After telling Elija I’m sure he should come to my place, I grab his wrist, catching myself too late to pull back again. With the intention of not making more of a fool out of myself, I keep my hand where it is and gently start tugging him away. I’m really glad he could grab his backpack on our way to the door.
I pretty much speed walk out of the building and towards the parking lot, scared my hand will grow clammy and nasty. When we finally reach my Vespa, I hand him my helmet. It’s cute how he tries to fight me on the topic, insisting I need it more if we fall. In the end, he doesn’t stand a chance of winning the argument. I’m my parents’ daughter after all.
‘Why am I not surprised it’s mint-colored?’
‘What’s wrong with it?’ I ask him, trying to see what he does when he looks at my baby.
‘Nothing’s wrong with it. It suits you.’ I decide to believe his comment is meant well judging from the genuine smile on his lips.
‘Get on first. You can place your feet here,’ I instruct him before sitting down in front of him. ‘Just hold on tight, okay?’ I don’t hear his response over my heart pounding in my ears but his strong arms wrap around my waist from behind. After being too distracted to move for a second, Elija speaks up.
‘Any moment now,’ he teases me. What he didn’t anticipate was that feeling his warm breath fanning against my neck wouldn’t do anything for my concentration.
I pull myself together and start driving home. As soon as I gain speed and the warm air turns to a cool wind, I’m able to relax. It’s always been like this. No matter how stressed I am, one minute on my scooter and I feel better.
I tilt my head back slightly, still watching the road but relishing in the feeling to drive without a helmet for once. I’m always responsible when it comes to that but I have to admit driving like this with a cute guy at my back awakes so much adrenalin I feel like I’m floating.
‘Easy, there. If you go any faster, it’ll get expensive.’ Elija laughs behind me so I slow down a bit.
‘Sorry,’ I yell back, only partly meaning it.
We arrive at my place way too soon and I lead him into my room after putting my Vespa in the garage.
‘Are your parents not home?’ he asks me while scanning my room. I’m suddenly glad I always keep my room clean.
‘Nope, they’re in the Bahamas. They take small vacations about once a month.’ I sit down on my bed and watch him look at the ripped-out book pages on my wall. Relax, I bought second-hand’s in bad conditions to do it. I’m not a monster.
‘They just left you behind to fend for yourself, huh?’ he says it so lightly I feel silly for taking it personally. Truth is, I do feel like they abandon me sometimes. Like they jump at any chance to get as far away from me as possible.
Not wanting to let Elija know he hit a soft spot, I take extra care to keep my smile in place. I’d say he’s quite perceptive since he was the only one that could tell I hurt my shoulder a week ago.
‘Yes, my life is truly challenging,’ I swoon dramatically and get to enjoy his soft laughter in return.
‘So no siblings?’ he asks me as he moves on to check out the pictures and plants on my desk.
‘Nope. What about you?’
‘Three. One older brother, Kai, and two younger siblings, Daniel and May.’ There’s an easy smile resting on his face and I’m embarrassed to admit it evokes envy inside of me. I wonder what it would have been like to grow up with siblings. Maybe my parents would have stuck around more.
‘I’m sure you keep your parents on their toes,’ I say lightly. Elija seems to be done examining the room and sits down on my chair. He looks comfortable in my space, almost natural even though he sticks out like a sore thumb with his black clothes and chains amongst all the green and white.
‘My brother and I help a lot with the twins. They’re from my mom’s current marriage and just turned five,’ he explains. I find myself taking in every word he’s saying, making sure I remember all the new information for later. I can’t believe I’ve known so little about him and here we are, hanging out like friends.
‘That’s really nice of you.’ We smile at each other for a beat.
‘Do you want to watch a movie?’ he suddenly asks. I consider telling him he’d miss his next bus if we did that but decide against it. I’m fairly sure he’s aware of that.
‘Sure, your pick,’ I tell him.
‘Mhh. What about Harry Potter? Judging by those pictures over there, I’d say you like it.’ He points at the small display of Harry Potter-related things on top of my desk extension and I beam at him.
‘Lucky guess,’ I tell him before patting the bed next to me. I’m already sitting at the far edge so I hope it’s not inappropriate. ‘You can sit down if you want.’ My TV is placed opposite my bed so it’s the most comfortable way to watch a movie from here.
Elija sits down where I pointed, looking a lot less flustered than I. Maybe this is a regular thing for him? Hanging out on girls’ beds. I don’t like the sound of that.
‘Which one’s it going to be?’ he asks once he’s settled, turning my way. I seriously need to get my heartrate down before it explodes.
‘You’ve made the best-possible choice once, you can’t go wrong from here on.’ He seems to think about it.
‘How about we start with the first one?’ No because this can’t be good for my health. He was just suggesting we’d do this again sometime, wasn’t he? My cheeks are starting to hurt because of the constant grin I’m entertaining.
Without another word, I pick up my remote control and put on the movie. Thanks, Netflix, for taking it on. As soon as Dumbledore appears on the screen, a sweet, familiar homesickness of the best kind settles in my chest. I should probably not still be this obsessed with it considering I’d be of age and in my last year at Hogwarts by now. It doesn’t matter, apparently, since I’m this close to squealing.
You can’t see it put I’m mentally holding two fingers really close together.
When the characters on screen start talking, I bite down on my cheek so I don’t speak along. I usually watch these movies alone and have long since learned most of the dialogues by heart. That means I always act the scenes out as they play.
I won’t allow myself to do that in front of Elija. He’d probably get sick of this whole idea before I could say ‘bloody hell’ and I don’t want to annoy him.
‘You okay?’ the guy beside me asks, capturing my attention again.
‘Yeah, why?’ I laugh. He points at my leg, which is bouncing even more than usual. I force it to a stop as my cheeks heat up and smile at him.
‘Sorry.’ After a lingering look on me, like he couldn’t decide what to think, he goes back to watching Harry at the zoo.
Minutes of chewing on my bottom lip pass until I a sudden warmth settles just above my knee. I look down at where Elija’s hand covers my pants in awe before turning to face him.
‘Better,’ he says softly and I notice the bouncing has stopped again. ‘Are you going to tell me why you’re so fidgety now?’ Suddenly, Harry Potter is reduced to nothing more but background noise.
‘I really like the movies,’ I tell him slowly. He looks at me as if that explained nothing. ‘You’re going to think I’m the biggest nerd,’ I groan.
‘Yeah? Try me.’ My mouth falls open.
‘Was that just? Did you just quote Harry?’ I ask, baffled. Elija simply smiles at me, a dimple appearing in his right cheek, while I compose myself. ‘I’m trying not to spoil the movie with my babbling,’ I finally say.
‘So what you’re saying is that you’re trying not to behave like a babbling, bumbling band of baboons?’ I can’t help it, I burst out laughing. After softly laughing along, he adds, ‘What babbling, Florence?’
‘I usually speak along,’ I say silently, hoping he won’t hear. He does hear. And he chuckles.
‘Speak along all you want. In case you haven’t noticed, this isn’t my first time watching the movies. Besides, I’d love nothing more than seeing you recite Hermione’s lines.’
‘Why hers?’ I ask easily. Elija simply studies me for a beat, smile still in place, before he shakes his head and looks back to the movie.
‘I’m eager for the show now. Go on.’ So I do.
