Chapter 4
June 6th

Elizabeth walked across the hotel lobby and out the large glass doors. Dressed in a green tank and denim shorts, she was ready for the hot summer day. Her long brown hair was pulled high into a pony. The car keys in her hands clinked together and her phone was buzzing in her plaid hobo bag. As she got into her bright blue car, she pulled out the phone. There was a message from Shannon.

Hey, um... Elli where are you? Do you have any idea how worried we are? I really need to talk to you. It's an emergency. But we can't talk about it over the phone. Please get to our old tree house.

-Shannon

Elli started her car and pulled away from the hotel. When they were little, Elli and her friends had made a tree house way back in the woods. They spent hours there every day of every summer, except for the past few. She doubted that it was still stable. Then she got to thinking about how they never told anyone about the tree house. She smiled to herself and pulled onto the dirt road. When it ended, she got out of her car and locked the doors, slinging her bag over her shoulder.

She followed the small trail until she heard some talking. Elli started to run and eventually reached the large tree house. It was still there and it looked stable. She ran to the ladder and climbed up. She tossed her bag onto the floor as she hoisted herself in. Amber and Shannon were sitting in the far corner, both of them had serious looks on their faces.

"Where have you been?" Amber hissed.

Elli shrugged. "The hotel."

Shannon shook her head. "No, we knocked on your door and you didn't answer."

"When?" Elli asked.

"Last night!" Shannon snapped.

"Well I went to sleep right away…"

Her friends exchanged nervous glances.

"Look, guys, I really appreciate how concerned you are about me. But Jason is a really nice guy."

"How well do you know him?" Amber questioned.

"I don't know, I mean I just met him last night…"

"Exactly!" Shannon cut her off.

Just then, Elli's phone buzzed. She gave her friends an apologetic look and turned away from them. She pulled out her phone and pressed a button.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Uh...H-Hey…Ellizabeth?" a voice asked.

"Yeah? Who is this?"

"It's Jason…"

Elli felt her heart lift. "Hey, Jason...can I call you back?"

"Yeah, sure."

Elli hung up the phone and turned to her friends. "Look, I'll be fine."

"But—" Amber started.

"But nothing, I'll be fine. Don't worry about me!" She hugged her friends and started down the tree house.

When Elli was back in her car, she grabbed her phone and stuck it on the small Velcro patch. She hit redial.

"Hello?" Jason's voice answered.

"Hey, Jason, it's Elizabeth." She smiled at the sound of him.

"Elizabeth, hey!" he laughed.

"What'd you call for?" Elli questioned.

"Well I was wondering about that date?"

"Oh really?"

"Yeah..."

"And what about that date?" Elli's heart was pounding.

"Tonight."

"What time?" Elli was pulling into the hotel lot now.

"How about…six?" he asked.

"Sounds great."

"See you tonight." He added.

They hung up and parked her car. As she got out, her sister was leaving the hotel. Elli tried to ignore her sister as she walked toward the hotel.

"Elli!" Her sister shouted.

Elli turned and put on a fake smile. "Hey…"

"Where were you last night, I was going to bring you hot chocolate, but you didn't answer your door?" she asked.

"Oh, I was probably asleep." Elli answered.

"I see,"

They stood there awkwardly for a moment, but Elli's heart was racing the whole time.

"Listen, Elli," Her sister started. "I'm really sorry about what happened yesterday…it was wrong of me to barge in and think I owned the place."

Elli felt like the wind was knocked out of her. "I don't want to talk about it."

Laura looked at Elli as if she had just called her out on something embarrassing. "Elli—"

"Laura I don't want to talk about it." Elli began to turn away.

Laura grabbed her arm. "Hey, I'm talking to you!"

Elli shrugged free and ran into the hotel. She darted for the elevators and pressed the button for her floor. When the doors finally opened, Elli stepped out and ran for her room. She slowed down when she felt like she wasn't being followed. She opened the door to her room and closed it behind her. Elli sat down on her bed and sighed.

Just when Elli was feeling relaxed, Laura burst through the door. "Elli you don't walk away from me when I'm in the middle of apologizing to you.

"Laura, just leave me alone." Elli warned, getting off the bed and starting toward the wall.

But Laura ignored her and continued forward.

"Laura, please, just let me be." Elli pleaded.

Laura cackled and kept walking, ignoring Elli's pleas. "Elli, you need to learn to respect your older sister. Now I just came up here to apologize for pushing you.'

Elli watched her sister's face turn from anger to remorse. She stopped backing up and stood where she was.

"Now can I have a hug from my little sister?" Laura questioned.

Elli sighed and stared at her sister.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Elli." Laura cautioned.

Elli nodded and moved over to her sister. They hugged each other and when Laura let go, she looked at Elli. "Now see, that wasn't so bad, now was it? I'm sorry about yesterday."

