.
"Ellie, can you hear me?" Richard asked again.
"My shoulder," she mumbled. "There's a pain in my shoulder."
"Yes, I know. You have been shot," Richard said impatiently. "And if we don't leave right now, it will be more than just your shoulder."
Ellie tried to get up but she stumbled and fell on the ground again. Richard cursed but without hesitation bend down to her, lifted her up in his arms and started to make his way back to the forest. Ellie didn't notice much around her, just some blurry images that passed her by. She couldn't comprehend what had happened. Someone had shot her! That had never happened before, she always was to quick and attentive to get shot. She knew there was always a first time for everything but she wished it hadn't been in Richard's presence. Would he think she was incapable? And Charles certainly would be giving her a hard time, now, always teasing her because she had failed. She hadn't even been able to proceed, the gunshot wound had distracted her and brought her down. If Richard hadn't come to her rescue, she would have been killed. How could she have been so stupid? Everyone new that one didn't pay attention to petty injuries during a fight but dealt with them later, when everything was over. She had behaved as if she was dying, though everything she got was a small wound in her shoulder. She also had endangered Richard. He had been an easy target when he'd looked after her and if something had happened to him it would have been her fault.
Richard put her down on a makeshift bed, shouting orders at various members of his team. There was patter of feet, voices, shuffling sounds and clattering. Ellie noticed that Richard had stripped off her blouse and was examining her shoulder. When he touched the wound, she moaned in pain.
"It's alright, Ellie, we'll get that bullet out," he said in a calming voice. "I'm sorry but this will hurt a bit."
He poured something on her wound and her shoulder felt like it was burning.
"Sorry," he murmured, taking a first aid kit out of the hands of a man to his left and putting tweezers to her wound. She couldn't see what he was doing but the next thing she felt was an unbearable pain in her right shoulder and she cried out loud.
"It's alright, I got it," Richard said and there was a clattering sound. "Now, please lie still so that I can bandage your shoulder."
Ellie tried to lie as still as she could, while Richard took the first aid kit again and started bandaging her arm. When he finished, he fetched a jacket from a pile of clothes and helped Ellie to put it on. After that, he covered her with a blanket.
"I'm sorry," Ellie murmured.
"What are you apologizing for?" Richard asked with surprise. "You didn't do anything wrong, it could have happened to everyone."
"I should have been more careful," Ellie disagreed. "I endangered our team. I endangered you. When I got shot, I acted like a baby and you had to stay back to help me get home. They could have shot you, too, and it would have been my fault."
"You're too hard on yourself," Richard said softly. "It was your first gunshot wound, it's only natural you were confused. But it's impressive that it took you so long to even get any serious injury. Most people get hurt during their first missions but you always barely had a scratch on you. You are very smart, strong, and brave. Don't let this one thing weaken your self-confidence."
She didn't know how to respond to this but she was glad that she hadn't disappointed him.
"You should rest now, Ellie," he said. Richard bent down to her and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Sleep well!"
She felt a lot better when she woke up. The pain in her shoulder wasn't gone but she was able to think clear again. Slowly she sat up in the bed and took in her surroundings. She was in a tent but it wasn't hers. A few more glances confirmed her assumption that it was Richard's. He must have brought her there to treat her after the accident. She had been too tired to notice where he brought her. It dawned on her that she was sitting on Richard's bed, that she had slept in his bed. Where was he? Surely, she couldn't expect him to stay with her all the time but she wanted to see him. She tried to get out of the bed but immediately stumbled and decided that it was better to sit down again. Outside she heard footsteps coming closer. A moment later, someone entered the tent. It was Richard.
"How are you feeling?" he asked.
"Okay," she answered. "My shoulder still hurts but I guess that's normal."
"I'd like to examine it, if you don't mind," Richard said and sat down on a chair next to the bed.
"Sure," Ellie stripped off the jacket, which she recognized belonged to Richard, and put it down on the pillow. Richard removed the bandages and examined her shoulder.
"It looks fine," he said with an encouraging smile and replaced the bandages by new ones.
