The only thing making me write more is your feedback. It's absolutely lovely! And don't worry, I have much, *much* more planned for these two beautiful babies. Imagine the show revolving around the duo and you're pretty close to what I'm thinking of. =) Also, if anyone is curious, the chapter titles are names of Jewel songs (mostly from her new CD, This Way). I have a thing with pairing music to my writing and this is what I'm listening to which happen to appropriately fit for each chapter. So here's the next part. Enjoy!
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Even with a mere five hours of sleep, Grace was up and bouncing that morning. She got ready in record time and went down for breakfast, hoping that Eli would be up. He usually wasn't that early in the morning so she didn't expect him but she couldn't help wishing.
Zoe and Jessie were pulling the cereal boxes out and Grace saw no sign of him. It brought her down a little bit but she dismissed it. She was too happy to let something tiny like that bring her down.
"Good morning," she beamed at Zoe and Jessie who looked at her oddly.
"Why are you so happy?" Zoe asked and Grace shrugged.
"It's Wednesday." she joked and chuckled a little to herself. She filled a bowl with cereal and took a seat at the table as Zoe bounded off to retrieve her sweater and Jessie stood next to the counter, holding her bowl. The back door opened and Grace's head shot up as Eli entered the kitchen.
"Hey," Jessie greeted and he nodded at her before seeing Grace at the table. He softly smiled a greeting and she couldn't stop the smile on her mouth but she turned back to her bowl of cereal, trying not to show how happy she was that he was there.
Lily came into the kitchen seeing Eli searching the fridge and Jessie and Grace having breakfast.
"What time is your first interview, Eli?" she asked.
"Eight o'clock," he answered, pulling the orange juice out.
"Well, good luck. Did you want me to make you something for breakfast?"
He shook his head and took a drink from the carton.
"Eli!" Jessie scolded. "Don't drink from the carton!"
Grace suppressed a laugh as he remembered what he was doing. "Sorry," he apologized to Lily.
"We have to go a little early today to drop Zoe off," Lily reported to the girls. Jessie was putting her bowl in the sink as Grace tried to ignore Eli who had sat at the table next to her with his carton of orange juice.
"Grace, are you going to be ready in five minutes?" Lily asked as she started off to get her things and Grace nodded, her mouth with cereal in it still.
She swallowed and Eli took the spoon from her hand. She watched in awe as he took a scoop from the bowl and engulfed as much as he could. He chewed a little as she continued to stare then said, behind a full mouth, "Can I have a bite?"
"No." she remarked before giggling a little. Jessie left to get her bag, used to their mild flirting and not noticing them at all.
Eli swallowed the bite and took a long drink from the orange juice but watched her sideways as he did.
"What?" Grace nearly laughed at his blatant staring.
He set the carton down then leaned in to share a secret.
"You kiss kind of good."
Her cheeks flushed and she looked away from his mischievous grin.
"Shut up." she murmured, not believing him.
"I'm serious," he replied but now more quiet and a little lower. Grace glanced over at him and the steady, penetrating look of his eyes made her stomach quiver.
"E, you're going to be late!" Rick called from the living room and they instantly sat back, not realizing they had been slowly leaning toward the other.
Eli snickered at himself and she gave him an embarrassed smile.
"Okay, look- we're going to have a code now." he decided. "When I..." He looked over her then reached up and tugged lightly on her ear lobe. "When I do this, it's really... um... a kiss."
"Are you serious?" she watched him hesitantly.
"Yeah," he smiled.
Lily came into the kitchen, jacket on and purse over shoulder. "Grace, you said you'd be ready!"
"I am." she disputed.
Rick walked through from the living room. "E, you should leave now to get there on time."
"I'm going," he agreed and then stood. Grace felt him tug gently on her ear and say quietly, "See you later."
She nodded with a grin and no one else in the room noticed that Eli had just given her a goodbye kiss.
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"Are you sure? It looks really interesting." Lily tried to tempt Grace to sit and watch the next Biography Channel program she had found. Grace wondered when she would realize that she *really* didn't care about the life of "Mr.Bojangles".
