Chapter three

Grace opens her eyes with shock and looks into Eli's eyes.

"Why'd do you that?" she blurts out.

Eli runs his hand through his hair and thinks for a second.

"Because I wanted to show you…" he wanders off in thought.

"Show me what?" she prods him.

"That I'll show up when it counts," he smiles and Grace blushes a little.

Cooper and the guys continue to talk about Eli and Grace and Eli looks over at them.

"I'm impressed Eli. You kissed me when you knew your friends would be cruel."

"I guess your maturity is rubbing off on me," he jokes lightly but still looks at his friends.

Grace slowly edges her hand to his and takes hold of it.

"It means a lot to me," she whispers and squeezes his hand.

Eli turns to look at Grace and smiles. Grace smiles back at him and moves into kiss him.

(next section)

It is just before dinner and Zoe is setting up the kitchen table and Lily is at the stove finishing off the spaghetti sauce. Rick wanders into the kitchen and takes a beer out of the fridge.

"So ladies, did you have a good day?"

"I had a fight with Lisa because she thinks Zac likes me. Which he does, but she blames me for that. Can I help it if she annoys him?" Zoe slams the plates on the table and lets out a huff.

Lily and Rick exchange a look and Rick ruffles Zoe's hair. Lily indicates to the stove.

"Rick, please drain the spaghetti and carry the sauce to the table. Zoe call the others to the table."

Zoe runs to the end of the staircase.

"Guys get your butts down here, dinner's ready!"

Grace runs downstairs. Her face is flushed and her hair is all over the place. She also has to button up her shirt. Zoe looks at her suspiciously.

"What happened to you?"

"Cram it, Zoe," Grace mutters as she ties up her hair.

B/w Zoe: One day Grace is going to regret the way she treated me (slams her fist into her hand and smiles evilly).

Jessie walks into the kitchen and looks at the table. Sighing slightly, she pours herself some water and takes a big gulp.

Rick kisses Jessie on the head and squeezes her.

"How was your day, pumpkin?"

"Fine, Dad. Nothing special happened," she shrugs and takes another gulp of water.

"That's good, dear…" he replies without really taking in what she said.

Jessie sighs again and goes to sit down at the table.

"Jess, what's taking your brother so long?" asks Lily.

Jessie shrugs just as Eli runs into the kitchen. He is doing up his belt and he quickly fixes up his hair.

"Uh, I fell asleep, sorry," he mumbles.

Grace and Eli exchange glances and Eli lets out a breath of air and smiles. Grace giggles and then stops herself by coughing. Zoe eyes Grace suspiciously again.

B/w Zoe: she thinks she's so superior. One day I'll be the one with the superior look (smug grin).

Everybody joins Jessie at the kitchen table and Lily begins to serve everyone. Eli and Grace are sitting next to each other and every once in a while their hands touch. Everybody else is talking about their days, oblivious to what is going on.

B/w Grace: Who would have thought that the school's hottest guy would ever be interested in me? And who would have thought we would be flirting at the kitchen table?

(next section)

Jessie is standing naked in the bathroom with her hands held against her stomach.

B/w Jessie: I look awful.

She turns to the side and pokes her stomach.

B/w Jessie: No wonder Tad doesn't like me. I'm so ugly.

Jessie ties her hair up and leans over the toilet seat. She places a finger in her mouth and starts to cough.

(next section)

Eli is lying on his bed, flicking through a magazine and watching some random sitcom. He hears a knock on the door and switches off the tv.

"Yeah," he yells.

"Ah, it's me, Grace."

Eli puts down the magazine.

"Come in," he replies, trying to sound casual.

Grace opens his bedroom door and there she stands wearing a low cut light blue silk nightgown and white fluffy slippers. Her hair is pinned up at the back with a few strands framing her face.

"Hey," she whispers.

"Hey…"

"I, uh, just wanted to say thanks for what you did today. It took guts to do that in front of your friends."

Eli shrugs.

"Anyway, I'll leave you alone I guess. Thanks again," she says and dawdles at the doorway.

"Grace, wait."

Eli jumps up from the bed and grabs her hand. He brings her back to the bed and they sit down.

"What I did today wasn't to prove something to Cooper and the guys. I mean, yeah, I wanted to do that but I also wanted to prove to you that I'm serious about…about us."

Grace bites her lip and looks down at her lap. Still holding her hand, Eli picks it up and kisses it softly. He then lifts his head up ad moves in closer towards Grace's neck. Moving her hair away, he softly kisses her collar bone and Grace can't help but shudder. Still holding her hand, Eli pulls her backwards and they end up lying down on the bed.

B/w Grace: I, uh, never….um…ah…argh, I've forgotten what I wanted to say (smiles slightly and falls down into a couch).

"Eli, I'm not ready to do…you know…"

Eli removes a strand of hair away from her face.

"That's fine. Do you mind if we just lie here for the night?" he asks softly as he kisses her on the mouth.

Grace smiles and wraps one arm around his chest and lays her head on his shoulder.

"I'd like that," she murmurs as she closes her eyes.

Eli pulls the blanket over them and turns off his bedside lamp. As he closes his eyes he smiles slightly.

B/w Eli: man, I never wanna get out of bed.