Chapter 17
Before Ella could respond the door of the bar opened with a bang, spilling more than a few inebriated patrons out onto the sidewalk.
Bucky noted that a few were singing the chorus of the song Ella had chosen for her karaoke performance.
"Oh, perfect. Admirers. Just what I want right now."
Ella's voice was dripping with sarcasm. She kept her voice low, almost just a rumble in her throat, as to not attract any attention from the group.
"How about we start heading back? Away from this place."
Bucky deflated slightly at the inopportune intrusion but agreed.
Ella did the same thing she did on the walk over to the bar from the bistro. She entwined their elbows together. Only this time Bucky took it a step further and interlaced their fingers. He stole a sideways glance at Ella as he did so.
He wanted to do it, but if she didn't, he'd reign himself in. He was all for pushing boundaries, but not like that. He was a respectful gentleman, after all. All he cared about was her comfort and happiness. At the moment it seemed as if she was perfectly content. His heart swelled.
Bucky smiled to himself and saw Ella look at him from the corner of his eye. He didn't even try to hide it. He didn't want to hide from her. He didn't want to hide anything from her. That thought opened up a whole new realm of possibilities. And outcomes. Ones he was not prepared to contemplate tonight.
As they walked back to the bistro where Bucky's motorcycle was still parked, they fell into a comfortable silence. Not unlike the one that they shared in the restaurant.
This time was a little different. The static electricity was back in the air between them. Though it seemed as if neither of them minded its presence. It was more like they were both reveling in this new and unknown feeling. Or that neither knew what to do with it, so they just let it be.
They reached the motorcycle and Bucky unexpectedly had a thought.
"I never did tell you how amazing that little performance was back there. It was completely unexpected; you never fail to amaze me. Every time I think you're going to go left, you go right. Your talent for spontaneity is unbridled. As is your talent for almost everything else."
Bucky could tell that Ella had not been anticipating this compliment. Her cheeks turned a dark pink in the light of the streetlight as she reached for the helmet she had worn earlier. Then she withdrew her hand.
"Screw the helmet. Just don't kill me. And that's probably one of the very few reasons I do cardio. I have to keep myself prepared in case something like this happens or a rogue rap battle busts out in front of me."
Bucky could see her pale green eyes when she looked back at him. Waiting for him to mount the motorcycle first. The humor dancing in them was more than obvious. His thoughts were on another path, however.
"I won't kill you, scout's honor. If anything, I would save you from anything that would be trying to kill you. And is that really the only reason you do cardio? Or are there other reasons for keeping in shape?
He gave her a meaningful and loaded look as he swung his leg over the motorcycle and kicked up the kickstand. All the while suppressing the unbelievable desire to wink at her wickedly.
"I still want to kick your ass for modifying this beautiful machine so unnecessarily. Don't make it worse for yourself, Sailor."
Bucky couldn't hold back the laugh that bubbled up in his chest as he felt Ella settle herself in behind him.
As they set off Bucky was all too aware of Ella's body pressed against his back. Her arms wrapped around him securely. He felt her rest her cheek on his right shoulder as she watched the streets and traffic go by.
Bucky felt a sense of whole and absolute calm, of peace, unexpectedly come over him. Unlike anything that he had ever felt before. For once everything in his head was quiet. Ella's touch, her arms around him, shut down his mind and made him feel more relaxed and comfortable than he remembered feeling. If there was one moment that night that he could have drawn out for the rest of eternity, this would have been it.
The same as earlier, they arrived back at the gallery too soon for Bucky's liking. He felt a moment of hesitation before Ella unwrapped herself from around him and moved to smoothly dismount the motorcycle.
Bucky kicked out the kickstand and looked at her. Ella's hair was windswept from the ride back. Which only made him want to reach out and run his fingers through it more than he had before.
He dismounted and walked lazily up to her, repeating his act of lack of personal space from earlier. The static in the air almost crackled, but that overwhelming sense of calm was back as they just looked at each other.