"I'm fine. Really." Grace remarked as she headed for the exit of the living room. Eli stepped in from the dining room and Lily perked up.
"Eli! Do you want to watch this biography with me and your dad?" she grinned hopefully as Eli's eyes shifted from his father, Lily and Grace, suspecting he had walked in the middle of something.
"Uh, no thanks," he smirked and Lily deflated a little.
"You're all depriving yourselves of learning something," she said as Eli glanced at Grace. He motioned with his eyes up the stairs and her brow furrowed in confusion. Lily was going on about how important it was to see other peoples' lives but Eli had pretended to scratch his temple and he pointed up, subtly again.
Grace bit her lip to stop her smile and she announced, "I'm going to my room."
"I'm going to just go use the bathroom real fast." Eli reported as well when Grace headed up the stairs and Lily and his father paid no mind.
He was right behind her when she got to her door and she giggled as he slid into the room hastily, closing the door behind them. She was still laughing when he faced her, a grin on his face as he pushed forward, capturing her lips. Her arms embraced him happily, pulling him closer and his strong hands skimmed up her back.
He had been waiting to do this all day. She had been at school, of course, then Ted had called him up telling him to come over so he had. When he finally got home he sought her out as soon as he could. Now, he felt like everything was sort of perfect with her arms wrapped around him.
A hard knock on the door jolted them both apart and Grace covered her mouth to contain her nervous laughter.
"Grace," Lily called in the door.
"Shit," Eli puffed out as a laugh as well, finding himself trapped.
"Hang on!" she answered her mother, grabbing Eli's sleeve and pointing at her closet.
"I'm not getting in your closet!" he whispered.
"Hide somewhere!"
"What are you doing?" Lily asked, as she heard a bit of scrambling.
"I'm... uh, changing. Hang on, I have to get decent," she stumbled. Eli snorted a small laugh and she smacked his arm.
He edged over next to the door then nodded to open it. She gave a silent prayer and opened the door.
Lily paused, looking at her clothes. "Weren't you just wearing that?"
Grace froze. "yeah. I started to change but just threw this back on."
Her mother shrugged the unimportant subject then went on. "I know you don't really want to watch some of the shows that me and Rick do but I wanted you to do something with us because we hardly see you anymore."
Eli held his breath on the side of the door, hoping he couldn't be seen through the crack that connected the door to the wall.
"Yeah. I'm just really busy with my... Algebra II right now. I mean, there's a lot of homework. So I'll try to start hanging out with you guys more but I can't, really, tonight."
Lily nodded and touched her daughters cheek. "It's okay, sweetie. I know you're working hard."
Grace gave her best innocent smile and Lily turned to leave as she started to close the door.
"Oh, did you see Eli around? I thought he came up here," she added suddenly.
"No! I mean, I don't know where he went."
"Okay."
Grace firmly closed the door and set her head on it. Eli grinned at her from the side and she gave him a wary smile. He stepped up to her, his hand sliding along her jaw as he drew her to him. He sank against the closed door and pulled her in, smoothing her soft body next to his.
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"No one has called back," Eli growled, sitting against the end of his bed on the floor. Grace laid on the bed near to him, her math homework before her and she looked up.
"How long has it been?"
"Almost two weeks." He strummed a chord then stopped and looked over at her. "Why does no one want to hire me?"
She thought about that for a moment. Did he want the hard truth or the sugar coated version?
"Okay, what did you wear to the interviews?"
"To the offices, I wore a regular shirt and pants."
"Not a T-shirt?"
"No," he gave her a 'please, I'm not that stupid' look.
"Well, what kinds of things did they ask you?"
"Trick questions like, 'What's your worst quality?' " he snorted.
"What did you say?"
"I got stuck; I didn't know what to say. I think I stuttered out something like 'Insensitive'."
Grace laughed a little and he scowled at her so she quieted herself. "Well, okay. What they want to hear is what you're going to do for them and how they'll benefit. For instance, you should have said your worst quality is you're a perfectionist. That means *they* get a really hard worker. You should think about what will make you look like the best candidate from the *company's* point of view without being overly obnoxious."
