only fools fall for you [mileven]

7 - linger

I stare at Heather, and she bites her lip. 'So, uh, who are you?' she asks El.

El looks up, first at me, then at her. I swallow. 'El's my friend,' I say.

Heather crosses her arms. 'So, Mike. Do you want to hang out? Maybe take a walk, get some food or maybe just hang out in your house?'

'Uh,' I stutter, looking at El. 'I'm already with someone. You could come inside, but I don't really know.'

She scoffs. 'Never mind. Another time?'

I get flustered and shut the door. El stares at me. 'Mouth breather?' she asks.

I shrug. 'Maybe, El.'

El and I sit in the basement and suddenly she stands up. 'Can we do something?'

'Sure, what do you want to do?' I ask.

'I want to draw,' she says, pointing to the pencils on the shelf.

I nod, standing up. 'Then let's draw.'

I set out everything, and El sits down in front of a piece of paper and picks up a purple pencil. She starts drawing, holding the pencil in an odd way, and I try to see who it is.

'Who are you drawing?' I ask, leaning over.

She smiles at me. 'It's you.'

I look at her picture, and it's of a stick figure boy with scribbly black hair and a smiling face. A smile creeps over my face as I look at it. 'Here, hold the pencil like this,' I say, moving her fingers around. She nods, and continues drawing.

I sit down and pick up the blue pencil. Then I start to draw her. I draw her head first, with her short curly hair and her big eyes, going onto the flowy blue dress she's wearing.

El stands up suddenly and walks over to me, kneeling down, her face level with mine.

'El?' I ask. She smiles and leans forward, her lips touching mine. This is longer than our first kiss, much longer now that I think about it. It lingers even after she pulls away.

But it couldn't be any more perfect.