A/N: hello everyone! You may have noticed...I seem to be back. If you happen to be "new" here since 2018, hello for the first time. If you've been here for a while, thank you for still being here! This will be a three-part fic based on two prompts by lilacmermaid, of course. Enjoy.
The air was crisp and cold in Virginia on that morning in November when Henry and Elizabeth had agreed to meet in the parking lot of his apartment complex at 7:45 to get an early start on their weekend. The two of them had what could be considered an unusual relationship; they had met in a class over a year ago at the start of the term at UVA and become friends almost instantly. There was something in the two of them that just clicked from the offset. They could debate anything or talk for hours without ever getting bored, and conversation between them was never awkward or stilted. They had become fast and best friends and nothing had changed at all since then. Everyone who knew Henry and Elizabeth wondered- why were they not dating yet?
No one dared to ask them, but everyone had thought about it- everyone, it seemed, except Henry and Elizabeth themselves. The two of them were either blind or choosing ignorance to their chemistry and over a year into their friendship, it was getting a little ridiculous. Henry and Elizabeth had either ignored it or pretended to when their friends had exchanged sideways looks at their weekend plans- a trip to the mountains, a little cabin, just the two of them.
The whole affair sounded remarkably romantic for two "best friends". The truth was, Henry and Elizabeth knew exactly how their relationship looked. Both being intelligent, empathetic, emotionally available people, it would've been impossible for them not to. They'd never spoken about it, though- it was the one subject that they carefully avoided, each for their own reasons.
But they could have both honestly said that on that morning, it was the farthest thing from their minds, The weekend spread out before them; with no classes on their friday schedules, h/enry and Elizabeth were facing three whole days together to talk, hike, eat, read, and argue- all the things they loved to do with one another more than with anyone else. There would be a Thanksgiving break in just two weeks, but Henry would be spending it in Pittsburgh, and he readily admitted that this weekend with Elizabeth was the one he was genuinely excited for. This weekend, there was no one to impress- no standard to uphold, no performance to put on, no defensive. With Elizabeth, Henry could just be himself, and he treasured that about their friendship maybe more than she knew.
When Elizabeth arrived by Henry's beaten blue pickup truck, she found him waiting for her, leaning against the bed of the truck and holding two coffee cups. She smiled brightly at the sight of him there, in his warm winter vest and thermal long-sleeve shirt, looking right in place in the cold Virginia morning. He thought the same thing about her, in a warm dark blue jacket and jeans with hiking boots, her long blonde hair ina ponytail and her filled backpack strapped securely to her shoulders. He grinned back at her, and offered her one of the two coffees as she drew close to him.
"Good morning," he said.
"Good morning," she replied. "And thank you."
"Well, I didn't want to risk a two hour car ride with you on no caffeine," Henry joked. Elizabeth laughed, as bright and clear as the morning around them.
"Smart man," she intoned and Henry laughed too, their banter as easy as always.
"Ready?" he asked, reaching out a hand for her backpack. She nodded, handing it to him and reaching for the passenger door handle. Henry threw her bag into the bed of his truck alongside his own and followed suit. Some people, he knew, would have an objection to his care with her bag, but not Elizabeth. She wasn't fussy, up for anything, and he loved that about her. Now, they each shrugged out of their jackets and settled into the well worn seats of Henry's pickup. Elizabeth wrapped her fingers around the mug; it was one of Henry's, a metal insulated thing with a peeling emblem on the side which she thought might have been UVA's logo at some point. As Henry got the truck going, Elizabeth was thinking how glad she was for Henry's sensibility; many people would have stopped for coffee on the road, especially so early in the day: not Henry. She appreciated him taking the time to brew coffee at home for both of them. Henry, admittedly, had known she would; he had thought as much when he added cinnamon to the grounds, the way he knew she liked it.
"You're quiet," Henry remarked with a sideways glance over at her as they pulled out of the parking lot and left campus, heading for the highway. Henry's sense of direction was excellent and he knew the way, so Elizabeth wasn't concerned with watching the directions he was taking.
"I'm taking in the coffee," she answered with a little smile, and Henry laughed.
"Carry on, then," he acquiesced. But Elizabeth would rather talk to Henry, and they struck up a conversation with remarkable ease, shifting from one topic to the next and growing animated as their conversation ranged from their classes to shared inside jokes to politics. Henry spoke about a paper he was writing and Elizabeth offered her perspective as it related to current affairs; Elizabeth told Henry about a thought she'd had regarding the recent elections, and Henry provided insight that she herself had not considered. And so it went for the duration of the two hour drive through Virginia, the miles marked by the slow rising of the sun as it illuminated the changing leaves on the trees, all shades of red and gold and orange mixed with the deep forest color of evergreens. It was looking like a perfect weekend ahead of them; when Henry had turned on the news in his apartment that morning, it had been to hear a forecast of nothing but sunshine.
It was mid-morning when they stopped for groceries, bantering and laughing together as they picked out the things they would need over the weekend.
They had been there for half an hour when the activity ceased, finding them in the cereal aisle with every kind of sugary cereal on one side of them, and oatmeal packets on the other. They had already stocked up for breakfast- Henry was insistent on no sugary cereals, no matter how many times Elizabeth tried to sneak one in. He was determined, apparently, to make them a proper breakfast, and when he'd mentioned that this included pancakes, Elizabeth had backtracked from the cereal and agreed.