Eli sighed, plucking at his guitar again. "I hate looking for work."
"Let me fill out your next application," she said, going back to her math.
"Yeah?"
"Well, at least I could show you how to do it good." she shrugged. He smiled and sat up to kiss her cheek, fondly.
They had spent the last two weeks being as normal as they used to be in front of the others. Flirting a little but being careful not to do too much. She spent half of the time in his room after dinner doing her homework or listening to him play or even kissing him. Those were her favorite nights.
Her mother was too busy worrying about Jessie who was having problems with one of her friends at school to notice where Grace was every other night. Grace was glad; it let her go on without any questions. She wasn't sure what she would tell her mother anyway.
Eli played out the beginning of a song his band wrote. He liked having Grace with him; she always helped him when he needed it. He hadn't realized how aimless his life was until she came in and started to make a little order of it.
"So what are you doing tomorrow?" she asked about the coming Friday night.
"Me and Ben were going to a party these college kids are throwing," he said in passing then paused and looked back at her. "Did you want to go?"
For a moment it stung because she thought they were getting somewhere from beyond where they had been. She had begun to believe that maybe they were actually, albeit secretly, dating. But he hadn't even considered taking her to that party and he was making Friday night plans with his friends like he always did.
"No," she shook her head as casually as possible, not meeting his eyes.
Eli turned forward again as he inattentively played. He didn't really want to go to the party, so why was he? And why would he hang out with Ben when he'd rather be with Grace?
"Do you want to go to the movies instead?" he asked and she glanced up, watching him strum at the guitar.
"Sure," she replied, keeping the smile to herself.
They were quiet for a moment as she worked and he practiced a few chords that gave him trouble and she gazed over at his profile.
She tugged on his ear and his brow furrowed.
"What the hell are you doing *that* for?" he snapped and tossed his guitar aside, climbing on the bed and tackling her backwards. She laughed as he fumbled about before sweeping in to kiss at her mouth. Her arms came around his neck and he deepened the kiss, reveling in the time they now had to be alone.
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"I love this song!" Grace exclaimed as she turned up the radio and her friend Michelle gave her a suspicious look. They were waiting for their after-school club to gather and begin the meeting. Michelle recognized the love song and she shook her head.
"Didn't you hate this song a month ago?"
Grace shrugged, a smile firmly planted on her face.
"Okay, seriously. Something is up and I'm tired of guessing. What is it?" Michelle directly asked and Grace's smile faded.
She knew she couldn't *really* tell anyone anything about she and Eli. They had never discussed what was going to happen next. How would people react when she told them she was seeing him? Would he be embarrassed if he had to tell people? And what about their parents?
She inwardly sighed, already saddened by the prospect of telling anyone.
"What?" Michelle pressed and Grace shrugged.
"Nothing," she dismissed. "Forget about it."
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Lily watched Grace head out the kitchen toward the backdoor.
"Where are you going?" she asked, curiously.
Grace paused. She had run through most of the excuses to go to Eli's room already in the past three weeks. 'Eli's going to help me with homework', 'I'm going to listen to his new song', 'I'm helping Eli with his work applications', 'I'm desperately in love with Eli and I can't go another minute without kissing him'. Well, maybe not that last one.
"I was going to see what Eli's doing, that's all," she shrugged, wondering if she was a good enough actress to fool her mother.
Lily nodded and she left the house. Grace came to his door and knocked their secret way.
"Come in."
She entered and found him sitting near his dresser as he set the cigarette of pot down. She shook her head and closed the door.
"Hey," he smiled lazily, reaching a hand out for her. "I was wondering where you were."
Grace took his hand and he drew her down to sit on his lap. He blew the smoke out to the side then kissed her. She drew back. "You taste bad. You need to brush your teeth."
"What?" he laughed.
"I'm not going to kiss you until you do," she stubbornly withheld the only thing she could bargain with.
"You're going to make me brush my teeth while I'm high?" Eli chuckled at the idea.
"Yeah," she smiled then added, "It might be fun."
