Chapter Fifteen

Santa Cruz

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"You're the one that I want. The one that I want. The one I need, Oh, yes, indeed." The Lennings - Jessie

Santa Cruz, 11.45pm, August 28th

Jessie

Ellis looks so funny with his flannel shirt held up over his head, trying to dodge the rain. But it's too late. It's coming down harder than when I first stepped out and he's soaked through now.

When he soon shrugs and gives up with his makeshift shelter, he shakes his dark hair like a dog and finally embraces the moment filled with thunderous vibrations and sharp lightning and the biggest raindrops I've ever seen. 

I take him by the hands and jokily give him a twirl. He laughs and repays me with a tipsy spin until I fall into him, dizzy and rain soaked. 

"You know that we've got to spend the rest of the night and morning like this now, until we find the hotel?" Ellis says, poking his tongue out with his eyes closed. "If we catch hypothermia this is all your doing Jessica Adkins."

"A little rain never hurt nobody," I counter, dancing in front of the yellowed beam of light the car emits. My sandals are close to slipping away and everything clings to me like film wrap but it's fun. It makes a change to being stuck in the car or having to be with my thoughts, all of which are jammed on how much I want to wrap my arms around Ellis. All the damn time.

Kicking away leaves and balling up his flannel shirt, he steps closer and licks my nose. "You had a bit of rain on you."

"I did, did I?"

"You did."

I grin as I trace my own mouth with one finger. "I also have some here..." Ellis swoops in to kiss the corners delicately and when the water runs down the side of my neck I let him know this too. "And a little further down."

His brow arches and I know that he's thinking the same. And as another clap shakes the ground beneath we race to open the car doors. When I slam it shut and look up Ellis is in the backseat. 

"What are you doing there?" I whisper, giggling because I know full well why. I just want to hear it from him. I want to live in this moment before everything changes again for a little longer. 

"Waiting for you."

I clamber through the gap between seats and flop onto the backseat with a squelch. "Well here I am."

"You're very wet," he smirks and I swat his hand away as I laugh into it. 

"You're gross."

"Just stating the obvious."

And without anymore small talk he pulls me in by the back of my neck for a  passionate kiss, slipping my t-shirt over my head as I raise my arms. His hands are strong but gentle and my heart skips a thousand beats to feel the warmth of them and his tongue as he runs it along my collarbone. 

"Ellis," I say a little breathless as the rain fiercely lashes down and the windows form a thick fog to block out the bolts of intermittent light. "I think, I think this is it."

"Just one more second," he announces, fighting to reach the glovebox and I soon realise his most recent purchase from CVS. I don't ask what's in the small brown bag, I'm just glad that it is. 

Once he's torn one off, his green eyes focus on me again and they trail down from my lips as he kisses the inside of my arm, all the way down to my hips, lingering before he pulls away my denim shorts and knickers, which get stuck. Of course.

And it might not be incredibly sexy to peel off clothing and struggle, it's not at all polished like in the movies but it's us. I should know that by now. 

Ellis chucks his t-shirt into the front seat and it lands with a solid slap, and we both laugh but not long enough to distract from the kissing and the wandering hands.  

"Are you sure?" He whispers though he must realise seconds after that I've never been so sure about anything in all my life. My hand tugs at his belt buckle and then jean button until there's absolutely no room for any doubt. 

His fingertips tangle in my wet hair and I wrap my legs around him, tight. There's not going back now. And as each kiss is traded for another, deeper, longer it's like the world outside fades away, even with a raging storm. 

Ellis is gentle in the way he moves beneath me but in control and I hope he doesn't mind that I'm moaning into his neck and ear too much, but it's hard not to. 

With a hand up against the window, Titanic style, we both laugh between stolen breathes. Both of us going down and not even caring. And of all the ways I'd imagined this moment to be (and trust me, they've been many), this was never one. It's so new and breathtaking and unfamiliar yet comfortable that I can't believe I'd ever been okay with wasting time just wondering, or imagining instead of just doing. 

And with his gaze pinned to mine, Ellis knocks out the headlights with a small nudge of his foot, pulls a semi- dry beach towel out from under the front seat and wraps it round, cocooning us both into darkness as he whispers like only he could, "...and fade to black."

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Santa Cruz, Beach Boardwalk, 3.45pm August 29th

"But that's how it goes in the movies Jessie," Ellis says, pulling down his sunglasses to look at me. "The guy stops by one of these Roll-A-Ball stalls and vows to win his lady the biggest, tackiest, plushiest cuddly toy ever with his skill of being able to roll balls into holes."

