The Ride of My Life (an Ansel Elgort story)

Chapter 12

Lucy's POV:

I pull my car into my driveway with Ansel's car following behind. I don't know what to expect. Normally I don't bring guys home.

We both get out of our cars, "Ready?" I ask Ansel.

"I was born ready." He says, confidently. We walk into the house through the garage.

I am immediately hit with the smell of chocolate chip cookies. My mom must have gotten my message. Maybe, but she just loves to bake anyway.

"Hello!!!" My mom calls in a sing-song voice. She comes over and extends her arms out to Ansel.

Another thing my mom loves doing is pretending that's she's ACTUALLY interested in my life.

"I'm Deborah! Debbie for short. You must be Lucy's friend?" She says, greeted with a large grin.

"I'm Ansel. It's nice to meet you, ma'am."

"Make yourself at home, Ansel." she says, still smiling. Ansel turns towards me and my mom mouths the words 'he's cute!' to me.

I roll my eyes at my mom, then I take Ansel's wrist and lead him towards the stairs. We walk up the stairs and down the hall to my room. Luckily it's clean. Usually it's like a tornado zone.

"Here's my room, uh, yeah. Don't worry. I didn't bring you up here to do anything sexual. I just wanted to grab a few things."

"Cute cat." Ansel says, as he picks up my kitten, Gus, off of my bed. Gus is a fluffy, white, Persian cat. "Quite possibly the cutest I've ever seen." Ansel says. I'm not used to hearing guys say 'cute'. I like it.

"Only the cutest here at casa de Taylor." I say, showing off some of my very limited Spanish skills. " So, you wanna play a board game?" I ask. I'm not the best hostess in the world.

Ansel accepts my offer and we decide to play Monopoly. Classic.

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Ansel's POV

I was shocked when Lucy asked me to come to her house, yet here I am, sitting on the floor with this beautiful girl playing an endless board game. This is the one time where I actually hope Monopoly goes on forever and ever.

I take the silence as an opportunity to get to know her better. If I really like her like I think I do, I need to know her backstory.

"So, what's your family like?" I ask. I've been here for a few hours and only seen her mother.

"Well, I have two older brothers. Brandon and Daniel. Brandon is a smartass know-it-all and Daniel is my favorite. But I haven't seen him in over a year." I can see the hurt in her eyes, but I can tell she wants to talk about it.

"Oh?" Is all I can think to say.

"He's in the military. He's been deployed since last April. I'm hoping he comes home this summer." She pauses, trying to find the words to say. "It's just hard, you know? Being so close with someone and then one day they're just not around. We have such a good relationship and it kind of got ripped away." Her eyes look like they're on the brink of crying, so I try to shift the subject.

"And what about your dad?" I ask.

"Oh. Well, he's somewhere in Asia at the moment. He's a pilot."

"That's really cool. You have an interesting family. I can't wait to meet them all, if you keep me around long enough." I give her a wink and a sweet smirk. She responds to the gesture with a shy smile. God, she's adorable.

Lucy's POV

After nearly 2 hours of getting thrown in and out of jail, and pointlessly going round and round a board; Ansel finally went bankrupt, leaving me crowned as the winner.

Part of me believes he let me win, I guess we'll never know.

"I declare a rematch!" Ansel says, fake-pouting.

"Next time you have a spare hour or two, its a deal." I tell him, yawning.

I look at the time on my phone and find out that it's already 9 o'clock. Where did the time go? And why am I already so tired?

"Okay, stick with your word. I'll study up on good Monopoly techniques and I'll come out as a champion next time!" Ansel tells me. "I need to get home. My parents are wondering where I am. I'll take a raincheck on that movie?"

We both stand up and I walk him to the door. We step outside for some privacy.

"Sorry you couldn't meet my brother. He's really a huge delight." I say with a sarcastic tone.

"Well, hopefully I'll have another opportunity, very soon."

Before I know it, Ansel is leaning down and pressing his soft lips to mine. It takes me a minute to realize what's going on. By the time my body responds, the kiss is already over. But boy, was it magical.

"I had a lot of fun today. Goodnight, Lucy." He walks down the steps and to his car.

"Goodnight, Ansel." I say, to myself.

I go back inside and lean against the door. My body is filled with warmth as I touch my lips, his kiss still lingering on them.