[ CHAPTER FOUR ]

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LEO FIDDLED WITH the radio on his way to pick up Isaac. He pulled the car over across the street and waited.

Five minutes later. He honked, and then waited.

Isaac came running out, his hair damp, hopping into one of his sneakers as he ran. "I'm coming, I'm coming," he yelped, grasping for the door handle.

He was out of breath when he buckled himself up, and Leo rolled his eyes. "Dude, I waited for five minutes and you still don't have your shoes on?"

Isaac pulled his knee up to his chest and struggled to tie them, a scowl on his face. "I couldn't find my PHS shirt, when I found it I had to spray Febreeze on it or something, it smelled so bad."

"Okay, alright, that's nasty." Leo crinkled his nose.

Isaac shrugged. "You asked."

Leo pulled into the John Muir High School's parking lot, surprised at the sheer number of parking spaces filled up. The pair trekked up to the field where the lights were blazing and the chants were blaring.

Leo led them over to the ticket booth where he fumbled with his wallet, handing the woman a five dollar bill. She handed him a ticket and he nodded with a smile.

The game had already started. Leo cozied himself on the metal bleachers in the center of the rowdy crowd.

Isaac punched him on the shoulder. "Hey, you're gonna have to stand if we're gonna be in the rowdy crowd!" he screamed over the yelling fans.

A grunt escaped his lips and he stood with a groan, his ears being assaulted with aimless shouts, after every catch or dive or push or kick. It never stopped.

His school made a touchdown and he'd had enough of the attack on his ears. He pushed his way down the bleachers and finally breathed fresh air, feeling three degrees cooler now that he wasn't surrounded by sweaty teenagers.

He was searching everywhere for the concession stand, only finding it once he walked a full three-sixty around the field. It was empty, with a few kids running by in the pebbled kids' zone.  A girl maybe his age was in the booth, and she was arranging the napkins in the napkin dispenser.  He heard cheering from the stand but he couldn't bring himself to see what happened.  He saw a few parrots fly by the stand. The girl's skin was glowing in the setting sun, and she kept braiding and unbraiding her thick black hair out of what looked like boredom.  

Leo cleared his throat, nearly hacking something up, and he slowly approached the concession stand.  His feet crunched on top of the gravel below him, and her head perked up.  She had smooth, round cheeks and complimentary round, metal glasses perched on her slanted nose.  Her eyes were wide as she eyed him up and down, her eyes resting on his red Pasadena High School shirt. 

He cleared his throat once more, his feet on autopilot as they drove him to stand before the girl.  "Oh, good, I've been looking all over the place you," he said with a chuckle, freezing after he realized his misspoken word.  "I meant the concessions, the, uh, concession stand.  I was walking all over the place . . . I was in the parking lot at one point, I couldn't find it anywhere and I finally made it here to you."

She grinned, and her teeth were so straight.  He wondered if she wore braces as a kid.  "You found me.  What can I get ya?"

He blinked.  "Uh . . ."

Shit.  He'd forgotten that he was supposed to order food.  He'd just gotten so caught up with . . . Ok, just order chips and go back to the game.  "What do you suggest?"

The girl gave him a look saying, "Can you not read?"  He immediately regretted being born.

"My go-to is always the chicken tenders, I don't know about you," she mentioned with a raised eyebrow.  "Although, I think my suggestion here is the classic burger.  I can't promise it won't taste like the insides of a tree, but why not?"

He felt the corners of his lips tug.  "I'll go with that."

"Alright, give me a second," she mumbled, walking deeper into the booth as Leo fiddled with some money in his wallet.  He kept trying to get glances of the girl without being obvious, even pretending to rearrange some of the salt packets to get a glimpse of her ay one point.  She was wearing a baggy, camo-colored flannel over a plain white t-shirt and had on those mom jeans that he always saw on Instagram. 

She headed back his way with his burger wrapped in foil in her hands.  "Here you go," she said without looking at him, her hand outstretched with his burger.  He grabbed it, and gave her the money. 

Just as he was turning away, he couldn't help but take a step back.  "I was just wondering — do you go to John Muir?"

Oh, for God's sake, why was he starting a conversation? Isaac is probably wondering where he is, and it doesn't seem like this girl wants to have a chat.

"Yeah, I'm a senior. And . . . Pasadena High School?" she asked with a laugh, nodding at his PHS shirt.

"Uh, yeah, just can't wait to get out of here," he said. He bit his lip. "So, what's your name?"

"Oh! Right! My name's Elle, uh, Elle Hart. I mean, my real name's Elizabeth, but I never hear that."

