Looking Up

-----Elle's POV

As we sit in his truck with Mac Miller blasting, I can't help but to feel incredibly nervous. I'm going out with the Flyers to a club, I keep repeating to myself. This all seems so surreal. Thankfully, Steve is nice enough to drive by my apartment before we go to the club since I'm in all my Flyers gear.

When we get to my apartment, Steve goes into the bathroom and changes out of his suit and into something more comfortable. He waits on the couch and watches some TV while I get ready. I throw my bag across the room on to my bed and while I'm making a mad dash to my closet, I peel off all my layers of clothes until I'm standing in just my bra and underwear. I fumble through my closet, frantically searching for something to wear that's "club appropriate"- I don't want to keep Steve waiting for long. I don't have many clothes that I can wear to clubs- I'm not a big partier, not even when I was in college.

All I can find are sundresses and I start to panic. "YES!" I yell outloud- I finally find a dress to wear that has been inhabiting the back of my closet for the longest time. I put on a strapless bra and hope that the dress still fits. "Thank god!" I say to myself as I slip on the tight dress. The only time I actually wore this was when Carly dragged me to a club for my 21st birthday. I slip on a pair of matching shoes on my feet, grab a purse, throw my hair up into a bun, and then put on some make-up.

Before I present myself to Steve, I step in front of my mirror. I smooth out any creases and spin around slowly making sure everything is in its place. Usually, I don't worry about what I look like when I go out and I don't get all dressed up like this- but I want to show Steve that I'm not just sweet and innocent - "Bambi"- and I can let loose and have fun.

I look in the mirror and take a couple deep breaths. "You can do this Elle, don't be a moron and get flustered," I say to myself quietly in hopes that the small pep talk will work. I walk into the hallway and Steve turns his head to look at me. His facial expression goes from blank to surprised in a matter of nanoseconds. I feel my heart flutter as his tall solid moves over to me. He looks great- his simple white v neck and jeans outfit, with his hat on backwards definitely works well for him.

"You look amazing Elle," he says sincerely. I thank him and we head out to his truck. Once again, he helps me into his truck, and my nerves start to get to me. He obviously seems to notice the panicked look on my face when he looks at me. "Don't worry, the guys are great- they'll be nice to you, but definitely expect G and Scotty to give you a hard time," Steve laughs and holds my hand.

We start to talk about some random topics with country music playing in the background. All of the sudden, it is interrupted by my phone- my mom is calling again. I apologize to Steve for the interruption and I answer my phone.

My mother starts to tell me bad news about my father and I try to play it off so that Steve doesn't suspect anything is wrong. My voice may have told Steve I was okay, but my face was telling him a completely different story.

"So uhm, what do your parents do?" Steve asks me quietly, hoping to change the subject. However, I can feel that he is trying to find out more information about what was going on.

"My mom is a real estate agent, she's always on the move." I say.

"That's interesting- and your dad?"

My heart sinks thinking about my father and his trip to the hospital, "He's an auto mechanic, we used to have a repair shop called, "Mr. Fix-it", I know it's corny." Steve and I both laugh. I try not to tear up- I gave my dad that nickname and called him it whenever he repaired anything around the house.

"Used to? What happened?" he looks at me with a confused look.

"Uhm- yeah- he retired- he didn't like it anymore." I lie. Truth is, he loved that shop. He loves fixing things for everyone- he was shattered when he found out that he had to close the shop due to the cancer- I can't tell Steve that though - at least not now.

Thank goodness we pull up to the club when we do because I can't bare to talk about my father anymore. I feel my heart pounding as we reach the entrance. Steve grabs my hand and squeezes it tight to comfort me, "I'm right here Bambi."

The pounding bass greats us as we walk in. He leads me over to the bar, he leans in close and asks what I would like, trying to talk over the music. I frantically try and think what I even like since I almost never drink. "Fireball!" I yell back to him. Next thing I know, there are 3 shots lined up on the bar.

At first, I think two are for him and then the one one is for me but I notice he's already holding a beer. My eyes widen, a panicked look washes over my face and I look up at Steve. I haven't taken shots since, well I have no clue- and like a 17 year old teenager, I can't take them without chasers. Another small problem: I'm a light weight- so these shots are bound to make me very tipsy.

Well this should be interesting; here goes nothing. I walk up closer the bar and tackle the first two shots. My throat burns so bad and I'm trying my best not to gag. Steve laughs and watches me tackle the last shot. He leans in to my ear and says, "I figure that should loosen you up enough, follow me." He takes a shot and gives me a panty melting smile.

Steve stays close to me and leads me towards the back to a seating area. Right away, I see the familiar faces of Scott, Jake, and Wayne- they're all sitting together laughing and having a drink. Steve yells to them, "Hey guys this is Elle," introducing me to them once again; I easily smile and say hi back to them. I realize I hardly feel that nervous and come to the conclusion that the alcohol is already kicking in.

Steve sits down at the table and motions for me to sit down. Just as I'm about to sit down, someone puts their hand on my back and turns me towards them with ease. My heart did a flip when I see that it is Claude Giroux.

"You must be Elle, let's go." I barely hear him say while he pulls me towards the dance floor. I look back at Steve with a semi panicked expression and I realize all of the guys are chuckling at my reaction. Usually, I'm a disaster on the dance floor when I'm sober since I'm not relaxed, but with alcohol in me, I can usually do really well. I just hope this alcohol kicks in as soon as possible.

Claude takes my hands, faces me and we both start dancing, moving along to the beat. The facts that we are both kind of awkward dancers and the alcohol is kicking in, is helping me feel a lot more comfortable. Claude and I start moving together perfectly; he gets behind me and we start to grind. Every so often, I look over to Steve in hopes he's still sitting with the guys and not dancing with other girls. I feel bad about dancing with Claude, but wouldn't Steve ask to dance with me if he wanted to?

