Finding Elise

Chapter Four

        "Helloooo ladies!" Amber called out, swinging open the front door. Jackie and I were sitting at the table discussing our first English assignment. We found out we had the same class on our first day which was awesome. It would make writing all our papers so much easier. Misery loves company."

     "Hey Amber." We said simultaneously, grinning. Amber was proving to be a rather eccentric roommate. She had already christened our house "Avocado Ranch" due to it's funky green color. We both perked up, however when a brown haired boy followed Amber into our house.

     "Who's your special guest?" Jackie asked.

     "Robert." Amber answered as she was leaving the living room. I assumed she was headed for our room. "Robbie, make yourself comfortable, I'll be out in a jiff."

     Robert leaned against the wall. "So you guys are Amber's roommates?"

     Brilliant observation Sherlock. "I'm Elise."

     "Jackie."

     "So Rob, what brings you around here?" I asked. "How did you and Amber meet?"

     Robert smiled, revealing two dimples. "She's in my business communications class. I asked her out for dinner."

     "Oh so a date then." Jackie grinned. This would be the first date for any of us girls. We now had a duty to perform.

     "Yeah I guess." Robert shrugged.

     "Where are you going?" Jackie asked.

     "Um Chili's and a movie."

     "Hmmm, not too shabby. We take points off for lack of creativity though." I teased.

     Robert grinned. "I'll remember that for next time."

     "What do you like to do for fun Rob?" Jackie asked.

     "Mountain bike, run, ski. I really like the outdoors."

     Amber came back into the room. She had changed out of her denim skinnies, and pink lace top and now wore a bright pink peplum top with white skinnies and killer high heels. She had swept her hair back into a half up-do and added some chandelier earrings. She looked great and I wondered if she had a crush on Robert.

     Amber hooked her arm into Robert's. "Ta-ta ladies!" she said with a big smile. They left.

     I turned to Jackie. "You know, since school is in session and Amber got the dating ball rolling, I think we should do 'dating rules."

     Jackie looked confused. "Like curfews and no boys in bedrooms?"

     I shook my head and grinned. "No, like if one of us holds hands with a boy then she owes the rest of us M&M's or something. Kissing would be like ice cream. My sister told me about it. She did it when she was in school and said it was just a fun roommate thing they did. Ice cream would magically appear in their freezer from time to time and then they'd all sit around eating it and whoever bought it would share her story. Claire owed ice cream several times."

     Jackie laughed. "Oh okay, I get it. Yeah that sounds like fun."

     "What sounds like fun?" Tessa wandered into the living room. She was wearing leggings and a grey tee that said Due to unfortunate circumstances, I am awake. I laughed as she looked like she had indeed, just woken up. She smirked at my laughter.

     "Elise was just telling me a fun idea we could try." Jackie said. She quickly filled Tessa in.

     "I love it. Let's do it." Tessa said, her blue eyes twinkling.

     "We have to wait until Amber gets back to see if she wants to do it." I reminded her.

     "Oh yeah." Tessa said. "She might not like it since she'll probably have to pay up first!"

     Jackie jumped up from the table and grabbed her keys. " Well I'm starving. Who wants pizza?"

     "We do!" Tessa and I cried and the three of us dashed outside.

*******************

     We were still awake when Amber got home from her date.

     "So how was it?" Tessa asked the minute Amber walked into the house.

     She grinned. "Give me a sec to put on my PJ's and I'll tell ya."

     "Alright," Jackie said "but if you're not back here in 1 minute we're coming after you."

     Amber laughed and held up her hands in mock surrender. "I'll be back in a jiffy."

     True to her word, Amber was back in no time. She sat down next to Jackie on the smaller couch. Tessa offered her the bowl of muddy buddies we had made after eating our pizza. Amber took a handful and popped some in her mouth.

     "Ok no more stalling." I said. "We want the deets."

     "Well he took me to Chili's and then we went to the drive-in movie. They were playing Sabrina. I told him I like old black and white movies." Amber told us.

     "Wow, he actually sat through that? Brave soul." Tessa teased.

     Amber threw a pillow in Tessa's face. "He didn't seem to mind."

     "So do you like him?" I asked.

     Amber wrinkled her nose. "I'm not sure yet. He's nice and cute, but he was also a little weird."

     "What do you mean?" Jackie asked.

     "Well he kept trying to hold my hand and during the movie he asked if it would be okay if he kissed me." Amber said, taking another handful of muddy buddies. "This is really good by the way."

     "That does sound weird." I said. "What did you tell him?"

     "I told him that I wasn't comfortable with it and he seemed to respect that." She said. "He kept telling me how beautiful I looked. He obviously has great taste." She grinned.

     "Are you going to go out with him again?" Tessa asked.

     "Maybe." Amber said. "We'll see though. I'm not looking to get into a relationship though. I'm only 18 and there are so many cute boys here!"

     We all laughed.

     "Oh that reminds us," Jackie said, grinning. "Elise and I were talking, and we already talked to Tessa about it, but what do you think of doing 'dating rules?"

     The look on Amber's face was similar to Tessa's when we had brought it up to her. "Dating rules? What do you mean?"

     I quickly explained them to her.

     "So candy for holding hands and ice cream for kissing then?" Amber asked.

     "Yeah."

     "Ok well that sounds fun, I'm in." Amber smiled.

     "Are you sure you don't owe us anything then?" Tessa asked with a sly grin.

     Amber threw another pillow at Tessa. "Trying to shake me down for treats?"

     Tessa ducked while laughing. "Pretty much."

     "Alright you two, break it up." I pretended to scold.

     "Yes mom!" They chorused and then promptly proceeded to bombard me with pillows.