“Of course.”
“Still trying to impress her, Lee?”Ryan asked, walking over to us and slapping my hand in a friendly shake.
“Always!”I responded loud enough so they could both hear me.
“Is it working?”Ryan looked at Ellie.
“Yup!”she nodded and looked over at me, her cheeks blushing.
“You guys are too cute!”Steff said, leaning in to hug me.
* * *
We drove in separate cars and went to Denny’s for lunch afterwards.When I walked in, I saw there was an empty spot next to Ellie on the bench, so I slid in, and she scooted herself closer to me and grabbed my hand under the table.I don’t think I could ever get enough of this feeling when she touches me.
“So, you gonna finish telling me what you wanted to say on the phone?”she asked in a whisper.
“Not here.”I shook my head and whispered back.
“Wanna go outside?”she titled her head toward the exit, and I nodded, pulling us out of the bench seat.
“Where are you guys going?”Her brother asked.
“Just out front, I’m not really hungry anyways.”Ellie told him and he shrugged.We walked outside and sat on the bench by the entrance to the restaurant, and she leaned her head on my shoulder and my arm wrapped around her.
“I wish I could see you every day so we can sit like this all the time.”Her hand came up and rested on my chest where I’m sure she could feel the thumping of my heart.
This is it.
The perfect moment.
I’m going to kiss her now.
I looked down at her and she was looking up at me, expectantly, she wanted me to kiss her, I could feel it.She bit her lower lip and that just made me want this even more.I leaned in a little bit closer and just as our lips were about to touch, her mom interrupted us.
“Hey kids!”She was getting out of her car with her boyfriend, and they stopped next to the bench.We separated and my heart sank when she kept talking, “Heading back to Grandma’s after lunch, okay Ellie.”Then she walked away from us and into the restaurant.
“Already?”I groaned.“I just got you back, I don’t want you to go yet.”
“I know, this sucks.”And I immediately decided that I wasn’t going to tell her about the trouble I had gotten into.I didn’t want to turn this into a pity party when I only have an hour, tops, left with her.She reached up and kissed me on the cheek and started to tell me about her plans for ninth grade and we continued our easy back and forth conversation while I waited for the next perfect moment to arrive so I could leave her with her first kiss.
Unfortunately for me, Steff came out with Ryan and plopped down next to us on the bench to go on about how they were going to miss her.I tried to give them my bestgo awayglare, but they weren’t taking the hint and next thing we knew, everyone was coming out of the restaurant, ready to head out.Steff told me she was giving me a ride home and I reluctantly stood up, pulling Ellie’s hand with me.
I walked with her to the rental car her mom drove in and held the door open for her.We stood there, not sure how to say goodbye, my arm resting on the doorframe, looking into her eyes.I could see she was nervous because everyone was watching, and thiswasn’tthe perfect kiss that I wanted to leave her with.She silently mouthedgoodbyeand gave me the softest peck on the corner of my mouth.It wasn’t the kind of kiss I wanted but it still sent sparks flying through my entire body.I smiled and whispered back to her “Bye.”
Chapter Ten
ELLIE
19 years earlier
I was heartbroken that I didn’t get to see Lee for more than a couple hours overthe summer.My friends thought I was being over dramatic with how sad I was, like I hardly know this guy so it shouldn’t matter so much.
But I did know him.
And he knew me.
We continued to write back and forth over the rest of the summer, and he promised he would still write to me once school started.We also tried to call each other as much as possible.