They continued to meet up on the far side of the lake on Saturdays. Sometimes they would go to the five dollar theater. In November, he gave her a dual colored rose and a sketch of twelve roses for her birthday. She used wax to save the rose so it wouldn't wilt. Over Christmas break they got to spend a little less time together. She'd saved most of her allowance for Christmas gifts and she gave him a wallet chain and a gift card to buy a new pair of jeans. He gave her a chalkboard made from a platter and a snow globe made from a mason jar. In January, they went to see the museum on a free day one Saturday and in February she talked him into going to the science center. In March, for his birthday, she gave him a sketchbook and art pencils from the bookstore. By then his friends and hers were beginning to notice that something was going on with each of them.
One Friday, at lunch, Todd walked along next to her on her way to lunch and put an arm over her shoulder. It didn't occur to Elizabeth that no one had really seen them spend time together before then. Without really thinking about it they both sat down together at an empty table together.
Fred sat down next to Todd automatically and blinked at Elizabeth, "Hey."
"Hi," Elizabeth said, suddenly feeling shy. She'd never really talked to him before.
"I'm Fred," he told her.
"Elizabeth," she replied.
"You're one of the nerds that lives at the Institute?" he asked. Todd put his face in his hands in frustration or misery, Elizabeth wasn't sure which.
Elizabeth smiled, amused, "Yes, I'm one of those nerds. I'm also an English nerd."
"What's that?" he asked, between bites.
"I like to read novels and poetry and fanfiction," she leaned in and whispered, like she was telling him some terrible secret. Todd lifted his face from his hands slowly.
He grimaced, "I don't like books."
"What do you like?" she asked.
"I like cars," Fred told her, "And food."
"I'm a Chevy girl," she told him, "My mother had a ridiculous, little orange Chevy when I was really young. It was the most awful shade of orange and it looked a bit like Jar Jar Binks. It was so ugly it was cute."
"Hey, Elizabeth," Kitty said, standing next to the table, "What's up?"
"Nothing much," Elizabeth's tone was dry, "Not since I sat next to you last period in English class."
"Okay, well, I guess I'll see you around," Kitty continued on to the table where Scott, Jean, Kurt and the others were sitting. Elizabeth gave Todd a look. He shrugged and played with his food.
"What about Ford?" Fred asked.
"I've always heard those cars called Fix Or Repair Daily," Elizabeth grinned at him, "But I like what's been done in Africa with Ford cars."
"What happened in Africa?" Todd asked.
"Well, there's a huge issue in parts of Africa with infant mortality rates," Elizabeth told him, "A lot of babies die for lack of incubators. A group of engineers worked on a solution and they found that most villages have one Ford car. The villagers maintain the car themselves and Ford car parts are easy to come by in those areas. So, they used Ford car parts to make incubators to save babies from dying. The villagers can repair the incubators themselves, since they already know how to fix a Ford car."
"That's cool," Fred said, glancing at Todd, "You're girlfriend's really smart."
Elizabeth and Todd both froze. She waited for him to say that they weren't dating. She wondered if he was waiting for her to say they weren't dating. After a long silence Elizabeth finally looked at him. He was staring hard at his food. Fred was eating with the concentration that Elizabeth usually saved for studying. So, Elizabeth ate her lunch quietly, too.
Fred finished his lunch first. Elizabeth was picking at her own food when he got up, said goodbye, and left. Todd had hardly eaten. He looked up at her with yellow eyes, briefly.
"We should eat lunch together sometimes," she told him, taking a sip of the soda she'd almost forgotten was there.
"Well, I-" he paused, "Wait, what?"
"We should eat lunch together sometimes," Elizabeth repeated, casually, "Not all the time, of course."
"Yeah, that would be cool," he was staring at her, "Are we going to talk about-"
The bell rang, interrupting what he'd been about to say.
"Tomorrow is Saturday," Elizabeth told him, "See you at the usual place."
"Yeah, see you," he said, watching as she got up with her tray and left.
As soon as Elizabeth walked out of her study hall at the end of the day Kurt and Kitty joined her, one on each side.
"Hey, Elizabeth," Kitty said, "Is everything okay?"
Elizabeth looked at Kitty like she'd grown a second head, "Everything is fine. Why wouldn't it be?"
"Well, you ate lunch with two guys from the Brotherhood of Evil, for starters," Kurt grumbled.
