Okay, I'm not usually big on author's notes, I'd really rather just get to it, but I have to admit that I'm a bit unsure of what to do with this story. I have it planned out to the end but it doesn't seem like people are really interested in it. So either it really sucks donkey butt and you're all too nice to tell me or people really hate Holly J and Eli. Either way let me know so that I can decide what to do. Please?

We drive tonight and you are by my side. We're talking about our lives, like we've know each other forever. – Matchbook Romance

"So your dad doesn't think I'm a total slut?" Holly J threw her bag into the backseat of her car and looked over the door at Eli.

"No, he doesn't think you're a slut. Trust me, Bullfrog was thrilled to find me in a compromising situation with a girl. You could have come over yesterday. He wouldn't have given you a hard time. Well, not much anyway." Eli grinned at her.

"Yeah, well. I had dialysis and a ton of homework. Not to mention the extreme humiliation factor." Holly J shut the door and leaned back against the car.

"So, what's up with the dialysis?" Eli leaned back as well and looked over at her.

"It's a long story, involving a lot of stupidity and stubbornness."

"A long story, huh? Well, I don't have any plans today." He cocked his head to the side and waited.

"You don't?" Holly J's eyes lit up and she smiled excitedly.

"Wow. That made me sound like the king of all losers, didn't it?" Eli laughed and looked down.

Holly J just smiled again and fished her cell phone out of her purse. She flipped it open and dialed. "Hey mom, it's me. Just wanted to let you know I'll be home late tonight. Love you." Holly J ended the call and dropped the phone back in her purse.

"You're up to something," Eli looked up at her and narrowed his eyes.

"Yes I am," Holly J smiled widely at him.

"I should be scared, shouldn't I?"

"Yes, you should," She shot him another smile as she pulled her shirt over her head to reveal the black tank top underneath. Then she reopened the back door of the car and began rummaging until she unearthed a pair of daisy dukes and some flip flops. She pulled the shorts on under her skirt, then pulled her skirt off and traded her knee socks and shoes for the flip flops. With her transformation complete she looked up to see Eli staring at her with glazed eyes.

"What?" She frowned at him.

"That was unbelievably hot," he drawled and smirked at her.

She smirked back and moved closer to him. Eli reached out his hands to grab her hips and pull her against him. Holly J stood on her toes and hooked an index finger in the collar of his shirt. She peeped down the front and then whispered, "You might want to loose the shirt."

"Why?"

"Because I'm kidnapping you." She reached up and kissed him lightly before moving out of his reach.

"Ah." Eli folded his arms and shot her a suspicious look.

"What's wrong? Don't you trust me?" Holly J batted her eyelashes at him.

Eli looked at her for a second before replying, "Strangely enough, I do." Then he yanked his shirt over his head leaving behind just his black wife beater.

Holly J stepped back to admire the view of his toned chest and arms, a lovely sight that was usually hidden behind a layer of baggy clothes.

"What?" He mimicked her voice.

"That was just unbelievably hot," she shot back, letting a smirk play over her lips. "Well, let's go."

Holly J got into the car and waited for Eli to get in the passenger side, then pulled out of the school parking lot, smiling at the thought of leaving school behind for the weekend. After Eli had left a message for his parents Holly J switched on the CD player.

Eli raised his eyebrow and turned to look at her. "The Ramones? Really?"

"What? You don't like the Ramones? Here you can change the CD if you want." She reached into the side compartment of the door, coming up with her CD case and then handed it to him.

He took the case and began flipping through it. "The Pixies, Rancid, the Cure, the Sex Pistols…" Eli trailed off and looked over at her. "Holly J, you have just gotten so much sexier."

She laughed and shook her head. "So, I don't look like the type of girl who would listen to punk? Remember how I said I read a lot of different thing? Well, I listen to a lot of different music, too. I also love ska, sixties rock, Broadway musicals and 80's pop. You don't know everything about me Eli."

"Clearly. So, are you going to tell me where we're going?"

"Nope. Not until we're far enough away from Toronto that you can't abandon ship."

"We're leaving Toronto?" Eli hoped he could fish out some more details because he hated surprises.

"What did you expect? It wouldn't be a good kidnapping otherwise, now would it?" Holly J just smiled smugly and kept driving. She obviously wasn't giving up any information.

Eli was enjoying himself. He had no idea where they were going or what would be in store for him once they got there, but he was finding that he actually kind of liked it. And arguing with Holly J for the last twenty minutes about music and books was part of the reason. He was surprised to admit that the rest of the reason was just the adventure of going to an unknown destination with her.