I laugh into my hand as the older man in the stall rolls his eyes and waits for us to decide if we're stopping or only passing by on our easy stroll along Santa Cruz's colourful beach boardwalk and amusement park. It's our day off before we hit the road again in the evening and a sunnier day than the last.

It's also where they filmed The Lost Boys, according to Ellis's Top 200 Greatest Ever American Films book or the doorstop as I like to affectionately call it. How on earth he's managed to lug it round with him this far is a mystery.

But maybe it's the reason why his arms feel firmer, bigger. In which case, I have no grounds to complain whatsoever. 

"But, why does it have to be you? I can win one all by myself thank you very much." I dig in my shorts pocket for some change and slap it down as a challenge. 

Ellis rolls his eyes and coughs up a ten dollar bill.

The guy hands us heavy weighted red balls and we spend the next minute and a half furiously rolling, then chucking them down a wooden alley into holes that I'm pretty sure are cut too small, but whatever. I don't make any excuses when mine roll back. 

"It's obviously a fix," Ellis huffs as he walks away empty handed and I thank the guy for handing over a small, toy cuddly sea lion with grey fur like the real ones down by the wharf . 

"Not if I won this!" I say holding it up triumphantly, until he tickles my underarms and I wave the white flag. "Okay, okay. But it's not all bad, here, I want you to have it."

"You do?"

"I do. I mean you gave me a present this morning, so it's only fair. This is my gift to you," I say, with hot flashes of this morning causing my pulse to race again. Just like it did when Ellis surprised me in the shower and kissed me all over. "Sorry it's not like..."

"Like what?" He asks, genuinely confused.

I pretend to suck my finger. "You know, that."

Ellis cups my face in his hands and sighs, "You know it isn't supposed to be a trade? I did that because I wanted to, and you did too. And besides, I love this present, so thank you." And he takes the sea lion and cradles it in one arm. "Really, I do."

Shielding the sun from my eyes, I whisper close to his ear, "And I loved mine. This morning was... Well, amazing."

"Just amazing?" He teases as we head towards the two-storey mini golf course near the end of the boardwalk, where we hope to while away the hours until it's time to drive on for San Jose. In hindsight we should have asked for a later check out but we've both been too preoccupied. Too wrapped up in each other to be organised. 

We might as well be handcuffed. 

Much too keen to spend the morning repeating and improving upon the stormy night spent in the backseat of a car, where Ellis and I did things that still make me blush or giggle to think about, even now when we've done many more things to make anyone blush. 

"Will you promise that your ego will remain the same in size, if I say 'wow'?"

"Wow? It was wow?" He repeats, copying my voice.

I stick my tongue. "Nope, I take that back now."

His laughter ripples through me. "You're pretty damn 'wow' yourself."

We continue to wander down the wooden boardwalk and all the sun and fun and stolen looks from Ellis make me feel aimlessly alive. I wish I could bottle the moment and the feeling I get when he says that we should grab some candy-floss for a pre-dinner snack on our way back.

"Yes. You've read my mind."

"Never one to pass up a sure fire sugar high," he chuckles, as I prod the seal still cradled in his arm.

"So, does the little fella have a name?"

"Who? The seal?" Ellis says, with a broad smirk.

"Yes, the seal. Obviously."

"We can call it Andre."

"My favourite! You remembered?"

"How could I not? Your parents had to get you a new VHS tape because you watched it so often you wore it out," he says, squeezing the seal and my shoulder. "It was also my favourite too, at one point, but only because I thought you'd like me more if I could quote the whole movie."

I lift his arm and drape it round my neck. "And can you?"

"Of course."

"Go on then."

Ellis swallows hard. "I'll try, but it's from the scene that always chokes me up."

My gasps startle a young family passing by but I can't help it. "When she's got him hidden in the families shed and in the tub after rescuing him?"

Stopping in the middle of the boardwalk, Ellis sucks in a breath and pushes up his sunglasses. He balances Andre along his arm and with one hand, he begins to strokes my face. "I know you're sad, you miss your mom. But please don't die, I'll be your best friend forever."

"I love that part. Always made me have that weird, soaring heart feeling, like deep in my chest. As if I might be able to fly just from the feeling."

"There's more though," he says, "Actually the best part, the part I remember more than anything. Especially when I'm with you, Jessie." 

"Me?"

Leaning in to brush my cheek, he kisses it softly and sends my heart soaring with a whisper, "And I will always take care of you, I promise. I love you."