Elli said nothing.

"Do you have any plans for tonight?" Laura wondered.

"Yeah…" Elli whispered.

Laura tsked and then sighed. "I was hoping we could do something tonight. Oh well, how about tomorrow?"

Elli slightly nodded. Laura smiled and padded out of the room. When her sister was gone, Elli sighed in relief. That was the strangest thing that ever happened. Her sister was up to something, but she had no idea what it was.

Elli quickly ran to the door and locked it. She pushed the incident from her mind and proceeded to get dressed for her date. But she finished quickly and needed to find something to do. So she decided to check her email. Sadly she had none and needed to find something new to do. Her phone buzzed on the nightstand across the room. She walked over to it to see what it was. She had a new text message.

Elli, please, don't go on your date tonight.

-Shannon

Elli rolled her eyes and started to type a response.

Shannon, you guys seriously need to chill out. You have no good reason as to why I shouldn't go out with him. Now relax, he's a nice guy and I'm going to go out with him tonight.

-Elli

Elli, we seriously have reason for you not to go out with him.

-Amber

Elli sighed. "Oh my god." She muttered.

Oh really? What kind of reasons? Care to enlighten me?

-Elli

We'll tell you. Just not over text...

-Shannon

Well then you better get here soon, because my date starts in half an hour.

-Elli

She slammed her phone on the stand and opened her curtains. "They're just being overly cautious." She whispered to herself.

After a while, there was a knock on Elli's door. Shannon and Amber stepped in and sat down on Elli's bed.

"Alright," Elli started. "What's the deal?"

"Elli, it's too…we can't tell you." Shannon whispered.

Elli's phone dinged, meaning she had a call.
"Hello?" she answered.

"Elizabeth? Hey, it's Jason."

"Hey! Are you here?"

"Yeah, I'm outside."

"Okay, I'll be there in a few." She giggled.

Elli hung up and slid her phone into her bag. "Look, I'll be fine." She hugged her friends. "I'll be back by ten, don't wait up."

Elli skipped from her room and down the hall to the elevator. She pushed the button and waited. She checked her hair in the chrome elevator doors' reflection. When the doors opened she walked quickly to the large hotel doors and made her way out. And sure enough, there was Jason. He had khaki shorts on with a blue and white striped tee. He took off the large black sunglasses and shook his hair from his eyes.

"Hey!" he exclaimed.

He opened his arms and Elli lightly hugged him. "Hey, so where are we going?"

"Well I thought we could go grab something to eat?" He opened Elli's door for her. When he got in his side, he reached over the seat and grabbed something from the back.

"These are for you." He grinned a toothy grin. In his hand was a small bouquet of flowers. There were lilies and sunflowers in it.

"Awh, thanks," Elli smiled, taking the flowers. She smelled them. "They smell wonderful."

"Well you're welcome," he backed out of the hotel lot and started down the road. "I know this great place; you can get the best barbecue!"

"Wait, I think I know the place. Is it…Gregors?"

"That's the place!" he shouted. "You've been there?"

"Yeah, I go there every summer."

"You come here every summer?"

Elli was completely consumed by his accent. She still couldn't put her finger on what it was though. "Yeah, my dad actually…um… he owns the hotel."

Jason shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Your dad owns the hotel?"

Elli nodded, feeling stupid for having even mentioned it.

"Your dad is Mr. Tanner?"

"Yes," She whispered. "Sorry I even said anything."

"Why are you sorry?" Jason asked, his face puzzled.

"Well I don't know…people treat me differently when they find out."

"Well how about this? I'm not going to treat you any differently." He smiled. "To me, you're going to be just plain, ole, Elizabeth."

She smiled to herself.

"Well…not that you're plain—"

"I get it," she laughed.

They pulled into Gregors moments later. Jason got out and opened Elli's door. They held hands as they entered the restaurant.

A younger guy led them to their table and handed them menus.

"Hello, I'm Chris and I'll be your server this evening. Can I start you off with a drink?" he asked.

"I'll have a coke…" Jason glanced at Elli.

"I'll have a coke too."

The waiter nodded and walked away. "Well, Elizabeth—"

"Elli…" She interrupted. "You can call me Elli, everyone calls me Elli. I mean if you want to, it doesn't matter to me."

"I like Elizabeth." He smiled. "It's beautiful."

They looked over their menus for a while. "Well, Elizabeth, what do you suggest?"

"I think they have the best sloppy Joe."

"I don't think I've ever had a sloppy Joe…" he mused.

The waiter came back seconds later with their drinks. "Can I take your orders now?"

Elli handed him the menu. "I'll have the sloppy Joe."

Jason handed him his menu as well. "I'll have the sloppy Joe as well."

The waiter walked away. Jason looked to Elli. "Tell me about yourself."

