Just Keep Breathing

Inside, everyone was getting drunk and making fools of themselves. Outside, I was alone enjoying the cool air and sky. I was laying on the grass in the dark with a cup of grape juice in one of my hands.

“Elle?” I tilted my head up as a soft voice called my name. They did again, “Elle, you out here?”

It was Oli. I lifted up one of my arms from the grass so he could see me. His foot steps approached slowly before his body flopped down next to mine. He turned his head toward me and I did the same.

“What’re you doing out here alone?” He asked with a smile, “You should be inside having fun and drinking.”

I smiled a bit and spoke, “Eh, I don’t know. James and I aren’t too happy with each other right now so I don’t want to be inside, and I’m stuck outside because my car is still broken. As for the alcohol, that’s inside too.”

Oli moved his red cup from his hand farthest from me to the one closer to me and held it out, “You should ‘ave some. Not much I swear, I’m not drinkin’ much tonight.”

“Oliver Sykes not drinking much?” I asked with a smile and took his cup, “That’s a shocker.”

I sat up so I could take a few drinks before laying back down and handing him his cup back. He set it on the ground by him and turned on his side to look at me. I gazed over at him, too lazy to lean on my side also.

“What?” I asked after a while of us staring at each other. He had an odd look on his face.

“Nothin’ really.” He smiled at me.

He rolled half on top of me and stared down at me. Well this is new. Still, he was smiling. He leaned down and kissed my cheek cutely. I blushed and smiled, looking away. His hand brushed across my cheek and turned my head back to look at him. He leaned down and kissed me, softly and sweetly.

I brought one of my hands up and tangled my fingers in his hair and the other rested on his arm. It pretty much felt natural. Just as I felt like the kiss might start to go farther, we heard the back door to the house open.

Oli rolled off me quickly and scooted a few feet as my brother’s voice was heard, “Isabel?”

“Yeah?” I called back, getting a guilty feeling for being alone with Oli after he said he didn’t like it. Oli and I sat up, trying not to look like we were doing anything.

James spotted us and walked over, eying the two of us. Only I really knew what it meant.

“Just seeing where you were.” He told me, “It’s getting cold, maybe you should come inside.”

What that really meant was, Get inside and out of the dark before I hurt both of you.

Oli stood up first and held his hand out for me. I took it hesitantly and let him pull me up off the grass. We walked into the house with James behind us, this was very awkward.

Oli winked at me when James turned away he walked to the left and into the kitchen. I started to follow him then thought against it and instead wandered up to my room. Tonight went from okay, to great, to horrible in a few quick minutes.

&&

I have never sneaked out before. I never really had the need to. So now there was no doubt that I wouldn’t be good at this at all. Sure, my window was an easy way out, except the obvious fact that I was on the second story.

I figured the fastest and easiest way would be to just leave through the back yard, no technical sneaking actually involved.

Of course even the smallest things get in the way. When you’re trying to be quiet at night and you’re trying to get out of the house, it very tedious. Suddenly, your house it full of small noises that were never there before.

Typically, this happened to me. Suddenly, every other stair creaked, my footsteps were noisy, and the door leading to the backyard was hard to open. I was frustrated at the difficulty of what is usually a simple task.

Once I stepped outside and shut the door behind me, I zipped up my jacket a bit and walked through the damp grass towards the side gate of my backyard. Through the gate I could see the dim light of Oli’s car. It was the same night as the party, and now that everyone was gone and James was asleep, it was a perfect time to leave.

I opened the side gate, and of course it was squeaky like everything else, and walked out of the yard and towards Oli’s car. I saw him look at me through the window and I smiled, making my way around to the passenger side.

“Damn, took you long enough.” He said and laughed. He put the car in gear and drove away from my house.

“Yeah, sorry. Being quiet is never as easy as it should be.” I commented and adjusted the seat, trying to make it lean up.

“Or maybe your sneakin’ ability isn’t as great as ya think.” He said and looked over at me, smiling. “So ‘ave you ever actually sneaked out before?”

“Can’t say that I have.” I replied, slightly annoyed with my own inexperience. At eighteen you think I would have sneaked out by now.

Oli reached over the center part of the car and grabbed my hand off my lap, tangling our fingers together. The radio was on and neither of us felt the need to talk much. The silence was nice.

We pulled up in front of Oli’s house and got out, heading inside. He opened the door and ushered me in, “Oh ya, the guys know you’re goin’ to be ‘ere, but they won’t say anythin’.”

I nodded and followed him inside and asked, “Where to?”

“My room, got movies ‘n’ stuff.” He said, taking my hand. I gave him an unsure look and he gave a small smile back. “Don’t worry, just movies… and maybe a bit of kissin’.”

He lead me into his bedroom, which was basically the typical guy room. Posters lined the walls and it was a little cluttered, but it was surprisingly clean.

I watched him as he walked over to his T.V. and turned it on, putting a random movie in the DVD player. He turned around and jumped onto his bed.

I laughed at him as he sprawled out and looked at me, doing that odd pout face. “What, you’re not goin’ to come cuddle with me?”

I smiled and nodded, walking over to the bed. I kicked off my shoes and gingerly sat on the side. I swung my legs around and onto the bed. Oli wasn’t satisfied with my position on the edge so he reached over and grabbed me, pulling me to the middle with him.

I looked at him and stuck my tongue out quickly, smiling as I did. He grinned back and leaned over me, like he had earlier in my backyard, and he kissed me.

I still had never made out, which again, seemed very pathetic considering my age. I broke apart from the kissm having barely enough time between the small kisses Oli was giving me, to warn him of my lack of kissing.

He just smiled at me, told me it didn’t matter, and kissed me again. Let’s just say we missed the first ten minutes of the movie.