He chuckled as he listened to her rhapsodize about Lynyrd Skynyrd and list off her top 10 (obviously improvised) reasons why they were awesome. A thought occurred to him as he listened to her impassioned defense. A very disturbing thought. Clare. He'd barely thought about her all week. No, he'd been so caught up in Holly J that he hadn't been checking for signs of progress or reaction to the fact that he was finally giving her the space that she had requested.

"Okay, you haven't made fun of reason six or seven of why Skynyrd totally rules. Have I convinced you with my concise arguments or are you asleep?" She tipped her sunglasses down and looked at him over the rims.

"No, to both. I was just …" Don't say thinking about Clare! "Thinking about Clare." Shit.

"Oh." Holly J bit her lip.

"I mean, I wasn't exactly thinking about her. I was thinking about how I haven't really been thinking about her this week." Eli scrunched his eyes. "Did that make any sense?"

"Actually, yes." She cleared her throat. "Do you want to get back together with her?"

Eli opened his mouth to say yes. Because it was true, wasn't it? He wasn't going to lie. "I don't know. Things are different now." Huh, where did that come from?

"I get that." Holly J nodded.

"You do?"

"I feel the same way about Declan. We have this plan, you know? Meet at Yale in August and try again. I just don't know anymore, though. I feel like he wants me to be someone I'm not. A girl that's going to fit into his life. I feel like I have to watch every word; that I can't just be completely me. I need to be this idealized version of me. It wasn't always like that," she finished softly.

Eli found himself nodding now. "That makes sense. Clare wanted me to be more like her. Forgiving, understanding. I'm not like that. At first I thought that liked me because I was different. The yin to her yang. Now I feel like she just thought she could redeem me. She must have started to figure out that she couldn't and that's why she started to pull away from me. And of course, me being me, that just made me hold on tighter. Maybe she was right. Maybe I was manipulating her." Eli looked out the window. Why was he telling Holly J this stuff? He hadn't even told Adam any of this. "So Miss Sinclair, you still haven't told me where you're taking me."

"Hmmmmm….. I guess we're far enough that you won't make a break for it," Holly J teased. "We're going to Kitchener."

"Ah, what a cultural metropolis," Eli knew that Holly J was trying to lighten his mood and decided to play along.

"Shut up," Holly J laughed. "They're having a Latin Festival."

"Are you serious?" Eli gave her his most sarcastic look, the one that usually made people cringe.

"Yes, I am. I usually go with my mom, but she's working all this weekend. And you can stop giving me that look because we're going whether you like it or not." She shot him a look of her own, the one he recognized as her 'stone cold bitch look'.

"Jeez, tough crowd. So, what is there to actually do there?"

"There is so much to do. There's an art show and the museum and salsa dancing and the concert in the park. It is so much fun." She was practically bouncing in her seat with a grin stretched from ear to ear. It was kind of cute.

Eli figured that her excitement was contagious because even though it was something he would usually find super lame, it did sound kind of, dare he say, fun.

"Okay, so back to reason number six," Eli settled back with a smirk. "I never did get a chance to properly ridicule it."

It was fun. Holly J made it fun. They had spent hours in the museum checking out every exhibit, and Holly J had proved to be incredibly knowledgeable about the history behind the items on display. Eli didn't usually like history much, but she had a way of making it really come alive. The art show had been just as cool. She had pulled him from piece to piece either discussing what made that particular sculpture or painting interesting or making hilarious and scathing comments abut the ones she didn't like.

When he complained that he was starving, Holly J led him to a street vendor who knew her from years past and held a lively discussion about what they were going to feed him. In the end, he had no idea what it was that he was eating because he couldn't even pronounce it, but it was really good. Really good and really hot. He wasn't sure his taste buds would ever quite be the same. She even talked him into trying to dance with her, emphasis on the trying. He'd lost track of how many times she'd made him laugh. It had been a really long time since he'd had so much fun.

As dusk started to fall Holly J started back to the car. "Come on. We need to get blanket out of my car so we can get a good spot for the concert."

"What kind of concert?"

"Mandolin." Eli groaned. "Stop it. It's really beautiful. Come on."

Once they had retrieved the blanket and found a suitable spot on the grass, Eli could feel Holly J looking at him.

"Tell me something about you."

"There's nothing to tell," Eli reached out and tucked a strand of Holly J's hair behind her ear.

"I found that hard to believe," Holly J grabbed his other hand and tangled her fingers with his.

"It's true. I'm very boring."

"That is a load of bull," she rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Fine. What do you want to know? You can ask me whatever you want. But… I'm not answering any questions unless you answer too." Eli leaned back on his elbows and looked over at her.

"Fair enough. What do you want to do with your life?"

"Write. That's all I've ever wanted to do," Eli shrugged. "You?"