Ella broke the silence first. She spoke quietly, yet confidently.
"Thank you for taking me out tonight. I cannot remember the last time I had that much fun."
"Anytime, Doll. Just give me a call. I am all yours."
As Bucky said it, he knew he had meant it as more than just an offer of a good time. He knew it was the truth and from this moment forward it would always be the truth. He was all hers. The new voice in the back of his mind rejoiced at the thought.
For now, though, he would not entertain the idea. Everything was happening so quickly and there was too much information to consider. It was all so much and so deep.
He just focused on the woman in front of him that had made such an impression on him. All of the impressions that she had had on him over the last year. And this new one that had surfaced in such a short amount of time.
"I'm not going to say goodnight right now. I want you to call me when you get home. That way I know you made it safely and didn't wreck yourself and become some stain on the blacktop."
Bucky laughed.
"You're saying this now, after you have already ridden with me twice?"
He raised an accusatory eyebrow as he gave her his best devil-may-care smile.
"That is true. But I do think you are a bit too full of yourself to eat shit not only in front of a lady but with a lady riding with you. I also want to give you an excuse to call me."
She flashed him a smile of her own that nearly knocked him off of his feet.
"Call me when you get home. Promise me."
Her tone was serious as were her eyes. They were soft, yet compelling, and stern. A vague shadow of the night's more serious events vibrant in them.
"Yes, ma'am." Bucky gave her a small salute.
She chuckled.
"Ok, ok. At ease, Sergeant. None of that."
Bucky closed the space between them once more. They were so close; it would only have been too easy for him to reach out and grab her around the waist, to steal a kiss. Instead, he held his ground as well as her intense gaze. Refusing to break eye contact, and keeping his hands to himself.
For a while they just stood there, looking at each other. Silent. The electricity was palpable. More than once Bucky saw Ella's eyes flicker down to his lips and back up to his eyes. He watched as a battle raged behind those gorgeous green eyes.
Then they suddenly solidified in an unheard and unknown decision. He kept watching her as closely as he could as she slowly reached up and cupped his cheek in her hand.
Bucky had to fight the need to close his eyes and lean into her touch. Instead, he kept their eyes locked. He wondered what Ella saw in him. In his eyes. What she saw when she looked at him like this. He desperately wished he knew what she was thinking. To read behind the guise of her gaze.
Ella then leaned up and pressed her lips to his other cheek. He wanted nothing more at that moment than for it to last forever. Another instant that night he wanted to savor endlessly.
When Ella pulled away, she left a tingle deep within his skin where her lips had been. With her hand still on his other cheek, she spoke.
"Do not forget to call me or I will find you."
Bucky leaned into her touch only slightly as he broke his own silence.
"Is that a threat or a promise?"
"Both." Ella whispered.
Ella slowly withdrew her hand, her fingertips brushing his cheek and jaw. She dropped her hand onto his chest. Bucky swore that she could probably feel how hard and steadily his heart was beating. He thought pounding would be a more accurate description. Even through the layers of his shirts and his jacket.
A rhythm he knew that she was wholly responsible for, that he was only just now noticing.
"Now scram before I have to bring out the big guns."
Ella gave him a small smile so sweet his teeth almost hurt. Then she gently pushed him away. She turned towards the stairs that lead up to her place above the gallery.
Bucky just stood there and watched her climb the steps. He caught her last glance at him and a final smile before she disappeared. He then heard the sound of a key in a lock, followed by a door opening and closing.
Bucky could still feel the warmth of her hand on his cheek, and the tingling Ella's lips had left behind on the other. Even with the cool night air biting at his exposed skin and through his hair as he rode back to the apartment.
About halfway home, an old memory resurfaced. It was not that unusual for memories to come back like this. Even considering all the time that had passed. He was told and assured that it was to be expected and was totally normal.
