Girls Who Play Guitars

•maybe I'll write a song about you•

~THE HOTEL LIFT, BRISBANE~

In the whitewashed hallway, Ellie waited for the lift door to open, trying to keep hold of her damp towel, notebook and room key. She pounded at the button with her fist, wishing the lift would hurry. It was at level 17 and the numbers seemed to be going up more often than down.

"Devine?"

No.

"You forgot your sunglasses."

Ellie's room key slipped from her grip as she swung round.

Hair slicked back with water droplets setting off his high cheekbones and half naked in damp shorts, Daniel knelt down to pick up her key as it clattered onto the cool tiles.

When he stood and held it out to her with her sunnies, his eyes were soft on hers, shining a glittering neon blue.

Ellie swallowed.

"Thanks." She took her key and looped it onto her finger, stuck her sunglasses on her head and  held fast to her towel to stop it dropping from around her waist.

"I ... " Daniel rubbed a hand across the back of his neck and travelled his eyes down to her black bikini top before lifting his gaze back to her face, "wanted to clear the air."

Ellie shifted her eyes to the lift numbers above the doors which rose along with the rate of her heartbeat. "You've got until the lift gets here then I'm gone." She glanced at him. "And you're not allowed to follow me."

"Boundaries?"

Ellie tensed her mouth, clutched her notebook to her chest and stared up at the numbers, avoiding looking at his chest and the dark hair around his perfect nipples..

Daniel leaned back against white-plastered wall in Ellie's view with his arms crossed. "I had nothing to do with Brenin signing you."

Ellie met Daniel's eyes for a moment. He seemed sincere but she firmed her lips together and looked back up at the display green as the elevator started a rapid descent.

No distractions.

Daniel flashed a smile at her. "It was as big a surprise to me as it was to you."

"It was a surprise," Ellie stated, clutching her notebook tight against her breasts.

"A nice surprise?" Daniel asked, a curled smile forming on his full lips.

Ellie pursed her own lips—not giving in to his flirtations even if they were quite sweet—and stared up at the numbers at where the lift seemed to have frozen at level seven.

"But," Daniel continued, drumming his fingers against his bare chest as he spoke, "if I'm laying all my cards on the table, it was me who had to agree to your band coming on tour with us at rather short notice—"

"This whole tour-with-Glue thing was not my idea," Ellie declared, piercing her eyes at him to make sure he understood. "I don't want to be here. Our music is totally different. And Australia is our home. We should be headlining."

For once, Daniel didn't smile. Instead he squeaked his lips together and shook his head at her.

"What?" Ellie asked, glaring at him. "What is that look for? You have all these ... looks and I don't know what they mean!"

Daniel's face returned to his usual broad smile.

He pushed off the wall and stood next to her, shoulder to shoulder, and stared up at the lift numbers with her. Ellie could sense the heat of his arm on hers and smell the chlorine on his smooth skin; hear his deep breaths.

"A little bird told me it's your birthday in a few days," he said.

"Older and wiser, I guess," Ellie muttered.

"Having a party?"

"Just a small thing with the olds."

Daniel nudged his arm against hers. "Thank you for rescuing me from the pool."

Ellie shuffled a small step away from him. "Maybe you should stick to the kiddie's end."

"Maybe you could teach me to swim?"

The lift numbers began moving and Ellie's stomach twisted. She kept her eyes fixed on them. "Maybe I could pretend you don't exist," she stated.

"Maybe you could explain what I did to make you so mad at me?"

"Oh. I know." She risked a peek at him. "Maybe you could ... write your own songs?"

"Ah. Right." He smiled down at her with that generous grin before returning his eyes to the lift numbers. "Well, maybe I do write my own songs."

"Maybe even though you say you do I still don't believe you do," Ellie huffed, tightening her arms around her notebook as the lift descended a few more floors.

"Maybe I'll write a song about you," Daniel murmured thoughtfully.

"Maybe I won't let you."

"Maybe I'll do it anyway."

"Maybe you won't. Because you can't."

"Maybe I'd write one about ... a rather angry young woman."

"I'm not always angry—"

"Maybe I'd write about the way her eyes kind of ... flash ... when she's about to swear—"

"They do not!"

"Maybe I'd write about how ... she's all tough on the outside ... but underneath ... I believe she's a bit of a softie."

Ellie stared at the green number above her with her heart thundering like an approaching storm in her chest.

"Maybe ..." Daniel looked down at his toes before lifting his chin to watch the descent of the lift again. "I'll write a song about ... oh, I don't know ... how I've been thinking a lot about how I'd like to kiss her."

Ellie swallowed.

She turned her gaze to Daniel, who looked down at her with a new and soft, sweet expression that made Ellie's heart surge like a drum roll.

Ellie's eyes wandered over his beautiful face and the hopeful upward curl of his lips. She remembered the feeling of being close to him when he'd lifted her up and thrown her into the pool; of their bare skin pressed together - Daniel's solidity against her soft flesh.

The longer his eyes were centered on her, a prickle of harmonious notes grew inside her.

"Devine ..." Daniel murmured, the depth of his voice caressing Ellie's ears like a well-tuned guitar, sparking her senses in a way she hadn't felt for years. He went to reach for her but the lift dinged brightly and the door slid open.

No one exited.

Daniel looked between the lift and Ellie.

He stepped inside, held his hand out to her, and said, "Just enjoy it, Ellie. That's all you have to do. Enjoy it."