An Endless Serenade

Chapter Twenty Seven

First off, sorry for the long absence! It's been awhile so my writing is bound to be out-of-date and crappy and everyone a little OoC. Please forgive me! I need to get back into the swing of things :c

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"I can't believe we're actually wearing matching shirts," I said in disbelief, staring at Paul as he came downstairs into the kitchen.

It hadn't even been on purpose either. I'd decided to wear maroon long sleeve tee because it matched well with my hair. And somehow Paul had managed to dig out a shirt I'd never seen him wear before that was the exact same shade. The only difference was that my shirt had a mesh back and his was short-sleeved. But still, close enough.

"Can we take a picture?" he asked excitedly.

"No."

He pouted. "You're no fun."

I rolled my eyes at him. "I said we shouldn't match. Elliot's going to hate us. I can't believe you invited him to be a third wheel."

"No way! He's going to love us. I invited Aspen too."

I raised an eyebrow. "She said she had a date."

"Fortunately for us when I texted her this morning her date had cancelled on her," he responded happily. "So now it's a double date."

"Wait, wait, how do you even have her number?"

He gave me a mysterious smile. "I don't know..."

"Did you go through my phone?" I accused.

"For good reason!"

Puffing my cheeks, I turned my back on him. "You better have something good planned for today."

"I do!" he said. Shuffling his feet he sighed. "I know Elliot means a lot to you, Allie. I didn't invite him along because I didn't want to spend the day alone with you. I just thought you'd want Elliot to have someone to spend time with."

Twisting back around, I walked straight up to Paul, wrapping my arms around him and giving him a tight hug. Of course that would be what he was thinking. Was I coming off as angry? "You're the best," I assured him.

He rubbed my back. "I try to be."

"You're right. It would suck for Elliot to be alone today. I'm glad you're forcing him to hang out with us."

Taking my hand, he snatched his keys off the table. "It'll be fun. I just hope no one breaks anything..."

His comment made me nervous. Break something? "What exactly are we doing today?"

"You'll see," he said in a sing-song voice.

Unsurprisingly for a February day, it was freezing outside. I'd bundled up in a peacoat and a scarf, blinking rapidly to keep my eyes from watering due to the dry air. Paul, being the great man he was, thought ahead to preheat the car.

"You're a saint," I said, sliding into the passenger's seat and into the warmth coming from the car vents.

"You're just easily pleased," he replied.

Amazingly, Elliot was waiting outside for us when we arrived at his house. I'd thought we'd have to drag him out kicking and screaming. He stood hunched over, obviously freezing even though he was all bundled up. It was still a little weird seeing him wearing street clothes instead of the school uniform, but he looked good in whatever he wore. I unlocked the doors as he waddled over to the car. Once he got in and I turned around to grin at him. "Happy Valentine's Day!"