The Secret of Ella and Micha(40)

Her eyes sparkle and it's worth the fall. "You look ridiculous."

"Do I?" I take a step toward her.

She takes a step back. "You do."

Abruptly the sprinklers turn on, drenching the grass and her. She screams and covers her head with her arms.

"Serves you right for laughing at me," I say with a grin.

She lets her arms fall to the side and smirks. "Well, at least it keeps you away from me."

Her dress is clinging to her body in all the right places and pieces of her wet hair stick to the sides of her face. She begins to twirl in circles with her hands up above her head.

"You're beautiful," I say, unable to help myself.

Ella

Micha looks ridiculous and I can't help but laugh. I haven't laughed in so long that it feels unnatural leaving my mouth. It's like we're kids again, as if this moment belongs in another time where things are weightless and full of sunshine.

As I'm laughing at him, the sprinklers turn on and my clothes instantly get soaked. At first I squeal, but then I let go, lifting my hands above my head and twirling in the water, figuring he won't come in after me.

He calls out something about me being beautiful and then he charges into the sprinklers, completely blind-siding me. His arms snake around my waist and we collapse to the ground but Micha holds my weight up, so I land on the wet grass gently.

"Micha," I say, trying to be serious. "Don't do it. You know how much I hate being tickled."

"Which makes it even more appealing." Water beads in his hair, his long eyelashes, his lips. With one hand, he pins my arms above my head and presses his body against mine. My wet clothes cling to my skin and I can feel every part of him. "I take that back. This is more appealing." He lets his hand move up my ribs, his thumb sketching along the ridges, sending my body into a frenzy.

I stop fighting him and lay perfectly still. Water sprinkles our faces as he lowers his lips to mine. Our wet tongues twine together, full of desire as they collide. A strange, unfamiliar feeling opens inside of me again and my legs fall apart and hook around his waist, requesting more of him, like they did last night.

Micha draws back, looking surprised as he glances at the house to the side of us and then at the street. Then he lets out an untamed growl and deepens the kiss, thrusting his tongue deep into my mouth. I suck on his bottom lip and trace my tongue along his lip ring. It sends a quiver through his body and I'm secretly pleased, but my pleasure confuses me.

"Ella," he groans and then kisses me fiercely. His hand travels upward and cups my breasts. His thumb circles around my nipple and through the wet fabric of my clothes, the feeling is mind blowing. It's driving me wild and my knees vice-grip against his hips.

A moan laced with ecstasy crumbles from my lips. I'm starting to lose control again and it's alarming. I try to get past it this time, but it consumes me and I have to stop. After a lot of effort, I get my arms between our bodies and I push him away.

"We should get back." I look at the brick home of the yard we're laying in. "Besides if Miss Fenerly comes out, she'll have a heart attack."

Micha's aqua eyes penetrate me. There's mud on his forehead and grass in the locks of his blonde hair. "If that's what you want." Maneuvering to his feet, he takes my hand and lifts me to mine. He plucks pieces of grass out of my hair and lets his hand linger on my cheek.

Holding hands, we walk across the grass and down the sidewalk, leaving a trail of water behind us and something else. Something invisible to the outside eye, but to me it's more noticeable than the sun in the sky.




Micha

I'm determined to have a party tonight, even though I'm not a fan of parties. Never really have been. I just like how they block out all the noise inside my head and what I'm hoping is that tonight's will block out the sound of my dad's voice.

Ella bailed on me when we got back to our houses, muttering something about finding her father. I offered to go with her, but she declined and took Lila instead. I let her be because I sensed she needed space. I was fine with her taking some time as long as it wasn't the space of five hundred miles.

Ethan and I take a break from working on the car to plan the party. After a massive amount of text messages are sent out and a couple of keggers ordered by Ethan, we're good to go.

We're hanging around in the kitchen, waiting for people to start showing up when clouds start rolling in and thunder rattles at the windows.

"Can I ask you something?" Ethan asks abruptly.

I take out a frozen burrito from the freezer and drop it on a plate. "Sure. What's up?"

"Don't take this the wrong way." He tips back in his chair. "But what is it with Ella? Why are you so fixated on her? You have like a ton of girls falling at your feet all the time and you used to totally be all into it. Then suddenly you weren't and it was all about her."

"I wasn't ever into the girls falling at my feet. I was just bored." I pop the plate into the microwave and press start.

He grabs a handful of chips from a bag on the table. "Okay, but that still doesn't answer my question."

I cross my arms, uncomfortable with the awkward heart-to-heart moment. "I'm not sure, but why do you care?"

"I'm just curious because you've never talked about it."