A Winter Classic

It was nearly noon before either one of them stirred. When her eyes opened Ellie could feel the heat she was surrounded in, felt Phil’s chest pressed firmly against her back, his arm slung around her midsection. For some strange reason she thought she’d dreamed last night, inviting him to stay but right now it was very real. Ever so slowly she rotated her body trying not to wake him if he was still asleep but by the time she made the turn she realized that not only was he awake, he was looking right at her.

“Morning.”

“Morning.” She replied suddenly very aware of the fact that they were in her bed, almost like seeing his face actually made it real. She felt his hand slide around her hip pulling her close as their lips crashed together. It suddenly felt like she was drowning, in the sea of her sheets with the midday light filtering in her room it felt like a dream. Ellie shifted her body, sliding under his as he rolled on top of her, cradled in her hips as his lips left hers moving down to her neck.

She took a deep breath, trying to clear the foggy haze in her mind which was absolutely useless as she felt the rough texture of his beard slide from one side of her neck to the other. She was a puddle of goo before she did anything, sliding her hands down his chest and around his hips. In that moment he abandoned her neck, crushing his lips to hers again and as she reached over making contact with his belly he froze pulling away suddenly. They stared at each other for a minute, taking long deep breaths before he spoke.

“Maybe we should wait.” He offered. “I…”

The words died on his lips as her hands slid away from him. Phil watched as her eyes moved away from his, felt her pull away as he rolled over, onto the cold side of the bed taking a minute to collect himself.

“Your right.” Ellie agreed. “We don’t wanna do something you might regret.”

“Ellie…” He rolled back around to look at her but she was already getting up.

“You hungry?” she threw the sheets off her body rolling to her feet. “I’m hungry.”

She felt stupid throwing herself at him like that and now that he’d effectively shut her down she wanted to forget all about it.

“Ellie wait.”

She didn’t let him finish, just walked out of her room and into the kitchen. If he followed then so be it but right now she just really needed a second away from him to pull herself back together. She leaned against the kitchen wall, taking a deep breath to help swallow the tears of embarrassment. She’d really thought he was on the same page as her, she’d followed all the signals but in the end she’d been a fool. After a few deep breathes and a second to regain her composure Ellie heard footsteps, they got distinctively louder the closer he got and she used that opportunity to throw open the fridge door and hide.

Phil turned the corner into her kitchen, after giving her a second to cool down he thought they would be able to talk about what had just happened but when he turned the corner she was already buried in the fridge, hidden behind the door her voice echoed from within.

“How do you feel about a sandwich? I’ve got plenty of options.”

Ellie started pulling random bags of sliced meats and containers of leftover chicken. Vegetables and condiments followed before he stopped her.

“Stop.” He grabbed her shoulders to stop her from moving away from him. “Can we talk about this?”

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

“There is.” He started. “And you deserve an explanation really.”

She blew out a breath and he watched the bravado leak out of her.

“You don’t have to explain.” Ellie started. “It’s too soon, I get it.”

It wasn’t too soon; it had taken everything in him to actually stop her in that moment but he knew he had to. It was the coward’s way out of this conversation, he knew that, but he was going to take it.

“I just want you to be sure.”

He felt like a complete asshole for turning this around on her.

“I appreciate that.” She started; it was all she could say so she busied her hands throwing together something to eat. “I don’t know what you like but I’ve got lots of options.”

Ellie repeated herself effectively cutting off their last conversation. She didn’t wanna talk about it, didn’t even wanna think about it so the best thing to do was pretend like it didn’t happen. They stood side by side throwing together a couple of sandwiches in total silence. He’d actually spent the whole time debating whether he should just leave but in the end the selfish side of him had won out. He wasn’t ready to walk away yet so he figured he should be the first to bring something up. Anything to break this awkward silence that had never really been present since he’d met her.

“So you’re going back to work soon?”

“I am.” Ellie confirmed after a bite of her sandwich. “Monday morning, 5am.”

He nodded taking the information in.

“It’s your chance to back out if you want.” She shrugged her shoulders laying it all out now. She’d talked it over with Casey, thought it over herself and now that the opportunity had presented itself she was gonna lay it all out for him. She didn’t wanna keep this going if it was truly going nowhere; she was giving him an out in case he was just worried of hurting her feelings.

“It that what you want?”

He would be the only person to ask that after she’d practically thrown herself at him earlier.

“Work keeps me pretty busy.” She started. “I can’t be available all the time.”

“And you think that’s a problem for me?”

“I dunno.” She shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re used to.”

What he was used to was dating girls he ended up having nothing in common with, girls who took things too seriously or were looking to date him for what he did, not who he was.

“I wasn’t lying when I told you I liked you Ellie.” He started. “Dating me isn’t going to be easy and I’m sure there are going to be times our schedules don’t line up but I wanna try.”

“I want that too.” She confirmed. “Do you really think it could work?”

“If we really want it to.”

He’d seen it work, seen it work a million times but he’d also seen the flip side of that. It was hard, it put all kinds of strains on even the strongest of relationships but he saw how it could turn out. Most of his friends were getting married and having kids now, he’d been so busy trying to get his career together all those things had fallen to the back of his mind.

“I know it’s only been a week but…” she shrugged her shoulders just like she had when she’d said those exact words to Casey. “I don’t think I’ve ever clicked with someone so quickly.”

She might as well say everything she wanted, let it all out then let him sort through what he wanted to hear and what he wanted to do with it all.

“It’s not just you, you know.”

“No?”

He put his plate aside then reached over and did the same to hers.

“I don’t want you to think that because of what happened that I’m not in this.”

Here the topic was again, the one thing she wanted to move away from but he just kept bringing back up.

“I don’t.” she started. “I just want you to be prepared for what you’re getting into with me.”

If it wasn’t such a serious topic he might have laughed, this was the first time he’d been on the receiving end of this speech. I’m so busy, I want you to be prepared were usually the words that came from him, he’d never dated anyone whose job could rival his in occupied time.

“I’m prepared if you are.”

Ellie nodded in confirmation, happy that she’d been able to get this off her chest. It could all go to hell as soon as she went back to work but if he was willing to give it the test so was she.

“So we are really gonna do this then?” she couldn’t have fought off that smile if she’d tried.

“You and me.”

“You and me.” She repeated sealing the deal with a kiss.