Patrick

Basketball is tiring, but with Drew it always is. By the end of two games with him I'm sweating from head to toe, my tank top soaked with sweat lying on the ground. I grab my water bottle that's on the bench beside the court and let the liquid gratefully start to somewhat cool my body down as Drew does the same thing. I'm not sure what time it is, but I need to leave soon so I can go see Ella. I'm also not sure how it's humanly possible for someone to miss someone else when they've only been apart for like two hours.

My phone on the bleacher lights up from a text, Drew peering over at it before I snatch it away and shove it into the pocket of my basketball shorts. The guilt that I'm trying not to feel is overpowering me, slowly seeping into every possible crack of my being.

"Do you know Casey Walker?" He asks me, a slight smirk forming onto his face. I thought he was going to bring up the text, but I'm thankful he ignores it.

"Uh, yeah. I think so." I reply, trying to scan my brain for a connection. "Wasn't she in our homeroom last year?"

"Yeah. The other night Rosie brought her over to my house to chill, and she may or may not have said that she's interested in you."

"Casey?" I ask, furrowing my eyebrows together. "Isn't she dating Cameron?"

"Was." He smirks again. "I guess they broke up last month. I told her I'd see if I could set something up."

My heart plummets down into my stomach, the bile automatically rising into my throat. I don't know what I'm going to say to get out of this. I should just tell him that I'm dating Ella. I should just tell him that I already have someone and that I'm so happy. It doesn't seem to come out though. I just continue to bounce the basketball with one hand while I wipe sweat from my forehead with the other one.

"She's not really my type." I decide to say, shrugging my shoulders as if I could care less. "I'm good."

"Casey?" He asks again, letting out a laugh of disbelief. He stands up and takes the ball back from me, running over to the court so he can attempt to make a lay-up. He misses. "How is she not your type? She's a cheerleader. She's sexy as fuck. What isn't there to like? Hell, I'd kill to have a shot with her."

He passes the ball to me as I shoot from the three-pointer line, the ball going into the net with a clean swoosh. When he goes to retrieve it I roll my eyes so he can't see and wipe the backs of my shoes off with my hands. It doesn't surprise me though that he's this immature. He's always been like this. It's comical to me that the only thing he thinks a girl can have to her is a nice body and a good social status. What a loser.

When he notices I still haven't said anything he widens his eyes towards me, passing me the ball again. "Well?" He asks.

"I said I'm good." I laugh again to act like I don't care when in reality I want more than anything for him to shut up and leave it alone. My phone buzzes again in my pocket, and when I pull it out to check it I see a text from Ella asking where I am. That's when I realize I'm already fifteen minutes late.

"Shit." I mutter, picking up my tank top from the gym floor. "I gotta go."

"Why?" Drew asks, his face scrunching up in confusion. "You don't wanna play three? We always do."

"I just can't. My mom wants me home."

Why am I lying? Why can't I just look Drew in the eyes and tell him I'm dating Ella and that I don't care what he thinks about it? It's like I'm scared to tell him, but in some ways I am. I just know that when I do tell him, he'll tell everyone else and they will never stop making fun of me. I know that's horrible for me to care, but I do. I shouldn't care, but being made fun of my last year in high school isn't something I want. I don't want to lose Ella either, but it's like I can't grow the balls to say anything. That hurts me just as much as I know it's going to hurt her if she ever finds out.

"Are you sure this is about your mom? Is it about someone else?" He sits down onto the bench and looks up at me as he grabs a towel and begins to run it through his hair. I don't know what to say to him at first. I just stand here like an idiot and breathe heavily from being so tired, beginning to run a towel through my hair as well when he passes one over to me. I know Ella is probably going to be mad at me, but right now I need to get my shit figured out.

"No, it's not about someone else." I finally decide to say, lying through clenched teeth. "I don't have someone else."

"Bro, people talk you know. I'm just saying." He takes a swig of water before he tosses the bottle onto the bleachers, leaning forward so that his elbows can rest on his knees. I can tell by the way he's looking at me that he's about to say something cruel, the edge of his lip curled up like he's hiding something.

"I'm not with Ella." I seethe angrily. "I already told you that I'm just trying to be nice to her and show her around. Why does everyone automatically think I'm with her?"

"Because Jess saw you bring her flowers. I'm not a dating expert, but I'm pretty sure that's not exactly something that friends do for each other."

"I was being nice Drew. C'mon, you know I wouldn't go for a girl like her."

The lies that are coming out of my mouth right now are unreal and I'm the biggest asshole in the entire world. My fears are bigger than my mind right now though, and since I almost got caught I just had to make something up to try and make it less obvious. If Ella were here right now I know she would have been out that door and I would have lost her forever, but she won't find out about this conversation. I'll make sure of it.

"I didn't think you would, but I just didn't know." Drew replies. "Just figured I'd ask."

"Well I guess you've got your answer." I snap, grabbing my knapsack off of the bleachers. I swing it over my shoulder and toss the towel down beside him. "I'll see you later."

_________

By the time I arrive on her back porch I see her writing in her journal on her bed, a little lamp lit up right on her night stand. All I can make out is the faint glow of her porcelain-like skin; her curly hair falling just past her shoulders and her teeth biting on the tip of the pen. She usually waits outside for me, but I know that I'm late. I feel bad if I can be honest. I wouldn't doubt it if she's writing about how much she hates me. When she glances up from her journal and sees me outside of the door she gets this huge smile on her face though. Not what I was expecting at all.

