Those Nights

The rest of the afternoon should have been spent paying attention to my studies, but instead I was writing a song for Elizabeth. After school, I spent about an hour figuring out the chords, then went over to the Bennett home. I walked there with my guitar slung over my shoulder.

I knocked on the door and it was answered by two younger teenage girls. They gasped.

"Lizzy I think this is the guy!" One called.

"You're William right?" The youngest one asked me.

I laughed, "Yes."

"It's him!" She yelled toward the upstairs.

"You can stop fixing your face now!" The other one called.

"Well you can at least invite him in, Hi I'm Jane." Another girl came over, holding out her hand. "I'm the oldest Bennett."

"She was around when dinosaurs roamed the earth." The youngest laughed, leading me in.

"And this sea-monkey is Katherine, you can call her Kitty. And this other one is Lydia." Jane smiled, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Hi William!" Elizabeth called from the top of the winding stairs, she was slowly but surely coming downstairs.

"Oh let me help you." I put down my guitar and walked up to where she was. I wrapped an arm around her and helped her down.

Daniel ran into the foyer and grabbed Lydia putting her into a chokehold.

"Daniel you jerk, let me go!" She laughed, elbowing him.

"Oh hey Wills!" Daniel chuckled, letting go of the girl.

"Hey Dan." I chuckled.

"What's all the commotion?" Mr. Bennett walked in. "Oh, William how are you?"

"I'm really good, how are you sir?" I smiled, bringing Elizabeth down to the bottom step.

"I'm fine thank you. Wow, it's been a while since I've seen you last, you've really grown up into a man now." He replied in his quiet voice like Elizabeth's.

"As opposed to the woman he used to be." Daniel laughed. I laughed with the rest.

"Well he came to see Elizabeth, so let's leave the two of 'em alone." Mr. Bennett grinned, ushering his children out of the room.

Elizabeth smiled looking up at me, "Sorry 'bout that, they're a little...overwhelming." She lightly laughed.

"That's okay, it's a breath of fresh air from my excessively prim and proper family." I laughed. "But how's your knee?"

"3 stitches and a lollipop. Pretty good." She grinned. "C'mon, let's go to the fireplace room. We held hands as we entered the dim room with a fire going, it was slowly dying out.

"3 stitches huh? I feel so bad." I chuckled shaking my head, leaning back into the couch.

She smiled softly and placed her hand on mine, "It's was not your fault. It was just a simple accident."

I smiled turning my eyes up to her. "I wrote a song for you."

Her soft smile turned into an excited grin, "Really? Can you play it for me?"

I smiled and nodded, "It's kinda short 'cause I wrote it during Math, but I think it gets the point across." I chuckled then picked up my guitar and began picking the strings.

"I'll cross my heart and hope to die
Before I have the chance to lie
To you, my dear, who I wish no harm
But I know in the end this will turn out wrong

See I've been known to fall in love
But sometimes love just is not enough
And my heart will stray before too long
So please forgive me for when I sing this song
Ooh Oooh Ooh Oooh"

She smiled softly and laughed to herself wiping away a small tear from her eye. "Will that was perfect. That was beyond perfect." She stood up and came to sit with me, linking her arm with mine she rested her head on my shoulder. "Thank you." She whispered.

I smiled as I watched the low fire in the fireplace and the small crackling and sparks. I didn't want to say anything, fearing I might ruin this beautiful moment between me and Elizabeth, my heart pounding in my head filled with such a deep and endless love for her, but even I knew it would be too soon to tell her those three special words. I would wait. Wait for her. Wait for me. And just cherish these moments we had.