He sighed largely and guided her off of him as he went to the adjoining bathroom. Grace sat on his bed as she had countless times when she heard the sink turn on. She glanced at the pot sitting in the ash tray and remembered the first time she had tried it in his room only four months ago. She was so sure that he could see every feeling she had for him in her eyes that night. And she swore she saw something in his as well.
'Do it for me,' he had said and that was all she needed. She was dying for him to kiss her then but it didn't happen.
Her experience with the drug had only led her to the embarrassment of waking up the morning after, in his bed and apparently passed out like an amateur. She was not a fan.
Eli came out of the bathroom and proudly displayed his teeth, tongue and mouth in an exaggerated demonstration. She smirked at him and he came over, crawling onto the bed, making her crab walk backwards as he settled down next to her. He edged up and kissed her then pulled back.
"Better?"
"Good like Colgate." she remarked and he laughed as they relaxed into the bed. His arm protectively draped across her waist, absently caressing the skin just under the edge of her shirt. She took the moment of silence to add, "Maybe you should quit."
"Quit what?"
"Smoking," she murmured as she touched his hand that was comfortably resting on her stomach.
"Why?" he snickered.
Grace shrugged. "I don't know. Because you can think of things you'd rather be doing?"
Eli grinned up at her then and she realized how what she said was interpreted. She almost began to blush but he moved up and took her lips before she could be embarrassed.
It was getting much easier. She used to flush at the mere idea of Eli, her holy grail, but now she was getting to know him so well that she didn't so much. He was afraid of the future, even if he didn't say it outright. He hated being pressured about it from his parents but knew that he wasn't certain of what to do so their concern was probably valid. He loved his music but was also constantly scared that it wasn't good enough.
And he was, amazingly, kind of human. Before, she had seen Eli as some sort of deity who was untouchable and beautiful. Now, she had been pleasantly surprised to find that he wasn't. He said the wrong things sometimes and he wasn't perfect, by any means. It made her own insecurities not so bad when she found that he had his own.
He was halfway on top of her as she slowed and he pulled back a little. "What?"
"Nothing, I was just thinking about something."
He waited then laughed a little. "Do I have to guess?"
Grace sat up, finding she couldn't really talk seriously from underneath him. He rolled aside and she started. "It's just that Michelle was asking today about why I was, you know, in a good mood and I wanted to tell her, you know? But we haven't really talked about what we're going to do..."
She trailed off because if there was one thing she was still insecure about, it was the status of their relationship. She didn't want to assume too much and scare him away but she also didn't want to be a doormat, letting him dictate whatever he felt like.
Eli was looking at her with a confused face when she glanced back at him. It probably wasn't the best time to have a serious conversation with him.
"What we're going to do?" he repeated.
Then again, maybe it *was* the best time, she reconsidered. Eli opened up a little more than usual when he was high. She turned so she could face him.
"Yeah, I mean with us. Are you going to tell people?"
"What, now?"
"I don't know."
He took a deep breath which she was sure he was using to try to clear his brain. He rubbed his eyes a little. "What do *you* want to tell people?"
"Well, are we going to sneak around forever? That's all I want to know," she said, a bit annoyed that he hadn't really thought about it and that she was doing most of the hard work by sneaking out to his room. "Because it's getting a little harder."
"Yeah," he agreed.
Grace gazed at the sheets. "What do *you* want to do?"
"I want to stay this way," he replied.
"What, lying to our parents and sneaking around?"
"No," Eli sat up so he was level with her. "I mean, just me and you. Who knows what will happen when we tell them."
"They might split us up," she murmured then came to the worst case scenario. "They might kick you out."
He rubbed his eye with the heel of his hand. "Yeah."
They sat in the silence and she could see the issue begin to plague him; an additional worry compiled on top of his future, parents, career and life in general. She wanted to be his safe haven, not another problem.
"It doesn't matter," she shrugged suddenly and he eyed her, curiously. "I mean, we'll figure it out later. Right now we can just stay... this way."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah," Grace nodded with a genuine smile.
