Disclaimer: Not mine, none of it
Okay guys, here it is, the grand finale! I'm really happy with how it all turned out and i hope you all are too. Thank you so much to each and every one of my reviewers, reading them is like Christmas, but in February...yeah, i love them whatever the month may be. So here we go, the last chapter of Champagne between Friends! (what other drinks go with holidays? Who knows, maybe i'll be writing Green Beer between Friends soon, St. Patrick's is just around the corner...)
"Oh wow, what a night." Ellie said with a sigh, collapsing into a sitting position on her front porch, a blanket from inside tucked snugly around her to ward off the crisp January air.
"Yeah I know what you mean," Craig replied, leaning up against the house and sliding down until he was seated next to her, pausing for a second to re-consider his words. "Well, maybe I don't know what it's like to have your Dad come back after being gone in the military for so long, but you get what I'm saying. It certainly has been an interesting evening." He drew his legs up to his chest in an attempt to keep himself warm and shot a sideways glance at the girl next to him. "Hey Nash, how's about you be a little more generous with that blanket there? You let all the guys who come over freeze to death, or just the devastatingly-handsome ones?"
Ellie rolled her eyes at his comment but opened up the blanket regardless, painfully aware of her scantily-clad form once again as Craig scooted in closer to her and drew the quilt around them. The two sat in silence for a bit, his clothed left side warming Ellie's bare right arm and leg under the secrecy of the blanket. Around them Degrassi had quieted a little, but for the most part was still abuzz with celebration, as was the party inside Ellie's house that had resumed at Colonel Nash's insistence. The two teenager's, however, had retreated to the seclusion of the porch once the adults had begun asking them how school was going, the usual, "how are your classes?" and "what are your plans for next year?" were not something they felt like dealing with after all the night had offered. Almost reflexively, Craig slung an arm around Ellie's goose-bumped shoulder and she burrowed into him for warmth before he broke the comfortable hush.
"I wonder how the party over at Marco's is going? He said into the mass of red curls his chin was rested upon, "I hope he forgives us for not being there tonight."
"Hey yeah, speaking of which, why aren't you there Manning?" Ellie inquired, the strangeness of Craig's random appearance outside her window tonight finally dawning on her.
"I-uh, I was," he replied haltingly, suddenly seeming uncomfortable with their close proximity to one another, "But you know, it was pretty lame so I decided to head back home."
"Lame? Marco's party was anything but lame. Loud? Yes. Glitzy? Definitely. But Lame? Not our Marco! And besides, when you're leaving Marco's my house is completely in the opposite direction of the Jeremiah residence. So again, how the hell did you end up here?" She titled her head up to look Craig in the eye, but found the boy staring out across the street into the distance.
"Well, I guess you wouldn't call it lame, but it wasn't really my scene is all."
"Your scene? Aren't you Mr. Aloof tonight! Ooo, Craig Manning, too cool for High School parties! What's next, too cool for your High school friends?" she teased, poking him tauntingly and trying to rid him of the awkward grimace he had taken on, "Are you too cool for little ole Eleanor Nash!" she gasped, mockingly.
"Yeah, that's why I came here to look for you when I couldn't find you at Marco's." he muttered without thinking, face tightening visibly once he realized all that he had let on. Smooth Manning, real smooth. Way to play it cool. "What I mean was, you know, you said you were gonna be there, but you weren't so... so I just wanted to make sure you were okay." But the soft tone he had taken momentarily was gone just as quickly before his voice hardened disdainfully and he regained his sarcastic edge. "But please don't get all feminist-y on me and flip out about how you are perfectly capable of deciding whether or not you want to go to a party and how you don't need a guy to escort you, cause we've already been through that once."
"Ahh, come on now! That tough guy routine isn't going to work on me!" Ellie responded in a sing-song voice, obviously delirious with exhaustion, cold and the cute boy next to her. "You missed me, you wanted to hang out with me, you were worried about me! You're so sweet Craig-y, did you bring me a fluffy-fluff stuffed animal too!"
"Well at least I'm not the one all dolled up in Paige Michaelchuck's leftovers." He shot back weakly, ashamed to his too-cool-to-care façade had been cracked.
"Are you saying you don't like my dress? Really, cause I thought that it was rather flattering." She said, squeezing her arms together in order to force a little cleavage to pop out over the neckline of the frock. Yeah, she was definitely delirious, but what the hell? Even Ellie Nash has got to cut loose some of the time.
"Whatever Smelly." He replied, good-naturedly tousling her hair, but at the same time pulling the girl in closer to himself. Again they let silence overtake the conversation, enjoying the budding stillness as the town began to grow tired of the night's festivities. Ellie wished it could always be like this, just two kids teasing and flirting harmlessly with one another, without any of the awkwardness that seemed to feed off teenage infatuation. Tonight she could laugh and shove her chest in his face, but tomorrow? Would they be back to the same platonic friends who tried to ignore the palatable tension that always seemed to cloud the room whenever they were together? Well, at least she tried to ignore it, she wasn't sure if he could even tell it was there. Oh well, boys will be boys.
When Craig finally did start up again, it was on a far more serious note, "Ellie..." he began apprehensively, "When did you start cutting again?"
She knew this was going to come up, knew the night had taken too much of a turn for the better to let her off that easily. She knew, but still she had hoped he might forget.
"Shh, let's not talk about that right now." She said, closing her eyes and trying to wash the memory as far away as possible.
"But we need to. I care about you way too much to just stand by and let you hurt yourself."
"Yeah I know, and we will... just not tonight. Okay? I want to end it on a high note, because of my Dad and all."
"Okay, I understand. But as for tonight, I'm pretty sure it's already ended. Well, last night ended and now it's tomorrow morning. Not tomorrow, tomorrow morning, but today morning, cause midnight was awhile ago." He paused for a second and contemplated his jumbled statement before disregarding it with a shake of his head. "What I meant was, Happy New Year's Smelly."
Ellie chuckled lightly, "Happy New Year's to you too Craig. Sorry you didn't get that kiss at midnight." She couldn't help the slight blush that crept up her cheeks and hoped he couldn't see it in the darkness.
"What kiss? Oh, you mean you? That's okay, a better man beat me to it. And anyways, I didn't really want to kiss you at midnight." He said deviously
"Umm, it's cool, I understand." Ellie answered quietly, getting that same sinking feeling in her stomach as she had when Manny came waltzing up all skanked-out before the wedding gig. Now she was the one avoiding his gaze.
"You see, I could kiss any girl at midnight on New Year's, because it's expected" a finger snuck under her chin and lifted it so that their eyes met, "But I'd much rather kiss you on January the first, and the second, and the third, and..."
But his words were cut off as her lips met his and silence once again reigned on the Nash front porch. Well, it was almost silent, they had been waiting a long time for this after all.
So what do ya say we make the last chapter to review a blow-out?
More reviews than ever before, newcomer's welcome! Come on guys, PLEASE!