Chapter 7

Upstairs Brittany ran into the boy's room and leaped on Alvin's bed, grabbing his pillow as defence, she began swatting at Alvin as he leapt on the bed after her. Copping a blow to the head, Alvin grabbed at the pillow and threw it to the floor. With her defence lost, Brittany slid down under Alvin, laughing and flailing her hands at him. Alvin dodged her hands, leaned down and smoothed her hair, Brittany smiled and gave a small giggle, "Hmm"

Alvin leaned closer to her lips; she waited with eyes closed and lips ready. Alvin noticed this and a smirk spread across his face. He grabbed her hands with one of his and pinned them above her head, now straddling her he sat on her lower body and commenced tickling her. Brittany let out a roar of laughter; she tried kicking, but Alvin wouldn't budge instead calling, "Say Mercy"

Brittany, in the middle of laughter said, "Never! No!"

Alvin shrugged, "Your loss then" and continued tickling. It was difficult to keep a hold of her hands, but with quick agility, he managed to keep in control. Brittany had tears building in her eyes, and her stomach hurt both from laughter and from Alvin sitting on her. She didn't want to, but he was too good, "OK!" she called, "Mercy, Mercy!"

Alvin let her hands go and sat up straight. They were both puffing when Brittany pushed Alvin in the stomach, and sat up on her elbows, "Lemme up now"

Alvin smiled suavely, "Hmm, but I think I have you right where I want you"

Brittany raised an eyebrow as Alvin leaned in and kissed her.

Brittany felt her elbows slide back, as Alvin stroked her face and lay down with her.

Brittany roamed her hands up and down Alvin's back.

Suddenly the door flew open, hard; "AALLVVIINN!" they were both so startled, Brittany pushed Alvin (who was in mid jump anyway) off the bed. He landed with a THUD on the floor, "Ahh Shit!" Alvin sat up, rubbing his lower back.

Dave stood in the doorway, his arms folded and a stern look on his face, "Care to explain?" Brittany sat up on the bed and smoothed her skirt. Alvin got up and walked toward Dave, "Aww, c'mon Dave, study break"

Dave shook his head, "Alvin, it's only been an hour and besides, you two know the rules" he looked at both of them.

Alvin and Brittany put their heads down and recited the well known rule, "No being alone in the bedrooms"

Dave nodded, "Right, now for this so called 'study break', it's now over, so march back down stairs and finish, and now I want to see proof of homework"

Alvin's jaw dropped; his voice went higher in an attempt to plead, "What? Dave c'mon you cannot be serious, Nooooo!" he fell to his knees.

Dave looked beyond him, "Alvin, get up"

Alvin did so slowly, as Dave bent down to meet him eye to eye, his hand resting on his shoulder, "Now son, I'm not asking you to be a super genius with your school work, but I do need you to try once in a while. Alvin it's your last year of school before collage, I need you to at least put in a little effort" he thought for a second, then added, "Well, more than a little, I need you to give it everything, like you do for your music, ok? Can you do that for me?"

Alvin sighed, then as straight faced as he could he took Dave's hand and held it to his chest, "For you Dave, I'll do it"

Dave frowned and pulled his hand away, he stood up "Just pick up those grades Alvin" with that he walked off, halfway down the stairs he called out, "And the two of you get back downstairs!"

Alvin spun and jumped on the bed next to Brittany, "Good ole Dave, just the pep talk I needed" he rolled his eyes and kissed Brittany on the lips, before holding her hands and helping her up. They stood toe to toe, Alvin had his arms round Brittany's waist, Alvin had that certain look in his eyes, he pulled Brittany closer and leant in to kiss her; Brittany looked into Alvin's eyes, "He's right though, you know"

Alvin's hands dropped, "Way to break the mood Britt" she smiled a little and grabbed his hand, "Aww" she kissed him on the cheek "Come on Alvin, we better get back downstairs, you have some studying to do" she began to walk out, but Alvin grabbed her hand and pulled her back into an embrace, "Five more minutes" he leaned in and kissed her.

"Simon?" Jeanette stretched and fixed her glasses, "Maybe we should take a break too? We only have another fifteen minutes, and I think I've done all I can with my study today" Simon stretched, "Alright" they began packing up their things and stacked their books at the end of the coffee table. Balancing them carefully, Simon followed Jeanette back into the kitchen, just as Eleanor and Theodore walked in through the back door. They were giggling to each other and holding an ice cream. Simon placed his books on the dining table and turned to Theodore, "When did you have a chance to get ice cream?"

Theodore looked at Eleanor, then back at Simon and Jeanette, and shrugged, "Well when Alvin and Brittany disappeared, we thought we deserved a study break too"

Eleanor added, "Mmm, and then when we heard the ice cream truck drive by, well" she giggled and licked her ice cream, "we couldn't really resist" they both smiled ear to ear. Simon rolled his eyes, "Oh good grief, well where's ours then?"

Theodore looked at the ground, "Sorry Simon, we would've asked, but it just all sort of happened"

Eleanor shrugged, "Beside, you two looked so deep in thought over your books we didn't want to bother you"

Simon looked at the pile of books on the table and sighed.

Jeanette hugged him, "Never mind Simon, now we've finished our study, maybe we can do something together, before us girls go home for dinner?"

Simon looked at Jeanette and smiled, "Sure" he held out his arm, to which Jeanette linked onto. They headed to the back door; Simon called out, "Jeanette and I are just going for a walk, we'll be back in 20 minutes or so"

Dave called from the den, "OK Simon, take your phone and be back well before dark, I don't want the girls to be home too late"

Simon called back, "Ok Dave!" He helped Jeanette into her jacket, as she smiled, "Dave doesn't want us home late because he doesn't want to cop an earful from Miss Miller" Simon smirked; that was true, Miss Miller cared a lot for those girls and protected them like her own. Together they walked down the path hand in hand.

