Chapter 35

I glanced down at my watch as I stood outside of Elizabeth's front door.

I was already ten minutes late picking her up, thanks to my sister suddenly demanding a ride to a sleepover, and I really hoped Elizabeth wasn't too mad.

It was a Tuesday night for goodness sakes, why was Chloe sleeping out?

I knocked again, a frown forming on my face.

The door opened immediately and Mrs. Von Batton stood there with a confused look on her face. Her face was blotchy and her eyes were shimmering.

"Charlie! Hi!" She forced a smile. "What can we do for you?"

"Uh, is everything alright?" I asked carefully, sticking my hands in my pockets.

"Just wonderful." Mrs. Von Batton said with a sigh. "I uh... Nothing to worry about."

"Is Elizabeth here? We have reservations at 7:30." I frowned, shifting my weight on my feet.

Mrs. Von Batton looked confused for a minute.

"She uh... Honey I'm sorry I think she forgot, it's been a tense few hours here." Mrs. Von batton said quietly. "But you can go on upstairs if you want. She's uh... I'm sure she'd love to see you."

I frowned, stepping past her as I walked inside.

What was going on?

I took the stairs two at a time and walked into her room without knocking.

"Mom go away I said I don't want to talk about it." Elizabeth called from the bathroom.

"I'm not your mom." I laughed, shutting the door behind me.

"Shit I know I'm running late!" Elizabeth called. "It has been chaotic here I'll explain everything over dinner!"

"No worries. Are you alright?" I asked curiously, staying at the door.

"Just spectacular." Elizabeth replied sarcastically, turning off the bathroom light.

She walked out of the bathroom and I swear my heart almost stopped.

"Holy shit." I whispered, crossing my arms as I took in the sight of my beautiful girlfriend.

Her hair was straightened, reaching all the way down her back. She was wearing white skinny jeans and a black tank top, with black heels on.

"You're gorgeous." I shook my head, walking towards her.

"Thanks." She grinned, leaning up to kiss my cheek before walking over to grab her purse. "Ready?"

"Is everything okay? Your mom seemed pretty upset." I frowned as I followed her out of the room.

"Yeah well that's just her being a drama queen." Elizabeth gave me an annoyed smile as we walked down the stairs. "BYE MOM!" She called.

She pulled me out of the front door before we even heard the response.

"Okay what's going on? Why is it a fucking ice box in your house?" I asked quietly as we walked towards the car.

"Can we just drop it until we get to dinner, please? I need food in my stomach before I talk about this..." Elizabeth pleaded.

I bit back what I was going to say as I opened her door for her.

Elizabeth sighed, pressing a soft kiss to my cheek.

"Thanks." She muttered, getting into the car.

The drive to the restaurant was tense and Elizabeth didn't say much.

But as we walked in, she took my hand in hers and seemed to relax a little bit.

I pressed a kiss to the side of her head before we followed the waiter to our table and Elizabeth gave me a smile.

Once we had a spinach artichoke dip appetizer on the table in front of us and our meals were ordered, Elizabeth looked much more comfortable with herself.

"So, the big bomb that my mother dropped on the family today." Elizabeth sighed, scooping a huge goop of the dip onto a pita chip.

"Explain." I laughed, a smile crossing my face as she ate the food.

She was absolutely adorable.

"They found a birth mom.The baby is due in 6 weeks." Elizabeth sighed, looking down at her plate.

"Well how is that a bad thing?" I frowned. "I mean, we knew it was going to happen..."

"Yeah but not that soon. I thought I'd at least be graduated by then. They always tells us how it took almost a year for them to get us." Elizabeth shrugged. "It's probably just me overreacting, I dunno."

"Well let's be more positive, yeah? This Friday is the second most important game of the season." I grinned, reaching across the table for her hands. "We win, we go to states."

Elizabeth laughed, shaking her head. "That's all you boys think about isn't it?"

"Oh don't deny it, your mind is obsessed with it too." I gave her a look.

Elizabeth's face spread into a grin and she shrugged.

"So? Maybe?"

"What's going on here?" Someone said quietly, appearing over our table.

We both looked up in shock and I quickly pulled my hands away from Elizabeth's at the sight of Coach Turner with his arms crossed and a frown on his face.

"We were just talking about this Friday's game actually." Elizabeth said quickly.

