A/N - "Thoughts"

Chapter 6 - Maria And Eric

Maria quickly walked through the hallways of Hill Ridge High School and as she rounded a corner, grinned as she saw Eric standing at his locker. Walking up to him, she gently trailed her index finger along the back of his neck and giggled softly as she watched him jump in surprise.

"He...Hey," Eric said nervously as he turned around to face her.

"Hey yourself," Maria answered back with a smirk. "How'd you do on Mr. Fillips quiz?" Mr. Fillips was their math teacher and gave quizzes every Friday.

"Alright I guess."

"Alright?" Maria said sarcastically. "If the number one student only did alright, the rest of us are doomed," she teased as she slowly let her eyes wonder over him, like a cat sizing up it's prey..

Eric snickered, "So Miss. Number Two, how did you do?"

Maria just shrugged. "Good. Hey, after I get off work, can you come over and help me set up my new computer?" Maria asked him, looking into his eyes and smiling softly.

In a clueless manner, "I thought your dad was helping you?" Eric asked back.

Rolling her eyes, "Are you that dense? Or was Homecoming not enough?" Homecoming, when Amanda and Jason had caught Maria and Jason in the backseat of Gordo's mustang, Maria had taken Eric outside, telling him she wanted to talk. Before leaving home, she had taken the spare set of keys to the car.

Maria quickly started flirting with him but before she could really get anywhere, she heard voices, Amanda and Jason's. Trying to hide from them, she jumped into the small backseat and order Eric to do the same. But he tripped and fell, and with his foot, hit the horn.

Maria watched as a blush crept across Eric's cheeks. "Damn he's cute," she thought to herself, as her smile grew wider.

"I...uh..." Eric babbled, not really able to put a whole sentence together. It frustrated him so much that with a simple look Maria could throw him so far off his game.

As Maria was enjoying watching Eric turn, she quickly spotted someone walking towards them. "Not now. The last thing I need is big brother getting all protective."

Just as Jason reached them, Maria saw a flash of blonde hair out of the corner of her eye and than saw Amanda pulling Jason down the hall where he came from. "Remind me to get her a thank you card. I can't wait till she's really my sister," she thought sarcastically as she watched Amanda pull her reluctant brother down the hall.

Quickly turning her attention back to Eric. He was looking at her with a look that made her shiver slightly but she still liked it. "So you wanna come over or not?" she asked, the smirk never leaving her lips.

Chuckling softly to himself, "What do you think?"

Maria laughed softly. "I gotta get to work or my mom'll kill me." She than quickly leaned in and gave him a small kiss. "See you tonight," she said softly before heading off.

Eric watched her walk away with a smirk, "So is she my girlfriend now?"

About a half an hour later, Maria walked into the mother's shop. Miranda, who was standing behind the counter, looked up at her, "You're late chica."

"Sorry," Maria grinned sheepishly at her, "I was talking to Eric."

Miranda smirked at her daughter, "Oh?" As Maria walked into the back office to dump her stuff, "Talking about what?" Miranda asked.

Maria slowly walked back to the front, making sure to avoid eye contact, "Stuff," she said cryptically.

As Miranda laughed, Lizzie came walking into the store carrying a delivery box. "What's so funny?"

"My daughter. She was late cause she was just talking with Eric."

"Oh," Lizzie said in a knowing tone.

"What?" Maria asked trying to be innocent. "I asked him to help me set up my new computer."

"So that's what they're calling it now," Lizzie teased.

"Why don't you believe me?" she asked the two women.

"Because you're her daughter," Lizzie said pointing at Miranda, "Both of you would never ask anyone, especially a boy, to do something for you unless you had an ulterior motive."

Maria blushed and wished the floor would open up and swallow her whole. "Don't you two have something to design or create or anything?"

Miranda laughed softly at her daughter, "Actually we do." Right before she followed Lizzie into the offices, Miranda glanced at Maria, "But this doesn't mean we're done about this."

"Of course not," Maria mumbled under her breath.

That night, as Maria was connecting the wires to the monitor of her new computer, she grinned as she glanced at Eric who was screwing shut the hard drive after making some personal modifications to it. Eric looked up and caught her eyes. Briefly looking away, embarrassed, he grinned back.

"All we gotta do is connect this thing and we'll be ready to load the software."

"Great," Maria said as she stepped aside so Eric could put the hard drive in to it's place. As she watched Eric, she quickly went over a mental checklist of where everyone was. Last thing she wanted was to make a move and be interrupted.

"Mom and Dad are in the living room watching TV. They'll prolly be down there for another hour at least. Nat's there with them, playing with her dolls and she'll stay there till she has to go to bed. And Jason's over at Rebecca's for the next hour or two. Perfect, everyone account for and out of the way."

Smirking, she moved forward and knelt down, like she was going to help Eric. But as soon as she got close enough, she leaned in and kissed him. Unlike at school, when it was just a quick peck, this was a longer kiss.

She giggled softly at the completely surprised, but thrilled, look on Eric's face. "You know...you...you really gotta stop doing that to me," he stuttered.

"Why?" she asked, laughing softly. "I like it."

"You're gonna kill me you know that?" he shot back.

Maria's grin widened, "Is there a better way to go?"

"Umm...The Crandle is showing a marathon of the old Star Wars movies this weekend." The Crandle was an old fashion movie theater on the edge of town that usually showed classic and older movies. "I was thinking, maybe we could go together." As he finished, his voice went into almost a whimper.

"Together, like friends?"

Eric slowly shook his head no. "I mean together, like...uh...a date."

Maria smiled softly at him, "Yea. I'd like to go."

After finishing connecting the hardware, loading the software, and getting the computer up and running, Eric was getting ready to leave. Eric slowly looked up from the floor where he was gathering his stuff to where Maria was sitting at the bed watching him with a smile. "She's gorgeous when she smiles like that. Ah hell, she gorgeous even when she's ready to rip my head off."

"Can I ask you something?" Eric asked softly.

"Sure."

"Are you...I mean are we..." Eric paused and took a deep breath. "Can I call you my girlfriend?" he said so quickly that his words jumbled together.

Maria laughed softly and smiled. "Yea," she said simply before getting up and helping Eric finish gathering his stuff. When he was getting ready to leave, Maria stopped him in the doorway and kissed him again. "I'll talk to ya later."

"Right," Eric said with a goofy smile spreading across his face. "Bye."

"Bye." Maria grinned as she watched him walk downstairs.

A moment later, Jason walked up the stairs and saw his sister. Pausing briefly, he glanced back down the stairs to where he had passed Eric and than back to his sister. Grinning and snickering, "God help us," he muttered sarcastically and playfully pushing his sister as he walked past her.

"Bite me dork boy," she shot back. "At least I'm still not drooling over my crush," Maria quickly added as she watched him go into his room.

"I have a boyfriend!" she practically squealed to herself as she walked back into her own room.