Theodore and Eleanor were washing up before dinner; Theodore had managed to get ice cream all over his face as if he were seven again. Eleanor giggled as she cleaned off a smudge from Theodore's jaw, "How on earth can you not eat ice cream properly?" Theodore blushed, "My instinct to eat kicks in faster than my mouth can keep up...I guess" Eleanor giggled and licked his cheek, moving over to kiss him on the lips. Theodore slowly reached his hands around, resting them on Eleanor's hips. They continued kissing; taking small steps back and leaning against the sink. Eleanor giggled between kisses, moving her hands over Theodore's back and slowly migrating them towards his butt, giving his behind a gentle squeeze. Theodore was pleasantly surprised, and made his kisses more passionate; he gently, slowly brought his hands up Eleanor's side and rested them just under her breasts, unsure whether to advance. He paused and opened his eyes, then stepped away from Eleanor, holding her back round her waist, "I'm sorry Ellie" he blushed and took a breath, "Confined spaces with you I guess isn't a good mix"

Eleanor smiled and brushed his cheek with her hand, "Oh Teddy Bear" She leant in and gave him a hug, "You're such a sweety"

Theodore blushed again and gave her a simple kiss, "Come on, you can help me set up for dinner" they both walked out toward the kitchen.

Simon and Jeanette had walked toward the park and were sitting on the swings. They swung slowly in tandem. Finally it was Jeanette who brought the courage to speak up, "Simon, how come you never kiss me in public?"

Simon stopped short on his swing, "What? Jeanette, where did this come from?"

She looked down kept singing, "Well, look at Britt and Alvin"

Simon made a noise, Jeanette ignored him and continued, "Even Ellie and Theodore aren't afraid to kiss, or hug in public" she paused slightly and looked at him, "Then look at us, Simon"

Simon opened his mouth then closed it again, thinking.

Jeanette sighed and began speaking all at once, "It's not like I want us to be like Alvin and Brittany, in fact I'm not sure we could if we tried, but I want us to find what we're comfortable with. I mean, if we're not comfortable with each other then"

Simon interrupted; Jeanette was rambling, "Jeanette, of course I'm comfortable with you, I'm more comfortable with you than anyone else, which I why I like sharing our moments when there's no one else around, it makes the moment more special"

Jeanette slid off the swing and began walking toward the rotunda in the middle of the park, facing the setting sun. Simon caught up with her and wrapped his arm around her waist, giving her a hug from behind; she was still looking ahead. Simon kissed her on the back of the neck, Jeanette smiled and turned, holding her hands to his face, running her hands over the mixture of fur and something similar to stubble on his chin. She reminisced back to the days when they were younger, before puberty, when he was just soft to touch on the face. She leaned in to kiss him, then stepped back and smiled, "This is what I want more often, I want people to see we care for each other, that we're not afraid to share how we feel for each other"

Simon looked down; defeated, "Ok, I'll try more diligently to make that extra effort, if that's what you want"

Jeanette smiled and looked up at the sky, "We better get back, or we're both in trouble" Simon laughed and they started heading back.

Upstairs Alvin had Brittany on the bed; they'd gone from simply kissing to it becoming more passionate. Brittany was lying down; Alvin beside her, his hand round her waist, the other stroking her hair. Then without warning, Brittany felt his hand sliding up her skirt. She sat up immediately; Alvin's hand paused where it was, "What are you doing?"

Alvin's mouth gaped open, "I, ah, um"

Brittany brushed her hair back, "Alvin, you can't just do that without permission"

Alvin raised his eyebrows, "Excuse me?"

Brittany pulled him back down by his collar, and kissed him, "Next time, just give me a little warning, oh and warm your hands"

Alvin fell into the mood again, "OK, so do I now have permission?"

Brittany took his hand and led it up her thigh; Alvin moaned and leant down to kiss Brittany when Dave's voice rang through the house, "AALLVVIINN! BRITTANY!"

Alvin rolled over and hit his hand on the bed, "Oh for the love of, COMING!"

He helped Brittany up, "Rain check?" She smiled, shrugged and started the walk toward the stairs. Alvin rolled his eyes and followed, wondering when he'd get such a chance again.

Theodore gave the soup another stir and tasted it, giving some to Eleanor, "Hmm, needs a touch more seasoning"

Theodore nodded and cracked some pepper in as Eleanor added a pinch more of salt. He stirred it again, and tasted as Simon and Jeanette walked in the back door and Alvin and Brittany came into the kitchen.

"Mm Smells great" Simon said, taking his jacket off.

Theodore smiled, "Thanks Simon"

Dave came in, looking flustered, "Oh thanks Theo, I appreciate you cooking tonight" he sighed, "These accounts are getting the better of me, Simon I could really do with your help

after dinner if you don't mind?"

Simon nodded and leant up at the kitchen bench, "Sure Dave"

Dave loosened his tie and looked at the clock, "Well, girls you better make a move on, we don't want Miss Miller to lose it"

Jeanette added, "We're going, come on girls" each gave their boyfriends a kiss goodbye as the phone rang,

"Hello?" Dave said, picking it up, "Oh, yes Beatrice, the girls are just leaving, they'll be home very soon" he gestured shooing the girls up, mouthing the words, "Move"

The girls giggled and grabbed their bags, and left, "See you tomorrow".