Can You Not?

Chapter 11

He was there at exactly ten past seven. Both her parents had been gone for a few minutes and she was just running a brush through her hair when she heard the doorbell. Jogging down the stairs she slung a casual backpack over her shoulder and opened the door to a smiling Ellis. His hair was damp like he just got out of the shower and his cheeks were red.

"You can catch a cold that way you know?" she said as she locked the door.

"It's not that cold yet." He ruffled his hair to get more of the moisture out.

"Still," Norah said. "If you get me sick, I'll kill you."

"It would be an honour to die by your hand."

"Can you not?" she asked, feeling her own face heat up.

"Can I not what?" he asked innocently.

"Be weird like that," she said. "Let's go."

She led the way to his Jeep. He'd stopped talking just long enough for them to get in and start it up. As soon as the engine was running, he was back to bugging her.

"How was I being weird?"

"You just were."

"That's not an acceptable answer."

"I have every right to withhold my answer."

He gave her a look. "You can be really difficult when you feel like it."

"Right back at you."

Ellis dropped the conversation there. He tapped the playlist of choice on his iPod and music came streaming through the Jeep's speakers. They'd listened to four song before leaving the town. All the way to their once again surprise destination, Norah worried about what would happen if they got caught. If she got caught. If her parents found out about her sneaking out while grounded, there was no telling what they would do to punish her. Her thoughts raced. What if they took away her cell phone? Her computer? What if they revoked her internet rights or took away her drawing tablet? Following this train of thought, she felt something run down her forehead, between her eyebrows. Shocked, she turned to find that Ellis had ran a finger down her face while they stood at a red light.

"What the - " she started, but he interrupted her.

"Your forehead was creased," he stated. "There's no room for worry in this Jeep."

"Sorry. I was just thinking about what my parents would do if they caught me."

"Don't." The light turned green and he pulled away. "I won't let you get in trouble."

"You won't let me get into more trouble."

"Yeah." He nodded solemnly. "More trouble."

They were in the next town, but they kept driving. They were a good forty minutes away from home. Norah wanted to voice her concerns, but she was too afraid of sounding whiny. Ellis seemed to know exactly what he was doing, so she kept quiet. Every now and then she'd sang along to a song she knew. Ellis sang along to everything. Sometimes he would quietly sing along, sometimes he would hum and other times, like when Norah joined in, he would belt out the lyrics as loud as possible, always looking straight ahead. They were driving into the city. When they finally stopped, Norah saw that they were standing in front of an art museum. She'd never been to an art museum, or a gallery for that matter. The sudden excitement that flared up in her was sweet. She wanted it to last. Ellis didn't look like he belonged anywhere near a museum, much less one dedicated to art. He was wearing faded jeans and a dirty red hooded over an obscure band t-shirt. He was also wearing a black beanie over his messy hair. The ends of it stuck out underneath at random. He looked adorable. Norah tried to ignore this as he lead the way up the grand stairs to the entrance. The building kind of reminded her of the Parthenon with the large columns outside, but the statues were more like something you'd find in a public square somewhere in London. Ellis paid for her admission.