It still took Bucky by surprise when it happened, due to the fact that a vast majority of his recoverable memories had already resurfaced over the last few years. Most of which came back during his time in Wakanda.
The good, the bad, and the terrible. But sometimes, things just slipped through. Sometimes things were jogged loose.
The sights, sounds, and smells of an old dance hall back in Brooklyn filled his senses and his mind's eye. This was one of the few Friday nights where he did not have some dolled-up dame on his arm, plus the dame's friend for Steve.
No, this night had just been him and Steve ponied up to the bar, pounding them back. Well, Bucky was. Steve was still nursing his first beer.
As they conversed about whatever they had been talking about, the subject unimportant, Bucky made eye contact with a cute blonde on the other side of the hall. For what would have been about the dozenth time that night.
Bucky kept catching her looking at him. He knew she was looking at him in particular because every time he caught her, she looked back at her group of friends. The whole group then fell into a fit of girlish giggles, while a blush rose in the blonde's cheeks and neck that didn't seem to have anything to do with the flow of alcohol being delivered to the table.
He knew all he had to do was flash her one of his signature charming smiles, or a well-played wink, and she would be his for the rest of the night.
Bucky's ego swelled to immeasurable size at the thought. Because he knew how true it was. He had yet to fail in getting any dame he had set his sights on.
Bucky's thoughts were punctured by an exasperated sigh that just so happened to come from his best friend. Steve had followed Bucky's line of sight to the table of women, and the blonde.
"You know Buck, eventually you're gonna get tired of all these games. One day you're gonna wanna settle down with a nice woman."
"Oh, lighten up Steve. I'm just having some fun. And look, she's got plenty of friends. Besides, I ain't ready to settle down yet. I haven't had my fill of fun yet. Maybe I never will. Who knows?"
"Welp, you probably will want to figure that out before you bed every broad in Brooklyn. Go ahead, shoot your shot. Just leave me out of it. I've told you before, I'm looking for the right dance partner."
Steve took a sip of his half-empty beer as he looked over its rim at Bucky.
"I don't have to shoot my shot, Stevie. By the end of the night, she will come to me. You know this is a particular dance that I am very familiar with. I plan on dancing it until I am ready for something a little more permanent."
Steve just scoffed and elbowed Bucky in the ribs.
"Mark my words, Barnes. One day, out of nowhere, where you are least expecting it, you'll meet a woman. A woman that will be entirely immune to your so-called charms and absolutely out of your league."
Now it was Bucky's turn to scoff and roll his eyes at his best friend and his utterly ridiculous theories.
"I am being dead serious, Buck. Not only will she see straight through your crap, but she will capture you entirely. Heart and soul. She will come out of left field and before long you'll realize you'd anything for her. She'll have you wrapped around her little finger."
Steve held up his pinky finger to prove his point.
"You sure you're still on your first beer because I think you are completely full of it, Rogers."
Bucky was pulled out of his memory from a lifetime ago by an annoyingly impatient driver who had honked their horn as soon as the light had turned green.
God, he hated the 21st Century sometimes.
'She isn't entirely immune to my charms. But she can see straight through my shit. She had come out of nowhere. That is true. And she is most certainly out of my league.'
Bucky thought to himself as he pulled up to the complex of apartments owned by SHIELD. He parked in the subterranean parking lot and made his way outside to the building's front entrance.
Before going inside, he pulled his phone out and dialed Ella's number. She picked up on the second ring.
"Either you live really close by, or I should scold you for speeding." Was the greeting he was met with.
"You're lucky I even called at all. I had half a mind to put your promise of finding me to the test. I must warn you. I have not gone inside yet, so I still may trip and become a handsome piece of street art."
Ella laughed heartedly on the other end of the phone. By the sound of it, she had taken the phone away from her ear to do so.
"Fair warning, do not test me, Sailor. You may not like how things turn out. And that would be such a shame, though. What a waste of good pavement."