"So Steve tells me I'm your background on your phone," Claude says into my left ear, laughing sofly. I'm going to kill Steve I swear! I laugh and shake my head; I'd probably freeze up and have a heart attack if I was sober right now- thank god I'm not. I look over to check where Steve is once again and Claude notices, "Don't worry, he likes you, he's just a little shy," he tells me, trying to ease my nerves.

"Hey! Can I cut in?" Scott booms over the pounding bass. Claude pats my back lightly and leaves to go sit with Steve and two other guys I can't quite recognize. Scott holds up a shot, "Mase tells me you like Fireball!" He hands me the shot, and I throw it back and surprisingly hold back my coughs. Scott and I start dancing to the fast pace bass.

Next thing I know, Jakub is handing me a shot to the and cutting in. I'm enjoying myself, but where is Steve? Why isn't he dancing with me? Everything slowly starts to blur together; I'm glad that ballroom dancing isn't a "thing" anymore since I'd be falling all over the place no doubt. Three songs pass by quickly and I'm being handed another shot, but this time it's from Brayden. I shouldn't be taking all of these shots, but I really don't want them to think I'm a stick in the mud. I'm just glad they can't tell how tipsy I am from the dancing since they're holding onto my hips, thankfully, keeping me from stumbling.

A firm hand taps my shoulder and I hear the phrase "cut in." I roll my eyes. I swear I'm going to dance with the entire team before Steve actually asks me. The person grabs my hand and it feels familiar. My heart does a back flip when I turn and see that it is Steve. Brayden smiles and lets Steve take over.

He grabs both of my hands and we start to grind. My heart pounds; he puts his hands on my sides and and pulls my back tighter to his solid chest. Our bodies are glued together, moving perfectly in sync. I can feel myself getting hotter; his hands start to roam my body. One hand lands on my upper ribs and the other on my lower abdomen.

Steve turns me to face him- I almost fall over, but he catches me- I definitely shouldn't have had that last shot. We start to grind in sync again, only this time facing each other. Steve's scent fills my head and it starts to spin. My body starts to feel light; every touch and feeling becomes heightened. I REALLY shouldn't have had that last shot.

-----Steve's POV

I didn't think Elle could ever move like this. I pull her tighter against me with every movement. I loosen my grip a little and she nearly falls over. "Shit" I say to myself. I wrap her closer to my body, keeping her stable. The guys gave her too many shots. They were trying to make me get over my shyness and dance with her by making a deal with me- which I didn't agree with but they did it anyway. The deal was that Elle would get a shot every time I didn't step in to dance with her.

Her body becomes even more limp and I decide that we need to get out of here. I hold her close to me and walk towards the exit. G sees me, laughs, and waves goodbye to me while dancing with a brunette.

Once we get outside, Elle starts to say sorry repetitively and I keep telling her it's okay. I help her into the truck and once I close the door, she leans against the window. I get into the car, put on some slow music to help soothe her, and pull out of the parking lot. I head towards my apartment since I don't want Elle to need help and no one is there. I stroke her hand with my thumb and my music quickly puts her to sleep.

When we get to my apartment building, I pick Elle up out of the truck bridal style, carry her into the elevator and up to my apartment. I carefully open up my door and set her onto the couch. I walk into my bedroom, throw some of the extra pillows onto the floor, and pull down the sheets to get the bed ready for Elle. I walk back out to the couch and set her gently into my bed.

I kneel down next to the bed and I stroke her cheek with my thumb. I examine her face slowly for awhile- any distress she had on her face from earlier is now washed away. I lightly pick up her head and undo the bun and braid in her hair. I then go through my drawers to find her some of my clothes to wear. I pick out a light green v-neck, some Nike socks, a gray zip up jacket, and a pair of faded gray sweatpants- I figure she'll be much more comfortable without the tight purple dress hugging her body all night.

I take the folded clothes and lay them on the edge of my bed. I take the purple high heels off her slender feet and onto the floor next to the bed. I put my hand on her shoulder and shake her a little bit in attempt to wake her up. I don't want to just undress Elle without her permission, plus hopefully she might be conscious enough to help me get her changed.

"Elle... Elle... Elle, can you wake up?" I stare at her resting face, hoping for a response. My head drops in defeat as I try to think of what to do next. All of the sudden I hear her murmur something.

"Elle, can you help me change you into different clothes?" I ask her quickly, hoping she responds.

She groggily whispers some gibberish; she obviously doesn't know where she is, and too drunk to know what's going on.

I sigh and unfold the sweatpants; I slip them on her over top of the dress. I lightly pull the dress up to her waist slowly, my heart starts to flutter and beat heavily. With both hands on her sides, I start to pull up her dress, and stop at her ribs; my eyes fixate on her belly button and then her stomach. I shake my head to bring myself out of the daze. I take a few deep breaths and lift her dress up gently over her head, revealing her tan strapless bra and all of her curves- causing my breathing to hitch.

I quickly look away from her bare body before I can actually see anything, but guilt still washes over me- I didn't have a right to see any of her- not until she actually gave me her full permission to- I just want her to be comfortable tonight.

I grab the v neck and gently put her in it before I can even give into temptation and take in her body with my eyes. I then slip Elle into the gray zip up hoodie and put my Nike socks onto her feet. I pull the covers over her small body and watch her sleep from the edge of the bed for for a few moments.

I leave the bedroom door open in case Elle needs help with anything. After I grab a blanket and move the couch closer to the door, I turn out all the lights, and lock my door. I get comfortable on the couch and in minutes, I fall asleep watching my bedroom door, listening for any noises coming from Elle.

Notes

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1. Elle's Club Outfit
2. Steve's Outfit