Eli's mouth formed a smile as he gazed at her. She seemed to surprise him time and time again without effort. He suddenly felt so grateful to have her.
His hand reached up to her cheek when he leaned in and kissed her lips gently. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her neck as she hugged him to her, a small smile lighting her face.
...
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Even with a mere five hours of sleep, Grace was up and bouncing that morning. She got ready in record time and went down for breakfast, hoping that Eli would be up. He usually wasn't that early in the morning so she didn't expect him but she couldn't help wishing.
Zoe and Jessie were pulling the cereal boxes out and Grace saw no sign of him. It brought her down a little bit but she dismissed it. She was too happy to let something tiny like that bring her down.
"Good morning," she beamed at Zoe and Jessie who looked at her oddly.
"Why are you so happy?" Zoe asked and Grace shrugged.
"It's Wednesday." she joked and chuckled a little to herself. She filled a bowl with cereal and took a seat at the table as Zoe bounded off to retrieve her sweater and Jessie stood next to the counter, holding her bowl. The back door opened and Grace's head shot up as Eli entered the kitchen.
"Hey," Jessie greeted and he nodded at her before seeing Grace at the table. He softly smiled a greeting and she couldn't stop the smile on her mouth but she turned back to her bowl of cereal, trying not to show how happy she was that he was there.
Lily came into the kitchen seeing Eli searching the fridge and Jessie and Grace having breakfast.
"What time is your first interview, Eli?" she asked.
"Eight o'clock," he answered, pulling the orange juice out.
"Well, good luck. Did you want me to make you something for breakfast?"
He shook his head and took a drink from the carton.
"Eli!" Jessie scolded. "Don't drink from the carton!"
Grace suppressed a laugh as he remembered what he was doing. "Sorry," he apologized to Lily.
"We have to go a little early today to drop Zoe off," Lily reported to the girls. Jessie was putting her bowl in the sink as Grace tried to ignore Eli who had sat at the table next to her with his carton of orange juice.
"Grace, are you going to be ready in five minutes?" Lily asked as she started off to get her things and Grace nodded, her mouth with cereal in it still.
She swallowed and Eli took the spoon from her hand. She watched in awe as he took a scoop from the bowl and engulfed as much as he could. He chewed a little as she continued to stare then said, behind a full mouth, "Can I have a bite?"
"No." she remarked before giggling a little. Jessie left to get her bag, used to their mild flirting and not noticing them at all.
Eli swallowed the bite and took a long drink from the orange juice but watched her sideways as he did.
"What?" Grace nearly laughed at his blatant staring.
He set the carton down then leaned in to share a secret.
"You kiss kind of good."
Her cheeks flushed and she looked away from his mischievous grin.
"Shut up." she murmured, not believing him.
"I'm serious," he replied but now more quiet and a little lower. Grace glanced over at him and the steady, penetrating look of his eyes made her stomach quiver.
"E, you're going to be late!" Rick called from the living room and they instantly sat back, not realizing they had been slowly leaning toward the other.
Eli snickered at himself and she gave him an embarrassed smile.
"Okay, look- we're going to have a code now." he decided. "When I..." He looked over her then reached up and tugged lightly on her ear lobe. "When I do this, it's really... um... a kiss."
"Are you serious?" she watched him hesitantly.
"Yeah," he smiled.
Lily came into the kitchen, jacket on and purse over shoulder. "Grace, you said you'd be ready!"
"I am." she disputed.
Rick walked through from the living room. "E, you should leave now to get there on time."
"I'm going," he agreed and then stood. Grace felt him tug gently on her ear and say quietly, "See you later."
She nodded with a grin and no one else in the room noticed that Eli had just given her a goodbye kiss.
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"Are you sure? It looks really interesting." Lily tried to tempt Grace to sit and watch the next Biography Channel program she had found. Grace wondered when she would realize that she *really* didn't care about the life of "Mr.Bojangles".
"I'm fine. Really." Grace remarked as she headed for the exit of the living room. Eli stepped in from the dining room and Lily perked up.
