ELECTRIC FEEL ↝ Schmidt

CHAPTER NINE

"SHOULD WE TALK about the fact that you saw me naked?"

Schmidt's words caused Elise's head to snap to his direction with blush already creeping up to her cheeks and turning them evidently red under the dim lights in the room. The place was crowded, and so far all Elise had been able to do was slightly regret saying yes to Schmidt and agreeing to go on the roller coaster of emotions, and when she wasn't thinking about that, she was worrying about all the people she was surrounded by. She hadn't expected this many to attend the party, but obviously she had been wrong, and the amount of strangers caused her to fear and suffocate, and end up sitting by the table in the corner.

Schmidt grinned, and took a seat next to Elise, who shrugged lightly and looked down into her glass of ice water, with a straw she kept on swirling around to draw her mind away from the panic taking over her thoughts. "Or we could just pretend it never happened?", Elise suggested bravely, and looked up at Schmidt again, who smiled and burst into a fond laughter. However, it wasn't the kind of laughter that frightened Elise, it was the exact opposite. It was calming, adorable, and made it impossible for her to not smile widely at the sound that was slowly becoming her favorite one.

"Yeah, that sounds good too", Schmidt smiled, and took a sip of his own drink whilst the both of them started to look around for no proper reason, but to avoid eye contact with each other perhaps. The silence lasted for a while, but before it crossed the line between reasonable and awkward, Schmidt cleared his throat to get Elise's attention again. "Thank you, Elise, really. This means a lot to me. I hope you're having a good time too, and not just thinking I'm using you", he explained, and the woman shivered at the undeniable kindness in his tone. He seemed like such a vain, cocky man on the outside, but there was no denying the fondness in his eyes, which frankly, made Elise glad that she was sitting down.

The truth was, Elise wasn't enjoying herself very much, but that wasn't Schmidt's fault. It was because she wasn't used to socializing, nor comfortable with big crowds, but just to make Schmidt happy and keep that smile on his face strong and bright, Elise smiled as well, and nodded to assure that she was indeed having fun. She wasn't a fan of lying, but sometimes a little white lie was better than the brutal truth, and after all, she was an expert at hiding her feelings, and therefore she didn't feel too guilty doing so.

"Okay, I'm going to go and talk to some people. Want to come with?", Schmidt asked with an enthusiastic smile, and even though Elise felt somewhat bad for refusing, she shook her head, but kept the kind smile on her lips. Once she had insisted on being more comfortable sitting aside, Schmidt nodded and disappeared into the crowd — but not before he had placed a quick, gentle kiss on Elise's cheek, a gesture that left them both in shock and surprised. He just couldn't help it, it came so naturally. Both of them tried to ignore it, and not overthink it, but honestly, neither knew for sure whether it was out of the pure desire to do so, or merely for the pretentious relationship of theirs.

Elise sighed, and when she tried to ignore the kiss she could still feel lingering on her cheek, she remembered how out of place she was, surrounded by all those people. Just seeing them all move, it stressed her out and she felt certainly uneasy, but for Schmidt, she sucked it up and dealt with it. She found comfort in drinking, though nothing alcoholic, only water or the occasional soda, but somehow the refreshing drinks calmed her down and for a second, she could close her eyes and enjoy. Evidently, the constant drinking eventually led into the need of using the bathroom, and sighing, Elise stood up and shrugged at the realization that no one probably noticed her anyway.

Except for Schmidt. Schmidt noticed her, in fact, he had been watching her the entire time he didn't spend by her side, and could tell that she was uncomfortable and struggling to be in the party. As soon as she got up and left for the bathroom, Schmidt sighed and excused himself from the company of a few co-workers, and walked over to the DJ to do something he had never thought he would, but he needed to fix the mess he had unknowingly created.