"You showed up." She says when she opens the door. "I didn't think you would."

"Yeah, uh, sorry. The game with Drew ran over a little and I couldn't check my phone to see what-"

She's kissing me before I have the time to finish my sentence, which is also not what I was expecting to happen tonight. My hands try to pull her out towards the beach, but she pulls me into her room instead and we're on her bed in the matter of seconds. I'm trying to ignore the squeakiness of her bed, and also trying to ignore the fact that her grandparents are sleeping somewhere in this house, but I move my hands up her waist anyways and let her climb on top of me for the first time.

"Patrick, I have to tell you something." She says abruptly, hands on my chest.

Now I'm looking around the room and trying to gain focus so it can be on her and not what I want to do to her. I look at the seashells she collected as a little girl, the picture of her fishing with her grandpa; her hair tied up in pigtails with a gap between her two front teeth. I want to tell her how adorable she was as a kid. I love everything about her room and all of the little knick-knacks that surround it from her childhood. The only thing I don't like is that jewelry box with that damn picture of her and her father in it. That man makes me sick.

"I've just been thinking about everything..." She finally says. "You know, about you and I. I've thought a lot about it, and I just wanted to say thank you for sticking around and for proving me wrong. I've had the best summer of my life so far, and it sucks that I have to leave. I just want to say that I, um, I care about you. A lot."

As she's saying all of this to me I swear that the only thing I want to do is push her down onto this mattress and have the best sex I've ever had in my life. Instead though I smile so big and run my hands slightly up her waist. I suppose I should feel sappy or romantic, but what I want to feel is underneath a shirt right now unfortunately.

I reach up to put a strand of hair behind her ear. "Don't say thank you. I'm not doing this as a favor, okay? I don't want you thinking that I'm doing this because I feel sorry for you or something, because that's not it. I'm with you and I made you my girlfriend because I wanted to. You drive me crazy Ella Carson. Nothing is ever going to get in the way of us. Not five thousand miles, not my assholes of friends, not anything. Okay? Nothing."

I let out a breath I don't realize I'm holding in after I say that and just listen to the fan that is spinning in countless circles above the two of us. She's looking at me in an utter loss for words while I'm trying to keep my eyes from looking somewhere they shouldn't. I can't help it.

To give me an answer she doesn't speak to me; she just presses her lips to the side of my neck and begins to kiss me more than I ever could have imagined. Her hands run up my shirt and this time since she's on top there's no stopping her. The lust she's putting off awakens every nerve inside of my body until I can't help myself anymore. I move my hands up her shirt and grab what I've been wanting to all night, winning a moan from her lips in return. God, to hear that sound off of her lips all night would be a dream to me. To be able to sleep with Ella would be a complete fantasy.

"I'm going to miss you so much." She whispers. "I'm serious."

"Me too, El. But let's not focus on that right now, okay? Right now we're together and we can kiss all damn night if we want to. It's just you and I right now."

And then we go back to kissing until my hands start to reach places that she finally lets me reach, my heart feeling like it's going to explode out of my chest when she grasps me somewhere she never has, her confidence erupting off of her like no tomorrow.

"El, we need to stop." I say breathlessly. "I don't want to, and I'm not trying to be mean, but you know that we aren't going to finish what we're about to start. We just can't right now."

I watch her look at me for a couple of moments as if she's debating whether or not to go further with me, but eventually she just nods her head and stops kissing me. Her thighs are on either side of my body, and I thank God she doesn't move because I would have put her right back where she was.

"I'm not smothering you or anything, am I?" She asks.

"What? Ella, no. Don't move."

"I just feel like I'm suffocating you."

My fingers tighten around her waist when she tries to get off of me, so she just stays there and bites her bottom lip from being so nervous. She has no reason to be nervous because her being on top of me is probably one of the sexiest things ever. I wish she didn't have any clothes on at all, but this is good too. Just being able to stare at her like this is good.

"You're not suffocating me. I like you on top of me." I grab her hand with mine and entwine our fingers together, smiling at her in this sappy and in love kind of way. This girl seems to be my only way to escape everything. Away from the bullshit pressures of my classmates, away from the stupid girls who act dumb to get laid, away from the fears of college, away from the fear of not being good enough in basketball, just away from everything and anything. She takes me away from it all and I love her for that.

As I begin to let that sentence float around in my head I realize that explains exactly how I feel. It's like this huge wave of emotion just hits me out of nowhere. Never have I been in love with a girl before, and even though I've only known Ella for a month that's exactly how I feel. I love her. God, do I ever. I feel like climbing the highest mountain and screaming it at the top of my lungs where nobody except mother earth and nature can hear me. There's no way in hell I can ask her, or get up the courage to tell her, but I am more than one hundred percent certain that I'm in love with Ella Carson. 

A/N:

UGHHHHH 

I love them SO MUCH

I am SO excited to release the rest of this story to you guys!

You know the deal.. please VOTE AND COMMENT :)

The past few chapters haven't really gotten any comments, so that's kinda depressing 

Twitter: believeeexoxo

Instagram: deannafaison_