The Art of Loving

[35] English?

Ellie and Brian helped her parents get a few small things ready before everything was set and the two of them decided to wait in the garden until the first guests would arrive. Brian wasn't calm, even though he tried, but anyone could see that with the way he was fidgeting in the chair. Ellie was nervous too, but for a totally different reason. She had her legs crossed and was holding Brian's hand, taking a deep breath.

"Hey, you know that if you're really not comfortable and would rather get away we can always go down to the beach for a while. My parents would understand and I wouldn't have a problem with that either," she told him quietly.

Brian nodded. "I appreciate that. I might take you up on that offer." He took a deep breath, intertwining their fingers. "What else are we going to do in the time that we have left here?"

"Well tomorrow we're going to Aberdeen, we're staying with Henry and Betty and then Monday we're driving into the Highlands... we're not really in a rush to get back if I'm honest, technically we could just go camping for the rest of the week but I thought that if we come back Wednesday that will give us enough time for everything. Depending on when we get back we might either have to stay in Aberdeen for another night or we can come back here in the evening, and then we can just see. There's always a castle somewhere that you haven't been to, so we can do things like that if you want. Or we could drive down to Edinburgh for a day," she listed everything that came to her mind.

"We're going back home Saturday, right?"

"Yeah," Ellie confirmed. "Time here always passes so quickly.."

"Would you rather we don't travel as much and spend more time with your family?" He asked quietly. "I'd be fine with that, I don't have to go see Loch Ness or anything."

"No, no, that wouldn't be fair, just making you sit around here. My parents have to work during the week anyway, and so does Henry, so it's not about that. It's just that... I don't know. You can go see your parents for a day without problems, but for me it's always quite a trip. I don't know... I'll be fine, I always am. The good thing is that I have you now, that helps... a lot. I'll be fine. I'm looking forward to going back too, it will be good to properly catch up with Mary. I hope things are happening with her and Freddie. It'll be weird not having Lynn there anymore though."

"Yes, I can imagine. I mean, we have to find a new bassist somehow...," Brian said.

"Oh yeah I forgot about that. See, it helps that things are happening in London too. I do live there, but it's nice to come back here for a few weeks during the year."

"I can imagine, yes. We'll be fine."

"I also have to come up with a topic for my thesis somehow... that will be quite a task for the last weeks of summer break," Ellie reminded him.

"Oh yeah, that's true. Well, if you need inspiration or help, let me know. I like photography as well so I'm sure together we can come up with something," he suggested.

"That actually sounds like a very good idea, yes. That might be fun. Are you just thinking about Stereoscopy or do you have anything else in mind?" She asked, crossing her legs.

"Well Stereoscopy is always a good option, but maybe you could also do a joint project with me in Astrophotography? I know we're always looking for good methods to take photos of what we observe, but there's still lots of room for improvement. It's not related to what I do for my thesis but maybe I can talk to my professors and see if something could be arranged."

"Mhm, that sounds interesting," Ellie said. "I'm going to keep that in mind, definitely. That could be fun, even though it sounds hard. I'll see what my supervisor has to say to that, I meet with him on the 31st."