"Leo." He grinned, and once again outstretched his hand. She gave him a confused look and gave him a firm shake. Why would he shake her hand? That just made things even more awkward, oh God. "So, what are you doing here instead of—"

He pointed to the bleachers.

Elle had started to rearrange the packets of salt and pepper, being unable to look him in the eye. "Well, I need the extra cash, and it's just not my kind of atmosphere."

"Two minutes of the rowdy crowd and that was enough for me," he agreed.

A sophomore from his school scooted in front of him and ordered a soft pretzel. Leo awkwardly hung back, squashing his legs under the nearby wooden table.  He began to eat the burger and saw the sophomore walk away with the pretzel in his hands.  The crowd began an uproar and he quickly turned around to see that John Muir had scored.

"So what's your favorite subject in school?" he heard her yell to him over the crowd.

He swiveled to see her looking at him with her arms perched on the counter. "I'm a big history guy," he shouted back. He'd lost track of the score. "My dad's a history teacher in Glendale, and I think that's kind of what I'm leaning towards doing with my life."

Her green eyes seemed to glow. "I love history! I took APUSH last year, loved it.  I'm a little more interested in science, like biology or anatomy or something."

"Hey, that's cool," he said, swallowing a big gulp of burger. "How about this — you keep talking about that and I can finish my burger in the meantime, deal?"

"Alright, uh — deal."

As he chewed on the squashed, plastic-tasting burger, he couldn't help but grin at how her eyes lit up and how she talked with her hands.  The noise of the game turned to white and all he could hear was her and all he could see was her. She kept taking quick gasps for breath, as if she couldn't keep up with how fast she was talking.  She spoke about how she went to college camps for anatomy during the summer of her sophomore year, and how just last year during the summer she went to a camp for bio-med. He took the last few bites and tried not to interrupt her when he balled up the foil that had been covering the burger.

She blinked when she realized he was cleaning up. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to go off on a tangent like that."

Leo stood up and threw the trash into the bucket next to the counter. Taking a deep breath, he walked right up to wear she stood. The only thing dividing them being the array of napkins and condiments and salt and pepper packets. He mimicked her position, resting his palms on the counter as well. "Don't apologize.  I like hearing about people talk about their passions. How about we do a speed round, to get to know each other?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, her warm eyes much wider up close.

"Uh, let's say . . . Oh, how about this, I'd ask, what's your favorite movie? And then you would reply as soon as possible, and you'd bounce a question back to me."

"Oh! Alright, well, my favorite movie is, I don't know, maybe 'Thirteen Going on Thirty'? Something like that. What's your favorite color?"

"Red. Um — favorite flower?" He had to ask. Roses were always in the back of his mind.

"I love sunflowers. Favorite food?" She'd started to smile.  He felt his own smile shift a little when he heard "sunflowers", but he wouldn't let that get in the way of what was happening.

"Pizza. I'm easy to please," Leo replied. "Dogs or cats?"

"I'm a cat person. My cat's name is Nutmeg, she's the love of my life. Any siblings?"

"That's pretty cute. And I have an older sister, Gina. Do you have any colleges you're set on?"

"I've been wanting to go to Yale for years now, but I don't know if they're gonna accept me and if they do accept me, money becomes an issue," she weakly replied.  Elle looked up at him. "Hey, are you seeing anyone? I mean, are you dating anyone?"

He froze, raising his eyebrows with a slight smile. "Uh, yes, I'm single," he coughed out.

"Cool, cool . . ." she mumbled, tucking her black hair behind her ears.

"Ok, so I guess my question will be . . ." he started off, stroking his chin. "What's your number?"

A laugh escaped her lips and she pulled a napkin from the dispenser, leaning across him. She grabbed the pen next to the cash register and scrawled a series of numbers. "Hopefully we can continue this chat another time?"

"Of course," he replied, tucking the napkin into his jeans's back pocket.  The screams had died down as halftime approached. The buzzer only had a few seconds before it went off, and the marching band looked anxious to perform. Leo felt his pocket buzzing, probably Isaac wondering where he'd gone for half the game.  He had forgotten they were at a game, if he were honest. "Until next time, Elle."

a/n
heyyy!!!

it finally happened! give me your thoughts, emotions, feelings... how was it?

yesterday my chorus performed at boston symphony hall and it was incredible! the acoustics were unbelievable, it was truly an amazing experience.

how was this chapter? are there any ship names being concocted yet? any predictions as to what's to come?

i finally bought my tickets to infinity war for friday night, so catch me balling my eyes out.

dedication of the chapter goes to @emstjo who said: "So excited for more!!! I love that you switch between POVs!" I'm so glad the POV switching is enjoyable! get ready for more of that next chapter ;)

until next week,
Sophie

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