Somewhere in Between (28 page)

"It's understandable. And I think seeing the college, seeing where she'll be living will help you out. Maybe then you'll be able to relax a little, you know?" Gemma nodded and Elliot smiled softly. "I'm gonna miss you like crazy though. Even though it'll only be three days."

"I'm gonna miss you too."

*LtB*

Elliot was at Gemma's house first thing the morning of the 23rd. The flight was leaving at one that afternoon, and the Grady’s had never flown out of DIA before, so they wanted to leave extra early, so as not to get lost. Andrew just laughed at Elliot as he stood at the door, the sun only having been up for a short while. He took the ribbing good-naturedly, seeing as his dad always liked to comment how he remembered being young and experiencing new love.

"She's up in her room if you want to help her and Leigh carry some stuff down," Andrew laughed as he let Elliot into the house. Thankfully, most of the stuff Leighanna intended to take, they'd shipped ahead of them so that they wouldn't have to move so much and rent a truck. And Leighanna had
a lot
of stuff she wanted to take too.

As soon as Elliot walked into Gemma's room, they entered into the movie cliché moment where he couldn't help but rush to her just as she rushed to him. They came together instantly, holding one another as though this was the last time they would ever see one another.

"You two are completely ridiculous," Leighanna commented dryly as she walked into Gemma's room and around the couple still clutching to each other. "I'm gonna leave these tops for you to wear. I think they'll look better on you and dad won't let me take anything else."

With a watery laugh, Gemma pulled away from Elliot to look at the deposit of clothes. Some still had tags on them. Leigh would never admit it, but she was such a fashion snob and sometimes would buy clothes because they were "in" and then not like them at all and refuse to wear them. In the end though, it just meant Gemma didn't have to go shopping all that much, one of her least favorite activities. "Uh, thanks."

"No problem," Leigh smiled. "Elliot, can you help me carry some stuff?" She left without waiting for him to answer. And it made the two laugh. Leigh knew if she didn't ask or demand, they'd probably still be clinging to one another long after it was time to leave.

As the car drove away, Gemma held to Leighanna's hand as she watched Elliot's form get smaller and smaller until she couldn't see him any longer. "It's only three days, Gem. And not even. I mean, it's Friday, you'll be back Sunday night and we both know he'll be here when you get back."

"I know," Gemma said, sitting right in her seat to stare out the window. "I just feel… twitchy being away from him. I know it sounds stupid, but well, yeah."

"It's not stupid. You guys have a special bond, nothing stupid about it," Leigh smiled before closing her eyes for the short drive ahead.

Gemma called Elliot on the ride from where they’d parked. She called him while waiting at the airport and they talked until just before her flight took off. She called him when her flight landed. She turned her phone off in Chattanooga to save the battery until they got to the hotel, where she text him to let him know they'd arrived, and she'd call him before she went to bed. Besides, she knew if she kept it on, she'd be on it talking to Elliot the whole time. And Gemma didn't want to miss any time she had left with her sister.

Their first order of business after checking in to the hotel, was to meet up with Trent and his family. The Davies had opted to drive so that Trent would have his car with him at school while Leigh was still undecided if she wanted hers there yet. Once the two families met up, they headed over to the dormitories to get the two checked in. They would be located in the Stagmaier Hall apartments on the north side of campus. Once Leigh and Trent had their room assignments, everyone decided it would just be easier to get dinner and start moving the kids in over the weekend.

For Gemma, the next couple days passed by in a whirlwind of boxes, trunks and clothes. She barely had time to breathe for as much stuff as Leigh had brought with her. She appreciated it because it made missing Elliot less painful.

But for Elliot, the three days passed excruciatingly slowly that he thought he was going to lose his mind.

Because of the hour time difference, when Gemma was heading to bed at eleven, it was only ten for him, so he was left with hours to spend before sleep claimed him. The only thing Elliot could think was to call Josh and see if his old friend wanted to hang out. Fortunately Christie was away at one of her volunteer projects to make things less awkward. Not that her absence didn't create its own presence.

"How are things going between you and Christie?" Elliot asked as they played Call of Duty Saturday afternoon. It wasn't a question Elliot would have ever cared to ask before, but he wanted to know if his sister was really a lost cause and how she was with Josh would tell him everything.

Shaking his head, while keeping his eyes on the television, Josh sighed. "I don't know, man. One minute I think we're making progress and the next, I think she might be bipolar." That wasn't anything new to Elliot. He'd overheard his parents discussing that very thing. Except from everything Elliot had looked up about the illness, Christie was just selfish, not sick. Then again, he wasn’t a doctor. "She found out about me and Rita going out the one time and flipped out about it. Course it happened at the beginning of the summer and she's since apologized to Rita for being presumptuous, but still. What was I supposed to do? Wait around forever for her to get her shit together when there's no guarantee? Rita and I are not meant to be, and it was too soon anyhow to try to start seeing someone else. She knew that, and has become a pretty cool chick to hang with. Christie just sees me as abandoning her. I don't get it. She did this but I'm the bad guy."

Pausing the game, Elliot lowered his controller and spoke his mind. "I hated the idea of you two together. You're my best friend, and she's my sister. But I could see the way you two were together so I got over it. I never thought she'd become this person. I never imagined there was this person lurking inside her." He looked toward the window, watching the sun dance across the afternoon sky, missing Gemma more and more as the minutes passed. "I don't know if Christie will ever be the person we all thought she was again. But I want you to know, if you do decide to be with someone else... if you decide you want to and need to move, I'll support you."

The smile on Josh's face said everything, relief, sadness, and gratefulness. "Thanks man. I didn't know how to do this without it being weird. I love Christie. I think I'll always love her, even. But until she… until she gets… better, I guess, I can't be with her," he sighed dejectedly. "But I'm glad to hear we'd still be cool."

