the vampire diaries matt and elena first date by l.j smith (e reader comics .TXT) đ
- Author: l.j smith
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âM-me? WellâIâm just an average guy.â
âAverage guy! Quarterback and MVP for the football team. Tell me how it feels when you win a game out there, with everyone screaming and cheering.â
âUm. . . â In all his years of playing football, nobody had ever asked him this. âWellââ There was something wrong with him; he was going to be honest. âUh, well . . . Actually, really it feels a lot like this!â
âLike eating French bread in a restaurant?â
âOh. . . â Matt hadnât even realized that there was any bread. Heâd completely missed seeing it put down. Now he broke off a hunk and spread it lavishly with butter, suddenly remembering that he hadnât eaten any lunch.
Elena watched him in amusement over a glass of sparkling water.
âI would have thought you football guys werenât allowed to eat butter,â she said, twinkling her eyes at him. Yeah, that was it. She could make them twinkle when she wanted! What a skill!
âItâs one of the four food groups,â he informed her earnestly, hoping she wouldnât think he was crazy.. âSugar, salt, fat and chocolate.â
ââand chocolate!â her voice chimed in with his as he finished. They both laughed again together.
This was so easy. It was like being with your favorite relative, only better. You could say anything, no matter how dumb, and it wouldnât matter. Sheâd turn it into something witty. Heâd never felt like this with any girl.
The waiter came back, but Elena waved him off with a languid hand. She wasnât intimidated by the guy in the slightest. Matt added âcourageâ to the list of her virtues.
Suddenly he got goosebumps. This year heâd had to take a drama class to fill out his schedule, and they were performing âTwo Gentlemen of Verona.â Matt just couldnât get his mind into the play. Maybe it was because the actress for Sylvia was Caroline Forbes, who in fourth grade had done things like giving herself Indian burns and then running to tell the teacher Matt had done it. But right now, looking at Elena, words from the playâword perfectâcame into his mind:
Who is Sylvia? what is she, That all our swains commend her? Holy, fair, and wise is she; The heaven such grace did lend her. . .
Who is Elena? he thought. What is she? That all the guys commend her? Holy, fair, and wise is she, the heavens such grace did lend her . . .
Oh crap, now Iâm getting really sentimental, Matt thought. That was awful. And from what heâd heard, Elena wasnât too holy, either, but she sure looked like an angel.
âMatt, can you tell me something?â Elena asked, her finger tracing a tiny flaw in the tablecloth.
Mattâs heart jumped. Heâd missed the last few minutes of conversation. âSure, what?â he said.
âWhat is it about boys and cars? Why are they so into them?â
For a moment Matt flushed. Just thinking of his ancient, battered, skeleton of a car made him wonder if she was making fun of him.
But she wasnât. Her face was perfectly serious. She seemed to have forgotten what kind of car he had and was asking a general question about all guys.
âWellââhe had an impulse to rub the back of his neck but didnât. âCars are. . . the ideal car. . . um . . .â
âI wondered if it might somehow go back to the days of horses,â Elena said, tilting her head.
Suddenly neurons lit up in Mattâs brain. âHeyâthatâsâwell, that could be itâfor me, at least. I spent a couple of years on a farm when I was a kidâyou know, just a rinky-dink, little farm, but it had horses. And behind the stable where its horses were kept, was a stable of thoroughbred horses, racing horse, right?â
She nodded and he sighed.
âI just loved to watch those thoroughbreds moving. They were the most beautiful things you could imagineâfor animals, I mean,â he added hastily.
âHow were they beautiful?â
âWellâjustâI donât know. They were just incredible. They had these delicate long legs, and these heads that were always up in the air, with these manes always tossing and flowing. They moved in a way I just canât describeâsort of always lazily, but you could just tell they had a lot of pent-up energy inside them, too. As if they wanted to be running as fast as they could, forever.â Matt reached for his Coke, suddenly realizing that heâd been talking for a long time. âSorry, got a little carried away there. What I meant is that horses are speed, and so are cars. And I guess thatâs one reason I like to think about them.â
âDonât apologize. I thought that was really fascinating,â Elena said, and he realized that she was telling the truth, that she was interested. Sheâd been holding a bite of bread in her hand, forgotten.
âThanks for listening,â Matt said. âThey . . . sure were pretty.â His voice got stuck somewhere in his throat as he gazed at the beautiful girl just in front of him.
âSo speed is a part of it,â Elena said, smiling at him, her cheeks glowing pink in the candlelight.
âSpeed, yeah. Like when I get to drive a better car than The Garbage Heap out thereâlike a convertible, and I put down the roof, and I drive really fast on a straightaway or around little sudden hilltop curves. Sometimes, somehow, you feel as if youâre part of the car and its part of you. Itâs like flying.â
Matt stopped, suddenly, overcome with confusion. Somehow in his excitement he had picked up Elenaâs hand and was squeezing it. bread and all. He felt himself flushing and he was just going to put it back where heâd got it, when Elena squeezed his fingers warmly and then took it back herself. Thank God the bread hadnât been buttered.
