On Saturday, when she ambled out of the girl's dormitory, past the basketball court, the swimming pool and around the lake, she had someone waiting for her in the woods behind the Institute.
"Hi," she said, dropping down to the grass next to him.
"Hey," Todd responded, "How've you been?"
"Good," she set down her backpack, "I've been using those headphones you gave me. You were right, it helps me to get things done when there's music to drown out the noise of the Institute."
"Yeah, music is the only way I can concentrate on anything," he used a piece of grass to make a whistling noise.
"Do you need them back?" Elizabeth was concerned, "I can probably get some for my birthday from the Professor."
"Nah, I've got others. When's your birthday?"
"November 8th," she told him, pulling out a sketch of a dozen roses he'd given her and her color pencils, "You?"
"March 6th," he watched her pull out a bottle of rubbing alcohol, "What's that for? You're not going to drink it, right?"
"No," she snorted a laugh, "It's to blend the colors."
She colored in the sketch he'd gifted her. They were both quiet for some time. Elizabeth became so caught up in what she was doing that she didn't notice when he pulled out his notebook. He'd been sketching her for some time before she noticed the extended silence and looked up at him. She glanced down at herself. Elizabeth was lying on the grass perpendicular to him with her notebook and color pencils out in front of her and she was wearing an oversized mint green tunic sweater with a plunging neckline over a grey turtleneck blouse, grey sweater leggings, and black boots. Her hair peaked out of the bottom of a mint green beanie.
"I didn't mean to be rude and not talk to you," Elizabeth told him, but she was smiling.
"Huh," he looked up, distracted, "I don't mind if we don't talk. Talking is good, too, though."
"I'm sorry about Thursday," she offered, "I felt like I was sort of standing you up when I couldn't get out of study hall."
He shrugged, "No problem."
Elizabeth held up the colored-in sketch, "What do you think?"
"I like how the roses each have two colors. Can roses really look like that?" he asked, curious.
"Yes," Elizabeth replied, "The dual colored roses are my favorite."
Elizabeth slid the sketch back into her English notebook carefully and put the notebook back into her backpack.
"What else do you like to do, other than sketching?" she asked, resting her chin on her knees.
"I usually hang out with the guys and watch television. Sometimes we go to the five dollar theater," Todd laid down on his back next to her, "They went to the theater today but I ditched them."
"Why?" Elizabeth asked, a bit horrified, "They're your friends."
"Lance and Fred are cool. But Tabitha keeps blowing up the bathroom when I try to take a shower," his voice changed slightly, "Wanda told me to stay the hell away from her and Pietro's been an asshole ever since his sister got here."
"I'm sorry," Elizabeth was sincere, she may not have thought very highly of the Brotherhood clique but she was sorry that he was being treated badly by his friends.
He shrugged.
Elizabeth didn't think too much about it, only felt that she wanted to cheer him up. She rolled halfway over and played her fingers none too gently along his ribs. He let out a squeal that made her laugh out loud and tried to grab for her hands. She was fast, sneaky, and agile so he wasn't able to easily hold her off. They rolled around on the ground for a minute or two but eventually he immobilized her. By then they were tangled up together with him behind and beneath her, with his arms wrapped tightly around her to keep her from tickling him.
"What the hell?" he asked, breathless, "What was that?"
"That was fun," she giggled madly.
"You're a nutcase," he admonished, but she could hear the smile in his voice.
"I'm pretty weird," she agreed, grinning, "You're pretty weird, too. It's no wonder that we're friends."
Elizabeth waited for him to let her go, grinning slyly. He obviously expected that once he let her go she'd go back to tickling him. The thought had occurred to her.
"You don't mind me, you know, smelling the way I do?" he sounded terribly vulnerable.
"No," Elizabeth twisted out of his grip and he let her go, "I kind of like it actually. Is that weird?"
"Yeah," he sounded happy, "But that's why we're friends."
"Why do you smell the way you do?" she hesitated to ask but she was really curious. He got a lot of flack for it from just about everyone and she had wondered why he didn't work on it.
"Soap stings," he admitted, reluctantly, "It literally hurts me to wash. Not that anybody cares that it hurts."
"I care," she told him, "I have skin like that. I'm allergic to willow trees and most soaps use salicylates from willow trees as an astringent. Before I figured it out I used to get awful blisters and rashes, especially on my face."
He looked uncomfortable, "It's not like an allergy. I have porous skin like an amphibian because of my mutation."
"I wonder if they have a special kind of soaps for amphibians," she mused aloud, then pulled out her cell phone and looked it up online.
"You don't care, though, right?" he asked, trying to appear unconcerned.
"I'm just curious about it," Elizabeth replied, "Oh, it says you're supposed to use warm bottled water, not tap water, and just rub down with clean water. Maybe you don't even need soap. You should just take camping showers with bottled water."
"What's a camping shower?" he asked.
"Oh, that's what I call the way you shower when you're camping," she tried to explain, "You just use a bowl of water and a cloth or sponge or baby wipes to basically give yourself a sort of sponge bath."
He shrugged, "I could do that if Tabitha would stop blowing up the bathroom."
"Hmm," Elizabeth murmured. She wondered if she could get Tabitha to leave Todd alone.
"Maybe she has a crush on you?' Elizabeth proposed, "Next time she tries to interrupt your privacy you could ask her outright. It reminds me of a little boy on the playground tugging on a girl's pigtails because he likes her."
He snorted, "Yeah, right."
"It's getting dark," he pointed out, somewhat reluctantly.
"Oh, it is!" Elizabeth hadn't even noticed, "I'd better get home before someone comes looking for me." She gathered up her backpack and he grabbed his notebook. Abruptly, he leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. She was surprised, mostly because she often forgot that he was a few inches taller than she was when he was actually standing up.
"See you next week," he told her, and turned away.
"Bye!" she called out.