"Of course. We were friends long before you guys were together." There was a testament in his mind that you were supposed to choose family over friends, but Elliot knew, sometimes blood was not thicker.

"So, how are things going with you and Gemma?" Josh asked with a sly smile on his face completely pushing the uncomfortable talk about Christie aside.

Elliot couldn't help the grin that took to his face. They'd been together for nearly eight months now, and each day was like a beginning. "Things are good. Things are really good."

"Yeah? How good? Are we talking
good
good?" Josh prodded, his smile growing.

Blushing from the implication, Elliot shoved his laughing friend. "Not that good. I mean, we haven't… we're not there yet. I think it'll be a while before either of us are there." While Josh had found out, like everyone else, that something horrific had happened to Gemma, he had yet to learn
all
the grizzly details. And Elliot had no plans to enlighten his friend. All Josh knew was Gemma had been hurt pretty badly, how that hurt happened, he was clueless about. And unless Gemma wanted Josh to know, Elliot had no plans to tell. For the most part, Josh respected that, even though Elliot could see he wished he had a better idea. Especially when he heard comments like Elliot just made. "But things are… they're amazing. I never thought I'd feel this way."

"I'm glad you were able to get your head out of your ass and see what was in front of you the whole time," Josh said seriously. "That girl has been crazy about you for a while now, it's nice to see you realize you were always right there with her."

Elliot scoffed. "I don't know what I was thinking. I mean, it's been a year since the whole Trisha debacle, and all I can think is, Gemma is so beautiful and her heart is so pure. Everything about her makes my skin feel like it's tingling. I didn't know a person really could take your breath away until Gemma told me she loved me for the first time." He felt a little ridiculous talking about this, but the feelings were overwhelming. "I feel so… just fucking honored she wants me. Even after everything I put her through."

"Gemma is a beautiful girl. I'm sure she feels the same about you," Josh commented, not in a mocking way. "And honestly, everyone can see how much you both care about each other."

"Yeah." Elliot looked down, internally debating having this conversation. When he saw no other way for his brain to stop the thoughts, he pushed forward. "I just, I'm a little worried, you know?"

"About what?"

He huffed out an uncomfortable laugh, and then looked around the room. Even though he knew no one was home, he still felt incredibly awkward to be having this conversation. "I just… fuck, I want to be good for her. You know, when the time eventually comes."

For the longest time, Josh said nothing, just sat and stared at Elliot. It only increased the unease Elliot was feeling. Not only did he really not want to talk about this, even though he
needed
someone to talk to, and his father was not the right person because no parent
wants
to hear their child talk about wanting to have sex, but Josh dated his sister and the last thing
he
wanted to know was they'd done…anything.

"Why wouldn't you be good for her?" Josh finally asked. "I mean, it's not like I personally have a whole lot of experience with this sort of thing, but wouldn't the fact that she loves you mean it's good for her no matter what?"

There were two parts of what Josh said that resonated. First was, it sounded like Josh was answering Elliot's unasked question: Josh and Christie hadn't done anything. And second, Elliot was worried no matter their feelings, what had happened to Gemma may have scarred her from enjoying the actual act. But he couldn't say that, so he covered with another part of his worry. "I just don't want to be a fumbling idiot."

At that Josh laughed. "I'm sure, even if you were the most experienced guy around, being with the one you love for the first time would make anyone a fumbling idiot. It's because they're so special that you want things to be special, and that usually makes us into morons. Just let her lead, and I'm sure, when the time comes, everything will be just fine." The two were quiet for a moment, before Josh spoke again. "Have you guys, you know, done
anything
?"

Again, blush covered Elliot's face. He didn't know how to answer that question. While they hadn't "made out" in the traditional sense, there was some heavy panting from lingering kisses, and she'd even let him taste her neck, leaving nibbling kisses along its column down to her shoulder. As a result of her responses to him, he'd gotten hard, and sort of thrust against her thigh a little seeking friction, though not enough cause alarm. That day resulted in the longest cold shower of his life as he remembered the way her breath hitched, and her skin smelled and tasted like peaches. But anything more than that, he was almost too scared to try for fear she would breakdown on him.

"We are taking things exceptionally slow," was all Elliot could say as he tried to calm the fire on his cheeks.

"Just go at the pace that's right for the both of you," Josh replied, not calling Elliot out on his embarrassment. "So, I hear Mary is moving to Cheyenne."

Grateful for the change in conversation, Elliot nodded. "Uh, yeah. She and her boyfriend got engaged and he was offered residency at one of the hospitals so she's moving to live there. She even has a job lined up at one of the hospitals too, though not the same one." Gemma still had a difficult time when it came to Mary, the woman who had seen her at her worst. She was always afraid Mary would out her somehow, though she knew Elliot's aunt would never do that, there was some unnatural fear that made her think that way. Gemma told him she was working on it with Dr. Archuleta.

The rest of the afternoon, the two friends played video games, pestered Grace into making her famous cranberry chocolate chip cookies, and just hung out. By the time Elliot went to bed that night, after speaking to Gemma, he felt exhausted but more at ease. Speaking with Josh, having his friend not make fun of him, was a relief. Plus, it also helped to know that everything that had occurred with Christie had not taken their friendship, which he had been worried about.

*LtB*

By the time Sunday evening arrived, along with Gemma's text that they'd landed at DIA, Elliot was a ball of nerves. And it made his parents laugh.

"You do realize she hasn't even been gone for two full days, right?" his father asked with a smile.

"Oh shush, Dalton. Let the boy have his anxiety. It's wonderful entertainment," his mother laughed.