"You shouldn't call it that," Elizabeth reprimanded him, "It's the Brotherhood of Salem. Or the Brotherhood of Mutants."
"Elizabeth," Kurt said seriously, "Those guys are not good guys. They can be dangerous."
Elizabeth felt remarkably uncomfortable. She hunched her shoulders reflexively.
"You guys," Elizabeth said on a sigh, "Todd's my friend. He means a lot to me and I would appreciate it if you didn't make vague, insulting comments. If he's done a specific thing that I should know about, please let me know. Otherwise, shush."
"Okay," Kitty said quickly, before Kurt could say anything, "So are you going to get a ride home with us?"
"I think I'd rather walk," Elizabeth said quietly, "Maybe next time."
Kitty and Kurt exchanged a worried look and Elizabeth turned to go another way. Elizabeth walked toward the tree where she'd spent so much time at the beginning of the year. Before she got there a hand landed on her shoulder.
"Hey," Todd said softly, pulling her into a hug.
"Hi," she said, holding on to him.
"I went to meet you at the end of your study hall but I heard you talking to Kitty and Kurt," he told her, "I stayed back and I heard what you said."
"Okay," Elizabeth drew back to look him in the face, "What are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking that they're right and you don't know certain things about me," he told her, "I really like you but there are some things you should know."
"Do you want to walk me home?" Elizabeth asked him, "We can talk along the way."
"Okay," he said, and they started walking, "So, when Scott first met me I was pickpocketing people from under the bleachers at one of the football games."
"Really?" Elizabeth asked him, "You know how to pickpocket someone?"
Her excited tone and gleam in her eye encouraged him, so he pulled her close to kiss her on the cheek. Then he held up her cell phone with a smirk.
"Yeah," he said.
"After you tell me all your other faults, do you think you could teach me?" Elizabeth asked, talking back her cell phone, "I don't need to steal from people but it seems like such a cool skill, like picking locks."
"Sure," he agreed, stuffing his hands into his pockets, "This is going better than I thought it would."
Elizabeth smiled, "I don't know everything you've gotten into or everything you've done but I know you met Scott last year, when you were a freshman. You told me he's one of the only ones at the Institute other than me that you can tolerate."
"I forgot I told you about that," he admitted.
"Mhmm," she murmured, "Well, you neglected to mention the part about you picking pockets."
"Yeah," he scuffed his sneakers on the sidewalk, "Anyway, the guys and me, we steal or commit crimes for cash."
"Why?" she asked, curious.
"So we can pay the utility bills or buy food," he told her, shrugging, "Mystique took off awhile back and we've been on our own since then."
"You could ask the Professor for help," Elizabeth offered, "Maybe even try to make a profit from your artwork somehow. I could help you set up a website and a account. I build personal websites for myself, for fun. It's just food for thought."
"Seriously?" he asked, surprised, "You're not freaking out about this?"
"I'm not entirely oblivious. You've mentioned that you were in foster care. I've heard a few things here and there about the Brotherhood. I take hearsay with a grain of salt but it was a lot of hearsay. You were given some hard circumstances and difficult situations. You've made some less than ideal choices," Elizabeth admitted, "On the other hand, I care about you and I don't believe you're a truly bad person. If the Professor has taught me anything, it's that you don't abandon the people you care about. Just because someone stumbles and loses their path, doesn't mean they're lost forever."
Todd grabbed her hand and held it.
"If you want to date me though, there will be a couple of rules," she said offhandedly.
"Oh, yeah," his voice was doing funny things so he cleared his throat, "Like what?"
"First, it should go without saying: If you ever strike me I'll ask Logan to hunt you down and disembowel you," Elizabeth pronounced with dignity, "I won't have to break up with you because you'll be dead."
"I wouldn't ever hurt you. That's not even, that's just, ugh," he was irritated, "I promise I'll try to respect your boundaries. I promise I'll try to be there to support you when things turn to shit and celebrate with you when things go well. I promise not to ask you to pretend to like something you don't, or give up seeing your friends, or drop out of activities you love."
She paused, impressed, "That's an amazing start. I'll promise to do the same."
"I can promise you one more thing," he still sounded grumpy, "I definitely promise you that I will fuck up eventually and probably more than once."
"I can promise that, too," Elizabeth told him.
"Yeah, right," he sounded sardonic.
"You go right on idolizing me," Elizabeth smiled and swung their hands, "I like it."