"Hhmmm…." She went through her head to find where to start. "What do you want to know?"

He pursed his lips. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

He nodded. "When's your birthday?"

"Last month actually, May 30th."

He widened his eyes and smiled. "Well happy belated birthday!"

Elli chuckled. "Thank you."

"What do you want to do after you graduate?"

"I want to be a musician."

Jason looked stunned. "A musician?"

"Yeah, I know, it's not exactly a promising career, but it's all I'm good at." She mumbled.

"I think it's a perfect career."

Elli felt herself blush.

While they waited for their food, Jason kept the questions coming. Elli found it hard to believe how easy it was to answer such personal things. When the waiter came, Elli watched as Jason took his first bite out of his first sloppy Joe.

"This is delicious!" he exclaimed, chewing his food.

"I told you!" Elli laughed.

For the rest of the dinner, Jason kept asking more and more questions and Elli kept answering them. Eventually they finished their dinner and left the restaurant.

"Where are we going now?" Elli asked as Jason started the car.

"It's up to you." He smiled.

"Why don't we just go take a walk?" she suggested.

Jason nodded. "Alright, a walk."

Jason and Elli were quiet as they drove in the dark. As Elli looked out the window, she got to thinking. What reason would her friends have for talking about Jason like that?

After a while, Jason parked his car next to the beach. "How about we walk here?"

"Alright," Elli agreed.

What she loved the most about summer was that it could be 8:00 and still light out. The warm summer air rolled off the water. "Alright, my turn to ask the questions."

Jason nodded and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Alright, cool. Shoot."

Elli searched her mind for something she'd been wondering. "Basics first. How old are you?'

"Eighteen."

"Ah, so I'm out with an older guy…" Elli laughed.

"Indeed you are. What else do you want to know about me?" he questioned.

"Hmmm…" Elli trailed off. "Where do you come from?"

"Where do I come from?" He repeated.

"Yeah…like your past."

Jason was silence for a moment. Then he finally spoke. "Well I'm from Australia."

"Australia? Really?" she was in awe and knew where the accent came from.

"Yes, this is my first summer in America. But I don't want to talk about me." He whispered.

"Okay, what do you want to talk about?" she asked.

"You." He murmured.

Their hands were intertwined and Elli's heart was racing. In her other hand, were her flip flops. They walked toward the water. Elli stepped in the cool ocean and felt goose bumps rise on her arms and legs.

The rest of the evening was filled with chatter about their pasts. Elli ignored her burning urge to ask him why everyone was so disgusted me. The more they talked, the more Elli became confused. Jason seemed nice enough and didn't want to listen to her friends.

On the drive back to the hotel, Elli's hand remained in Jason's. There was an electric current she felt when his skin touched her and hated the fact that they pulled into the lot, which meant she had to let go.

"I think this is your stop." Jason whispered.

"Yeah…" She sighed.

"Can we do this again?" he asked.

Elli leaned into Jason, close enough to feel his breath on her face. Just as their lips got close enough to touch, Elli pulled away and smile. "I'll get back to you."

She grabbed her flowers and hopped out of the car. When she looked back, she could have sworn she saw Jason laughing. She skipped up the steps and through the doors. As she glided through the lobby and to the elevator doors, Elli never felt so alive. She walked out of the doors and started down the hall to her room. When she entered, Shannon and Amber were crashed on the bed.

"Guys, you're still here?" Elli asked.

Amber and Shannon jumped up. "Uh…yeah…" Shannon groaned, rubber her eyes.

"Where have you been? It's ten!" Amber hollered.

"Oh he's amazing!" Elli gushed, tossing her purse on the bed.

Her friends exchanged glances. "What'd you do?"

"We went to dinner and we walked on the beach." Elli sighed, still soaring. Elli's phone buzzed. She pulled it out of her purse and opened the text.

Tonight was the best night I've had in America. Hope there will be many more to come.

-Jason

"Who's it from?" Amber asked.

"Who do you think?" Shannon snapped.

Elli skipped to the bathroom and started to take her makeup off. "Oh and guys, guess what?" She poked her head out from the door. "He's not the guy you're thinking of!"

"What?" her friends asked skeptically.

"Yeah, he's from Australia, this is his first time in America!" Elli danced out of the bathroom in her pajamas. She hopped on the bed next to her friends and smiled. "He's…he's so great."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Elli, you just met him, you can't like him already!" Amber snapped.

"Oh I think it's possible." Elli sighed. "We're gonna go out again."

"Elli, he's lying to you." Shannon whispered.

"No he's not; you guys are confusing him with someone else." Elli argued.

"Elli—" Shannon started.

"No, I don't want to hear it. Tonight…tonight was the first night that I've been really happy in a long, long time. Please, just leave." Elli hissed.

Her friends gave her a look, but left anyway. She fell asleep quickly.