ELECTRIC FEEL ↝ Schmidt

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

AFTER THANKSGIVING WITH Jess's parents and Big Schmidt, Elise was drained, mostly mentally. She needed her alone time, her peace and quiet, but living with so many people and keeping up a shop didn't exactly bring her the break she needed once in a while — but once Thanksgiving was over, and everyone went back to work, Elise happened to have a day-off due to Comic Planet being closed for the day, and she was going to enjoy the freedom she had to herself as well as only possible. Yes, she was a fan of peace and spending the day under several blankets with her laptop by her side, but there was that flipside of her, which enjoyed rock music profoundly.

  And in Elise's opinion, there was no better way to kick off the morning she got to spend by herself than making some breakfast while dancing and lip syncing to her favorite rock songs, using her hairbrush a microphone, and that was exactly what she did. At 10 AM, she was fully awake and with her fluffy socks sliding her across the floor, she brought her laptop to the kitchen counter and started to blast Eye of the Tiger while the water for her tea boiled in the electric kettle. It was a routine she was beyond familiar with, just like the lyrics were, and she pretended to be a professional singer while dancing to the beat and waiting for her toast to pop up.

  By the second verse, Elise had her tea in a Moomin mug she had bought recently to celebrate the money she was earning with her store, and her toast ready and half-eaten, too. She would have never had the courage to put on such a show if someone was home, but since she had the loft all to herself, she made sure to dance on the couches and slide across the floor until she tripped, only to get up and pick up the fun where it left off. Once the tea was no longer hot, Elise could take a long sip whilst swaying her shoulders along the music, which changed from the Survivor song to the well-known Queens of the Stone Age hit.

  Elise was so happy, so confident in her peace, but much to her shock, that peace was disturbed and the image of being alone in the loft came shattering down as the door of Schmidt's bedroom opened. The worst part, she didn't even notice the man appearing at the doorway, from where he followed the woman's swaying from side to side, hair moving wildly in the air as she performed for no one but herself — or so she thought. She was standing on the couch, a wide smile on her lips until she turned around and saw Schmidt grinning at her, which startled her so terribly she lost her balance and with a shriek, poor Elise collapsed from the couch and fell onto the floor with a thud.

  "Goodness— Elise, are you okay?", Schmidt panicked and rushed to the woman, who rose from the floor with a groan and held her head in pain. Schmidt instantly, with no hesitation at all, pulled Elise to her arms and snapped his fingers in front of her eyes to earn her attention before proceeding to test her well-being, only to come to the conclusion that she was more than fine, though utterly mortified for being caught dancing and singing like that. And of all people, it had to be Schmidt who discovered her at her most embarrassing moment. She was usually shy and innocent and oh, so careful, but whenever she was alone and listened to music, it was quite different.

  "I'm okay. My dignity, however...", Elise muttered, and looked up into Schmidt's eyes, which caught her off-guard and caused her to shiver as their gazes met. She blushed faintly whilst looking into Schmidt's beautifully green eyes and understood that she was still on his arms, like a damsel in distress and her arms had ended up around his neck. Schmidt broke into a smile, and helped the woman to her feet before offering her the tea mug she had completely forgotten, along with her own name during the intent eye contact she could never get enough of.

  "Ah, c'mon, Ellie. That was adorable. Next time, make sure to invite me to this dance party with you", Schmidt winked, making Elise blush heavily and in order to hide her face, she took a big gulp of the warm tea and pretended like she wasn't an awkward mess. Which she, with no shadow of a doubt, was.