"Just hanging out, you know, just uh... Casually..."

"Do you know how unhealthy this is?" Coach Turner frowned, pointing to the remnants of the spinach and artichoke dip. "The creamy sauce they use is not a diet for a state athlete." He shook his head.

"S-sorry." I mumbled.

"You should be. We'll go over diet tomorrow at practice, gosh." Coach Turner shook his head, stepping backwards. "I expect both of you to be eating salads with lots of protein for dinner." He gave us a look before walking back over to his table with his wife.

Elizabeth and I looked at each other in shock.

"That's what he chooses to ridicule us about?" Elizabeth laughed. "Not the fact that we're blatantly on a date and he's sketch about us already?"

"Hey, just go with it." I grinned, taking her hands in mine again.

Elizabeth sighed, brushing her foot against my leg underneath the table.

"You're really cool, you know that?" Elizabeth whispered.

I took a deep breath.

"Likewise, gorgeous..."

Elizabeth sighed, leaning back in her chair.

"So I'm going home to New Jersey for a few days next week..." Elizabeth said casually, reaching for her water.

"Oh?" I raised my eyebrows.

"I dunno I haven't been home in a while and I'm really not having the best time here." She said softly.

"Oh?" I repeated, leaning back in my chair. "You're not?"

Elizabeth winced, resting her elbows on the table.

"It's a shitty thing to say, I know, but I really miss home. Life here just... It's not the same and I miss my friends."

I know I should be telling her that I understand but honestly, I was offended.

What about me?

"Well." I said softly, scratching the back of my head. "Alright then."

"And I know it will be a lot to take off of school and Coach Turner probably wouldn't be too happy with two people missing so much practice right before States, if we make it past this Friday, but we have an off week next week and I dunno, I'd really like you to see where I'm from." Elizabeth shrugged, scanning my face.

Wait, what?

I opened my mouth to reply but then quickly shut it.

"What do you say? I'll pay for your plane ticket and stuff. We'd be staying with my grandparents because we sold the house there but they're super chill." Elizabeth said quietly, brushing her foot against my leg again. "Please?"

"You're asking me to go across the country with you?"

"Yes." Elizabeth nodded confidently. "What do you say?"

I raised my eyebrows, glancing over at Coach Turner across the restaurant.

Would he let me go?

"I'll have to ask..." I laughed, shaking my head. "But I mean yeah, that actually sounds really fun." I grinned.

"Your parents? Okay so like you'll probably think I'm hella weird but the other day when we were at your house and then you went to shower, I was chatting with Joseph and Nora and-"

"You're on a first name basis with them?" My eyes widened.

"Oh, yeah, we're tight." Elizabeth brushed it off. "But they were totally on board with you coming with me if you were up for it. Charlie, your parents love me."

"Do they really?" I asked quietly. "I guess I haven't talked to them much lately. Between you and football I've been kept easy."

"But yeah, they're totally chill." Elizabeth grinned. "So what do you say?"

"Well I had no doubt that they'd be okay with it. I'm talking about the other guy who runs my life." I winced, glancing over at Coach again.

Elizabeth's face grew serious and she leaned forwards slightly.

"God?" She whispered, her eyebrows pulling together.

I couldn't help but let out a laugh at how concerned she looked.

"No." I whispered with a laugh. "I'm talking about Coach Turner."

"Oh." Elizabeth laughed, leaning back in her seat. "Yeah, that's the only thing stopping you, I guess."

"I'm sure I can work on him... And if my dad's okay with it..." I frowned, trying to gage how hard it would actually be. "I dunno. On one hand, Coach Turner usually goes with whatever my dad says because he's the booster president... But on the other hand... I don't think he'd be okay with his quarterback going all the way across the country with a girl, the weekend before States."

"Well it's not like we'd be drinking or anything." Elizabeth frowned.

"We wouldn't?" I raised my eyebrows.

Elizabeth laughed. "No, Charlie, even I'm not dumb enough to get obliterated the weekend before States."

"Okay, okay good." I nodded, running my hand through my hair. "Okay, well let's wait to ask Coach until the weekend... That way, either I totally kick ass on Friday and he loves me, or we lose and there's no reason for him to be in charge of me anymore."

"Let's hope for the former."

"Yes, let's." 

--------

3:00am and I am HYPE AF thank you caffeine !!!

-E xx