"Thanks," Ellie said. "And also thank you for carrying me back to the camp."
"My pleasure," Richard answered.
Someone entered the tent and Ellie turned her head to see Charles.
"Hi Ellie, how are you?" he asked.
"I'm fine, thanks," she responded.
"We were worried about you," he admitted. "I'm glad, you're alright, now."
She stared at him in surprise. Charles had been worried about her? She had always thought that he didn't care about anyone and that he'd think she was weak, now that she'd been wounded. Maybe he wasn't that bad after all. Or he had just grown up, eventually.
"Well, I have work to do," Charles said. "See you later, Ellie."
He left and Richard and Ellie were alone, again.
"You can't fool me, you know," Ellie said in good mood.
"I'm sorry?" Richard asked.
"You care about me more than you like," she explained. "You've been constantly avoiding me but only because you have feelings for me."
Richard sighed.
"At first I thought you really didn't want me," Ellie said. "I was hurt. I thought about how I could change your mind. Then I started to understand that you didn't keep your distance because of my feelings for you but because of your feelings for me."
He didn't say anything.
"It's true, isn't it?" she asked.
"Yes, it's true," Richard admitted, sighing again. "I didn't want you to know because I thought you would forget about it if you thought I had no feelings for you."
"Well, don't worry, I wouldn't have let you gone," she said smiling perkily. "I always planned on seducing you somehow, on convincing you that I was good enough for you."
"Eloise, it was never about you not being good enough for me," he said sadly. "It was about me not being good for you."
"What do you mean by that?" she asked shocked. "How can you not be good enough for anybody? I thought it was me, that you didn't want me because you thought I was a child."
"You've always acted a lot older than you are," Richard said. "When you were thirteen, you already seemed like you were seventeen."
"I always thought you hadn't noticed me," Ellie said. "I wanted your attention so badly."
"I know and I've always tried to ignore you," Richard answered. "I didn't want to notice you more than was appropriate. But as time drew on, you got more intelligent, much stronger and more beautiful. I couldn't ignore that. And when you told me about your feelings, when you jumped me on that meadow, I was so glad you returned those feelings, that you didn't see me as an old man. I nearly lost control but I was able to compose myself again. I planned to keep my distance and never touch you again."
"But why?" Ellie asked. "Why would you do that when we had the same feelings? Because of Jacob? Or because I'm seventeen? You know I'll be eighteen soon."
"I know, Ellie, but that weren't the only reasons," Richard said. "Time to me is something completely different than it is to the rest of the world. When you've lived as long as I have, it doesn't matter whether someone is seventeen or thirty. I'm very old, though I don't age. I looked like this when you were born. I look like this now that you're seventeen. I'll look like this when you're forty. I'll also look like this when you're eighty. Long after you'll have died, I'll still look like this. You will age, I won't. We'd never have a normal relationship. When you're old, I won't have changed a bit. You will die some day and I won't. It would break my heart to lose you then. I've seen more people die than anyone else. That's why I try to keep my distances ... because it's hard to lose people you care about and know you can't follow them. I know that everyone around me will die some day and I will be alive to witness it. I'm not a normal guy, I'm not the right man to start a relationship with. You should be with someone who is normal. Someone like Charles. He cares about you, though he tries to hide it."
She stared at him in wonder. He never had said so many words to her, before.
"I don't want to be with Charles," she explained. "I want to be with you. I know that you don't age but I don't care. I'm only seventeen and it will take a long time until I've caught up with you. It won't probably seem that long to you but we could at least have some time together. Don't you think it's better to at least be happy for some time than never be happy at all?"
"You think we could be happy together?" Richard asked. "You think I could make you happy?"
"Of course!" Ellie said. "I love you. To me you are perfect and I couldn't imagine someone who could make me more happy than you can. You should stop worrying and just try. Maybe you'll notice that I can make you happy, too."
"You already make me happy," Richard smiled. "Just seeing you and all your ambitions, seeing you growing up and becoming a beautiful woman makes me happy."