âSo there anything more about âreally good carsâ?â she asked, almost teasing, but never breaking eye-contact with him.
âWell, thereâsâthereâs somethingââhe had to break eye contact with her to say thisââthereâs something sort of physical about driving a car that lets you feel every bump in the road. When youâre part of itâand itâs just you out there feeling the air and the groundâitâs sort ofâphysical, you know? Sort ofâsexy.â
He was almost afraid to look at her, then. But rippling laughter made him flush and then two warm hands took hold of his. âWhy, Matthew Honeycutt, youâre blushing! Butââin a suddenly serious voiceââI think I know what you mean. You mean something Iâve felt with carsâbut Iâve never been able to describe.â She went on talking, but Matt wasnât even in the room anymore. He was circling the solar system somewhere around the planet Neptune and comets and asteroids were sailing around with him, bonking him on the head every so often.
When he came back she was laughing about a parasailing experience sheâd had once when the sailors had accidentally landed her on the sand and not in the water. âBut before that,â she said. âIt was perfect. Just the rushing wind, with the inlet big and blue underneath me, and the feeling of travelingâfastâthrough the air. Almost like being a bird. I wish I had wings.â
âMe too!â Matt blurted. If his heart could have been pounding any harder, it would have started pounding. But it was at its maximum limit already. âIâd love to go parasailing. That must have been incredible.â He looked at his plate. âTell the truth, I think the most incredible thing thatâs happened to me is . . . tonight.â
Immediately, Elenaâs mocking laughter cut him down to sizeâbut that wasnât happening. Elena wasnât laughing. She was looking down at her round white plate and blushing. Then she raised her head and Matt could have sworn that there was a sheen of unshed tears in her eyes.
But she wagged her finger at him in a scholarly way. âDonât be silly, Matt. What about that game against the Bullfinches, when you threw a 50-yard touchdown pass? Now was that incredible or was that incredible?â Matt goggled at her. âYou like football?â
âWell, youâve got me there. I donât like all the injuries, and I donât like most jocks. But my dadâhe was a tight end with Clemson, and he helped them win the Orange Bowl. So I just had to learn about it. Dad has a lot of records, you know, most passes caught in a game, most passes caught in a season, most touchdowns caught in a season, most touchdowns caught in a careerââ
Matt found himself staring. âWhy didnât he go pro? Or did he?â
âNo, he started a business instead. But he left me his football instincts.â
Matt made himself laugh. He didnât know how he was feeling. His heart was soaring in twelve different directions at once. But somehow he made himself look mock-stern and waved a finger back at her. âWell, I bet you donât know about my real moment of glory,â he said. âWe were playing the Ridgemont Cougers and the score was tied and I was desperate. The clock was running down and suddenly I had this crazy, grandiose idea, and Iââ
âRan to the right to fake giving the ball to Greg Fleisch, the halfback,â Elena interrupted smoothly. âBut you kept the ball yourself and ran itâand ran itâand ran it for an amazing touchdown just before four Cougers tackled you at once.â
âYeah; they broke my collarbone, too,â Matt said, grinning. âBut I didnât even feel it. I was soaring somewhere over the clouds.â
âPeople were screaming and kissing and throwing things,â Elena said. âEven the Cougersâ fans went crazy. One of them grabbed me and tried to French kiss me.â
And I bet his mind wasnât on the game, Matt thought, and surprised himself by saying, âTell me his name and Iâll break his jaw for him.â
âOh, I already kicked him in the shin,â Elena said calmly. âBackward, so I could scrape all the way down the shinbone with my heel.â She added the last with a sweet little smile that a Spanish InquisitorâTorquemada himself, maybeâwould have envied.
âWell, I can see Iâd better keep you from getting mad at me,â Matt said, and Elena laughed again, showing the even white pearls of her teeth.
âI donât think,â she said, âthat anybody could stay mad at you for long.â
Matt didnât know what to say. All those idiots, he was thinking. All those losers who only want to go on dates with her because of her looks, are just missing the whole damn ballgame. Sure, sheâs a knock-out, but more important, sheâs like . . . the worldâs perfect person: smart, and witty, and fun, and . . . well, just perfect. The way she makes everything easy, and how she makes you feel so good about yourself, and . . .
Matt had a crazy impulse to go down on one knee and ask her to marry him right then and there.
Then he burst into laughter at the absurdness of it all. He was just going to say something when someone behind him coughed with malice aforethought.
âWere Monsieur et Mademoiselle zinking of ordering at zis point?â the waiter ground out, obviously irritated.
âI guess itâs about time to look at our menus,â Elena said, putting her hand over her mouth to not-quite hide a giggle.
âWeâll be ready in a few minutes,â Matt said, in his most princely dismissive tones.
The waiter almost stomped off.
Matt looked at Elena. She looked at him over her curled-up hand and then they were both laughing hysterically, fighting for air.
âPoor guy,â Matt said.
âOh, well,â Elena raised her eyebrows indifferently. âHe is just a waiter, after all. Waiting is what heâs paid to do.â
This was the first time Matt had seen
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