But this, she would never back down on.
"Ice cream," she declared, surveying their cart and noticing the glaring absence of what she considered the most essential part of their supplies.
Henry was not about to protest on that point. He grinned at her in agreement, traces of boyhood present on his features in his excitement about their weekend. They were loaded down with essentials, staples and treats, juice and vegetables alongside popcorn and sprinkles, but he agreed with Elizabeth; ice cream was definitely what they were missing.
"What do we go for?" Henry asked as they stood in the artificial glow of the cold freezer aisle in the little grocery store where they'd stopped before they would head on to the cabin.
"Tough choice," Elizabeth replied, and truthfully. She loved ice cream, and that meant all ice cream, which made it difficult to choose when it came down to it. And of course, she wanted to be considerate of what Henry was feeling like as well, so the two of them stood there in another moment of silence as they attempted to choose a flavor to suggest.
Finally, Henry had had enough.
"Chocolate," he said.
"Rocky road," Elizabeth countered, and Henry tilted his head sideways, considering that.
"Rocky road and strawberry," he offered, and Elizabeth made a face.
"Rocky road and peach," she suggested.
"Peach and strawberry."
"Hey, what happened to rocky road?" she asked in mock outrage.
"I never agreed to rocky road," he insisted.
"You did, by default when you said rocky road and strawberry."
"I was being nice."
"Rocky road!" Elizabeth laughed.
"Okay, okay," Henry replied, playfully lifting his hands in surrender.
"Rocky road," he began, earning him a smile from Elizabeth, "and chocolate."
Elizabeth considered that for a moment.
"Is that too heavy on the chocolate?" she asked thoughtfully. Henry gasped, reaching out to press his hand to her forehead.
"Are you sick? Do you have a fever?" he asked. She laughed and he carried on with the gag just to hear the sound longer, narrowing his eyes at her in mock suspicion.
"Who are you and what have you done with Elizabeth Adams?" he asked seriously. She giggled and he finally broke, laughing alongside her.
"Okay," she agreed, reaching into the freezer. "Rocky road," she said, punctuating it with a look at Henry as she put the container into the cart, "and chocolate," she finished with a flourish as she added that container as well.
"Alright!" Henry proclaimed. "Grocery shopping, check."
They split the bill for the groceries and then they were on their way, bags loaded into the back of the truck, now-empty coffee mugs between them in the console. And just a few minutes later, they were at the rented cabin, Henry stopping briefly to pick up the keys from the front office before driving slowly along the short gravel road to where their cabin was.
The cabin was cozy, small and sparsely furnished, but with lots of natural wood and big windows that let in the autumn light.
"Perfect," Elizabeth sighed, standing at the picture window next to the outdated little breakfast table, and Henry smiled.
"Come help me put these away," Henry teased. "I didn't bring you along to just admire the view." She rolled her eyes good naturedly, and assisted him as they shuffled around the kitchen finding a spot for everything they'd brought. It was another thing the two of them had in common, this need to make a place home-like; for different reasons, but with the same result.
"I'm gonna go grab the bags," Henry said.
"Okay," Elizabeth agreed. "You can just put mine on whatever bed I'm in if you don't mind."
"Yeah, of course," Henry replied agreeably. He headed outside, leaving Elizabeth back at the picture window where she was peering out curiously at their mountainous view. His boots crunched against the gravel as he did a once-over of his truck to be sure he and Elizabeth had gotten everything from the cab. Assured that they had, he paused to take a deep breath of mountain air; it was crisp and clean in his lungs, and he smiled slightly. This weekend was exactly what he needed before the stress of the holidays and exams would descend on him soon.
He grabbed the two bags from the bed of the truck, his black backpack alongside Elizabeth's blue one, each very functional and well-packed, and then he went back in. Elizabeth was right where he'd left her, and he moved on past her and down the hall, passing a linen closet and stepping into the first room he reached, finding it outfitted with a full bed with a warm-looking and homey quilt of various blues, and two nightstands, along with a similar picture window to the one Elizabeth was looking out now back in the living space.
He put her backpack on the bed, thinking that if the other room wasn't as nice, Elizabeth should have the better window.
Back in the hallway, he opened the door opposite Elizabeth's. But it was just a bathroom, decorated in green with a kitschy trout-patterned shower curtain. Confused, he backed out again into the hallway, but found it a dead end. There were no other doors. He did another check, but his first conclusion was correct.
"Elizabeth?" he called.
"Yeah?"
From the location of her voice, he surmised that she hadn't moved.
"Can you come here a minute?" he asked. Her footsteps preceded her, and then she was by his side looking vaguely puzzled.
"What?" she asked. "Is something wrong?"
Henry gestured to the two doors, and Elizabeth peeked into the bathroom first, chuckling at the decor.
"Well, I agree the trout are a problem, Henry, but I doubt they're going to get you in your sleep," she quipped.
He appreciated her joke, but at the moment he had bigger concerns.
"No, Elizabeth," he insisted, and gestured again to the bedroom. He watched as she cottoned on, the realization playing out on her face.
She did exactly what Henry had done, mirroring his earlier movements exactly as she double checked to be sure she was right. And then she fell back to stand next to him, the two friends looking at one another in the narrow hallway. It was Elizabeth who spoke the words;
"There's only one bed."