Guns and Grey

0.11 ⋆ Camilla Parker

Elijah's POV

Getting off the call with dad, I look towards my left to find Louise looking out through the window, music buzzing out of her AirPods. Her head was touching the window and her chin was supported by her palm. I slowly bend slightly forward so that I could get a good look at her face. She had her hair down now, free of the rather conventional bun she wore at the party. Her curtain bangs covered her eyes so I couldn't see how she might be feeling.

Look at me talking as if I have known her forever. 

I take a look in the back seat, Emily was asleep on Damon's shoulder and Damon looked like he was busy texting someone. They would make a cute couple, I thought to myself. Behind Damon, I could ever so slightly see the other car through the black tinted window. I turned back around on my seat and rolled down the window. 

It looked like we were just about ten minutes away from the restaurant. It was still four-thirty in the afternoon but the large bushy canopy of the trees on either side of the road let very less light come through. I close my eyes as the cold dewy breeze hits my face, refreshing me after the stressful talk I had with my father. Thinking back to what happened earlier today at the party, I never expected myself to change the course of the plan, even if it was for a minute. 

"Can you roll up the window, please? I'm cold," I hear Louise say softly. I pull up the button and watch Louise slowly remove her arms that had now wrapped themselves around her small frame. Her cheeks flushed a bright shade of pink over the lightest layer of makeup she had on. She looked like she would have started shivering any second now if I hadn't rolled up the windows. I quickly reach for the duffel bag under the driver's seat and pull out a spare hoodie. She smiles but it doesn't quite reach her eyes. Taking the black hoodie from my hand, her icy-fingertips making contact with mine. 

It surely wasn't that cold, was it? Maybe because of all the trees surrounding us the air could be colder. 

Louise puts on the hoodie, careful not to mess up her makeup. I think I'll let her keep this one too. Just as she thanks me, the jeep pulls up at the entrance of the restaurant. Damon wakes up Emily and we get down to meet the others. 

Jeremy stretches his hands and Blakeley looks busy inspecting our surroundings. Delancy is attached to Jacob's hip, both having their hands around each other, I better make Damon sit between them at the table. 

"Wow," Emily drags, clearly mesmerised by the beautiful architecture of the restaurant. Not gonna lie, I had the same reaction the first time I came here too; when I was seven. Hold your thoughts, I am not calling her a child. 

In front of us was a tall building, tall in spite of just having two storeys within it. Huge glass panes separated it from the lush green trees and bushes of the thick forest around it. Through the windows, you could clearly see the crisp and modern interior. Small lamps hung above the cobble path we stood on, lighting it up better than the hidden sun.

"How did we never come here?" Louise asks from behind me. She hasn't been here either? Looking around, it looked like none of them had. 

"I don't know but I am starving, so let's go inside quick," Jeremy says walking with his back towards the restaurant. Everybody follows quickly in queue, everybody except Louise. She walked slowly, my hoodie enveloping her like a humongous blanket, looking at the cobblestone path as if its the most interesting thing in the world. 

Before I call out for her, she senses my eyes on her and hops quickly towards me. Something flutters in my stomach, a feeling I hadn't felt in a while. A smile automatically creeps up on my face and I extend my hand out to her. She hesitates for a second and then places her hand in mine. It was still cold but not so much as before in the car.