"Eli! Do you want to watch this biography with me and your dad?" she grinned hopefully as Eli's eyes shifted from his father, Lily and Grace, suspecting he had walked in the middle of something.
"Uh, no thanks," he smirked and Lily deflated a little.
"You're all depriving yourselves of learning something," she said as Eli glanced at Grace. He motioned with his eyes up the stairs and her brow furrowed in confusion. Lily was going on about how important it was to see other peoples' lives but Eli had pretended to scratch his temple and he pointed up, subtly again.
Grace bit her lip to stop her smile and she announced, "I'm going to my room."
"I'm going to just go use the bathroom real fast." Eli reported as well when Grace headed up the stairs and Lily and his father paid no mind.
He was right behind her when she got to her door and she giggled as he slid into the room hastily, closing the door behind them. She was still laughing when he faced her, a grin on his face as he pushed forward, capturing her lips. Her arms embraced him happily, pulling him closer and his strong hands skimmed up her back.
He had been waiting to do this all day. She had been at school, of course, then Ted had called him up telling him to come over so he had. When he finally got home he sought her out as soon as he could. Now, he felt like everything was sort of perfect with her arms wrapped around him.
A hard knock on the door jolted them both apart and Grace covered her mouth to contain her nervous laughter.
"Grace," Lily called in the door.
"Shit," Eli puffed out as a laugh as well, finding himself trapped.
"Hang on!" she answered her mother, grabbing Eli's sleeve and pointing at her closet.
"I'm not getting in your closet!" he whispered.
"Hide somewhere!"
"What are you doing?" Lily asked, as she heard a bit of scrambling.
"I'm... uh, changing. Hang on, I have to get decent," she stumbled. Eli snorted a small laugh and she smacked his arm.
He edged over next to the door then nodded to open it. She gave a silent prayer and opened the door.
Lily paused, looking at her clothes. "Weren't you just wearing that?"
Grace froze. "yeah. I started to change but just threw this back on."
Her mother shrugged the unimportant subject then went on. "I know you don't really want to watch some of the shows that me and Rick do but I wanted you to do something with us because we hardly see you anymore."
Eli held his breath on the side of the door, hoping he couldn't be seen through the crack that connected the door to the wall.
"Yeah. I'm just really busy with my... Algebra II right now. I mean, there's a lot of homework. So I'll try to start hanging out with you guys more but I can't, really, tonight."
Lily nodded and touched her daughters cheek. "It's okay, sweetie. I know you're working hard."
Grace gave her best innocent smile and Lily turned to leave as she started to close the door.
"Oh, did you see Eli around? I thought he came up here," she added suddenly.
"No! I mean, I don't know where he went."
"Okay."
Grace firmly closed the door and set her head on it. Eli grinned at her from the side and she gave him a wary smile. He stepped up to her, his hand sliding along her jaw as he drew her to him. He sank against the closed door and pulled her in, smoothing her soft body next to his.
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"No one has called back," Eli growled, sitting against the end of his bed on the floor. Grace laid on the bed near to him, her math homework before her and she looked up.
"How long has it been?"
"Almost two weeks." He strummed a chord then stopped and looked over at her. "Why does no one want to hire me?"
She thought about that for a moment. Did he want the hard truth or the sugar coated version?
"Okay, what did you wear to the interviews?"
"To the offices, I wore a regular shirt and pants."
"Not a T-shirt?"
"No," he gave her a 'please, I'm not that stupid' look.
"Well, what kinds of things did they ask you?"
"Trick questions like, 'What's your worst quality?' " he snorted.
"What did you say?"
"I got stuck; I didn't know what to say. I think I stuttered out something like 'Insensitive'."
Grace laughed a little and he scowled at her so she quieted herself. "Well, okay. What they want to hear is what you're going to do for them and how they'll benefit. For instance, you should have said your worst quality is you're a perfectionist. That means *they* get a really hard worker. You should think about what will make you look like the best candidate from the *company's* point of view without being overly obnoxious."
Eli sighed, plucking at his guitar again. "I hate looking for work."
"Let me fill out your next application," she said, going back to her math.
"Yeah?"