"You really think I'm beautiful?" Ellie asked blushing.
"You're perfect," he whispered and placed a gentle kiss on her mouth.
"What about Jacob?" Ellie asked unsure after they had detached.
"To hell with Jacob," he repeated the words she had used a while ago and kissed her passionately.
Since the day of her gunshot wound, things had changed for Ellie and Richard. He had finally acknowledged his feelings for her and didn't try to avoid her, anymore. They didn't let it show in public – that wouldn't have been professional – but whenever there was time, one of them would sneak into the other one's tent to steal a kiss. Ellie loved those moments because she could never predict when Richard would visit her. He always came to her when she least expected it. Vice versa he always seemed to be positively surprised when she paid him a visit and would interrupt whatever he was doing. They kept their relationship on a relative innocent level and always just shared a few kisses and small touches. Ellie would have loved to go one step further but there never seemed to be the right opportunity because in a camp like theirs one had not much privacy. She also had a feeling that Richard was restraining himself because he still felt bad about how he had reacted on the meadow and because he still wasn't sure, whether their relationship was a good idea. But she tried to be patient because what they had was more than she had ever hoped for.
Things changed again, when there was an imminent attack and nobody knew how it would end. There was the possibility that neither of them would survive. Ellie was not afraid of dying but she was afraid of losing Richard. He didn't age but that didn't mean he couldn't die by human hands. She couldn't bare the thought of losing him, it made her feel nauseous and pained her heart. How would she go on without him? But she also trusted in Richard's skills, he wouldn't just let himself be killed. If only a few of them survived, he would certainly be one of them. That thought calmed her down a little. Still, the night before the attack she lie awoke in her bed and tossed and turn. Finally, she couldn't bear it anymore and got up. Silently, she left her tent and walked across the field towards his tent. She only wore one of her tank tops and shorts and the grass felt wet and cold under her feet. Her heart was thumping away when she crept into his tent. It was almost dark inside but there was a nearly burned down candle on the table which lit the tent just enough to make out vague shapes. Determined, she approached his bed and sat down beside him. When her weight pressed down on the makeshift bed, he awoke and looked straight into her face.
"Ellie?" he asked warily. "Is everything alright?"
She didn't answer but instead pressed her lips on his mouth and wrapped her arms around him. He immediately responded and pulled her closer. She desperately kissed him like she was drowning. When he stopped her, she gave him an impatient look.
"Are you sure everything is alright?" he asked concerned. "You seem distraught."
"Kiss me!" she requested. "I want you to kiss me like never before!"
He complied and kissed her passionately. Ellie moaned and pressed him down on the bed. She started unbuttoning his shirt and then tossed it carelessly on the ground. His chest was tanned like his face and there was a fuzz of dark hair. She let her hands stroke across his skin which triggered soft moans from him. When her hand wandered to the zipper of his pants, he stopped her.
"Ellie, are you absolutely sure about this?" he asked. "There's no need for rushing things. You'll be eighteen soon, we could wait. I'm perfectly happy with what we already have."
"I'm not. I wanted this since the day on the meadow," she said hoarsely. "I'm know what I'm doing!"
Richard didn't need another invitation. He immediately stripped her top over her head, revealing her naked breasts. Gently his hands started caressing her but Ellie didn't waste time and unzipped his pants. Then she helped him getting rid of her shorts. They contemplated each others naked bodies and caressed each other, constantly kissing. When he noticed her impatience, he carefully placed her on the bed under his body. Kissing her, he slowly entered her. She felt pain between her legs but it was nothing compared to her gunshot wound. This pain came along with pleasure and love, which made it bearable. When he had made sure she was comfortable, Richard crushed his lips down on hers and their tongues met hungrily. For the first time in her life, Ellie felt complete and totally happy. In this moment she had everything she ever wanted. She never wanted to let him go again, wanted to stay forever entangled with him in his bed.
It's strange when you see your story gets hits but still no one bothers to review. Is this story that bad? It would be nice to know what you think of it.