Page 13 of Chasing Elliott
“If I had known a minute ago that you drove a bike, I probably would’ve walked home,”she joked, but I could tell she was slightly nervous.
“Hey,” I said softly as I tucked a finger beneath her chin to force her eyes up to mine. “Ican order you an Uber if you’re not comfortable with this.”
Elliott shook her head, a light tint coming to her cheeks as she took a small step backwards and placed her hands on her hips in an offended manner. “Don’t even try it, Benny. There’s nothing that I can’t handle.”
“Was that aSandlotreference?” I pondered in surprise, a grin coming to my faceknowing that this girl was well versed in film etiquette.
“If that surprises you, just wait till you see my music playlists,” Elliott fired back with an unmistakable, teasing look in her eye. “You have a lot to learn about me, Cooper Hearst.”
Laughter involuntarily escaped my lips while I shook my head before I climbed onto my motorcycle. Elliott climbed on behind me, her arms wrapping around my waist before she gently laid her cheek on my shoulder.
“Want to go grab some breakfast?” I asked her before I started up the bike, needing to know where I was taking her but nowhere near ready to depart from her presence.
“I don’t think your wallet can handle my breakfast intake,” she told me, laughter lacing her voice. “I really should get back and get my homework done, though. I have some shit duethat I haven’t even started on yet.”
My smile faltered briefly upon being turned down, but it quickly returned to my face as Iglanced over at her. “It’s almost like you’re purposely trying to hurt me, Elli. I don’t know how I’ll ever heal this broken heart.”
“Oh, Benny,” Elliott began to say, trying to choke down her own giggles. “I’m sorry for hurting you, so. How can I ever make it up to you?”
“I think the only way to heal this bruised heart is to eat a meal with me sometime this week,” I told her, smiling as her grin increased before she rolled her eyes at my dramatics. “Food really does heal all wounds.”
Elliott sighed, removing her head from my shoulder and I turned to look back at her. “Is this you trying to ask me out?”
“As a matter of fact, yes, it is, Tink.”
I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped me upon seeing the twisted, unenthused look on herface. “Tink? Really?”
“If I’m going to let you call me Benny, it’s only fair that I give you a nickname, too.”
“I get that, but Tink? Like fromPeter Pan?” She asked incredulously, raising a brow as the distasteful expression stayed on her face. “Why Tink?”
I shrugged, trying to fight back my laughter as she narrowed her eyes on me. “I don’t think I need to share the inner workings of my thought process.”
“I didn’t realize you had any thoughts to process.” I feigned hurt, slapping my hand over my heart as she chuckled, rolling her eyes but smiling anyway. “How about this; you give me adifferent, and better, nickname, and I’ll go get dinner with you.”
“Deal,” I fired back immediately, whipping my head around and starting up the bike. “Idon’t know where you live, by the way. Although I’m more than happy to aimlessly drive aroundwith you, I don’t want to keep you away from your work.”
After giving me a direction to head in, I pulled out of the lot and found my way onto thefreeway. Elliott held onto my waist tightly, resting her head against my back to try and keep the wind off her face. Fifteen minutes later and we were pulling into the parking lot, stopping outside of her townhome.
“Thank you for the ride,” Elliott said after climbing off the back of my bike and fiddling with the straps. I reached forward and wrapped my hands over hers, pulling them down so Icould undo the helmet myself. “I know I was weird this morning, but I just wanted to say that Idid have a really good night.”
“Me too,” I said reassuringly as I lifted the helmet off her head and watched as she ran ahand through her hair. “I promise that the next one will be even better.”
Elliott grinned softly at me, her face still slightly red from the ride over here. “I’m eager to see what that entails, because I’m not sure it can get any better than waking up on the beach. Look forward to seeing if you can prove me wrong.”
“Challenge accepted.”
Not saying another word, she turned on her heel and started to walk towards her front door. I sat there and waited, watching as she knocked on the door and waited for who I presumed would be Kara to answer. Once she was safely inside, I slipped the helmet over my head and sped off towards Benjamin’s.
Knocking on the navy-blue door, I waited about thirty seconds before knocking again when I was greeted with silence, tapping my foot impatiently. Pulling out my phone, I noticed itwas a little after eight in the morning and realized that he may not be awake yet. Reaching for theknob, I found it unlocked and made my way inside.
As soon as I stepped over the threshold, I couldn’t help but choke on a laugh. Benjamin’s clothes from the night before littered the floor accompanied by what were obviously articles ofwomen’s clothing leaving a trail towards the bedroom. I sat down on the couch and flipped on the television, not wanting to walk into his room and see something I shouldn’t.
Not long later, I heard his bedroom door open, and I glanced over my shoulder to see himgo walking into the kitchen in just his boxers. I coughed to announce my presence and hejumped, placing a hand on his chest and cursing loudly as he whipped his head around to glare at me.
“What the hell, man,” he breathed out as he made his way over to me and fell into his leather recliner. “You scared the shit out of me. Don’t do that.”
“Sorry.” I chuckled as I kicked my feet up on the coffee table. “I see you got a littlesomething last night.”