"Well, at least I could show you how to do it good." she shrugged. He smiled and sat up to kiss her cheek, fondly.
They had spent the last two weeks being as normal as they used to be in front of the others. Flirting a little but being careful not to do too much. She spent half of the time in his room after dinner doing her homework or listening to him play or even kissing him. Those were her favorite nights.
Her mother was too busy worrying about Jessie who was having problems with one of her friends at school to notice where Grace was every other night. Grace was glad; it let her go on without any questions. She wasn't sure what she would tell her mother anyway.
Eli played out the beginning of a song his band wrote. He liked having Grace with him; she always helped him when he needed it. He hadn't realized how aimless his life was until she came in and started to make a little order of it.
"So what are you doing tomorrow?" she asked about the coming Friday night.
"Me and Ben were going to a party these college kids are throwing," he said in passing then paused and looked back at her. "Did you want to go?"
For a moment it stung because she thought they were getting somewhere from beyond where they had been. She had begun to believe that maybe they were actually, albeit secretly, dating. But he hadn't even considered taking her to that party and he was making Friday night plans with his friends like he always did.
"No," she shook her head as casually as possible, not meeting his eyes.
Eli turned forward again as he inattentively played. He didn't really want to go to the party, so why was he? And why would he hang out with Ben when he'd rather be with Grace?
"Do you want to go to the movies instead?" he asked and she glanced up, watching him strum at the guitar.
"Sure," she replied, keeping the smile to herself.
They were quiet for a moment as she worked and he practiced a few chords that gave him trouble and she gazed over at his profile.
She tugged on his ear and his brow furrowed.
"What the hell are you doing *that* for?" he snapped and tossed his guitar aside, climbing on the bed and tackling her backwards. She laughed as he fumbled about before sweeping in to kiss at her mouth. Her arms came around his neck and he deepened the kiss, reveling in the time they now had to be alone.
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"I love this song!" Grace exclaimed as she turned up the radio and her friend Michelle gave her a suspicious look. They were waiting for their after-school club to gather and begin the meeting. Michelle recognized the love song and she shook her head.
"Didn't you hate this song a month ago?"
Grace shrugged, a smile firmly planted on her face.
"Okay, seriously. Something is up and I'm tired of guessing. What is it?" Michelle directly asked and Grace's smile faded.
She knew she couldn't *really* tell anyone anything about she and Eli. They had never discussed what was going to happen next. How would people react when she told them she was seeing him? Would he be embarrassed if he had to tell people? And what about their parents?
She inwardly sighed, already saddened by the prospect of telling anyone.
"What?" Michelle pressed and Grace shrugged.
"Nothing," she dismissed. "Forget about it."
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Lily watched Grace head out the kitchen toward the backdoor.
"Where are you going?" she asked, curiously.
Grace paused. She had run through most of the excuses to go to Eli's room already in the past three weeks. 'Eli's going to help me with homework', 'I'm going to listen to his new song', 'I'm helping Eli with his work applications', 'I'm desperately in love with Eli and I can't go another minute without kissing him'. Well, maybe not that last one.
"I was going to see what Eli's doing, that's all," she shrugged, wondering if she was a good enough actress to fool her mother.
Lily nodded and she left the house. Grace came to his door and knocked their secret way.
"Come in."
She entered and found him sitting near his dresser as he set the cigarette of pot down. She shook her head and closed the door.
"Hey," he smiled lazily, reaching a hand out for her. "I was wondering where you were."
Grace took his hand and he drew her down to sit on his lap. He blew the smoke out to the side then kissed her. She drew back. "You taste bad. You need to brush your teeth."
"What?" he laughed.
"I'm not going to kiss you until you do," she stubbornly withheld the only thing she could bargain with.
"You're going to make me brush my teeth while I'm high?" Eli chuckled at the idea.
"Yeah," she smiled then added, "It might be fun."
He sighed largely and guided her off of him as he went to the adjoining bathroom. Grace sat on his bed as she had countless times when she heard the sink turn on. She glanced at the pot sitting in the ash tray and remembered the first time she had tried it in his room only four months ago. She was so sure that he could see every feeling she had for him in her eyes that night. And she swore she saw something in his as well.
