you play and you play and you play

Ellie really wasn't expecting much out of the two of them(Cory & Kyle), playing around with electric guitars. But there was a third, Eric with his drums.

Ellie remembered him as a distance runner at school. Her Mom almost ran over him once in the library parking lot. Naturally, her mom said he was too thin. Eric was a lanky boy with auburn shaggy hair, but there was something sincere about him. He was quiet too. Ellie couldn't imagine him being a fantastic drummer, but she was wrong. He knew what he was doing. She couldn't say the same about Kyle nor Cory. They couldn't make it through the chorus of Ironman. It was just stop and stutter for the most part.

Ellie then noticed the interaction between Cory and Eric. It was suttle, but something clicked between them. And Ellie found herself smiling. She knew. Maybe. Eric was crushing on Cory. And who wouldn't. Everyone was crushing on Cory from one time to another. But did Cory know?

She wasn't going to start anything. As it was, she doubted if Cory even knew that she liked Kyle more than a friend. Of course, she hadn't really managed a conversation with Cory since the kissing incident. She certainly wasn't going to bring it up now. So she had to sit through the start and stop of Ironman, again and again, hoping for brilliance to be born.

Finally, they took a break.

"So you're not hanging out with Leia anymore?" Cory asked Ellie when he brought drinks out.

"I don't know." Ellie kind of laughed. The whole subject of Leia seemed fake to her. She wasn't sure what Leia was going to say about her outing with Rex without her.

"Do I know her?" Kyle looked at Ellie then as he took a sip of Dr. Pepper.

"I don't know, maybe not." Ellie had done her best to keep Kyle secret from Leia.

"You never talk about any of your friends," Kyle said.

"Well, I don't know anything to talk about." She shrugged sleepily. "I think I'm going to have to go." She couldn't help but yawn.

"But we just got started." Eric told her. He was actually speaking to her. Sort of a shock, she guessed. Perhaps these were her friends. Not Leia at school.

"Yeah, we better go." Kyle put down his soda and took Ellie's hand.

Cory looked at Kyle then Ellie. He scratched the back of his head as if he'd finally put the pieces together, "You two? Woe." He caught himself from laughing.

"You gotta problem with that?" Kyle got a bit defensive.

"No, its just I didn't-" He chuckled. "Sorry. I thought you were going with that dude, who Nick calls his step-brother now."

"No, not really." Ellie said.

"Go, Kyle." Cory did a little arm swing as if he was giving him a cheer. "So we're cool. We'll keep this up. Get through this song."

"God, I hope so." Ellie was pretty sure she wasn't their biggest fan yet.

Kyle waved goodbye and they left.

It was a breath of fresh air to get away from old gasoline fumes and oil in the garage. It was night and cool out. They held hands as they walked back to Ellie's house. "I know its none of my business, but I really think Eric is into Cory." Ellie said after awhile.

"I'd rather not know." He pulled her toward him.

"That would bother you?"

"No. It wouldn't," he said with his arm around her waist. His hand lowered. She could feel his hot hand on her butt. "Cause I got a lot of better things on my mind than thinking about Eric and Cory."

"You think Cory knows about Eric?"

"He knows, he just might be a better actor about not knowing."

"You think?" She turned in, and he gave her an open kiss. They took a turn toward a tree in the park and hid there from the traffic on the street kissing as if this was the moment to seize.

After while, Ellie pulled away, wondering what time it was. She looked at her watch. Sure enough, it was going on eleven. She had to go. School tomorrow. That's where they parted at the park. Only the last kiss was the longest. One of those don't go kisses. But she knew she'd be thinking of him long after, into the night.