"I don't know."

"Oh, come on, you're already not playing fair." He flopped down on his back and looked up at her.

"No. I'm serious. I really don't know. I know what everyone else thinks I should do. Business or something in entertainment. Be rich and important. Make back the family money. I hate the thought of that life. I want adventure, excitement and romance." She sighed and lay back as well. "That sounds lame."

"No it doesn't." He put his arm around her and pulled her close. "What else do you want to know?"

"Um. Favorite band?" Holly J snuggled closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder.

"Dead Hand."

"Mine's The Smiths. Favorite author?"

"Neil Gaimen."

"I really love his work. Mine changes a lot. Right now it's Salman Rushdie. Favorite movie?"

"A Clockwork Orange." He turned his head so he could look down at her. She had her eyes closed and looked so beautiful.

"Better Off Dead."

"Never seen it." Her eyes popped open and he laughed at the horrified expression on her face.

"What? Oh my God. I must immediately fix this terrible situation."

"It's a total girl movie isn't it?" Eli rolled his eyes.

"No." Holly J huffed a breath out. "It's got everything. Romance, intrigue, action, adventure, language lessons. So, yeah, it's a total girl movie," she ended with a laugh.

"Fine. I'll think about it. The things I'll do for a beautiful woman." Eli heaved a dramatic sigh and smirked at her. "Most embarrassing moment."

"Hey, I thought I was asking the questions" Holly J picked her head up and looked at him.

"Why should you get to have all fun?" He dropped a kiss on her forehead and waited. "So?"

"Do I have to pick just one? There are so many." Holly J laid her head back on his shoulder.

"Well, I'm listening."

"Okay," she thought for a minute. "Getting kicked off the Power Squad for being a bitch."

"Making a fake ID for Fitz with the identity of a convicted arsonist."

Holly J laughed. "Getting dumped for being shallow."

"Having my two best friends find out I'm a compulsive hoarder."

"Getting filmed breaking a fast for charity."

"Blowing off my best friend for a girl." Eli was starting to enjoy himself. It was a relief to tell someone all of his faults and not feel like he was being judged.

"Having the whole school chant 'Holly J sucks!'."

"Oh, good one. Poising Fitz."

"Wow. You really hate him, don't you? He is pretty douchey. Um, trying to have sex with a guy and getting shot down."

"Pretty much the entirety of my fourth grade year. I got beat up every day."

"Getting fired because I dumped a drink on someone." Holly paused and bit her lip. "On purpose."

"Having Clare pimp me to her parents as a bad influence so she could piss them off."

"Getting caught stealing money from my best friend to pay for my SAT prep class."

"Getting in trouble for bringing a gun to school."

"Getting caught stripping on Vegas night."

"Oh, man. That was you?" Eli laughed. "Getting accused of being psychotic."

"Cheating on Sav," Holly J sighed.

"Almost peeing my pants after Fitz threatened to stab me," Eli chuckled.

"Actually peeing during the presentation I was giving for my work study job."

"Crashing my car to try to get Clare back," Eli threw it out to see if she had anything to top that one.

"Wow," she started laughing. "We're both really fucked up."

"You know it." He couldn't help but laugh with her. "First time that you were in love."

"I guess… I guess, Toby." Holly J sighed. "I never met anyone like him before. He made it so easy for me to be myself. He also made it so easy to fall for him."

"What happened?" He turned a little so he could watch her face.

"Remember when I said I got dumped for being shallow?" She sighed again.

"Ouch."

"Yeah. I deserved it though. I was too afraid to go after what I wanted. Too afraid to not care what other people thought. I guess I didn't deserve to keep him. What about you?"

Maybe he shouldn't have asked the question. Did he really want to get into this? He could lie, but realized that he didn't want to. He wanted the worst out there. Holly J deserved to know the kind of person she was spending so much time with. "My first girlfriend. Julia."

"And?

"We got into a fight. She took off on her bike and got hit by a car. She died." He closed his eyes and waited for her reaction.

"Oh, god. Eli, I'm so sorry." He felt her touch his cheek for a second.

He let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. So that was it. No condemnation, no questions. Just sympathy. He nodded. "You're right," he finally said, before clearing his throat and opening his eyes. "This is really beautiful. I'm glad you kidnapped me."

"Can I ask you something?" Holly J's expression was serious.

"You've been asking me things for the last half hour." He raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously though." She paused. "Do you like me?"

"What?"

"Look, I know we have this crazy, hot attraction to each other. But do you like me? You know, as a person?" Her eyes met his and held.

He felt his heart skip a beat and he let out a breath. "Yeah. I think I do. Do you like me?"

"I really, really do."