She let out a cackle.
"Hey now. You know you'd miss me, Doll."
There was silence on the other end of the line before she spoke again. This time in a much quieter and smaller voice.
"I would."
Ella recovered and bounced back quickly. Something that Bucky was slowly getting used to. When she showed vulnerable emotions, she hid them swiftly. Bucky wondered how she had gotten into this particular habit, but his thought was interrupted.
"Why haven't you gone inside yet? It started raining here not too long ago. I imagine it should be coming up on you soon."
Just as Ella was speaking, Bucky noticed black marks starting to dot the concrete. The wind had begun to change as the storm in question bore down upon him.
When Bucky spoke, it was evident that he wasn't too happy about what he was speaking about.
"I think my roommate is still awake. And knowing him, he will be waiting to give me the 3rd, 4th, and 5th degree about everything that happened tonight."
"That sounds rather annoying… But knowing what I know about your roommate it doesn't seem uncharacteristic."
Ella's disapproving tone was not even slightly disguised. Bucky knew she was still pissed at Sam for how they had unofficially met. He wanted to show her that Sam wasn't anything like what she perceived him to be. That would come in due course.
For now, he just went with humor and sarcasm.
"Oh, he can be more than that, I'll tell ya."
"Well then… you can tell him that I say he can fuck off and leave you alone about our business that he has no right being privy to. Or… you two can go ahead and stay up all night gossiping about me like a couple of old women. Your choice."
Bucky's chest swelled when she said 'our business'. And that voice in the back of his head purred with satisfaction.
"I think I will do just that."
"Which one?"
Bucky smirked and he was sure that she could hear it in his voice.
"We will just have to see what happens."
"You're such an ass. I hope you know that."
Bucky could hear the smile in her voice.
"You know you love it. I happen to have a great ass, too."
"I will never say."
Bucky was more than enjoying this banter.
"You're such a pain in my great ass. You know that right?"
Ella chuckled lowly and whispered into the phone.
"You know you love it."
Without hesitation, Bucky responded.
"Without question. I wouldn't have it any other way."
Bucky swore he heard a sharp intake of breath before there was a slight pause of silence on the other end of the line.
"I hope this isn't the last time that I ever hear from you."
"I wouldn't dream of never talking to you again, Doll. Speaking of which, dream about me tonight. Then tell me about it later.
Ella let out a dramatically exasperated sigh.
"Only if you're lucky, Bucky."
Bucky loved hearing her say his name. She could call him James and he still would love the sound of it.
"I think I just might be. I managed to get not one, but two dates with you."
Ella sighed and chuckled.
"Goodnight, Eleonore… I really do hope you have sweet dreams." He paused.
"Even if you are unfortunate enough to not have me in them."
Ella chuckled lowly again.
"Goodnight, James. I'll see what I can do about that."
Bucky savored her voice and his name. He usually hated the use of his first name. Coming from her lips it was an entirely different story. It was the sweetest combination of sounds that ever was. The world's best symphony couldn't compete with it.
They exchanged another set of goodbyes. Both seemingly reluctant to be the one to hang up first. It reminded Bucky of more than a few cheesy teenage romance movies that Sam had made him watch. Mostly under the ruse of catching him up on current, well, everything. Bucky had a sneaking suspicion that Sam liked the movies more than just as a way to catch him up on pop culture.
Finally, they ended the connection.
Bucky smiled to himself as he imagined them going back and forth 'you hang up first' 'no, you hang up first!' Laughing quietly to himself he entered the apartment. He found Sam splayed out on the couch watching reruns of some sitcom.
Bucky knew he was in for it, there was no escaping it now. Once again, he thought about how he had told Sam how he didn't date and didn't want to.
And here was a woman who was proving him wrong.
He had absolutely no idea what he was in for and that frightened him slightly. It also thrilled him in a way he could not explain.
Now he just had to get past Sam.