Hold Me While You Wait

6|can't go very far

can't go very far

Elis and Gray walked a little further away from the bonfire after the brief interaction with Gray's cousin, but not so further away that they were in the complete middle of the nowhere and potentially surrounded by bears.

Both girls were seated cross legged on the ground when Elis pulled out a pack of Marlboro's and a ligher from her back pocket. The note she slipped in earlier felt heavy in her jeans, digging into her skin and asking to be opened. But Elis didn't want to give in, not yet. She wished to have a night of solitude, a night without thinking of Bryson.

After pulling one out and sticking it between her lips, Elis held the box to the ginger girl next to her.

Gray grinned when she looked at the cigarettes Elis was offering, not wanting to admit out loud that she has never smoked a single thing in her life.

Instead, Gray unexpectedly grabbed the lighter from Elis's hand.

"You drag," the shorter girl said. "I light."

Elis looked at her with a lingering gaze that she didn't quite want to shift. And then she leaned forward, letting the smaller girl press her thumb against the button to ignite the small fire, lighting the cigarette balanced between Elis's teeth.

She then breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly, Elis pulling the lit stick from her lips and holding it in between her fingers.

"Let me guess," she began, ashing it onto the ground as she looked at Gray. "You've never smoked before, have ya?"

Gray could feel her cheeks reddening, and it was upon seeing her clearly innocent reaction that Elis couldn't help but let out a chuckle. "A sixteen year old who's never smoked? Unbelievable."

Gray suddenly became defensive, her eyes darting to Elis's determinedly. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"Not at all," the older girl took another drag, longer than the last. "I admire it, actually."

"You admire it?" Gray replied, playing with the hem of her yellow shirt. "Why?"

"I wish I was as innocent as you."

"I'm not as innocent as you think," the ginger girl's words were too quick that Elis thought that she might've taken offence. But Elis couldn't help the smirk that appeared on her face. She didn't want the other girl to feel uncomfortable, yet what would the harm in teasing her for a while be?

"So do you mind sharing what other non-innocent things you've done?" Saying that, Elis blew out some smoke and took another long drag.

"Well..." Gray trailed off, her nerves building up. She wasn't like her cousin Ev, who was clearly outgoing and extroverted, so the furthest she'd gone in the department of doing non-innocent things would be a silly, light hearted prank she helped organize against her mother, a few months ago.

"Well?"

Gray sighed dramatically, rolling her eyes at the girl next to her. "Okay. Fine," she sighed, holding her hand out to Elis. "Let me have it."

"This?" Elis pointed to the cigarette in her hand, and Gray nodded.

"I'd rather you not, actually," Elis disagreed. "This stuff fucks up your lungs."

"So then why do you have it?"

"For fun. I guess."

"So you're okay with it being detrimental to your health?"

Elis turned to look at the other girl, her grin widening as she took in her appearance. "I like your space buns, by the way."

Gray broke the gaze and laughed, her heart pulsating so hard against her chest that she thought she had a faulty valve and was in need of seeing a physician.

"Thanks. My little sister did them."

"You have a kid sister?" Elis asked, taking the last drag before throwing the small piece to the ground and crushing it under her shoe.

"Ev's sister, actually. She's eight."

"I seem to not know a lot about you," Elis said. "I want to ask you a question."

Gray felt intrigued, and she nodded at the older girl's request. "We can do that. Switch questions to each other."

Elis smiled before laying on her back. Her vision was now covered by the stars, and soon Gray followed her position.

Both girls were lying next to each other on the ground, both feeling the slight contact of when their arms would occasionally brush against each other.

"When did you first know about me?" Elis asked, thinking of almost two days ago when she saw Gray for the first time, seated around the dining table.

"My aunt told me about you the day you came back. And when she got a call from your mom a day after that, she persuaded me to come and meet you in person."

Elis nodded as she took in the ginger girl's answer. "Also," Elis said, "is Gray your actual name?"

Gray laughed. "All I have to say is that my full names are weird. They have a funny story to them. I don't even think you'll want to hear it."

"Actually I do." Elis smiled, internally admiring Gray's harmonious laughter.

"Okay. But please don't laugh or anything, I don't usually tell this to people," Gray was serious about her request but Elis couldn't help her laughter as she turned to her side, her arm unknowingly falling over the smaller girl's waist.

Gray's heart almost failed her when she took in the new positioning of Elis's arm, and a part of her wished she could stay like that for a really long time to come.

"I promise I won't. Now tell me."

"Okay," Gray was nervous before but she felt the tingles deep in her gut now. "Basically, it was in the middle of the hottest summer when I was born, but for some reason, the exact day of which I was born didn't look like summer at all. My mom said that there were really strong winds, the atmosphere was gloomy and the sky was a dark shaded gray, so that's why she named me Skye Gray."

"So your first name is Skye and your middle name is Gray?" Elis asked, a smile settling on her face.

Gray nodded as her cheeks heat up again. "Yeah. You can go ahead and laugh now."

"I won't," the curly haired girl retuned to her original position with her back against the ground and her eyes gazing the stars.

Gray did the same as she tried making shapes out of the them.

Both girls were quiet for some time, peacefully looking at the stars with the sounds from the bonfire lurking in the back. Elis felt her hand reaching over and slowly brushing over Gray's hand once, so soft and delicately, as if she were calling for her attention in the jist of selfish neediness.

Gray answered, raising her hand slightly off the ground to make full contact with Elis's, as if she were communicating to her that it was okay to continue, to feel.

And Elis audibly exhaled when she fully intertwined their hands together, feeling a lot of different emotions in the quietness existing between the two of them, somewhere in the woods on a summer's night.

"Do you like them?" Gray asked with a voice so small it sounded like she was whispering, her gaze fixated on the sky.

"Yes," Elis sighed, turning her head to look into Gray's perfect hazel eyes, whispering words of sincerity to ears she longed would listen. "The stars... They know my soul."

Although a lot of things could've been said, it was in the quietness of the moment when Gray wished, upon the actual stars shining above them, that she'd get to know her soul too.