'Do it for me,' he had said and that was all she needed. She was dying for him to kiss her then but it didn't happen.
Her experience with the drug had only led her to the embarrassment of waking up the morning after, in his bed and apparently passed out like an amateur. She was not a fan.
Eli came out of the bathroom and proudly displayed his teeth, tongue and mouth in an exaggerated demonstration. She smirked at him and he came over, crawling onto the bed, making her crab walk backwards as he settled down next to her. He edged up and kissed her then pulled back.
"Better?"
"Good like Colgate." she remarked and he laughed as they relaxed into the bed. His arm protectively draped across her waist, absently caressing the skin just under the edge of her shirt. She took the moment of silence to add, "Maybe you should quit."
"Quit what?"
"Smoking," she murmured as she touched his hand that was comfortably resting on her stomach.
"Why?" he snickered.
Grace shrugged. "I don't know. Because you can think of things you'd rather be doing?"
Eli grinned up at her then and she realized how what she said was interpreted. She almost began to blush but he moved up and took her lips before she could be embarrassed.
It was getting much easier. She used to flush at the mere idea of Eli, her holy grail, but now she was getting to know him so well that she didn't so much. He was afraid of the future, even if he didn't say it outright. He hated being pressured about it from his parents but knew that he wasn't certain of what to do so their concern was probably valid. He loved his music but was also constantly scared that it wasn't good enough.
And he was, amazingly, kind of human. Before, she had seen Eli as some sort of deity who was untouchable and beautiful. Now, she had been pleasantly surprised to find that he wasn't. He said the wrong things sometimes and he wasn't perfect, by any means. It made her own insecurities not so bad when she found that he had his own.
He was halfway on top of her as she slowed and he pulled back a little. "What?"
"Nothing, I was just thinking about something."
He waited then laughed a little. "Do I have to guess?"
Grace sat up, finding she couldn't really talk seriously from underneath him. He rolled aside and she started. "It's just that Michelle was asking today about why I was, you know, in a good mood and I wanted to tell her, you know? But we haven't really talked about what we're going to do..."
She trailed off because if there was one thing she was still insecure about, it was the status of their relationship. She didn't want to assume too much and scare him away but she also didn't want to be a doormat, letting him dictate whatever he felt like.
Eli was looking at her with a confused face when she glanced back at him. It probably wasn't the best time to have a serious conversation with him.
"What we're going to do?" he repeated.
Then again, maybe it *was* the best time, she reconsidered. Eli opened up a little more than usual when he was high. She turned so she could face him.
"Yeah, I mean with us. Are you going to tell people?"
"What, now?"
"I don't know."
He took a deep breath which she was sure he was using to try to clear his brain. He rubbed his eyes a little. "What do *you* want to tell people?"
"Well, are we going to sneak around forever? That's all I want to know," she said, a bit annoyed that he hadn't really thought about it and that she was doing most of the hard work by sneaking out to his room. "Because it's getting a little harder."
"Yeah," he agreed.
Grace gazed at the sheets. "What do *you* want to do?"
"I want to stay this way," he replied.
"What, lying to our parents and sneaking around?"
"No," Eli sat up so he was level with her. "I mean, just me and you. Who knows what will happen when we tell them."
"They might split us up," she murmured then came to the worst case scenario. "They might kick you out."
He rubbed his eye with the heel of his hand. "Yeah."
They sat in the silence and she could see the issue begin to plague him; an additional worry compiled on top of his future, parents, career and life in general. She wanted to be his safe haven, not another problem.
"It doesn't matter," she shrugged suddenly and he eyed her, curiously. "I mean, we'll figure it out later. Right now we can just stay... this way."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah," Grace nodded with a genuine smile.
Eli's mouth formed a smile as he gazed at her. She seemed to surprise him time and time again without effort. He suddenly felt so grateful to have her.
His hand reached up to her cheek when he leaned in and kissed her lips gently. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her neck as she hugged him to her, a small smile lighting her face.
...